What is the HITECH Act and How Does it Relate to HIPAA?

January 28, 2021

Trying to understand all of the complicated rules and regulations your practice needs to follow can sometimes feel like keeping up with the Joneses – but HIPAA isn’t the only compliance rulebook your practice needs to follow, and other laws (both new and old) impact your practice operations and your HIPAA compliance program – enter the HITECH Act. 

Whether it’s your first time visiting our news page (welcome!) or you’re a regular reader (welcome back!) you might’ve seen last week’s article covering the new HIPAA Safe Harbor bill that offers practices reduced HIPAA fines IF they have reasonable security safeguards already in place before a breach. The bill amends the HITECH Act to incorporate this change, but if you aren’t even sure what the HITECH Act really is, let’s take a step back and cover what the Act means for you and where these new changes come into play. 

The What

The ‘Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health’ Act, or HITECH Act (much easier to say), was signed into law way back in 2009 to essentially promote the implementation of health information technology, specifically the use of electronic health records (EHRs), by healthcare providers. Transitioning from paper to electronic records was (and still is) time-consuming and costly, and the HITECH act provided incentives for making the switch – while also ensuring that healthcare organizations along with their business associates remained in line with HIPAA law as they upgraded their systems. 

The Why

So you might be thinking – well doesn’t HIPAA law already promote the secure usage of EHR’s? You’re right (high five!) but the HITECH Act goes one step further and expands the enforcement and strength of HIPAA regulations related to technical requirements within the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. Thanks to the HITECH Act, violation tiers were introduced, increasing financial penalties for HIPAA violations and ultimately giving the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) more money in the bank to go after non-compliant covered entities. 

The HITECH act was also designed to answer questions around how to offer the same HIPAA protections to electronic protected health information (ePHI), not just physical PHI, as practices went digital. This included:

  • Solidifying the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requiring covered entities to provide prompt notification of any breaches. While this might seem like common sense, according to the latest HIPAA audit industry report, 29% of practices are still missing the mark on this requirement (yikes!).
  • Introducing the legal requirement for business associates to comply with HIPAA, not just covered entities (still super important today, and why those business associate agreements are so essential).
  • Incorporating the requirement for healthcare providers to conduct Security Risk Analyses (SRA’s) in order to be eligible for Meaningful Use (now Quality Payment Program) incentive payments.
  • Adding financial penalties for entities who fail to report a breach of PHI.

Where the HIPAA Safe Harbor Bill Fits In

Fast forward to 2021, and all the same needs the HITECH act was introduced to fill still apply. However, the newly signed HIPAA Safe Harbor Bill helps to reinforce the value of these security measures with the new incentives offered and opportunity for reduced fines – and it’s one of the few pieces of new legislation you should actually feel GOOD about!

So whether it’s HIPAA, HITECH, or the brand new Safe Harbor Bill – understanding and complying with each and every one of their requirements is essential to protecting your patients. 

Still not quite sure about what’s required? Don’t sweat it! Schedule a free consult with one of our HIPAA experts today to ensure you’re up to speed.

RECENT POSTS

Related posts

Ambry Phishing Settlement
Abyde News, Fines, HIPAA

$700K HIPAA Settlement: What the Ambry Genetics Phishing Breach Teaches Every Practice

September 21, 2026 No comments yet

September 21, 2026   The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced its biggest HIPAA settlement of the year, reaching nearly a million dollars.  Ambry, a genetic testing and clinical genomics provider based in Aliso Viejo, California is at the center of this enforcement. A settlement was reached over a 2020 phishing attack that exposed the Protected Health Information (PHI) of more than 225,000 individuals. This settlement is a clear reminder that even large organizations trip up on HIPAA requirements.    What happened In January 2020, an employee email account at Ambry was compromised through a phishing attack.  The breach potentially exposed a wide range of PHI, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, financial details, and more. Ambry reported the breach to OCR in March 2020, which kicked off the investigation.    Where OCR found gaps OCR’s investigation identified several HIPAA Security Rule gaps, including: No accurate, thorough risk analysis of risks and vulnerabilities to ePHI No process for cutting off access to ePHI when an employee left or no longer needed access No unique user IDs for tracking who was accessing ePHI systems These are baseline HIPAA requirements that every Covered Entity and Business Associate is expected to have in place.   The settlement terms Ambry paid $700,000 and agreed to a two-year corrective action plan, under which it must: Complete a thorough risk analysis of ePHI confidentiality, integrity, and availability Build and execute a risk management plan addressing what that analysis turns up Review and update Security Rule policies and procedures as needed Implement unique user identification across all ePHI systems Train the whole workforce on those updated policies The takeaway for practices When 90% of healthcare hacks start with a successful phishing attempt, it’s key your team is aware of the role they play to keep data safe. Every practice should ask; Do we know exactly where our ePHI lives and how it moves through our systems? Do we have a current, documented risk analysis? Would we catch it fast if a former employee’s access wasn’t revoked? Looking for the first step of addressing these gaps? Meet with one of our compliance experts to see where you currently stand. 

Azul Vision Right of Access
Abyde News, Fines, HIPAA

Right of Access Enforcement Hits Eye Care: Inside the Azul Vision Settlement

September 1, 2026 No comments yet

September 1, 2026   The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its 55th settlement under the HIPAA Right of Access Initiative, and this one is a good reminder that “we’ll get to it” is an easy shortcut to a massive financial penalty.   What happened Azul Vision, Inc., a California optometry enterprise healthcare provider, took nearly two years to provide a patient her healthcare records failed to give a patient timely access to her health records. She requested her records in January 2023. She didn’t actually receive them until January 2025, or two years later, and only after OCR opened an investigation following her complaint in April 2023.   The importance of Right of Access The HIPAA Privacy Rule’s Right of Access is straightforward: patients are entitled to their healthcare records within 30 days of a request, with one possible 30-day extension if needed.    The cost Azul Vision agreed to a two-year, OCR-monitored corrective action plan and paid $50,000. The corrective action plan requires the practice to: Review and revise its written policies and procedures for Privacy Rule compliance.  Regularly report to HHS a log of every PHI access request it receives, including when it came in and when it was resolved, Train all workforce members on right of access requirements and the practice’s own procedures.   Practical takeaways Have a documented, assigned process for access requests: not an informal “someone will handle it” arrangement. Track every request against the 30-day (or extended 60-day) clock: If nothing is timestamping requests, nothing is catching the ones that slip. Train staff specifically on right of access: this is a distinct Privacy Rule obligation from general HIPAA awareness, and it’s clearly one OCR is actively enforcing.   The bottom line A single records request that went unanswered turned into a $50,000 penalty, two years of federal monitoring, and a detrimental hit to the organization’s reputation. That’s a steep price for what really comes down to a missing process. If your team can’t answer “what happens the moment a patient asks for their records?” right now, that’s the gap to close before your practice ends up as OCR’s next enforcement case. Want a streamlined way to close your compliance gaps? Meet with an Abyde expert today!

OSF Healthcare HIPAA Settlement
Abyde News, Fines, HIPAA

What OSF Healthcare’s Ransomware Fine Teaches Every Practice About SRAs

August 5, 2026 No comments yet

August 5, 2026 The latest HIPAA fine is another clear reminder that ransomware attacks are, unfortunately, here to stay in the healthcare industry. A settlement involving the OSF Healthcare System was recently announced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). As an enterprise healthcare provider in the midwest, the organization serves 174 locations, including 16 hospitals – a prime target for a ransomware attack.    So, what happened?  In April 2021, OSF discovered that they joined the unlucky club of ransomware victims when a malicious actor deployed Nephilim, a ransomware strain made to target larger organizations. Once the ransomware infected OSF systems, the hacker demanded payment or patient Protected Health Information (PHI) would be leaked online. In this attack, sensitive information like financial account information, driver’s license numbers, medical record numbers, and more, were all exposed. Over 53,000 patient records were exposed in this attack.  When ransomware attacks in healthcare have soared 278% in recent years, it’s more of a when then an if your organization doesn’t have the right safeguards in place.  While the breach was discovered in April, OSF healthcare reported the breach to the OCR in October. The OCR took it from there, digging into what precautions (or lack thereof) let this happen.  What did the OCR discover? If you’ve read any of our other fine breakdowns, you already know where this is going: another missing Security Risk Analysis (SRA).  The SRA is a required document every HIPAA-regulated entity (ie: every practice and their Business Associates that handle patient information) needs to complete. The SRA is a thorough review of the physical, technical, and administrative safeguards in place to prevent PHI ending up in the wrong hands. While the OCR didn’t specify exactly how the ransomware got into OSF’s system, a technical safeguard vulnerability was very likely the entry point. A proactive SRA could have flagged that gap before it turned into a major breach. In addition to missing this required documentation, OSF also took too long to report the breach to the OCR and notify affected patients. This is a direct violation of the Breach Notification Rule, which requires organizations to notify patients within 60 days of a discovered breach. Moreover, since the breach impacted more than 500 patients, OSF was also required to report this breach to the OCR within 2 months as well. Time is of the essence in every component of a breach, from securing systems to ensuring affected parties are aware to protect themselves and an over five month delay was unacceptable in the eyes of the OCR.    What was the result?  OSF’s settlement tops the list as the largest fine of the year, coming in at $552,250, plus government monitoring for the next two years.  It’s very important to note that this breach occurred in 2021, meaning that over five years were spent from the initial breach, to investigations, to the public press releases. Also, the average cost of a healthcare breach is over 7 million dollars –  from implementing secure systems, notifying patients, legal fees, and more. The Takeaway While the settlement payment and Corrective Action Plan (CAP) are just the cherries on top, this experience was a tremendous cost of time, money, and resources, highlighting the importance of making sure everything is secure before a situation occurs.  So, when was the last time you looked at your SRA? It’s time to seriously analyze your current compliance posture. Ransomware groups don’t check whether you’re a small dental office or a 16-hospital health system before they attack, they check whether the door was left open. Time and again, OCR’s findings come back to the same root cause: organizations can’t secure what they haven’t even identified as a problem. Looking to review your current compliance standings? Meet with our team of experts for a complimentary educational consultation.