Healthcare Compliance Updates & Tips

Over the course of 2019, we covered a variety of security and compliance topics, including security risk audits, HIPAA compliance, employee compliance training, and executive leadership and IT governance.

Though these issues are still relevant going into a new decade, we predict a renewed – or even evolved – outlook on four specific areas of security and compliance strategy.

“It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.” Have you heard this – or even said it yourself – when discussing cybersecurity matters at your healthcare organization?

Just like other operational and clinical areas of a healthcare system, the right metrics can help you understand current state in your compliance and security strategy and help guide decisions for how your organization should allocate funding for health IT projects related to governance, risk, and compliance.

But, where to begin? Using a quarterly governance report card is an efficient way to gather data and see trending over time. Start with our top seven metrics to gather on your report card:

The technology storm of the past three decades has made access to electronic protected health information (ePHI) easier, which benefits patient care in an ever-fragmented delivery system, but is bad for information security. Protected health information (PHI) can be found in virtually every corner of a healthcare system, concealed in unlikely places. With each new technology, acquisition, or merger comes new vulnerabilities that may remain unseen until the right assessments are performed to uncover them.

Healthcare organizations simply cannot continue to rely on traditional training methods and call it day. Building a culture of compliance takes more than watching a video and checking a box. Your employees need to be engaged, to feel empowered, for a culture of compliance to thrive. And, there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun while you’re at it.