The lack of an adequate cybersecurity framework turns archives of sensitive data into a playground for intelligent hackers. It is an integral part of the security of healthcare practices to anticipate a myriad of threats to their security.
Due to the fact that nearly all of a patient’s data is located within their medical chart, anyone looking to commit identity theft no longer need to physically break into and rob a medical office of its file folders.
Technology makes it a walk in the park for proficient hackers to obtain all of this information remotely. If the right security parameters are not in place, something as simple as an unsecured or unencrypted email can be infiltrated to steal a plethora of patient data.
Even unprotected cloud services can be infiltrated in this way. Adopting controls that keep sensitive data out of the wrong hands is a key step in the right direction.
Numerous companies required to comply with HIPAA avoid unnecessary questions from relying entities by signing a business associate agreement and self-attesting their compliance with HIPAA requirements.
Healthcare providers, especially those using service organizations to support processes, were concerned with the “I’ll take your word for it” approach to HIPAA regulations. This in turn has caused larger healthcare providers to demand greater assurances that HIPAA controls are installed at various service organizations.
HITRUST Alliance developed “myCSF” as a governance, risk, and compliance tool which can be implemented by organizations to gauge the level of compliance with a number of various standards and protocols.
myCSF tailors each assessment to the organization’s unique system and factors, making each one completely unique to that organization. The basis for HITRUST requirements is ISO 27001, applied to the healthcare industry.
Even though HIPAA and SOC II both comprise key components of HITRUST, the full requirements of HITRUST are yet to be fulfilled.
For example, with SOC II being a reporting framework (and not a control framework,) the controls that are admitted into a SOC II report are done so by the company’s management team itself. This means that the auditors can only evaluate adherence to controls set forth by the company itself.
The requirements by healthcare organizations are on the rise for all of their technology and service partners, with the main requirement being the HITRUST CSF certification.
By cooperation, providers, payers, technology partners, and everyone in the healthcare ecosystem can rest assured knowing that patient data is secure and reliable at every point of contact. Check out HITRUST certification cost from TrustNet’s experienced specialists.
