Complying with Regulations: Is Your Physical Therapy EMR Encrypted?
Welcome to the 21st century – a time when the digital world is flooded by hackers. Nowadays, the hack attempts come in many different types and forms, targeting almost every industry.
Healthcare is no exception. The Internet is full of people who want to steal personal information such as Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and credit card accounts. As some statistics say, more than 2.3 million adult Americans have either been victims or know someone who has been a victim of medical identity theft.
This is why there are new regulations put to place – best known through a new form of encryption – EMR encryption. If you are wondering what this means, continue reading below.
Bank-level security encryption and password guidelines
The need for bank-level security encryption in healthcare is now big. This type of encryption will scramble up your information and let you safely transmit it online by using a cypher (an algorithm) and a cipher key.
On top of this, EMR encryption focuses on strict password guidelines in order to better protect your patient data. For extra security, you should look for the TRUSTe Certified Privacy adge on EMR vendor’s website.
Automatic data backups and audit trails
Data backups are essential to keeping track of every information. Luckily, the EMR encryption is focused and armed with automatic backups of this kind. There are different types of backups but the outcome is always simple – to prevent losing your important data, even if you lose your Internet connection.
Audit trails, on the other hand, are another weapon to discouraging hackers and fraud in general – by tracking user activity. As long as it is turned on, an audit trail maintains a chronological record of all attempts to access patient data.
Specialized staff and data centers
Skillful staff is also important for MER protection. This is why some EMR vendors take the time to hire and train staff who are well-versed in these security measures – and others outsource to specialized agencies in this field.
Another important thing towards ensuring HIPAA compliance is the use of sophisticated data centers which must possess bank-level security and supreme encryption methods that render data unreadable.
In the end, EMR encryption is the best answer to preventing crime, medical identity theft and damage. So, considering this form of encryption is always worth it and in the long run will save you $ and time.
