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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Information Privacy, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance

  The HHS Office for Civil Rights is asking for $46.7 million in funding, an increase of $5.6 million over the current level.  76 percent of the new funds will be for increased enforcement of health information privacy and security rules. Lessons Learned:  Increased enforcement of existing and new regulatory requirements are on the way.  Is your organization prepared and meeting all compliance requirements for HIPAA/HITECH or are you willing to take your chances?  Based on numerous other lessons learned stories in this blog (search the Lessons Learned Blog for your sector or other keywords), getting your compliance program in shape sooner than later makesRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Health Care, Regulatory Compliance

  Cignet Health is facing a $4.3 M civil penalty after violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule and failing to cooperative with HHS’s subsequent probe.  This is the first civil money penalty for a violation of HIPAA. Lessons Learned: The Feds mean business and there will be more fines and lawsuits and more embarrassing headlines for health care organizations that do not take compliance, risk assessments and incident management seriously.  Is your organization meeting all HIPAA/HITECH compliance requirements?  Do you have the necessary documentation in place to provide HHS with information in the event of an audit? Does your documentation help your organization demonstrate all appropriateRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Financial, Health Care, Information Privacy, Information Security

  According to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report, there were 286 million new threats in 2010 which equals an average of about 783,561 new threats per day.  The report also points to dramatic increases in both frequency and sophistication of targeted attacks and continued growth of social networking sites to distribute attacks. Lessons learned:  Your people are under attack…how is your organization keeping your people up to date on new attacks and new threats?Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Emergency Management, Risk Management, School Safety

  Brazilian gunman fatally shot 11 children and wounded 18 others at a Rio de Janeiro public school… One person dead and three others hurt in a shooting at Southern Union Community College… Student Planned to Shoot “As Many as He Could”… If you followed the headlines last week, we saw multiple tragedies at schools and colleges around the globe.  However, one high school in Missouri was able to prevent what could have been a potentially devastating attack. An 18 year old student was arrested with conspiring to shoot other students at his school.  There were multiple warning signs identified and fortunately two brave students cameRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety

  Raymond J. McNulty, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education discusses that in order to see real change in our schools and move the needle on closing the achievement gap, school leaders need to try some things that aren’t “proven.”  Organizations need to experiment with “next practices” not best practices that have been researched and proven. Lessons Learned:  As Einstein said long ago, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Lessons learned have clearly shown that schools need to replace traditional and status quo methodologies with new and innovative tools to help improve student achievement,Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, School Safety

  Attention Governors, State Education Directors, Superintendents, School Boards, Principals and community leaders: What is Brain Drain?  Most often ‘brain drain’ is defined as ‘the human capital flight’ or the loss of skilled intellectual and technical labor through the movement of such labor to more favorable geographic, economic or professional environments. But a more serious and more damaging ‘brain drain’ is taking place within our schools on a daily basis and the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention last week validates this more serious ‘brain drain’ is taking place. According to The White House Blog: Every day, thousands of kids, teens, and young adults aroundRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Regulatory Compliance

  A new study by the Ponemon Institute shows organizations that perform internal audits spent less per capita on compliance than those that didn’t perform internal audits. Larry Ponemon is chairman of the Ponemon Institute and he commented:  “I believe that the reason why internal audits reduce compliance cost is that they help prioritize the organization’s overall compliance efforts.  This leads to greater efficiency in managing the total compliance burden. In other words, companies that do not conduct audits appear to be less efficient in their ongoing program management of data protection and privacy efforts.” From my experiences and from lessons learned I agree thatRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, School Safety

  Seems like ‘winning’ is a popular word these days thanks to all the TV and radio shows that have jumped on the Mr. Sheen train. But is Mr. Sheen really winning or is he really reaching out for ‘HELP’? With the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention coming up tomorrow, it seems like ‘HELPING’ is a better word of the day.  As White House Blog points out, thousands of kids, teens, and young adults are bullied every day.  And estimates are that nearly one-third of all school-aged children are bullied each year which is upwards of 13 million students.  How are communities and schoolsRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Pictures are worth a thousand words.  Pictures tell stories.  So what does a picture tell about alarming trends in schools? Financial Funding is Decreasing and the ‘funding cliff is coming’… School Safety obligations and costs are increasing School Safety liabilities and costs are increasing Regulations and Federal Mandates (OCR Dear Colleague Letter) for schools are increasing Compliance costs are increasing Legal Defensibility responsibilities and costs are increasing Behavioral and mental health responsibilities and costs are increasing Bullying and Cyber Bullying related costs are increasing Suicide related costs are increasing   Funding is decreasing for many reasons and funding will continue to be an ongoingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, School Safety

  In response to the January 2011 shooting at a Nebraska high school that killed one school administrator and seriously injured another, Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial has introduced LB 516.  The bill would allow security guards, administrators and teachers to carry a concealed handgun at Nebraska public and private schools, including colleges and universities. The policy would be optional and would require a two-thirds majority vote by a school’s governing body, like the school board.  In Texas, lawmakers are also preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus Is allowing administrators and teachers to bring weapons into aRead More →