What is Risk Assessment?
A Risk Assessment is a written analysis of the threats, vulnerabilities, and likely impacts to your organization's systems and data - the foundational document HIPAA, FTC Safeguards, SOC 2, and most security reviewers require annually.
A Risk Assessment isn't a one-time event - it's an ongoing process that's documented at least annually. The output is a written document that lists identified risks, their likelihood, their impact, the controls in place, and the gaps.
Auditors review the Risk Assessment as the 'starting point' for any compliance evaluation. The absence of a current Risk Assessment is the single most common HIPAA finding by OCR.
The HIPAA Risk Assessment specifically requires identifying risks to PHI, evaluating the effectiveness of safeguards, and documenting decisions about accepting / mitigating / transferring risk.
Why it matters for Florida small business
Without a current Risk Assessment, you fail the first question of any compliance audit. Your security reviewer wants a copy too.
What to do
Adopt a template (the HIPAA Starter Kit + WISP Template both include one), fill it in, and schedule next year's review on the calendar today.