How to ensure your patient's data security and privacy in healthcare?

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Let’s assume you walk into a physical therapy clinic to get yourself treated but at the front desk, you are asked to share certain details of yours. You may feel comfortable enough to reveal your information to the front desk and doctor, but the task of protecting that data lies on the shoulders of that clinic.

Now the situation, which can be a nightmare for patients, comes true. A few days after the appointment, you find out that your personal information, which includes your medical history, contact details, and also your payment information, has been breached by hackers.

This kind of situation can be frightening for patients, leading to trust issues with the clinic and raising serious questions about keeping the data secure. As we have seen the evolution of digital healthcare records, along with that the importance of data security in healthcare has also increased.

It has been observed in cases of poor data security that it may pose serious concerns such as:

+Physio believes that data security in healthcare is the primary goal of ensuring patient satisfaction. That’s why it offers advanced security measures to safeguard your data. This blog will highlight the solutions provided by +Physio that perfectly align with this aim and also some challenges faced in keeping data secure.

How +Physio protects your data: 6 Key Solutions

A patient may always be worried after sharing their details at a physiotherapy clinic. It may be difficult for him/her to gain trust.

+Physio values your trust the most. It prefers building long-term relationships with its patients and prioritizes the need to keep your personal information safe from cyber threats. Here are six ways +Physio makes sure that your data is safe:

1. Data encryption and secure data storage

Suppose your data is compared to a letter that is meant to be delivered to a specific authority. You do not want the information to be tampered with and the data should be fully authentic. In scenarios, like these, encryption comes into action. It will not only ensure that only the right person has access to your data but also maintain its authenticity. We ensure that your data is well-encrypted and not accessible to unauthorized users.

It also ensures that your data is stored on secure servers with multiple-layer protection, which prevents data leaks and hackers from accessing this information.

2. Use of Role-based access control

Imagine a situation where some nursing staff from the hospital is trying to view data that he or she doesn’t have access to. According to a patient’s point of view, this may sound annoying. That’s why +Physio ensures role-based access control, which makes sure that only permitted people can view or modify your data according to specific needs. After adopting role-based access control, it has been observed that data is not misused for illegal purposes and it remains confidential as well.

Use case: If we take the example of a physiotherapy clinic, a receptionist takes care of scheduling the appointments, a physiotherapist looks after patients and the accounts department looks after the bills and invoices. Neither of them has access to the other’s data, i.e., the doctor is not allowed to look after the invoices nor does the receptionist have access to the patient’s confidential data.

3. Multi-factor authentication

In today’s time, where cyber threats are at an all-time high, the need to increase security has grown tremendously. Similar to what airbags do in a car at the time of an accident (give you extra protection and act as a layer of security). This is what multi-factor authentication does. It adds an extra layer of security, in the form of sending one-time passwords, or security codes to the authorized device and even biometric verification in some cases.

Use case: In a situation where a physiotherapist is using +Physio’s services, he logs into the system to review some patient details. Now upon observation, it was seen that an extra layer of security is added; the doctor has to enter a one-time password sent to his/her registered device or has to verify his/her biometrics before logging into the system. This step will ensure that only authorized people are permitted to view the specified data.

4. Ensuring compliance with regulations

+Physio firmly follows industry-level rules and regulations to ensure the best security measures for our customers. It has been observed that organizations that follow regulations like HIPAA and GDPR are known to have experienced fewer data breaches.

We perform regular compliance checks and make sure we stick to these industry regulation standards. The reality is that the only way to ensure the protection and careful handling of patient information is to be alert to security measures.

5. Regularly updating systems and taking data backups

We have seen how if the system is not up-to-date or there is no backup of data at a different server or location, it may affect the company in huge numbers. +Physio takes this into utmost consideration. Ensuring our systems and software security features are updated regularly.

Cyberthreats happen in different forms and it is necessary for us to come up with different security measures to tackle them. Backups come in handy at the time of system failures. It will ensure that no data is lost and can be restored without interruptions

Use case: In the situation of a ransomware attack or system failure, data backups and updating systems are your best friends. Also, it has been observed that businesses with strong backup protocols in these kinds of situations can recover faster from cyber threats.

6. Constant monitoring of access logs

Think of a surveillance camera keeping an eye on you and your activities. Similarly, monitoring of access logs serves as a surveillance camera tracking your activities, your login attempts, requests for accessing the data, and any changes made to the data.

Use case: Assuming a situation where an unauthorized person is trying to access some private or confidential data, e.g., patient medical histories. That person tries to log in multiple times using incorrect passwords, outside working hours. Now, if constant monitoring of access logs isn't there, then that person may gain access to the patient's confidential data.

Thanks to the procedure of constant monitoring, these attackers are not able to harm the patient’s confidential data, which can also damage the clinic’s reputation.

5 Common Challenges Faced While Securing Healthcare Data

Well, the process of healthcare data security is not as easy as it seems. It involves a lot of complexities and a combination of different procedures brought together to perform one single task which is data security.

Let’s have a look at 5 challenges that healthcare officials may face during the process of securing healthcare data:

Conclusion

As we come to our final thoughts on this blog, one can say that providing the best healthcare services is not everything patients wish for. Securing their data from online threats will build trust in their minds and give rise to long-term relationships with the patients.

Patients often look for software providers where data security is the king. +Physio is just the right solution for you. With different measures like role-based access control, data encryption, multi-factor authentication, and monitoring access logs, we make sure that your information is in safe hands.

Partner with +Physio today to safeguard both - your health and your data.