No one wants to spend money for something they don’t want or need. Many companies, including the healthcare industry, try to squeeze IT when it comes to the budget. But what most CFO’s and executives that control the IT budget need to understand is, they have become a digital business, at least in the back office. Everything is now done on the computer. Therefore, there must be an increase in resources to keep the computers up-to-date, secure and operating at acceptable levels.With cyber criminals focused on stealing Protected Health Information, cyber security is now very important and a top requirement of every healthcare covered entity and business associate. The problem is, all the demand to defend against cyber-threats has created a massive shortage of cyber security expertise. In the small to medium sized business, there is an estimated 68% shortage of cyber security expertise.
What to do? Make sure you train staff on protecting ePHI. Talk to your IT staff or vendor to create a plan to improve and maintain the security of your computers. AND increase your budget to make the necessary improvements to protect your patients, protect your practice, and protect yourself.
For more details on the shortage of security resources check out the Wakefield Research survey of 700 IT decision makers at SMBs in the U.S., U.K. and Australia conducted on behalf of endpoint security firm Webroot.