How Important Are Tight Security Protocols & Healthcare Cybersecurity Really?
Ransomware attacks and phishing attempts are increasing, forcing healthcare organizations to adopt tightened security protocols for their facilities. Renewing safety procedures and cybersecurity protocols should thus be regarded as a routine necessary for your business’ success in this digital era.
An attack on your servers or networks means that the patient data you’ve been entrusted with is at risk of being compromised. Besides potential HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violations that may occur as a result of this attack, you would also be putting yourself and your business at risk.
Security protocols are, therefore, imperative to protecting your business and any clinical data you may have. However, as technology advances quickly, so should the safeguards you put in place to protect your data.
Cybersecurity measures and security protocols should be established and renewed regularly to guarantee your organization is safe from hackers and other cyberattacks. While developing a reliable strategy may be tedious, security protocols are a requirement for both professionalism and credibility — especially in the healthcare space.
Why Are Security Protocols so important?
Healthcare organizations experience a particular risk of data breaches due to the considerable size of patient data stored within their databases. Protecting this data becomes an ethical responsibility in the interest of the patients, requiring providers to establish airtight security protocols.
In alignment with industry standards and regulations, and following HIPAA laws, patients have a right to protected health information and privacy. Healthcare organizations hence strive for HIPAA compliance to enforce professional standards.
Renewing security protocols as issues arise or new information becomes available is critical to ensure continued compliance and success. After all, your business’s credibility and reputation will depend on your ability to protect your patients’ personal and clinical data.
But security protocols will also help you maintain your standing in your community and impact your present and future business relationships. These relationships don’t just pertain to your patients but further involve business partners who aspire to work with organizations they can trust and rely on.
Cybersecurity has, therefore, become a healthcare essential that can make or break your business — and there are plenty of things you can do to protect and prepare your organization.
Cybersecurity Tips for Your Security Protocols
The good news is that you can protect your organization and patient data by planning and strategizing your resources. Security protocols and procedures are the result of analyzing examples of security breaches and implementing the lessons learned.
Below are a few cybersecurity tips that can help promote a safety culture within your organization.
(1) Abiding by HIPAA Laws & Regulations
HIPAA, also known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was established in 1996 to protect sensitive clinical data from being disclosed to third parties without the patient’s consent or knowledge.¹
The HIPAA Privacy Rule² sets forth how health information may be exchanged while simultaneously maintaining patient privacy. It further dictates the implementation of effective safeguards and procedural measures to be taken to ensure personal and health identifiers are protected.
(2) Training Staff & Providers
HIPAA laws can only be successful if your staff receives adequate training and understands how to comply with HIPAA. Therefore, ensuring that your staff receives regular HIPAA training is a critical component of safeguarding your patient data.
However, educating your staff should go beyond HIPAA and aim to specifically address cybersecurity issues, including password sharing, restricting access, multifactor authentication, and being careful about opening email attachments and links from unknown sources.
(3) Encrypting Data
Data encryption is one of the most critical cybersecurity tools at your disposal, adding an extra layer of security to your data by “encrypting” it — which means hackers won’t be able to decipher it, even if they managed to gain unauthorized access.
Encryption ensures that sensitive and highly confidential data cannot be read by a third party, maintaining its integrity and offering enhanced protection against data theft.
(4) Incorporating Safeguards in Your EHR
Your EHR (electronic health record) is likely your most valuable source of sensitive patient data and should therefore be included in all cybersecurity efforts and security protocols, alongside a strict data recovery plan put in place in preparation for the worst-case scenario.
While many EHRs incorporate basic safeguards against external threats, you should be aware of potential vulnerabilities in your system to protect your organization against exposing vital clinical data that could then be sold — or else, hackers could hold the system hostage until a ransom has been paid.
(5) Backing Up Your Data
Your security protocols should be grounded in best practices and aim at maintaining high industry standards. Backing up your data regularly — ideally to an offsite server (including hard drives and cloud technology) — can help you preserve your ability to access your data, even in the instance of a cyberattack.
Data back-ups should be conducted while simultaneously enforcing reliable controls and encrypting data. With ransomware attacks on the rise, healthcare organizations should develop a data recovery plan, just in case. It can quickly add up if the data breach impacts your business and can cost you an estimated 5,600% every minute.³
(6) Performing Risk Assessments & Security Audits
Continuous risk assessments are vital in maintaining your organization’s level of protection. Audit trails are a starting point to identify the root cause of potential issues and help you tweak your security protocols.
However, roughly 45.5% of U.S. healthcare organizations only assess security risks once every year, in contrast to the top 9.6% who perform daily audits.⁴ But risk assessments are critical, enabling you to identify organizational shortcomings, human errors, and system vulnerabilities so you can adjust course and mitigate risks and possible damages.
(7) Teaming Up with IT Specialists & Cybersecurity Experts
One of the easiest cybersecurity tips you can get is teaming up with IT specialists who can help you safeguard your network properly. Your security protocols should thus include setting up data encryption, multifactor authentication, and back-ups that have been done according to the highest safety standards — ideally by a professional and not a staff member with average IT experience.
After all, your patients expect you to preserve the integrity of their data and to act with a high level of professionalism. It’s therefore advised to include a reliable cybersecurity consultant in your budget planning from the get-go so you can set up your business for success from the start.
Vivlio Health: A Trusted Partner with High Safety Standards
Vivlio Health is a cloud-based platform that was designed to support and uplift healthcare organizations. Our team of former healthcare professionals, therefore, understands the needs of the industry and has made cybersecurity a top priority.
Striving for the highest safety standards and in accordance with HIPAA laws and regulations, Vivlio Health offers an easy way to exchange medical records for your patients, without wasting valuable time, allowing your staff to direct their focus on patient care.
Following tight security protocols and with strict controls in place, Vivlio Health has made it our purpose to improve the existing healthcare workflows and increase productivity.
Ready to find out more about us and what we offer? Book a free demo and we’ll show you how our platform works and how your organization can benefit from accessing your patients’ medical records more easily.
References:
- “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/hipaa.html. Accessed 19 March 2024.
- Beckman, Jeff. “15+ Key Backup Statistics to Know in 2023.” The Tech Report, 26 September 2023, https://techreport.com/statistics/backup-statistics/. Accessed 20 March 2024.
- “How the HIPAA Security Rule Can Help Defend Against Cyber-Attacks | October 23, 2023.” YouTube, 30 October 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnbBxxyZLc8. Accessed 19 March 2024.
- Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/736693/security-risk-assessment-frequency-in-organization-in-us/. Accessed 20 March 2024.