The US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 categorically provide certain requirements for the protection of healthcare client information. It covers the use and disclosure of healthcare information, under which many covered entities such as healthcare providers and healthcare plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and business partners are subject.
The HIPAA security rules summarily advise that all covered entities ensure the following:
- All healthcare information must be secure, confidential, and available electronically.
- All healthcare information should have preemptive security measures against any form of breach of its security.
- All healthcare information should be protected against all unpermitted or unlawful uses and disclosures.
- That all covered entities have their employees in compliance with the HIPAA rule.
If your organization is either a healthcare provider, healthcare plan organization, healthcare clearinghouse, or business partner, this means that according to the law, the onus is on your organization to provide protection for the healthcare information in your care.
You would notice that the rule expects you to both secure healthcare information and secure them digitally.
And with all the risks that there are in safeguarding information electronically, you would have to take extra precautions in ensuring that you and your workforce aren’t in any breach of the HIPAA security rule. We have listed a few of them that you should note.
Limit data access
Not only is this well known, but available data strongly confirms that the majority of healthcare information breaches in the US come from the inside. This means that employees pose the biggest risks, and one way to curb this is by limiting their access to client data.
This can be achieved by limiting the amount of information that one person can see at a specific time. Health organizations should also sensitize employees on the importance of client information confidentiality to ensure compliance.
Move away from print
While the HIPAA act emphasizes the protection of healthcare information digitally, there is another non-digital way that client information can be breached. And that is via printed paper.
Healthcare organizations often require some paperwork that contains vital employee information that can easily be copied, recorded, or stolen without anybody noticing.
To solve this, health organizations should begin to make the majority of their sensitive paperwork digital. This will effectively reduce the risks of information breaches, and prevent your organization from being in violation of the law.
Train employees on cyberattacks
Not every health employee may be used to electronic devices and their security. So they may ignore several vulnerable points that intruders can use to gain healthcare to an organization’s database.
Also, as much as many employees are the causes of healthcare information breaches; they are also the ones in the best position to avert an impending threat. This is why it is important to train employees on how to deal with cyberattacks and stop the loss of data to intruders.
Implement a secure database
In many cases, intruders could be trying to get to your data by hacking your database itself. And organizations can prevent this by setting up a fully secure cloud database.
Now, not everyone is versed in cloud database technology. However, you can hire trusted software engineers to build one for you. If you are in need of such services you should contact Jelnic Services. Jelnic is an IT company that offers Healthcare Database solutions to healthcare providers in and around the Greater Pittsburgh area. You can check out their website and contact them here.