Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Better to have a safety net than fall a prey to breaches:

The healthcare industry is all jazzed up with new and improved way of management of healthcare records. To be at par with the new developments, most of the hospitals and medical centers are spending their funds to get acquainted and prepared to conquer the ready-to-go live electronic medical records system.
But with this new inclusion comes the threat of a new intrusion in the form of data security. And I bet no one would like their names making headlines and being dragged into controversies for wrong reasons. So the need of the hour is to have a proper healthcare IT security system at place.



It is a fact that with the world around shrinking, the healthcare records have also become interconnected. Now what if while trying to pull out records you are stocked up with some fraudulent information? You are in soup then. So HIT security management is very important so that you stay safe and away from the bad shadows of the data security breaches. This ascertains that you are safe from public relations disasters and enforcement issues under HIPAA.



Now if you are keen on devising a policy and instill some procedures to keep the entire process HIPAA friendly, then the following steps would be beneficial:



  • First and foremost, understand what kind of health information you have first and who have an access to it.

  • Then you need to set the configuration and access rights. This is a very crucial part of security and safety as well as helps in maintaining administrative and technical measures like authentication, encryption, and user controls amongst others.

  • Keep a close eye on any issues that creep out. Opt for some program which may alert you of any potential threat that may cause a major loss.

  • Risk analysis and a proper audit plan can work wonders too.

  • Last but not the least, it is better to accept that you have some loopholes and work on them right away than crying over spilt milk later. Try to learn from your mistakes.
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