Businesses in the health industry are one of the most common targets for cyber attacks, and have the largest number of attempted breaches than any other industry worldwide. In the last year, breaches in the healthcare industry in the USA were reported at a rate of 1.4 each day.
This is what makes IT services for healthcare so crucial for both businesses and patients. Additionally, any healthcare organization must comply with HIPAA to ensure that all procedures and data transfers are done safely to guarantee the protection of sensitive personal medical data.
Your medical practice must maintain its patients’ trust if you want to continue providing the top level service. However, failing to comply with HIPAA will make this impossible. As a medical professional, you should already understand the importance of patient confidentiality, and by ensuring you follow the HIPAA guidelines, you can guarantee the security your patients need.
HIPAA Explained
HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is legislation introduced in 1996 that aimed to help protect sensitive patient information. It was designed for two primary reasons. First, for insurance to protect individuals between jobs should they require medical treatment rather than have them lose their insurance.
Second, to ensure that any sensitive medical information remained secure. HIPAA mandated that such information could only be accessed by those permitted, such as medical professionals treating the patient, and keep this information safe from potential cyber threats, especially with this data moving from physical paper copies onto online systems.
Who Does HIPAA Protect?
The biggest beneficiaries of HIPAA are the patients. HIPAA ensures that patients are covered even when between jobs, and guarantees their personal information remains private and secure. However, it is not only the patients that can benefit from HIPAA. Medical organizations can also look forward to what HIPAA will do for them.
As has been proven with other industries, cyber attacks can seriously impact a company’s reputation, and a breach could drive customers away. By complying with HIPAA, medical practices can give their customers peace of mind that their information is well-protected, allowing them to retain their business and continue to treat them when required.
As HIPAA demands that all medical information must be stored on the same system across practices, using the same code sets and identifiers makes it easier for medical professionals to access the data when they are permitted to do so. This allows them to provide the best care possible and streamlines the treatment process.
The Importance of Protecting Medical Data
Medical data is a highly sensitive aspect of record keeping. Failing to protect patient information adequately can and will lead to a wide range of issues. These issues can include identity theft and data ransoms, which can easily close businesses for good.
A data breach puts sensitive information at risk, and failing to follow the proper guidelines can damage your practice’s reputation. Your patients will lose trust in you, and you may find it difficult to recover. Because of these factors, you must put the utmost importance on protecting medical data through HIPAA.
How Can Your Practice Become HIPAA Compliant?
In-house Compliance
In-house compliance is a convenient way to become HIPAA compliant quickly. However, this is only possible if you already have all the tools at your disposal with your cybersecurity team.
Before attempting in-house compliance, you will need to make sure you have the following resources:
- A Self-Assessment Checklist
- A Risk Assessment Process
- A Security Content Automation Protocol
These resources will provide the foundations for beginning your compliance journey. However, as regulations can change, you will need to remain up-to-date with them to ensure continued compliance.
Managed Service Provider
Alternatively, a company specialized in IT services for healthcare can carry out the compliance procedure for you. This outsourced service is ideal if you do not have an IT team capable of following the compliance guidelines.
MSPs are dedicated to understanding the nuances of HIPAA, meaning they are already aware of what is expected while also adjusting their existing strategy to suit your practice. When working with an MSP, you can expect:
- Gap Analysis to evaluate how far away from HIPAA compliance your medical practice is
- Remediation to update your systems and procedures to bring your compliance in-line with requirements
- Monitoring to ensure your practice continues to be compliant and making adjustments when necessary, following changes in the HIPAA guidelines.
