Armchair HIPAA

For this special episode of Armchair HIPAA we have, for the first time, two guests! Wyatt Murray (consultant) and Michael Hannan (chief security officer) are employed by LightEdge Solutions! They are experts in Software as a Service (SAAS) and how it helps the healthcare industry stay secure and compliant without burden. Using third party SAAS organizations like LightEdge relieves a lot of stress that covered entities typically try to take on by themselves. Trying to take on too much work that you don’t have the time or expertise to handle leads to disastrous mistakes. Reach out for some extra help and consider SAAS.

Nick Gallo Chief Servant at ComplianceLine, is full of wise advice for compliance leaders. He has an interesting take on leadership roles that can frankly be applied to any business. Nick talks about the rebranding of the compliance role and how our industry is moving down a more intimate path; it won't be enough to just sit in your office monitoring compliance from your computer. Try pulling from the natural empathy within your staff and apply it to your everyday tasks. Or, in a similar way, draw on the empathy within yourself to reach out to those in other departments. Don't get left in the dust, start implementing these changes in your organization today!

Nanette Awad is the Senior HIPAA Privacy & HIM Manager at Molina Healthcare. She joins us on the podcast to talk about her experiences and how her job has changed through the years. Everything from the annoyance of tracking down physicians for signatures to interacting with a smarter patient force. This is not an episode you want to miss!

Nancy Sabino is the IT Strategy and Compliance Master at SabinoComp Tech. Her, Sarah and hopefully by now all of you, know the importance of training your employees. But most employees that aren’t in IT, don’t understand how their behaviors in the software can damage the computer and compromise PHI. Not following HIPAA regulations set up to prevent weak spots in technology and believing that having the latest updates automatically protects against malware are two of the biggest mistakes Nancy sees every day in her line of work. Listen to her explain the ways you can mitigate these risks.

Mike Annand is the Director of Customer Compliance at Armor Cloud Security and he joins us today to talk a little bit about how Armor can be an excellent tool to help aid you in your compliance journey! However, him and Sarah mostly chat about the differences between compliance and security and how the COVID-19 pandemic has not only made it harder for covered entities to protect against ransomware, but it has also made their job so much easier! Be sure to settle in for this episode packed with rich information!

Rachael Stark is the HIM Director at Bartlett Regional Hospital. She can handle it all! She has to manage medical, behavioral and addictive health making sure to be in compliance with HIPAA, CFR Part 2, and C.A.R.E.S! Rachael has to make sure that her employees are following all the rules, keeping patient information safe and secure. Rachael talks about how she found herself in this position and the joys of having a supportive community. Don't miss a minute!

Jeremy Lougee joins us on this episode to help compliance officers take their compliance plan to the next level. What you are doing in your organization may be technically compliant but not in line with the spirit of the law. In the case of a breach the OCR wants to see proof that your organization were putting patient protected information first. Jeremy has very helpful advice on how you can bring your compliance program from binders and excel to a single comprehensive and actionable plan. 

Tom Bennett is the Director Of Information Technology at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital. Ranken Jordan is known in the St. Louis, MO area as beacon of hope for a lot of families. Working and raising a family 30 minutes away from the city, Sarah is personally familiar with the impact they have on the community. It was a joy have Tom as a guest and learn about the culture of the hospital and how he and his team work together to make compliance work for their providers and patients rather than looking at it as an obstacle. Tom offers a lot of great advice an insight into how Ranken Jordan Pediatric innovates with compassion. It's impossible to not learn something from this impactful episode of Armchair HIPAA

The OCR has proposed some privacy rule changes that could shake up the way your covered entity handles patient records. Dena Castricone, Privacy and Healthcare Attorney at DMC Law, has come onto Armchair HIPAA to emphasize some of the changes that could be coming. Sarah and Dena breakdown the proposed rule changes and explain what could mean major policy overhaul and what could be a positive load off your shoulders, depending on your current policies. Dena stresses, that these are only proposed changes but now is the time to look them over. Once these changes are posted to the federal register you only have 60 days to submit your comments and concerns. Make sure you understand the changes and be sure to comment once they are posted!

What starts as a normal episode, takes a personal turn-our first episode of 2021 has the chaotic energy of what we all went through in 2020. Lana Fox, founder and CEO of Clinic Note talks about her startup Clinic Note. She shares her interview process and the work culture she embodies to empower and motivate her employees. Lana reveals her passion for her company's mission and what she went through to get where she is. Sarah and Lana bond over being a working a mom-each with their own growing healthcare start-up. They pull back the curtain for a glimpse of their personal lives so you can learn more about the people behind the business. I hope that if you've had a hard year, you know you're not alone; there are people in this business who want to help and understand that there's always more than just work life going on. Expand your professional network with caring people like Lana, and other guests of this podcast, who want to see you succeed. Happy New Year!

Travis Good has his own startup Haekka, of which he is the CEO and co-founder. Haekka aims to make security and privacy training for business associates work for their companies. Travis joins us on Armchair HIPAA to discuss the complicated and dynamic between business associate and covered entity. He has nearly 8 years experience in working with business associates(BAs) and knows their frustrations as well as shortcomings.  Tune in to get an insider's peak at what BAs are doing right and wrong and how covered entities can lower their risk when working with BAs.

Sharon Kamowitz is a HIPAA consultant with her own business, "Sharon Kamowitz Consulting", who is also an attorney. Today Sharon comes onto Armchair HIPAA to share her advice on creating policies and procedures. She has experience with small clinics and large hospitals so she knows what it takes to make functioning policies and procedures for any organization. Lend your ear to our guest Sharon so that you may learn a thing or two about how to get your employees to read and implement your organization's policies and procedures.

Patrick Gray is the Director Of Information Technology at Anchorage Fracture & Orthopedic Clinic. He is new to HIPAA but has a long history in IT, working previously in finance. When transitioning to healthcare, he saw that there were major holes in his clinic's security defenses. He's been working tirelessly training his users and putting in protections to make Anchorage Clinic compliant to the next level! He's come up with some very exciting and out of the box ways to get users engaged in keeping up with what they learn in their training. We are hoping Patrick can teach you something too!

Prerna is back! Prerna Dahiya joins Armchair HIPAA for the second time to share more of her wisdom. This time on Armchair HIPAA she  explains to us the importance of having doctors and leadership actively being HIPAA compliant and the dangers that can come along when they aren't. But she doesn't just want to pressure us with trying to make those who are least likely to engage in HIPAA compliance, well, engage-she tells us how we can get them involved. Prerna gives her tips and advice on how to train doctors and leaders in a way that they will understand and remember. Be sure to catch this episode before you talk to your providers and leaders about HIPAA. 

Shana found herself in an interesting position when HIPAA compliance was thrust upon her-introducing her to the compliance world. Now, she's taken what she learned to her current job as a compliance officer at Prime Care Coordination. Shana has had to navigate awkward situations with her superiors, wrestled with regulations, and comes out on top. She's become a real HIPAA hero for HIPAAtrek especially. Let her be your HIPAA hero too on today's episode of Armchair HIPAA.

Joanie Perkins truly loves what she does and brings that love onto Armchair HIPAA to talk about auditing rural health clinics. She brushes up on HIPAA regulations regularly so she's always at the top of her game! She's got great advice on how you as a HIPAA Compliance officer should conduct audits, and when you should be conducting them. Listen to Joanie give the run-down on HIPAA auditing before your next HIPAA audit.

Phishing is a major security concern and everybody in the HIPAA world is talking about it. It's talked about so much, in such basic terms that it gets boring and people don't want to hear about it anymore but don't actually change their behavior to prevent it. Troy Di Lello of Di Lello IT Services has teamed up with Armchair HIPAA to spice up the conversation about phishing once again and hopefully inspire our listeners to take it seriously-unlike his unfortunate clients who did not heed his advice and ended up falling for phishing scams! Troy emphasizes that phishing scams are a psychological attack and therefore the best course of action for prevent these scams is social training. Find out how you can beef up your phishing training and enjoy Troy's horror stories before you become one!

HIPAA Compliance Officers aren't just needed in clinics and hospitals-they are needed everywhere there is patient information to protect! Carol Simpson works for a non-profit organization that offers round-the-clock care for their patients who live in the facility. This brings about very different problems than one might expect to face in a hospital. Carol talks about what it's like to be the compliance officer in such a setting and how difficult it is for the staff to withhold information from the patients and patient's families who they feel a personal connection with. We can all learn a lot from the solutions Carol provides to these unique problems that might not actually sound all that unique if you've ever had to deal with a patient's family.

Sarah sits down with Kyle Fromm, the Healthcare Compliance Officer with ADVENT. Kyle has such a rich background in healthcare-starting first as an RN, then switching gears to become a Healthcare attorney where he used his knowledge to stand out as a Compliance Officer. Currently he is working on becoming an accountant to further understand HIPAA and security risk. Kyle knows HIPAA like the back of his hand and joins Armchair HIPAA to talk about why anticipating what could go wrong could save you and your organization a world of headache. Learn how to stop stressing about the what ifs of compliance and how to start getting ahead of them in today's episode of Armchair HIPAA!

Brenda Manning, Privacy Director at Carilion Clinic, found herself working from home much more often-like so many of us during the pandemic. This unfamiliar environment of remote working is difficult for any employee with little-to-no experience working from home, but some are wondering if HIPAA compliance is a job that's even possible to do remotely. Brenda thinks it can and is here on Armchair HIPAA to explain to all of us how it can be done!

Prerna Dahiya, the Health Information Manager and Privacy Officer at Tower Behavioral Hospital, comes on Armchair HIPAA's first ever episode to share her story. She tells us how we can get employees all on the same page and committed to your compliance goals and shares her tips for keeping privacy and security top of mind for all employees. Listen to this week's episode to learn how you can get your employees more engaged in HIPAA compliance.