Creating Multiple Environments To Remain HIPAA Compliant

There are many reasons it makes sense to add a public cloud environment to your business. Especially in a busy location, visitors, patients, and guests might demand it.

Unfortunately, being in the medical industry, you have a big hurdle to overcome before you implement: HIPAA.

HIPAA regulates how access points and data protection services are handled for protecting sensitive personal health information. If it isn’t handled correctly, you could put data at risk and be in violation.

In today’s world, cloud-based applications are in use everywhere. It’s what has made staying-in-place possible and given us quick access to telehealth in the virtual world.

Still, how do you manage it all and give everyone what they want and need?

Creating the right environment from the start

While accessibility moved to the forefront as we struggled in a new world, it’s now time to stop and evaluate systems and strategies. To properly manage and protect patient data and adhere to HIPAA rules, it’s important to self-audit and assess current practices to know where you stand. Are you using vendors that are HITRUST-certified? Have you asked?

As you piecemealed together your approach to virtual working, it’s easy to merge together various platforms that can cancel each other out. Compliance drift is a real problem and can sometimes cause bigger problems when two systems are left unchecked, and together they grant access to things that are supposed to be secure.

That’s why it’s important to look at your approach through many eyes, including compliance-based and risk-based analysis.

Taking ownership of the responsibilities

The year 2020 will always be remembered as the year we scrambled and created systems that worked to suit our needs.

Hopefully, 2021 won’t be remembered as the year we paid the price for our past actions.

Public clouds are different from on-site networks - you don’t have to be an IT expert to know they need different levels of precaution. Yet securing both effectively is sometimes performed by a blanket approach, without considering all the various ways data is vulnerable.

You may have one set of eyes looking in, but it’s rarely enough. Penetration testing can look at secure systems from the outside in, looking for all the weaknesses that exist. The only way to fix them before becoming a threat is to find them before a hacker does. It’s impossible if you aren’t even looking.

Securing every end-point is a constant process of checks and balances. HIPAA laws change. Technology refines. Goals adjust.

Never forget security risks change too.

For IT Strategy, Cloud Conversion, or Help Desk Services reach out to us at Silver Linings Technology 360-450-4759.