How to Protect Your Practice from Healthcare Data Breaches

Protection of healthcare data is not an easy task. Yet, healthcare organizations must deliver top-of-the-line patient care and protect the privacy of their patients while complying with the HIPAA Security Rule.

As PHI (protected health information) is among the most sensitive data, there are strict data protection guidelines for healthcare organizations that include fines and penalties if the said guidelines aren’t met.

According to a 2016 research by the Ponemon Institute, data breaches have seen a staggering 125% increase since 2010, with an average cost of $3.86 million per breach that takes around 280 days to contain. A breach of healthcare data can cost up to $7.13 million to retrieve, and the worst part is that healthcare organizations aren’t prepared to protect themselves. Here’s how they can do so.

Restrict Access to Applications and Data

Implement access control by limiting the access to sensitive information to only those who need it, like medical provider credentialing services. Access restriction will require a two-or-more-step validation method to ensure that only the authorized personnel access the data.

Multi-factor authentication includes, but isn’t limited to:

· PIN or a password

· A key or a card

· Something unique, like facial recognition, eye scanning, and fingerprints.

*A stethoscope on top of a medical data sheet*

Encrypt Data in Transit and at Rest

One practical method of data protection that healthcare organizations can use is encryption. By encrypting the data at rest and in transit, healthcare organizations can make it impossible for hackers to decode patient’s information, even if they access the data.

While HIPAA recommends data encryption, it doesn’t specify what methods to use, leaving it up to the healthcare organizations to determine the best practice.

Healthcare organizations must ask the following two questions before determining the encryption levels, as ordained by the HSS HIPAA Security Series:

· To avoid unauthorized personnel access to the ePHI, what kind of data should be decrypted and encrypted?

· What encryption and decryption methods are important, appropriate, and reasonable to avoid unauthorized people accessing sensitive information?

Secure all Mobile Devices

Healthcare providers have increased the use of mobile devices daily—whether it’s a doctor using a phone to access a patient’s test results or an admin officer processing medical insurance claims. Mobile security entails a range of security measures like:

· Managing the settings and configurations of devices

· Using strong passwords

· Enabling the capability to lock and wipe stolen or lost devices

· Encrypting data

· Monitoring email attachments and accounts to avoid malware infections

· Educating mobile device users on security practices

· Establishing guidelines to ensure only the vetted apps are installed

Back-Up All the Data to an Off-site, Secure Location

While cyberattacks can expose data, they also tend to compromise data availability and integrity. Moreover, a natural calamity that impacts the data center or the healthcare organization can lead to disastrous results if the data isn’t backed up properly.

That’s why you must perform frequent secure and off-site data backups with data encryption to ensure that the sensitive data is secured.

Medical Credentialing Data is Also Vital

At Premier Medical Credentialing, we play a vital role in Medicare and Medicaid payer enrollment. Partnering up with a dependable credentialing company like ours ensures timely and efficient reimbursements.

We provide credentialing for all healthcare providers from behavioral health and MD, DO, to allied health professionals. Check out our services and get in touch with us for pricing and free consultation.

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