HIPAA Tip: Look on the Bright Side
Hard to believe that it’s almost 2026! And with that comes New Year resolutions and (hopefully) positive changes for your organization’s compliance posture.
Some scenarios to think about:
- What if a threat actor decides “you’re the one” and begins targeting the organization and attempting to access the EMR? Consider this happened: during the annual Security Risk Analysis (SRA) the importance of two-factor (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) was emphasized when staff access systems and applications containing ePHI, especially when utilizing remote access. The additional safety layer was installed/enabled and the attacker could not get into the network, so moved on to an easier, unsuspecting victim.
- There are older Operating Systems, Firewalls, wireless access points (WAPs) that have needed upgrading for a while. This past year your IT team convinced the organization to remove these from the network or upgrade to a more secure device, further protecting the business environment. These enhancements were completed, providing even stronger security measures including intrusion detection, AntiSpy, Gateway AV, AntiBotnet. Threat actors scan a network to see weaknesses and unsecured devices. When unavailable they will seek out another site to break into.
In 2025 the Disaster Recovery Plan (HIPAA Security Rule Requirement) was completed for the organization and tested twice. The HIPAA / Compliance Manual was reviewed, revised and sent out to all staff members. Cybersecurity training was added to quarterly training modules.
Look how much was accomplished? Keep up the good work and continue to review risks and vulnerabilities to the organization to stay one step ahead of ransomware attacks and breaches.
Compliance Is Ongoing
HIPAA compliance isn’t a one-time checklist. It’s ongoing, programmatic in nature, and requires demonstrated reasonable diligence to stay in good standing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Anatomy IT can provide you peace of mind with our expert HIPAA compliance services. To learn more, contact us here.
