Healthcare providers are facing increasing pressure to improve patient care while cutting costs at the same time, adhering to complex regulatory requirements, and keeping on top of day-to-day administrative burdens. This complex juggling act makes good time management and operational efficiency crucial, particularly for those who value a good work-life balance. Meanwhile, patients are also […]
Category: HIPAA
Do pagers still have a place in healthcare?
Do pagers have a place in modern healthcare? In an age where smartphones reign supreme, it has become almost inconceivable that alternative forms of mobile communication still exist. However, in healthcare practices across the country, professionals still rely on archaic technologies, like pagers to remain productive. Paging devices have long been a go-to solution for […]
Anthem to pay a record $16 million HIPAA settlement
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a record HIPAA settlement with healthcare insurance giant Anthem following a mega-breach dating back to 2015. The $16 million settlement fee is the largest the country has ever seen, eclipsing the $5.55 million that was agreed with Advocate Health Care in […]
Social media poses a constant HIPAA risk
It is well reported that insider threats pose the biggest cyber security risk to healthcare organizations. According to Verizon’s Protected Health Information Data Breach Report, the majority (58%) of healthcare PHI data breaches are caused by insiders. Furthermore, healthcare is the only industry where insider threats pose a greater threat to sensitive data than external […]
Texting & PHI: 18 things you should never share
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, more commonly known as HIPAA, there is no specific sanction regarding the use of text messaging to share Protected Healthcare Information (PHI). However, there are strict regulations that prohibit the communication of PHI via any unsecure electronic format and, as text messages are not sent or stored […]
Introducing DocbookMD One-Way Paging
The healthcare communication landscape is evolving. Now more than ever, healthcare professionals need communication tools that can deliver uncompromised mobility, reliability, and security, within the convenience of a mobile application. Consequently, smartphone usage within medical practices is increasing, and the reliance on pagers is decreasing. But while pager usage may be on the decline, the […]
10 biggest HIPAA breaches of 2018 so far
As the number of security threats continue to grow, and as criminals become more sophisticated in their methods, keeping protected health information (PHI) safe and secure is becoming increasingly difficult for healthcare organizations. To highlight this, we’ve rounded up the 10 biggest reported HIPAA breaches of 2018 so far. 1. CA Department of Developmental Services […]
5 benefits of interoperability in healthcare
Interoperability in healthcare refers to the ability of different IT systems and applications to communicate, exchange, and interpret shared data with one another. Interoperability allows health information systems to work together across organizational boundaries, leading to more effective healthcare delivery, better patient outcomes, and a host of other health-related benefits. Outlined below are five of […]
Why consumer messaging apps are not suited to healthcare
Healthcare professionals are gradually moving away from pagers and adopting mobile technology as a replacement, which from an operational point of view makes perfect sense. There are a variety of messaging services that exist for everyday personal use, such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Skype - all of which allow for instant, two-way communication between […]
