True Protection for your Practices Patient Data: Simplified!
October 9, 2014
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Since this issue of Hinsdale Magazine displays the areas top doctors, we thought a healthcare IT article was in call for. If you consider all of your technology in your office, then you can agree that your confidential patient data is the most important part of your business. This article can easily pertain to every practitioner that runs their office on some form of computer technology. We hope that the Q&A section below will really shed some light on how safe your classified data really is. We invite you to bring this article to your IT support so you may better understand the answers to these questions, or lack thereof!
Question #1: How is my data part of a reliable and secure backup plan?
Answer #1: If you have any important data (Office Mate, Dentrix, Xrays, PDF’s, etc.) it should be part of a multiple-day backup plan. You should have many copies of your data so you may easily revert back to your data for at least one week. Your backups should also be off-site in the event of a natural disaster, a bad virus or even theft. Finally, you should have your Security Officer and IT support on a secured service plan to cooperatively manage and check your backups to be sure that they are continuously working.
Question #2: Is my practice and patient data safe from theft?
Answer #2: Any computer, definitely your server, can be encrypted. This is a service offered by Microsoft that is already a feature on your Windows Operating system. Once your data becomes encrypted, you are then safe in the case of your computers or outside laptops falling into the wrong hands. Don’t forget to encrypt and password protect your off-site backups!
Question #3: If I am backed up and secure - any other considerations?
Answer #3: Yes! Stay up to date with Windows Updates, Antivirus protection, and software versions. If you fall behind, your software falls behind, then your technology slows down, and finally your productivity comes to a halt. Not only does HIPAA compliance call for updates, your 3rd party software vendors demand them as well.