The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that the agency expects to begin Phase 2 Audits in early 2016. OCR intends to conduct desk audits and on-site audits of covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs), and has contracted with FCi Federal, Inc., to conduct the data security audits. OCR will begin sending pre-audit surveys to CEs and will obtain BA information from the survey responses. OCR intends to select 350 CEs and 50 BAs over the next three years to conduct audits. Of the 350 CEs selected, there will be approximately 232 healthcare providers, 109 health plans, and nine healthcare clearinghouses. The BAs selected will include 35 IT-related vendors and 15 non-IT-related vendors. OCR intends to audit 150 CEs and 50 BAs for compliance with the security standards, 100 CEs for compliance with the privacy standards, and 100 CEs for compliance with the breach notification standards. Read More >>
