Given the growing rates of these incidents in healthcare facilities, it is more important than ever to establish Cybersecurity as a priority area. The fact that the use of digital technology is now almost inevitable, it is mandatory to adopt sound measures to protect healthcare data. In this article, we will dive deeper into understanding how HIPAA protection works in the modern world and give you practical advice on how to avoid cyber threats.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, popularly known as HIPAA, was passed in 1996 to enhance the welfare of workers and families who undergo employment shifts or are laid off. The role of HIPAA is to protect patient health information; HIPAA obtained consent signed by patients who wanted to share their healthcare information with other medical entities to allow them to receive suitable treatments. HIPAA is much more than that, and these days, it has turned into a full-fledged regulatory body for healthcare data handling and privacy.

As healthcare organizations face an increasing number of cyberattacks, it’s more crucial than ever to prioritize information security. With the rise of digital technology, it’s essential to implement robust strategies to safeguard sensitive patient data. In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for HIPAA compliance and provide actionable tips to help you stay ahead of cyber threats.

The Risks of Non-Compliance

  • There are different violation categories for HIPAA and any deficiencies can lead to penalties or potential imprisonment. The minimum fine can range between USD 100 to USD 50,000 a year per violation. It can even go up to USD 1.5 million!
  • Failure to ensure patient data protection can result in civil lawsuits, criminal charges, and damage to brand reputation. 

Recent HIPAA breaches 

  • HCA Healthcare experienced a huge data breach and patient information for sale, and it impacted over 11 million patients across 20 states. It is reported to be one of the biggest healthcare data breaches in 2023.
  • Lifespan Healthcare System was forced to pay a settlement of USD 1,040,000 to OCR due to a data breach caused by an unencrypted laptop that was stolen by unknown assailants.
  • An internal investigation revealed that MCNA had accidentally exposed the personal information of nearly 9 million patients.
  • The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reported 44 of 500 healthcare data breaches for October 2023. 2 eyecare providers also reported ransomware attacks in October 2023, which impacted more than 300,000 patients and led to their data theft. 

Strategies for Achieving HIPAA-Compliant Cybersecurity

Organizations can develop step-by-step workflows to ensure HIPAA compliance and enhance healthcare cyber security. Here are four ways to do this:

1. Build a Zero-Trust Security Architecture

A strong policy of maintaining a zero-trust security architecture is a must. Zero trust security for HIPAA compliance includes several elements such as email security, encryption, access controls, file permissions management, multi-factor authentication and identity access management (IAM). Get a buy-in from stakeholders before investing in dedicated healthcare security automation tools and policies.

2. Employee Training and Security Awareness Programs

Human error is the biggest reason behind a majority of data breaches. That is why providing good security awareness training programs to employees is mandatory. As a part of healthcare cyber security training, employees should be well trained on the best cyber hygiene practices. 

Healthcare personnel can be categorized as belonging to the medical staff and they are involved with managing, sharing and transmitting healthcare information, which may often be sensitive information. Nobody should leave their mobile devices unattended as there are often dangerous consumer messaging apps, and it is necessary to not use public/unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

3. Security Audits and Risk Assessments

Conduct regular audits and security risk assessments to ensure HIPAA compliance. Show your patients you care about them by focusing on creating more secure data environments. You can enhance patient data protection by using data security posture management solutions in addition to CNAPP.

4. Incident Response and Disaster Recovery Planning

HIPAA compliance has incident response requirements, which require entities to report within 60 days following the discovery of a data breach. Entities must issue a notice detailing what happened in the report, the types of PHI involved, and steps taken to respond to the incident, investigate, and mitigate it. 

Compliance management tools can assist with disaster recovery planning and create automated backups for faster recovery. Organizations need to provide version control and medical document history for auditing purposes.

HIPAA Compliance: How to Maintain It?

Encourage accountability and compliance whilst performing frequent threat risk assessments to safeguard e-PHI. To promote a new compliance culture among members of the organization, the leaders should advocate for an open conversation about it, ask for reviews, and reward those who actively contribute to HIPAA awareness. The most important concepts to embrace in communicating with these youths are open and clear communication and compliance with the set standards. It is in the best interest of the patient to be granted information in their healthcare facility, hence the need to explain the HIPAA Privacy Rule to them.

Thus, the key rules consist of constantly updating the cores, regularly patching the services, and making sure that all the supports are current. It is now possible to think and work with automation as the age of technology knocks on our door to embrace it so as to surmount various administrative barriers and problems. Through proper funding for sufficient training of healthcare employees, using technical resources, and developing healthcare cybersecurity through the use of artificial intelligence programs, more security can be provided to the patients.

Hence, as an organization learning from the listed best practices regarding HIPAA and the need to prioritize the act, healthcare organizations can protect patient data, rebuild patient trust, and provide the best quality care for patients.

Conclusion

Reputable cloud service providers embed HIPAA compliance with their security solutions. Encrypted storage, strong access controls, and regular audits are the hallmarks of compliance management simplification. The future of healthcare cybersecurity is bright, and healthcare standards will continue to evolve.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of my current or former employers.

Published September 10th, 2023.