How independent physicians can protect their practices against malware, hacking, and data breaches

August 4, 2017

Leona Rajaee

How independent physicians can protect their practices against malware, hacking, and data breaches August 4, 2017

Cyber attacks have hit a number of computer networks lately. Technology is a helpful tool but it can also be a vulnerable target when it is not protected. In light of the most recent major worldwide ransomware attack, what can small and solo practices do to protect themselves and their patients against such attacks and boost their cyber security in this digital age?

Steps to security

The first step to protect yourself and your patients is to secure your computer. Set up passwords for all computers and make sure they are complicated enough (and obscure enough) that someone else cannot easily figure them out. Encrypt your computer’s hard drive to protect it against attacks and to protect yourself against HIPAA violations if an unauthorized individual gains access to the information on the computer.

Creating a data security plan for your independent practice, conducting security audits, and training your staff on security measures will further help ensure that your practice remains safe against malware, hacking, and data breaches. You can also install anti-virus software on each machine.

Another step to take is to ensure that your patient communication remains secure and safe. Your patients need the reassurance that their information is protected and you need to know that you are not accidentally allowing their data to be seen by intruders.

Data kept on hard drives can be particularly vulnerable to such unauthorized intruders. A cloud-based Clinical EHR solution keeps your patient information out of individual hard drives. All information is stored on highly secure external servers. Many have actually described the security of cloud-based servers as “achieving HIPAA compliance with bank-level security and high-level encryption methods.”

For independent physicians, you have many additional concerns beyond the fear of having your office’s computer system hacked. You have a responsibility to keep your patient’s’ information safe. Elation understands your concerns and your challenges; that’s why we’ve developed a secure, cloud-based Clinical EHR solution that will give you – and your patients – the reassurance of a safe environment.