• Blog
  • Services
    • PHIshMD Ongoing Training
    • HIPAA Compliance
    • Discover Vulnerabilities to Patient PHI
  • Store
    • HIPAA Secure Now Service Store
  • Contact Us
    • Sales Inquiry
    • Customer Support
  • Resources
    • Free Healthcare Security Check Up Quiz
    • HIPAA Compliance Requirements | A Guide
    • Webinars & Downloadable Content
    • Use our free Breach Cost Calculator
    • HIPAA Secured Seal
    • In-Email Training & Analysis | Catch Phish

Call us at: 877-275-4545

Client or Partner? Login here
HIPAA Secure Now!HIPAA Secure Now!
  • Blog
  • Services
    • PHIshMD Ongoing Training
    • HIPAA Compliance
    • Discover Vulnerabilities to Patient PHI
  • Store
    • HIPAA Secure Now Service Store
  • Contact Us
    • Sales Inquiry
    • Customer Support
  • Resources
    • Free Healthcare Security Check Up Quiz
    • HIPAA Compliance Requirements | A Guide
    • Webinars & Downloadable Content
    • Use our free Breach Cost Calculator
    • HIPAA Secured Seal
    • In-Email Training & Analysis | Catch Phish

Smart Telehealth Practices

July 27, 2020 Posted by Art Gross HIPAA, Policies and Procedures, Telehealth No Comments


COVID-19 has ushered in the mass acceptance of telehealth, with so much optimism and excitement around the technology. But like many new technologies, the initial use is rushed and not well thought out with many providers trying to figure out the right technology, best practices, and optimal patient experience. We have seen temporary waivers to telehealth laws to accommodate this need, with some of those becoming permanent policy. This gives confirmation that telehealth is here to stay.

With the rush to deploy, accommodate, and acclimate users to the process of telehealth, HIPAA enforcement discretion was relaxed, which ultimately led to usage being less than secure. Healthcare organizations know that using FaceTime to administer telehealth is not ideal or secure, but they were trying to do the best that they could, with the resources that they have.

A good parallel example is electronic health records (EHR). Meaningful use drove mass adoption, and EHRs were quickly rushed to ensure maximum reimbursements. Many of these initial EHRs had failed implementations or since initial deployment, have been replaced by better systems. The initial patient experience was not optimal as providers struggled to use these new technologies while providing a similar patient experience that they had in the past. Subsequently, providers complained they had to focus too much on using the technology and not enough time talking and listening to patients.

Patient and provider experience was not the only issue. Cybersecurity and safeguards around the treasure trove of electronic PHI was not a priority during the rush to implement EHRs 10 years ago. Fast forward, and today healthcare is under attack by cybercriminals. Data breaches and ransomware of healthcare clinics and hospitals dominate the headlines. Healthcare is desperately trying to catch up and implement the cybersecurity needed to protect the enormous amount of patient information that has been created.

Some may view telehealth as an extension of EHRs. Regardless of your view, cybersecurity around telehealth is absolutely critical. Imagine if recorded private sessions between providers and patients were stolen and disclosed publicly. The damage to a patient that had their sessions publicly exposed can be orders of magnitude more damaging than electronic charts in an electronic health record. Intimate details that patients share with trusted providers could reveal information that could lead to blackmail, loss of employment, or even worse, depending on how damaging or embarrassing the information is. The impact to a medical practice or hospital could be so great, that these organizations may not be able to recover from the damage to their reputation.

Unlike the rush to implement EHRs to satisfy meaningful use requirements, Telehealth implementations need to be well thought out, and cybersecurity needs to be planned alongside the technology and not treated as an afterthought.

Human Factor

Employees are the leading cause of data breaches. The ease in which employees can be socially engineered and tricked is well known to cybercriminals. Cybercriminals will continue to target weak and untrained employees. They will use phishing to trick employees into revealing credentials, downloading ransomware, or providing access to sensitive patient and telehealth resources.

Telehealth offers so much promise to both patients and providers. But healthcare needs to learn from EHR miscues and ensure that providers’ and patients’ experiences are optimized, and that cybersecurity is implemented alongside of the technology and not an afterthought.

Welcome to the brave new world of telehealth medicine. We have an opportunity to do it right, let us maximize that opportunity and ensure that we are using updated and secure platforms, that our policies and procedures are in place to not only protect the patient but our businesses as well.

When COVID-19 subsides, and enforcement discretion disappears with it, it will be the businesses that were forward-thinking and planning NOW for a secure future that will be standing strong. The medical industry has to provide progressive, safe, and forward-thinking healthcare, and today that means incorporating smart and updated cybersecurity in their practice.

Tags: HIPAATelehealth
No Comments
Share
0

You also might be interested in

Introducing HIPAA Secure Now!

Feb 13, 2011

We are proud to announce the launch of the HIPAA[...]

Huge security breach fines coming in 2011

Feb 21, 2011

According the Health Data Management magazine, The HHS Office for[...]

Using patient record security as a competitive advantage

Using patient record security as a competitive advantage

Mar 7, 2011

The following blog was written a year ago but the[...]

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Recent Posts

  • HIPAA Security Policies
  • Restructuring the OCR
  • HIPAA: P for Portability
  • OCR Healthcare Report Released
  • HIPAA Compliance & Cybersecurity: How They Differ

Recent Comments

  • Milan on PHI or PII – What’s the Difference?
  • Automatic Backlinks on Free HIPAA Security Training!
  • Lisa Porter on Free HIPAA Security Training!
  • Roseanne ruiz on Health Apps & HIPAA
  • Roseanne ruiz on PHI or PII – What’s the Difference?

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011

Categories

  • Backup & Disaster Recovery
  • Business Associates
  • Client News
  • Download
  • Healthcare Industry
  • HIPAA
  • HIPAA Audits
  • HIPAA Violations
  • HSN News
  • Legal
  • MACRA
  • Policies and Procedures
  • Press Release
  • Remote Workforce
  • Risk Assessment
  • Scams
  • Security
  • Security Reminders
  • Security Training
  • Telehealth
  • Uncategorized
  • Webinar
  • Website

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Contact Us

  • HIPAA Secure Now
  • 55 Madison Ave, Suite 400 Morristown, NJ 07960
  • (877) 275 - 4545
  • info@hipaasecurenow.com

Find us on Social Media

Recent Posts

  • HIPAA Security Policies March 21, 2023
  • Restructuring the OCR March 14, 2023
  • HIPAA: P for Portability March 7, 2023
  • OCR Healthcare Report Released February 28, 2023
  • HIPAA Compliance & Cybersecurity: How They Differ February 21, 2023

Subscribe to our Newsletter

  • Hidden

© 2023 · HIPAA Secure Now!

Prev Next