Smith Memorial Healthcare (SMH) is a hospital network headquartered in New York and operating in 7 other states. SMH uses an electronic medical record to enter and track information about its patients. Recently, SMH suffered a data breach where a third-party hacker was able to gain access to the SMH internal network.
Because it is a HIPPA-covered entity, SMH made a notification to the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services about the breach.
Which statement accurately describes SMH's notification responsibilities?
SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Cheryl is the sole owner of Fitness Coach, Inc., a medium-sized company that helps individuals realize their physical fitness goals through classes, individual instruction, and access to an extensive indoor gym. She has owned the company for ten years and has always been concerned about protecting customer's privacy while maintaining the highest level of service. She is proud that she has built long-lasting customer relationships.
Although Cheryl and her staff have tried to make privacy protection a priority, the company has no formal privacy policy. So Cheryl hired Janice, a privacy professional, to help her develop one.
After an initial assessment, Janice created a first of a new policy. Cheryl read through the draft and was concerned about the many changes the policy would bring throughout the company. For example, the draft policy stipulates that a customer's personal information can only be held for one year after paying for a service such as a session with personal trainer. It also promises that customer information will not be shared with third parties without the written consent of the customer. The wording of these rules worry Cheryl since stored personal information often helps her company to serve her customers, even if there are long pauses between their visits. In addition, there are some third parties that provide crucial services, such as aerobics instructors who teach classes on a contract basis. Having access to customer files and understanding the fitness levels of their students helps instructors to organize their classes.
Janice understood Cheryl's concerns and was already formulating some ideas for revision. She tried to put Cheryl at ease by pointing out that customer data can still be kept, but that it should be classified according to levels of sensitivity. However, Cheryl was skeptical. It seemed that classifying data and treating each type differently would cause undue difficulties in the company's day-to-day operations. Cheryl wants one simple data storage and access system that any employee can access if needed.
Even though the privacy policy was only a draft, she was beginning to see that changes within her company were going to be necessary. She told Janice that she would be more comfortable with implementing the new policy gradually over a period of several months, one department at a time. She was also interested in a layered approach by creating documents listing applicable parts of the new policy for each department.
What is the best reason for Cheryl to follow Janice's suggestion about classifying customer data?
Which federal agency plays a role in privacy policy, but does NOT have regulatory authority?
Which venture would be subject to the requirements of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act?
Under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), which of the following parties would require consent of an individual in order to obtain his or her Department of Motor Vehicle information?
