Electronic health records have revolutionized the healthcare industry and for the better. These are digital patient records and are very confidential. Electronic health records are a significant breakthrough in the health sector and help avoid many security risks regarding health information.
However, the numbers of lost electronic health records rise each year despite strict HIPPA compliance rules. And this makes it critical to secure digital health records in any health setting.
How can you enhance the security of electronic health records?
Table of Contents
1. Update regularly
Most attackers take advantage of unpatched or out-of-date medical devices. Some health facilities and hospitals still run common operating systems like Linux and Windows, making them more susceptible to cyber-attacks. And this makes sit vital to use fully patched and updated software.
2. Undertake regular assessments
Cyber threats keep evolving, and it’s advisable to stay updated with the trends. Attackers use advanced ways to compromise your data, and you should maintain high-security levels through regular risks assessments.
Moreover, understand the risks and threats faced by your EHR systems and the vulnerability areas. What’s more, organize your data depending on the risk and take appropriate measures to ensure HIPAA compliance and EHR safety.
3. Clean up user devices
Most employees bring their devices to work, and the health care sector is not an exception. To avoid security risks and threats, hospitals should employ appropriate security measures and practices to protect information on personal devices.
The best way to achieve this is to hinder access to patient data using personal devices. Data encryption on mobile devices also works and will help reduce vulnerabilities in your data security.
4. Audit and Monitor
Employees are the biggest data security threats in healthcare industries. Sadly, this is rarely addressed and can pose a serious risk to your EHR systems.
These threats can be accidental or malicious and often go unnoticed. For instance, some workers have the privilege to access your most sensitive data and cause costly breaches. To mitigate this, employ proactive auditing and monitoring systems to make real-time alerts in case of changes to your electronic health data or critical IT systems.
What are the best measures to ensure HIPPA compliance in EHR tools?
EHR platforms ensure a secure way of maintaining high privacy levels in health records. The practice must follow HIPPA rules to ensure the confidentiality of patient information. To achieve this, protect your passwords and train workers on HIPPA compliance.
Also, capture information automatically when created, recorded, altered, or deleted. Have immutable security hindering alteration by users. That’s not all, though! You can ensure electronic health records HIPAA compliance through performing regular IT assessments on your security systems. Other ways to ensure HIPPA compliance include;
- Controlling access and limiting this to a few authorized users
- Having a data backup plan
- Data encryption
- Automatically logging off after a certain duration
- Having an authorized monitoring system and remediation plan in case of data breaches
Final thoughts
EHR systems are a great invention in the healthcare industry. But, they can open your systems to improper access and attacks by hackers. This makes it critical to have HIPPA compliant systems and use software with up-to-date features to improve data security.
