3 Crucial Data Security Measures Every EMR Must Have in Place

Healthcare is arguably the most important industry when it comes to data security. Failure to have the proper access to patient’s record could mean the difference between life and death. Between patient records, financial information and more, cybercrime can have devastating effects for healthcare companies.

Data travels in and out of healthcare systems in a multitude of ways, but electronic medical record (EMR) systems are the main channel and therefore represent the biggest security concern for most providers and hospitals. EMRs often include cloud-based systems that help manage the exchange of internal data in an effective way. In the healthcare industry, it is beneficial to have easy and fast access to patient information, however potential risks come into play. The following are three ways to make data in your EMR more secure.

  1. HIPAA and HITECH compliance

HIPAA and HITECH compliance is crucial in the healthcare world. HIPAA and HITECH provide a concrete path for securing data and allow for custom security controls based off of specific needs. Different vendors have different strategies when it comes to security concerns. So the key is to correctly identify what your company needs the most. For example, a healthcare company’s EMR should provide SSL encryption to ensure that during a data exchange, information can be safely transferred through an encryption algorithm.

  1. An effective audit trail

Having a specific, defined audit trail can help a business or IT professional find critical clues when it comes to data security. An audit trail can track user actions in order to prevent potential hacks or fraudulent activity within your system. The EMR’s audit trail should be able to answer the following questions if need be:

  • What data was accessed?
  • Who accessed the data?
  • When was the data accessed?
  • Where was the data accessed from?
  1. Access to IT expertise

When you have sensitive data to secure, it matters who you choose to help your business. Be sure that you have a strong IT company who are experts in your industry and can be there to help you avoid a potential data security threat. It is also an important rule of thumb to make sure that all members of your healthcare team are trained to spot and avoid potential IT risks

Step 3 is where we come in. Integragon is a leading expert with a proven history of success when it comes to healthcare IT. For more information on IT solutions specific to the healthcare industry, visit our website.