Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
Due to the nature of their work, attorneys have plenty of experience handling privileged information. But the rising number of data breaches and questionable storage practices throughout businesses overall have led lawyers into a new “battleground” of securing information—one that is often regulated or demands heightened security beyond IT specifications.
That’s why Legal Workspace, which offers legal-specific, cloud-based environments that host all the software applications, files, and folders needed to run a practice, is launching its HIPAA Compliant Edition (HCE) at ABA TECHSHOW (booth 117). The solution allows law firms categorized as business associates by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Omnibus Final Rule to easily meet mandated security arrangements with a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement.
HIPPA oversees the safeguarding of protected health information (PHI) that can include items ranging from medical history or records to laboratory results to insurance information. Its Omnibus Final Rule imposes requirements on covered entities to sign business associate agreements with their vendors that have access to PHI or maintain or transmit it. This includes law firms that handle insurance defense, personal injury and elder law or collection attorneys with access to PHI.
The Legal Workspace HIPAA Compliant Edition includes:
- A HIPAA Business Associate Agreement that saves covered entities and business associates significant costs when undertaking their own HIPAA compliance assessments.
- A risk assessment summary document that makes it easy for a law firm to work with a third-party compliance company.
- Legal Workspace staff that has been extensively trained on HIPAA regulations, passed a risk assessment and has the appropriate security policies in place to meet the HIPAA security rules.
- Hosted practice management and document management applications in a HIPPA compliant environment that applies to Legal Workspace partners such as Thomson Reuters ProLaw®, Practice Master®, Needles®, Amicus Attorney®, Worldox® or Microsoft SharePoint.
Legal Workspace will be demonstrating its HIPAA Compliant Edition at booth 117 at ABA TECHSHOW. You can also learn more by visiting www.legal-workspace.com or calling 877-713-8302.
