Doctors Management Services

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with Doctors’ Management Services, a Massachusetts medical management company that provides a variety of services, including medical billing and payor credentialing. The HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules set forth the requirements that HIPAA-regulated entities must follow to protect the privacy and security of health information. The $100,000 settlement resolves a large breach report regarding a ransomware attack that affected the electronic protected health information of 206,695 individuals. Ransomware is a type of malware (malicious software) designed to deny access to a user’s data, usually by encrypting the data with a key known only to the hacker who deployed the malware, until a ransom is paid. This marks the first ransomware agreement OCR has reached. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and OCR has been working with health insurers, providers, and clearinghouses covered by HIPAA to ensure better data security. Ransomware and hacking are the primary cyber-threats in