In healthcare, the phrase “safety and security” can refer to everything from health and well-being to physical, information, and data security. There is increasing attention for the last two topics in recent years. Worldwide, data security in the industry has become a key focus point for both regulators and practitioners.
The International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) is the leading authority in the field. Looking at best working practices and expert advice from IAHSS and others, this blog focuses on the concrete steps you can take to secure your health care systems and data.
Adopting TeamPassword security tools is the biggest single step you can take now to secure your health care data and shield yourself from consistently emerging threats. Try our 14-day free trial to see how it fits.
The Case for Improving Healthcare Security
Information security is one of the most pressing challenges faced in any organization. Businesses across multiple industries share some of the most common issues. When it comes to health care, however, the stakes and consequences are higher than most.
Information concerning our health is something everyone wants to keep private and personal. Leaks and slips in such critical data can have devastating consequences.
In the United States, theHealth Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs data privacy and security relating to medical information. Since 1996, HIPAA compliance has played an increasingly critical role in the industry.
Audit failures and penalties for regulatory violations can create severe costs and consequences for organizations. In Europe, GDPR serves a similar role in enforcing and advocating for strong data security.
Making the Time for Strong Health Care Security
While keeping on top of the details and conditions of regulatory compliance feels like a tall task—adequate security in any conditions is surprisingly easy in practice. Building good working practices and creating safe habits that last rapidly becomes easier than flying by the seat of your pants and doing things poorly or not doing them at all.
Using a strong password manager to access all your systems has been the leading industry advice for many years now. Password managers such as TeamPassword address and solve the most common data security issues and tackle the largest threats in healthcare data security.
Ideally, your password manager should create an environment that is easier to manage than manually remembering multiple logins and identities at once. The core idea is to reduce and eliminate complexity with a simple and organized system.
A good password manager should provide a helpful boost in both productivity and safety. Your password manager should provide:
- Secure Password Generation. Being able to create strong passwords on the fly for secure services
- Global Accessibility. The ability to access your password manager from the browser, desktop, and mobile devices seamlessly and without interruption
- Group Access. Securely share logins amongst a team or subset of team members. No more writing down obscure words on envelopes and sticky notes. Keep everyone up to date with secure access regardless of physical location
- 2-step verification. Added security measures that secure your password manager means all your services and applications stay secure against intrusion at once
- Access Logs. Maintain a complete and accurate log of team members accessing, updating, and adding logins. Secure against future audits and access queries
How well a password manager fits into your working practices is one of the most critical factors in determining how well staff will use it. TeamPassword is easier, more robust, and more compliant than manual password management and memorization. Our 14-day free trial will demonstrate just how easily good practices make for strong security.
Healthcare Security and Safety in Practice
According to Verizon’s 2020 data breach report, more than 80% of security breaches happened due to weak or stolen passwords. Historically, data owners and stakeholders have often been the last to know when they have faced a breach.
For health care providers, this presents a huge target to easily and instantly boost data security.Secure passwords simultaneously improve internal security and lend additional coverage to additional services too. When up against strong competitors in a challenging field, strong data security is, quite literally, invaluable.
Your first and last defense against both malicious attackers and accidental leaks should be TeamPassword security tools. A suite designed from the ground up to keep staff and patients on the right side of safe and secure.
Taking Control of Your Safety
There’s never a bad time to sit down to review your security practices and polish up on your data security. It’s far better that it happens today than in the aftermath of a major event or complete catastrophe. A strong password manager is the most impactful way to improve your security, and you can do it almost instantly for free. Discover the keys to securing your firm today with our 14-day free trial.
