Maintaining Cyber Security in a Culture of HIPAA Compliance

Each day, citizens trust the health care industry with sensitive information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ensures all patient information is safe and secure.

This can be a trying task in a world where information is increasingly interconnected and available. Many health care providers struggle to strike a balance between efficiency and security.

What are the most common HIPAA mistakes, and how can you avoid them?

This is a question anyone in the health care industry must ask. With mandatory HIPAA compliance, cybersecurity is of utmost importance.

Here’s what you should know about cybersecurity to keep all patient information safe and secure.

Most Common HIPAA Compliance Mistakes

When it comes to technology, the world faces a learning curve across all levels of society and security. It’s not uncommon for health care providers to make mistakes.

Some of the most common HIPAA compliance mistakes include the following:

• failing to encrypt hard drives or lacking proof of encryption
• thinking your IT management has everything under control
• not having up-to-date antivirus software on all computers
• thinking Mac computers don’t need antivirus software
• failing to train your staff in computer use and security practices
• closing your eyes to potential threats

There are a lot of mistakes to make when it comes to security. How can you mitigate the risk?

What to Do to Maintain Cybersecurity

Making the above mistakes could put sensitive patient information at risk. How can you protect the information?

In order to avoid these mistakes, you need to make sure you take a variety of different steps toward cybersecurity.

Administrative Safeguards

HIPAA largely encompasses administrative safeguards. These are the process-oriented steps you must take to ensure the protection of patient information.

This includes training, termination procedures, specific company policies, and risk analysis.

You should be able to spell out on paper how you’ll comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

Physical Safeguards

This aspect of security is straightforward. Only authorized personnel should have access to computers which contain sensitive patient information.

You should consider the physical security measures in action at a particular facility. You will need a HIPAA Security Officer amongst other safeguards.

Technical Safeguards

These safeguards encompass the ways in which you prevent security breaches. You should take time to encrypt hardware as well as any backups you make.

Your antivirus software should always be up-to-date. Make sure your software is enough to cover the amount of information you handle.

Always use unique login information as well as automatic logout and user authentication.

Keep Patient Information Safe and Secure

Healthcare providers have an ethical duty to keep all patient information safe and secure. Failing to do so could put your business in jeopardy.

How can you stay on top of HIPAA compliance in an increasingly interconnected world? The task is challenging, but the above guide should give you a good place to start.

Cybersecurity starts with professional managed services. Click here to find out how we can better protect you and your patients from malicious attacks.