Part Twelve: HIPAA Compliance Challenges – Concern with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance is at the top of the minds of all healthcare providers. So how do you protect and handle patient information safely?  According to the government, the HIPAA Privacy regulations require health care providers and organizations and their business associates to develop and follow procedures that ensure the confidentiality and security of protected health information (PHI) when it is transferred, received, handled, or shared.  This applies to all forms of PHI, including paper, oral, and electronic, etc.  Furthermore, only the minimum health information necessary to conduct business is to be used or shared.

With thousands of breaches in the past few months alone, healthcare security is paramount.  To protect sensitive information, as well as your organization’s reputation, the following are the basic IT-related steps to improve the overall healthcare security of your organization:

• Guard your server physical accessibility
• Have a state of the art firewall that its firmware is updated regularly
• Perform software updates regularly
• Install antivirus software and update it daily
• Utilize unique login credentials to access your computers on the network.
• Limit access to the sensitive information
• Use a virtual private network (VPN) to access your office network/computers remotely
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Do not open suspicious attachments and click on links.
• Use passcodes on intelligent devices
• Use encryption on your Wi-Fi and have it password protected
• Use multiple email addresses- Do not use your office email to set up accounts unrelated to work. 
• Don’t save passwords in your browsers. Clear your cache
• Disable sharing of data with social media platforms-
• Use smart pay instead of accepting credit cards using POS and old equipment
• Find out if your information is available on the Darkweb
• Have regular Employee awareness training. Learn to recognize phishing attempts

This is not a battle that you can fight alone.  It is a tedious process to be HIPAA compliant, but CEO Computers takes all the hassle away and ensures your peace of mind remains intact. We provide continuous monitoring of your network and provide unlimited helpdesk.  All you have to do is give us a call, and we’ll take it from there: (818)501-2281 or email us at info@ceocomptuers.com

About Us:

CEO Computers is a Los Angeles IT Support & Cloud Solutions company.  Our solutions and services are designed to simplify your IT, protect your data, and empower your staff.  We are a Microsoft silver competency partner.  For over 33 years, CEO has assisted many small businesses in the Los Angeles area in various industries to implement compliance policies, secure their network, and protect their data.