Ready for an OIG Security Audit?

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Posted By: Roberta Mullin May 5, 2015

Elana_Zana-whiteBy Elana Zana, OMW Health Law
Twitter: @EZhealthlaw

At HIMSS15 in Chicago I had the pleasure of speaking with my colleague, Dave Schoolcraft, regarding the OIG Security Audits. These in depth security audits conducted not by the OCR or CMS, but rather the Office of Inspector General, delve into the security systems of Eligible Hospitals (and potentially Eligible Professionals) participating in the EHR Incentive Program.

Background
The OIG in its 2014 and 2015 Work Plans identified its plan to audit participants in the EHR Incentive Programs and their business associates, including cloud service providers, “to determine whether they adequately protected electronic health information created or maintained by certified EHR technology.” This audit stretches beyond a typical meaningful use audit and is not only centered on the security of ePHI stored in the CEHRT, but also looks at relationships with downstream service providers. Though EPs and EHs that participate in the EHR Incentive Program are aware of pending audits from CMS (via Figliozzi & Company), including the necessary documentation and security risk analysis requirements, these audits may come as quite a surprise – especially the level of thoroughness the OIG pursues in these audits. Though the OIG identifies the targeted entities due to their participation in the EHR Incentive Program, these audits look nothing like a CMS audit but instead are an in-depth HIPAA security audit.

The Audit
The audit itself is conducted by OIG investigators that are knowledgeable about security infrastructure as well as HIPAA requirements. The OIG commences the audit with a phone call followed by a formal letter notifying the recipient entity of the audit. As stated in its letter “the objective of [the] audit is to assess if the [hospital’s] meaningful use requirements have protected the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information (ePHI) in its EHR systems.” The OIG sends out a document request/questionnaire with approximately 17 categories and subcategories that it is investigating. In addition to reviewing the responses to the document requests the OIG auditors come on-site for 2-3 weeks to conduct interviews and personally review the security infrastructure.

Sample audit questions include:

  • Review of the EHR network diagram that shows EHR network architecture including external connections.
  • Provision of a description of internal or external web sites associated with the EHR system including patient portals.
  • Analysis of existing HIPAA policies and procedures, including patch management and access controls.
  • Detailed description of EHR network devices including the manufacturer and model number, software version and primary function.

As stated in the OIG Workplan, the target of the investigation is not only the covered entity itself, but also the relationships with business associates and downstream cloud service providers.

Audit Readiness Plan
It is unknown how many audits OIG will conduct and the ultimate goal of these audits. We believe that the OIG plans on creating a roll-up report to describe the findings of these audits, rather than publishing individual reports – however this has not been verified because the OIG has denied Freedom of Information Act requests.

We recommend that covered entities prepare for these audits as follows:

  • Gather information regarding existing security infrastructure in place, including relationships about sharing PHI with business associates and downstream providers.
  • Evaluate health IT vendors to determine if they are compliant with business associate agreements – this may include asking the business associate to provide you with evidence and results from a security risk assessment.
  • Identify team members that will respond to an OIG audit request.
  • Conduct a mock audit to fully assess security.

Additional Audits
The OIG Work Plans also identify three other related types of audits.

  1. OIG Audits of Medicare EHR Incentive Program. Earlier this month the OIG issued a number of multi-year audits of EHR Incentive Program participants. These audits are very similar to the CMS Meaningful Use audits conducted by Figliozzi, but are in fact not conducted by CMS. Unlike the CMS audits however, the OIG audits are multi-year and may request information from both Stage 1 and Stage 2 attestations.
  2. OIG Audits of Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. OIG has conducted at least three audits of states issuing Medicaid EHR Incentive Program dollars: Louisiana, Massachusetts and Florida. Of the three audited, only Florida was found to have issued the EHR Incentive Program dollars correctly. The OIG has instructed the other states to reimburse the federal government for the incorrectly distributed funds and adjust the payment calculations for the hospitals going forward.
  3. OIG Audits of Contingency Plans. Pursuant to the HIPAA Security Rule, covered entities must have contingency plans in place in case of a disaster or other occurrence that damages systems that contain ePHI (45 CFR 164.308). The OIG plans to compare hospitals’ contingency plans with “government and industry recommend practices.”

Preparing for these OIG audits can be accomplished during your own internal Security Risk Analysis and can be a useful tool for verifying the accuracy and thoroughness of your own process.

This article was originally published on OMW Health Law and is republished here with permission.