Resources:
The articles below discuss HIPAA compliance and will be valuable resources when you are working through this week’s activity.
Google Drive is HIPAA compliant if it is used as part of a paid-for Google Workspace plan with the capabilities to support HIPAA compliance, or if it is used as part of a Google Workspace plan that is combined with other security measures to support HIPAA compliance. The free version of Google Drive cannot be used to store or share Protected Health Information (PHI)

This HIPAA compliance checklist what you need to know about HIPAA regulations:

Establish whether your organization is required to comply with HIPAA.
Appoint a HIPAA Privacy Officer.
If required, appoint a Security Officer.
Understand what PHI is.
Conduct an audit to determine where how PHI is used.
Minimize the number of designated record sets in which PHI is maintained.
Be aware that the Security Rule consists of more than just the Administrative, Physical, and Technical Safeguards.
Have procedures for notifying individuals and HHS’ Office for Civil Rights of data breaches.
Verify if your organization is exempted from reporting data breaches to the State Attorneys General.
Track changes to HIPAA and temporary Notices of Enforcement Discretion.

Overview
In this course, you are looking comprehensively at developing technical security solutions to counteract potential adversaries. You will expand on that knowledge by considering how compliance can inform strategies. In this activity, you will focus on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance.

In response to rising security challenges in the healthcare field, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services set privacy and security requirements that healthcare providers and their business associates must meet. HIPAA is expansive in its coverage, but you will examine how it deals with electronic protected health information (ePHI) and security safeguards in the three risk domains of people, process, and technology. You may also see the process domain referred to as administrative.

As you work through this assignment, remember compliance is often used as a baseline when developing an organization’s controls. Healthcare organizations can use HIPAA when forming their own security plans. Compliance has technical benefits and also reduces the organization’s transition time from security concept to implementation because it helps support the concept.

Prompt
Review the selection of HIPAA compliance articles in this module’s resources before formulating your responses for this activity.

You must address the critical elements listed below.

Meeting HIPAA Compliance
Discuss how meeting HIPAA compliance can minimize the possibility of a data breach when implementing encryption.
Discuss how meeting HIPAA compliance can minimize the possibility of a data breach when implementing access control.
Discuss how meeting HIPAA compliance can minimize the possibility of a data breach when implementing security policies.
Improving Security Posture
Explain ways you can further minimize the attack surface of an organization by building on previously implemented HIPAA compliance requirements.
Assess how HIPAA compliance plays a role for future scalability of new implementations in one or more of the risk domains (people, process, and technology).
Explain how HIPAA compliance can support a multi-layered approach to security.
Third-Party Agreements
Discuss how HIPAA compliance affects an organization’s agreements with external contractors.
Discuss how HIPAA compliance affects the implementation of access controls for a cloud-based location.


Address every part of the prompt, and for the response, use very simplified language with a lot of details for each part of the prompt. Ensure that each section is distinct and that all information is very pertinent to each part of the prompt. Be thorough