Regular assessments of your healthcare institution’s email system can minimize threats to Protected Health Information (PHI) like phishing, malware, and spam. Additional benefits to your hospital or clinic, such as maintaining a positive reputation with patients and constant email security, can come from routine evaluations. Here is the role of risk assessments in promoting secure emails in medical practices:
Monitoring Emails
Keeping track of your medical practice’s electronic mail system can alert you to illegal access to a patient’s health information. Monitoring may also inform your healthcare staff of possible transmission mistakes, such as sending inaccurate patient information or emails to the wrong people. Catching these data breaches can help your medical institution prevent theft of PHI, keeping it safe off of the internet.
A Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) expert can assess and educate your healthcare employees on identifying email phishing attacks. Email communications targeting your system may have the wrong address, grammatical mistakes, low graphic quality, or suspicious attachments. Anti-spam filters and attachment scanning tools can secure emails by blocking this type of attack.
Analyzing Damage Caused By Security Risks
One example of damage that HIPAA security experts examine is the violation of patient records, diagnosis data, and other confidential information. Professionals also track electronic mail logins to discover any PHI violations that may lead to legal or financial damage. Another example is damage done by ransomware attacks to an institution’s data accuracy and the speed of its email server. By identifying any electronic mail communication data breaches, security experts can help you avoid negative outcomes for your medical practice.
Other unprevented security threats can also harm the reputation of your hospital or clinic. Analyzing PHI security risks with professional help can positively impact confidence in your practice, potentially increasing patient retention.
Implementing Mitigation Strategies
Risk assessment involves HIPAA professionals developing appropriate guidelines for healthcare staff to avoid data breaches and keep communications secure. Biometric authentications or logins are strategies that help secure your hospital’s email account passwords.
HIPAA service providers also recommend end-to-end encryption to prevent other unauthorized parties from accessing, viewing, or downloading PHI. Changing your healthcare email system passwords on occasion can minimize hacking risks. Passwords created to protect your practice’s emails should be strong, using upper and lower case letters, special characters, and numbers. HIPAA security experts may employ two-factor authentication for emails, which keeps PHI safe even if a password is compromised.
Responding to Identified Risks
Data security experts can train your staff to handle PHI breaches through phishing email tests and routine cyber breach simulations. Updating your software enables hospitals and clinics to avoid security breakdowns and mitigate threats quickly.
Promoting Secure Emails Continuously
A Business Associate Agreement (BAA) between your hospital and a third-party HIPAA compliance entity can promote constant patient information security. Through this contract, medical centers commit to HIPAA laws and report any PHI infringements immediately to third-party security experts. The BAA also outlines email auditing procedures and retention policies to help protect patient information for a lengthened time period.
Adopt HIPAA Compliant Email Today
Evaluating security risks to your hospital’s email system may help identify potential vulnerabilities and determine appropriate measures to secure emails. Consistently keeping your emails HIPAA compliant may help your medical institution maintain a positive reputation with patients. Contact an experienced HIPAA security service provider to maintain your practice’s PHI safety and integrity.