HIPAA’s rules pertaining to IT are problematic to say the least, but things have become much clearer over the course of the past year. However, there are still a few areas in which your office might not be compliant. This isn’t necessarily through negligence on your part, but rather a lack of understanding as to the requirements.

Technological advancements have brought us much closer to artificial intelligence (AI), such as cars that drive themselves and robots that interpret and summarize the news. AI is helping humankind in various industries, and healthcare is close to the top of that list.

Medical history, vaccine status, lab test results, and other medical records are libraries unto themselves. Checking such files without the aid of computers can be cumbersome. Thanks to EHR, hospital staff can access these information with ease.

EHR stands for “Electronic Health Record,” and a lot can go into getting your practice ready for one of these data-sharing, network-connected, enterprise-wide information systems.

Surveys and studies show that wireless device usage in the healthcare industry is growing at an exponential rate, falling in line with the general trend in today’s society. The IT staff must work harder to monitor all the devices using the network, but there are Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions that can make their jobs easier.

First off, what is an insider threat in healthcare? An insider threat is an individual inside an organization discovered to have been accessing healthcare records without authorization. Healthcare companies must take steps to reduce the potential for insider threats, which is their top source of security incidents.

Social Media can be an effective tool for sharing experiences, building professional connections, and broadcasting conventional healthcare announcements to the public. However, careless posts that have client or patient-specific information could ruin the reputation of any healthcare organization.

Healthcare organizations have always kept the possibility of data breaches in mind, especially since 2017 witnessed the biggest and most expensive data breach to date. To counter this, more businesses have hired certified technicians, but that’s not enough.

Data security is critical to the healthcare industry. Hospitals and clinics need to ensure medical records are protected at all times to stay HIPAA-compliant. But with Spectre and Meltdown affecting every server, all healthcare providers are at risk of data breach.

As more medical practices adopt electronic health records (EHR), running out of digital storage is becoming an increasingly common issue. HIPAA-regulated practices don’t always have the option of cloud solutions, but virtualization is a secure and cost-effective alternative.