Healthcare cyber attacks occur frequently, with hackers targeting hospitals, medical practices, insurance companies, and other businesses and organizations that handle medical information in some capacity. That’s why HIPAA compliance is so important. A recent article from Healthcare IT News mentions that the healthcare industry leads the way among different industries in experiencing cyber attacks.
Given the risk of healthcare data breaches, it’s no wonder that businesses are required to meet HIPAA standards. HIPAA, short for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, lays out guidelines for keeping medical data private. If your business handles any sort of healthcare information, you must follow HIPAA guidelines.
Failure to meet HIPAA compliance can result in various fines, in some cases amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prison time is also a possible consequence, depending on the severity of violations and whether they were deliberate.
Ensuring that you meet HIPAA standards can also improve your cyber security overall. When you evaluate your business for HIPAA violations, you can detect employee behaviors and IT practices that are compromising data security. For example:
- Your business transmits sensitive healthcare information over unencrypted channels.
- Your employees are sharing passwords freely or leaving unguarded access to various files containing medical information.
- Sensitive healthcare data gets released to unauthorized parties, and in general, your business doesn’t sufficiently restrict access privileges to confidential data.
- Your employees dispose of data without the proper safeguards. For example, they may discard a computer hard drive intact or throw out unshredded documents containing private information.
How can you make sure you’re meeting HIPAA standards? HIPAA compliance consultants can give you their guidance and assistance. Hiring consultants helps you avoid the legal penalties for violating HIPAA regulations. They’ll also strengthen your cyber security practices more generally, decreasing the chances that you’ll suffer a serious data breach. You’ll be in a better position to avoid steep financial losses and preserve people’s trust.
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