When you own a medical business, keeping patient data secure is of utmost importance. It’s important to protect your clients’ information from unauthorised access or disclosure and to ensure that their data is accurate, complete, up-to-date, confidential, and compliant with all applicable laws and regulations.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled some tips for you:
Invest in Practice Management Software
First and foremost, invest in secure and reliable practice management software. This will help you manage patient records, billing, scheduling, e-prescribing, and other administrative tasks all in one place. Look for a system that offers cloud-based storage as well as encryption of your data to protect it from cybercrime or theft.
With tools like Iinsight’s practice management software in Australia, you can rest assured that all of your data is kept safe and secure, no matter where you’re located. Not only this, but you can also perform audits and keep track of activity to see if anyone is trying to access your data without permission.
Train Your Employees
Your employees are one of the most important elements when it comes to protecting patient information. Make sure they know how to recognise and respond to suspicious activity or cyber threats. Provide regular training on security protocols and provide them with resources to help them stay up to date on the latest security measures.
Sadly, lack of training can lead to mistakes, so make sure your staff know how to securely handle patient data and know the regulations that protect this information. Just one click of a button can cause issues on the wrong link or email, so your staff needs to be the first line of defence against cyber attacks.
Implement Standard Security Protocols
Next, make sure you have standard security protocols in place. This includes antivirus and malware protection, patch management, firewalls, and secure passwords for all accounts. Also, examine your current security policies and update them regularly. Additionally, if possible, encrypt all sensitive data to protect it from malicious actors.
Encrypt Your Data
Leading on from the previous tip, encrypting your data is the best way to protect it from cyber-attacks. Encryption turns plain text data into unreadable code that can only be decrypted with a specific key. Therefore, even if attackers manage to get their hands on your data, they won’t be able to read it. It’s important to use strong encryption algorithms and keys that are not easily guessed or cracked.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
With all technology comes the risk of user credentials being stolen by malicious actors. That’s why it’s important to use multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA is an added layer of security that requires users to verify their identity by providing two or more pieces of evidence. It can be something simple like a one-time code sent via text message or something more complex like a biometric scan. Implementing MFA can help keep hackers from gaining access to your system and protect the sensitive information of your clients.
Enforce Access Controls
Protecting client information also means controlling who can access it. Access controls are used to limit what information each user can view and modify, as well as when they are allowed to do so. This will help you protect sensitive data and ensure that information is only accessed by those who need it. It’s important to remember to regularly review access permissions to make sure only the appropriate users have access to certain data – you don’t want ex-employees to still have access after they leave your medical business.
