Healthcare is experiencing extraordinary challenges in the 21st century. Collecting and interpreting patient data is critical for healthcare organizations. Yet it must also be protected and healthcare organizations must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other standards.
Cyber criminal attack has become a rising threat in the healthcare industry. IT teams must continually address healthcare data security issues with specific requirements outlined in the HIPAA laws as well as deliver on the ethical imperative to protect patients and staff from damage that healthcare security breaches can do to their lives.
Why are regional medical centers, health systems, teaching hospitals, health providers, Covered Entities,
HIEs (Health Information Exchange) and Business Associates at threat of being attacked by cyber criminals?
Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records (EHRs) contain a plethora of sensitive information about patients’ medical histories. EHRs make it possible for physicians and other healthcare professionals, as well as insurance companies, to share essential information, makes it easier to coordinate care and facilitate insurance matters.
Never before have medical professionals been able to collaborate in such dynamic ways to meet patients’ needs. But this digital coordination makes healthcare security a primary IT concern. Having so much sensitive patient data flowing around on-premise and potentially cloud environments makes it a bulls eye target cyber criminals.
More than ever before, medical organizations must establish powerful safeguards against online threats to electronic health record security which are primary drivers of regulatory policy. HIPAA requires healthcare providers to keep their patients’ data secure, so it’s critical that EHRs are stored, transmitted and disposed of appropriately and according to regulation.
While this appears simple, healthcare data security presents many challenges, both common to the IT field and unique to hospital cybersecurity.
