This is the standard that Covered Entities or Business Associates follow to secure demographic data, medical histories, test or laboratory results, and related Protected Health Information (PHI). Organizations that manage PHI must devise in-depth physical, process, and network security measures and implement them to ensure HIPAA Compliance.

Let’s cover the legal terms first. Covered Entities are doctors, nurses, or insurance companies who offer treatment, use, and have access to PHI in the healthcare sector. Business Associates range from IT administrators, cloud service providers, physical storage providers, accountants, attorneys, and third-party consultants who interact with PHI as they perform on behalf of Covered Entities.

 

If you find yourself in this list, then you would be deeply interested in today’s post.

Why Should You Be Concerned?

HIPAA Compliance is more important than ever, considering that healthcare specialists are shifting to computer-based environments involving EHR, EMR, laboratory, pharmacy, and radiology systems. Although these methods enable mobility and boost efficiency, they also increase cybersecurity vulnerabilities. So, the challenge for Covered Entities and Business Associates goes far beyond their ability to protect the privacy of individuals’ health information. They must, at the same time, adopt new policies, processes, and technologies to continuously enhance the quality of patient care.

Needless to say, there is a lot to cover. It is also one’s responsibility to come up with effective data protection solutions that protect all types of patient information without fail. With so much at stake, the inability to meet the above-mentioned list of items can prove costly in more ways than one.

Playing With Fire

Violating HIPAA rules can lead to severe consequences and hefty fines where reaching quick settlements is not always simple. 2016 alone saw HIPAA settlements amounting to a record $23m and in 2017, over 78 healthcare breaches took place with more than 10,000 health records compromised as a result of multiple non-compliance cases. The average financial penalty was $2,607,582 in 2018 which broke the record for the total penalty amounts paid.

Let’s put the spotlight on a recent case. University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) incurred a $3m fine as a result of failure to comply with HIPAA regulations. The OCR imposed the fine in response to the lack of mobile device encryption which put sensitive patient information at risk. There were two separate counts; in 2017, URMC reported a breach of PHI to the OCR after discovering the loss of an unencrypted laptop. Similarly, in 2013, the health system reported a breach after the loss of an unencrypted flash drive.

Investigations revealed that URMC did not conduct a risk analysis, leverage device controls, implement encryption and decryption mechanisms, or adopt the necessary security measures for ePHI. So, in addition to the $3m fine, URMC will carry out a corrective action plan which consists of HHS monitoring its compliance with HIPAA regulations for two years.

Take The Safe Route With ClearCube

Clearly, today’s competitive healthcare industry calls for secure and efficient access to medical information. IT departments are always under pressure to reduce operating costs, enhance service levels, and guarantee end-to-end patient data security. Managing one-size-fits-all hardware such as PCs in time and mission-critical scenarios is expensive, time-consuming, and an anxiety trigger. Valuable time is wasted in downtime and desk-diving, with professionals find themselves struggling with multiple technical support tickets. Then, we see organizations with budget constraints that are expected to meet strict HIPAA policies and processes all the same. New rules demanding the privacy of patient data have further accelerated the cost and complexity of these systems, thus adding to the challenge.

Working with ClearCube would have saved URMC the $3m in fines as our hardware and software suite is designed to help focus on business instead of IT problems. We have a proven history of custom-crafting, implementing, and improving VDI healthcare environments through our extensive industry knowledge. From patient and exam rooms to critical care and lab solutions, our HIPAA-standard virtual desktop solutions offer complete coverage. Our team has also been awarded ISO 9001:2015 Certification for our Design, Development, and Manufacturing, hence staying current on the latest compliance regulations.

How do our virtual workspaces offer a unique mix of powerful security, on-demand excess, and so much more? Let’