HIPAA privacy and security guide, security risk analysis

ByJeff Grant

by Jeff Grant

This article was published as part of a blog series on electronic health records and the optometric practice.

Many people have been very confused about the requirement in meaningful use for doing a security risk analysis and other HIPAA-related compliance issues and have looked for resources to help them. In a release well-timed with my topics in this blog, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology recently announced the release of its Guide to Privacy and Security of Health Information.

This guide, released by the ONC's Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, is designed to help you better understand the role privacy and security rules play in the use of electronic health records and meaningful use. The guide contains a number of topics, including:

privacy and security and meaningful use
security risk analysis and management tips
working with electronic health records and health Internet technology vendors
a privacy and security 10-step plan
health IT privacy and security resources

I'm particularly impressed with the guide's information on the security risk analysis and links to excellent resources on performing an analysis. This should help you complete this important meaningful use step.

Use this link to access the full guide: http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/privacy/privacy-and-security-guide.pdf.