Sharing HIPAA Data Safely

As discussed in a previous post, HIPAA compliance is essential in order to both avoid fines and keep your customers’ information safe. It can seem overwhelmingly complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. There are simple steps you can take to get on the right track.

One of the most vulnerable times for confidential information is in the transfer of that information. Things like lack of security and human error can lead to non-compliance and customer distrust.

There are, however, a few things you can do to help minimize this vulnerability.

Encrypt HIPAA Data Transmissions

Data encryption is an essential step in ensuring the security of confidential data transactions. Get firewalls and routers that have 128-bit encryption to ensure that no one else can access any of your secure information. Anything less than 128-bit encryption is simply insufficient security. This is one of the first steps you should take to protect data, and it will be even more critical in the near future as HIPAA will likely be getting increasingly strict when it comes to encryption rules.

Authorize Users

Not everyone within your organization should have the ability to transfer information protected under HIPAA. Instead, there should be a select number of employees who are trained and knowledgeable about data transferring. The receptionist, for example, should not be able to transfer every type of confidential document. He or she should be limited to sharing what the job requires them to share.

Provide a HIPAA-Compliant IT Policy

The training of these authorized users comes from the efficacy of your IT policy. The policy should be realistic, clear, and respected throughout the company as the standard for any data-sharing activities. Not only that but any protocols involving HIPAA data sharing need to be very specific. Even including simple processes, such as requiring that information is double-checked, will help your company avoid easy errors – like sending confidential information to “Dustin” instead of “Justin”.

Encourage Ease of Use

Sometimes an IT policy goes in the opposite direction and becomes overly complicated. While the intention is usually exact clarity, a policy becomes hard for employees to follow when they have to go through 37 steps before sending an email. After a while, this difficulty will lead to skipping essential steps. To increase simplicity on their end, they may start bypassing your secure (but complicated) system and start using third-party services that are not secure. Avoid this, and keep your IT policy processes simple and realistic.

Following the previously mentioned tips is a great start to ensuring HIPAA-compliant data sharing. Remember to encrypt transmissions, only authorize specific users, and have a quality IT policy that is easy to follow. That being said, all of this can take a lot of time, money, and information to implement. Have a company like Swift help with all of your IT needs, and you’ll be able to sleep better at night knowing that your data is secure.

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