Using Technology to be Compliant in Healthcare

Using technology to be compliant in healthcare is not only an all-but-completely-necessary requirement in this day and age, it’s in a clinic’s, hospital’s, doctor’s office’s, and other medical institutions’ best interest for enough reasons for that to be a whole separate topic. To get more specific then, using safeguards to protect yourself and your patients via digital means is absolutely a necessity. This compliance necessity creates another need for advanced cloud protection, identity access management (IAM) controls, and compliance software such as that provided by providers like Tools4Ever and similar. Not paying attention to these access risks is almost guaranteed to be recipes for a security disaster in a healthcare network, which will also trigger compliance risks.

Cloud or Direct Network Connection?

Traditionally, companies provide direct connections to their core network to users through LAN grids and authentication. Today, much of this happens through a VPN connection when remote. However, alternatively, healthcare agencies can easily set up cloud platforms that act as a middle-ground, allowing staff to function and work almost seamlessly without having to be in their core network as if in the office. This allows operations while still maintaining security compliance needed with managing health information. It’s a bit like sectioning off compartments in a big boat; if one leaks, the rest of the boat doesn’t sink with the compromised compartment sealed off.

Employee & Contractor Training Helps, But It’s Not Perfect

The fact is, no matter how well and frequently staff are trained, any gaps in cybersecurity will create a vulnerability and even run the risk of a HIPAA violation. And healthcare agencies can’t afford for that to happen frequently, if at all. Carelessness and a lack of discipline provide outsiders with an easy opportunity to find access. It’s one of the reasons why phishing is still so successful. In this regard, compliance software becomes essential to quickly address issues. In fact, network compliance checks expect such controls to be in place and tested. 

The Law of Simplicity

Finding a weak point that is not secure is fairly easy without the proper software in place. Most healthcare facilities are using very basic equipment to connect to healthcare work servers, utilizing likely outdated routers still only protected by the default router password, for example. As such, the best approach is to utilize a cocktail of cybersecurity software to keep your healthcare facility secure and HIPAA compliant. This is doable through secure cloud platforms, compliance software, and funneling and and all remote access into a control point where it can be screened and vetted before access is approved. It negates the multiple weak points that otherwise exist in the multiple remote connections that otherwise occur.

Frequently Asked Question