Managed IT Services: The Key to Healthcare Compliance

Did you know that HIPAA violations can cost businesses over $1 million a year? Healthcare compliance is no joke, and failure to comply can cost your organization a lot of time and money.

Luckily, there is a way to keep your organization out of dire straits. With managed IT services, healthcare compliance has become as easy as ever. If you’re part of a healthcare network and wondering how managed IT services can help you, you’ve come to the right place.

What Are Managed IT Services?

A managed IT service is technical support provided by a third-party organization. These third-party organizations provide the talent necessary to take care of a business’s entire IT infrastructure. Healthcare IT support handles everything from computer hardware (monitors, desktops, routers, etc.) to software.

Managed IT Services for Healthcare Compliance

One of the things managed IT services can provide for healthcare organizations is healthcare compliance. As noted earlier, compliance is an extremely important part of maintaining a medical or hospital network.

However, it is often the case that medical staff alone are not trained to handle compliance all on their own.

Keeping up with ever-changing compliance rules and regulations is a job in itself. Medical staff simply don’t have the time or energy to keep up. This is where healthcare IT companies come in.

How Is Data Protected?

HIPAA requires healthcare providers to implement policies & procedures that maintain patient information privacy. To say in compliance, healthcare IT companies use a combination of data encryption, data access delegation, and internet security. Let’s take a look at each.

Data Encryption

Electronic records can get retrieved fast, but they can get stolen or altered just as fast. To combat this, IT providers use data encryption.

All patient data stored on portable drives, disks, and tape must be encrypted. To do this, providers use encryption techniques, such as the RSA and Triple DES, to convert the data into protected text.

Data Access Delegation

As part of compliance, all historical patient records must get kept on file. A question one might ask, however, is, “Who’s allowed to access these records?” Access delegation gives a definitive answer.

Data access delegation determines who within a healthcare organization gets to see which records. This is important because not everyone in an organization gets access to the same patient information. To ensure patient data integrity, every employee gets specific access to the organization’s information network. 

Internet Data Security

Almost all of the important data healthcare organizations keep on file is stored on or can be accessed with an internet-connected device. This means patient data is vulnerable to cyber threats like DDoS attacks and data leaks.

Managed IT services minimizes these risks with internal audits. Audits involve the use of penetration tests and vulnerability assessments. These procedures secure patient data and infrastructure integrity.

The Bottom-Line on Healthcare Compliance

Healthcare compliance is not something your organization can afford to skimp out on. Managed IT services makes staying in compliance a breeze and safeguards your organization from unnecessary fines. 

Interested in adding managed IT services to your business or organization? Contact us today to get started!