HealthIT Answers March 6, 2021
By Matt Fisher, General Counsel, Carium
Data breaches grab headlines on a daily basis and arise from a number of different scenarios. However, one question that is not necessarily examined closely (at least in news articles), is whether encryption was in place and why the encryption did not prevent the breach. That rhetorical question does not get into the finding in a number of resolutions through the HHS Office for Civil Rights where lack of appropriately or properly implemented encryption was part of the reason for a penalty.
Some HIPAA Definitions
Before diving into encryption specifically, it is helpful to remember how a breach is defined by HIPAA. Under the breach notification rule (45 CFR 164.402), a breach is:
the...
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