In our series on the HIPAA Administrative Simplification Security Rule, this is the third Physical Safeguard Standard, Workstation Security. The implementation specification for this standard is defined by the standard title, and is required. As we have noted in earlier postings on HIPAA.com, business associates of covered entities will be required to comply with the Security Rule safeguard standards, beginning February 17, 2010. This requirement is one of the HITECH Act provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009. What to Do A covered entity must implement physical safeguards for all workstations that access electronic protected health information to restrict access…
Tag: electronic media
Contingency Plan: Data Backup-What to Do and How to Do It
In our series on the HIPAA Administrative Simplification Security Rule, this is the first implementation specification for the Administrative Safeguard Standard (Contingency Plan). This implementation specification is required. As HIPAA.com has noted in earlier postings, with enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on February 17, 2009, business associates also will be required to comply with the Security Rule standards, effective February 17, 2010. What to Do Establish and implement procedures to create and maintain retrievable exact copies of electronic protected health information. How to Do It Covered entities must backup electronic protected health information on a regular basis. When a computer system fails, it may…

