Implementing HIPAA Compliance and Technical Essentials in the Era of Telehealth

 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created to ensure that protected health information is kept private, secure, and accurate (PHI). This aim appears straightforward, but compliance has always been complicated, especially since healthcare businesses joined the digital era and adopted innovations like cloud computing, mobile, and telemedicine. 

 

COVID-19 put the healthcare industry and HIPAA compliance into disorder. Hospitals and other providers found themselves rushing to incorporate telehealth and remote work solutions. 

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chose to implement "enforcement discretion". It stated that it would not impose penalties "in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth nationwide public health emergency during the Covid 19," to ease the burden on providers. 

 

HHS Enforcement Relaxation Is A Temporary Measure:

 

However, this does not mean that healthcare providers can use COVID-19 as an excuse to ignore HIPAA compliance and data security. The easing of HHS enforcement is a temporary move to provide providers time and breathing room to assess and improve their security precautions.

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of reduced finances and overworked IT workers due to the epidemic, which has stretched healthcare facilities' financial and human resources short.

Ransomware attacks on healthcare providers increased by 350% in the last quarter of 2019, with one out of every ten ransomware assaults involving data theft.

 

HIPAA Compliance in a Digitalized, Telehealth-Focused World:

 

The HIPAA Security Rule has a variety of technical specifications for safeguarding PHI, including:

 

Set up access controls:

 

To guarantee that only authorized personnel have access to protected health information (PHI).

 

Set up auditing controls:

 

This contains activity logs that document actual and attempted PHI access and what happens when it is accessed.

 

Put In Place Integrity Controls:

 

To prevent PHI from being tampered with or destroyed in an unauthorized manner.

 

Assuring Automatic Log-Off Characteristics:

 

If a computer is left unattended, both desktop and mobile devices should have automatic log-off capabilities to prevent unwanted access to PHI.

 

Even when the world has moved on from COVID-19, advancements like telemedicine and remote work will continue to exist. However, in this new context, there are considerable dangers of PHI being saved in less secure locations, such as on local devices and misconfigured cloud servers, or being communicated insecurely via unencrypted email or messaging apps. In the absence of a properly defined network boundary, access control becomes a problem.

 

Going Beyond HIPAA Securities to Protect Your Personal Information

 

Organizations must evaluate their current security procedures and controls, emphasizing the HIPAA Security Rule's technical requirements. However, healthcare companies mustn't rely entirely on HIPAA rules to safeguard PHI. HIPAA compliance is simply the first step in ensuring data security; it is not a substitute for a complete cyber security policy.

 

Beyond HIPAA Compliance, There Are A Few Things You Can Do To Improve Your Data Security:

 

Mandatory cyber security awareness training and knowledge of how to avoid phishing emails should be required for all staff. Because the cyber threat environment is constantly changing, training sessions should be held frequently to keep up with evolving threats.

 

Criteria for passwords:

 

Ascertain that all employees use strong, unique passwords for each account and that multi-factor authentication (MFA/2FA) is enabled on all accounts that support it. IT administrators can monitor employee password patterns and enforce these restrictions if they require the usage of a password manager.

 

Subscribe to a Dark Web monitoring service:

 

Subscribing to a Dark Web monitoring service is a great way to keep track of what's going. These services monitor Dark Web forums for compromised credentials, then notify IT Managers if any are discovered, allowing them to force password resets.

 

Work With A HIPAA Compliance Expert:

 

HIPAA Gap and Security Assessments assist organizations in identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating security and regulatory weaknesses.

 

MediFusion is a cloud-based HIPAA-compliant EHR software that streamlines medical billing successfully clears claims and increases reimbursements manifolds. If you are a healthcare provider or need software for hospital medical billing and claims management, MediFusion EHR software can help.