Network Solutions Unlimited Blog

Technology has changed the way that healthcare is delivered to patients, and it has helped to stabilize costs, increase access, and personalize the care delivery process. That said, these innovations have led many to question the privacy of patient data, bringing the issue front and center. Let’s take a look at how IT has changed the way that the healthcare industry functions in regard to data privacy.

It’s important to note that all parties involved in patient care (including the patient) benefit from the Electronic Health Record (EHR). These systems are now fundamental to a successful health maintenance system. As more technology is developed that could be integrated into the EHR platform, there is a stalemate of sorts keeping EHR technology from being what it could be. Today, we will briefly discuss some of the issues. 

A security audit is designed to test the overall integrity of your business when it comes to its IT security. In today’s environment, businesses need to have strengthened fortifications in place to protect themselves from cyberthreats, and these fortifications need to be properly tested and reviewed over time. Let’s talk about some of the types of audits and their benefits, and how you can assess your security.

If there is any industry that connected devices are undeniably useful in, it would have to be the medical field. Unfortunately, recent news would suggest that connected devices should be avoided as the BlueKeep vulnerability is still able to attack medical systems… for an unfortunate reason. Find out more by reading on.

While the explosion of technological advancement has been great for business, it’s become more challenging than ever before to keep sensitive information safe--even if all you use is an Internet connection. Even small healthcare offices are feeling the effects of this proliferation of threats and malware as they struggle to keep their organizations secure and compliant with government agencies.

Since their inception, traditional filing storage systems have been at constant threat of user error, document destruction, and theft. In recent years, the filing systems put into place by healthcare organizations have become more streamlined than the traditional file cabinet, and due to their nature of being connected digital systems, the increase in security concerns is problematic. Hackers are aware the type of data that healthcare organizations store, and are even more aware that they can make a ton of cash with it.

In particular, hospitals are major targets of hacking attacks. Ransomware is a huge threat to all organizations, but to a hospital it could be a death knell. Hospitals require data in order to care for their patients, and if that data isn’t available, lives are put at risk. This makes hospitals most likely to pay for the safe return of their files, as they have little choice in the matter when their patients and their data are targeted. The same can be said for large enterprises, which might see paying for the safe return of their data as the more viable solution compared to their other choices.

Here are a few tips to help you keep your business HIPAA compliant.

• Use data backup and disaster recovery: You need to make sure that your organization has tools that can back up your data and restore it at a later date. This means that you need to have a recovery point objective and a recovery time objective. You should make sure that your data is stored both on-site and off-site, just in case you need a last-minute restore.
• Implement enterprise-level security solutions: Chances are that regardless of what industry your business falls into, you collect some sensitive information that needs to be protected at all costs. Firewalls, antivirus, spam blocking, and content filtering cannot be afterthoughts--they are practically crucial if you want to optimize your network’s chances against threats. A Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution is a great way to take advantage of these preventative security solutions.
• Use encryption: There are times when organizations won’t see the need to encrypt their data, simply because they may already have security measures put into place that seem to be perfectly fine. While HIPAA doesn’t necessarily require that your organization use encryption, it’s still highly recommended. Encryption makes it so that any stolen data is practically impossible to decipher.
• Consult IT professionals: Your organization focuses on a specific craft, one that may not have anything to do with IT security. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to outsource this responsibility to IT professionals whose sole responsibility is the security of your IT infrastructure. Any technician worth your time will be able to tell you a thing or two about HIPAA compliance.

If your business is finding HIPAA compliance difficult, Network Solutions Unlimited would be happy to assist you. We’ll find ways that your organization can optimize your infrastructure for HIPAA compliance. To learn more, reach out to us at (217) 428-6449.