CynergisTek Updates OCR Compliance & Audit Services to Ready for Phase 2 of HIPAA Audit Program

Specialized Healthcare Privacy & IT Security Firm Issues Updated Proprietary OCR Audit Toolkit to Customers

AUSTIN, TX – April 15, 2016 — CynergisTek™, an authority in health information security, privacy and regulatory compliance, today announced that it has updated its suite of OCR Compliance & Audit Services to provide healthcare organizations with tools that are aligned with the new phase 2 HIPAA audit protocol adopted by the Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR will inaugurate the next phase of its HIPAA audits by beginning desk audits of covered entities in May, and desk audits of business associates in June. The OCR HIPAA compliance desk audits will review the policies and procedures adopted and employed by covered entities and their business associates to meet selected standards and implementation specifications of the Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules.

As part of updating its audit services, CynergisTek revamped its proprietary OCR Audit Toolkit in accordance with the new protocol and issued it to current Compliance Assistant Partner Program (CAPP) customers and participants of previous OCR Audit Services. The toolkit presents each of the 180 standards and implementation specifications of the HIPAA rules along with the measurement criteria auditors will use to evaluate for compliance. It also provides an actionable worksheet to help manage the key materials that every organization will need to respond to an audit or compliance review.

Already delivered to select customers and available to new OCR Mock Audit and OCR Audit Readiness Workshop participants, the timely updates to its OCR Audit Toolkit exemplifies CynergisTek’s commitment to continuously evolve its offerings to address the increasingly complex regulatory landscape in healthcare.

“Healthcare organizations have a multitude of care initiatives and compliance requirements to manage at any one time, making it very difficult for them to keep pace and ensure due diligence on all of it,” said David Holtzman, VP of Compliance at CynergisTek. “The threat to healthcare’s information assets is at an all-time high, making third party assistance in compliance and security specifically business-critical. We are proud to have the expertise and inside knowledge to support our clients where they need it most today.”

About CynergisTek
CynergisTek is a top-ranked information security and privacy consulting firm. The company offers solutions to help organizations measure privacy and security programs against regulatory requirements and assists in developing risk management best practices. Since 2004 the company has served as a partner to hundreds in the healthcare industry. CynergisTek is also dedicated to supporting and educating the industry by contributing to relevant associations such as HIMSS, AHIMA, HFMA, HCCA, AHIA, AHLA, IAPP and CHIME. CynergisTek has been named in multiple research reports as one of the top firms provider organizations turn to for privacy and security.