Encrypting personal health information is a front line precaution in securing personally identifiable information. Two months ago a health center was broken into and burglarized. The facility had an alarm that was sounded, summoning law enforcement but the thieves had fled by the time they arrived, making their get away with four desktop and two laptop computers.
The health center reconstructed the data from the stolen computers, confirming that patient names, dates of birth, bank account and Social Security numbers, insurance information, diagnoses, treatments, and other information had been saved on the hard drives of those machines. The data stored on those machines was not encrypted. The incident was reported, but as of the date of this post had not yet been added to the DHHS Breach Portal. If you would like additional information about the incident, it was reported upon by CTPost (Bridgeport Health Clinic Warns of ID Theft After Break-Ins, June 8, 2017.)
Not all cyber breaches occur as the result of sophisticated malware. Sometimes it is simply someone stealing a computer from your office or unattended automobile. Encrypting personal health information on computers, tablets, smart-phones, and other electronic devices is necessary to adequately protect against a data breach. Let us help you adopt and implement effective policies and procedures to protect your business or practice, your patient’s or client’s data, and help reduce your risk of significant fines, civil lawsuits, and unfavorable media. We have designed a streamlined process for identifying those areas of compliance that need attention and have supported it with industry leading software that not only makes the process easy, it also provides you with the documentation you need in the event of a breach or audit. Take a look at our HIPAA compliance services and let us know how we can help you today.
