The HIPAA Security Rule requires healthcare organizations to use appropriate safeguards to ensure that electronic protected health information (ePHI) remains secure, and the HITECH Act, which expands the HIPAA encryption compliance requirement set, requires the timely disclosure of data breaches.
For many healthcare organizations, one of the most daunting provisions of complying with HIPAA and HITECH has been adhering to The Privacy Rule. Applying encryption solutions that protect patient data from all but a defined set of uses – and within the proscribed EDI sets – has proven to be a significant IT challenge. An effective implementation must not only be secure and adhere to these transaction standards but must also be manageable within the company’s IT framework.
Thales solutions help organizations meet these compliance challenges by implementing technical safeguards for ePHI through:
The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities to implement technical safeguards to protect all electronic protected healthcare information (ePHI), making specific reference to encryption, access controls, encryption key management, risk management, auditing and monitoring of ePHI information. The HIPAA Security Rule enumerates examples of encryption methods that covered entities can employ, along with the factors to consider when implementing a HIPAA encryption strategy.
Enacted as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the HITECH Act expands the HIPAA encryption compliance requirement set, requiring the disclosure of data breaches of “unprotected” (unencrypted) personal health records, including those by business associates, vendors and related entities.
The “HIPAA Omnibus Rule” of 2013 formally holds business associates liable for compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule.
Vormetric Transparent Encryption provides file and volume level data-at-rest encryption to protect ePHI from unauthorized access. Vormetric Application Encryption adds another layer of security and HIPAA/HITECH compliance capabilities, enabling organizations to easily build HIPAA/HITECH encryption capabilities into internal applications at the field and column level.
Vormetric Key Management provides the integrated, secure encryption key management that meets HIPAA encryption requirements to separate keys and encrypted data. This solution enables centralized management of encryption keys for other environments and devices including KMIP compatible hardware, Oracle and SQL Server TDE master keys and digital certificates.
Vormetric Data Security Platform access controls extend data breach protection by limiting data access to authorized personnel and programs. In addition, the Platform’s data access monitoring generates the security intelligence information required to identify accounts that represent a threat because of a malicious insider or malware-compromised account credentials.
Perhaps the most comprehensive data privacy standard to date, GDPR affects any organisation that processes the personal data of EU citizens - regardless of where the organisation is headquartered.
Any organisation that plays a role in processing credit and debit card payments must comply with the strict PCI DSS compliance requirements for the processing, storage and transmission of account data.
Data breach notification requirements following loss of personal information have been enacted by nations around the globe. They vary by jurisdiction but almost universally include a “safe harbour” clause.