Health Data Breach Response Plan: a Managed Care Organization’s Comprehensive Plan

Response plan on health data breach

Introduction

Security imperatives of preventing, responding to, and detecting breaches will finally end with good reason and appropriate rejoinder criteria implemented. Breaches in various companies have become inevitable despite efforts put in place to prevent their continuous occurrence. Once there is an unauthorized disclosure, compromise of protected data, or hacking of information that is protected, an organization is obliged to respond. Putting an effective response plan in place is not a small feat.

Organization’s response to breach

Performing risk analysis is the primary goal in implementing a security and privacy program, and is one of the requirements under the safety rule.

From the perspective of preventing unsecured leaks of information, risk analysis is one of the best processes for identifying vulnerabilities and threats in the medical field. Adequate privacy measures are essential in preventing breaches from occurring.

Response team

The response team should be selected from the network of stakeholders who have an interest in the organization’s data. The selected team should possess the ability to implement and establish sustainable security responses. Fields such as IT security, physical security, privacy officer, nurse auditor, administration, and health information services are primary when creating a response. In many organizations, internal business operations often operate in isolation, rarely intersecting. However, a team that practices cross-functional operations encourages collaboration, and the coordination of resources through efficient business workflow procedures and policies. This helps eliminate gaps found in the information management process, thereby mitigating data theft risks. The best plan is to ensure that everyone has a monitoring role. Additionally, at some levels, the security response team has to take steps that involve the entire organizational staff, the patient, and business associates in order to effectively mitigate and monitor risk.

Developing security response plan

An effective response to incidents of data breach requires a collective effort from individual victims, security officers, and privacy and HIM professionals. The data breach response plan involves identification of state laws pertaining to breach notification, disclosure, and reporting. Determining the organization’s obligations in terms of reporting and disclosure related to data breach notification is critical to ensuring data security in health organizations.

Family members and individual patients are often the first to learn about a data security breach involving their health information. The organization should ensure that each is aware of how to respond to a suspected breach. Contacting the manager in charge of health information is a crucial step in identifying where the data breach activity occurred. The organization should welcome reports about data security from patients and family members. Reporting mechanisms should be widely known and easy to navigate. Therefore, there should be a system in place where a patient can approach an officer to report a possible breach involving individual’s data.

Three-point system measure

Proper risk analysis involves a three-step process which includes evaluating, identifying, and reducing the impact of the risk. This process incorporates asset prioritization and inventory. Priority should be given to the examination of existing security details to identify threats and vulnerabilities. Identifying vulnerabilities and risks will aid in mitigating all recognized risks. Swift determination of the effects associated with the continued existence of a threat to the organization should be carried out to prevent further threats to the organization.

Security incident response

The security response team is charged with the development of a security response reporting form and checklist that will ensure the safety of data maintained in an organization. The data breach mitigation and checklist should be accompanied by a security incident response form to give the organization the priority of ensuring their data security.

Designating communication coordinator

One person should be appointed to serve as a communication director. This essentially removes the need for involving members of the security incident team, who are left free to mitigate and investigate any data breach incidents. This focal point of communication can serve as the single coordinator between the media and the organization.

Conclusion

Data breach response ensures prompt notification to individuals who guide the response, ensuring a comprehensive action plan for security is taken. An efficient breach notification plan begins with those on the front end involved in administrative and technical safeguards and concludes with a follow-through process that addresses the adverse effects of data breaches. The response plan for a health data breach asserts that the security imperatives of preventing, responding to, and detecting breaches will ultimately conclude with well-reasoned and appropriate response criteria. Despite their best efforts, breaches in various companies have become inevitable. Once there is unauthorized disclosure, a compromise of protected data, or hacking of protected information, an organization is obliged to respond. Establishing an effective response plan is no small feat.

Organization’s response to breach

Performing risk analysis is the primary purpose of implementing a security and privacy program and is one of the requirements under the safety rule. From the perspective of preventing the unsecured leak of information, risk analysis is one of the best processes for identifying vulnerabilities and threats in the medical field. Sufficient privacy determination can prevent breaches from occurring.

Response team

The response team should be selected from stakeholders who have an interest in the organization’s data and demonstrate integrity. The selected team should have the ability to implement and establish sustainable security responses. IT security, physical security, privacy officer, nurse auditor, administration, and health information services are the main streams for creating a response.

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