Patients at the hospital consulting a doctor
Let’s take a minute and just say, screw the numbers! Yes, I said it. We all tend to get hung up on the numbers out there on cyber breaches, HIPAA fines, ePHI, etc. At some point you either get it or you don’t. For doctors and healthcare providers, the patient’s welfare is their business. I am guessing that for most in this business, they really do care and it is not just about money.
Now if you are all about the money, this blog post may not be for you. We have plenty of articles here about the numbers!
Seriously though, it seems that getting compliant has come down to numbers and not the real reason to get compliant. Your patients come to you because they are in need. Whether it is for a routine check-up or serious health concerns, they put their trust in you to help them get better. All the training and years of school have prepared you to provide one of the greatest types of service one could provide, maintaining people’s health and lives.
What many, in the healthcare profession, did not train for is the amount of regulation in the privacy of your patient data (ePHI). HIPAA has become a necessary evil as the guidance for building the protection. Again, for those that continued on, this is about caring and not numbers. If you truly care about the welfare of your patients, spent all that time in school and training, etc. etc. why would you not protect them?
The problem is, for all that HIPAA tries to be, it is cumbersome and just not easy to get started.
Dehumanizing
Think about that word for a second. That single word describes how many see ePHI. It is data, simple data. When you look at it, you don’t see a person. It is just numbers, names, history, and other health information. What we tend to forget is that data IS a person’s. If hackers get their hands on that data, they can ruin a person’s life, causing stress which in turn can lead to other health concerns. A hacker can take data they get in a breach to completely hijack that person’s identity and life.
Think about that! You spend your career helping people, making them better only to leave them vulnerable.
So, it is not about the numbers, it is about doing what you have been doing all of your career.
We know you are not experts in HIPAA, ePHI, and Cyber Crime. You don’t have to be! That is what we, here at Third Rock, want to help you with. Our Worry-Free Compliance solution was built to be the answer for your HIPAA concerns and not a burden. We take that burden, so that you can do what you were trained for.