Like many other businesses, healthcare providers quickly transitioned many employees to work from home when the pandemic hit. This transition took place almost overnight, whether hospitals were ready or not.
Departments with access to sensitive information were now performing work from home. Many turned to their personally-owned devices such as smartphones and home computers to accomplish work tasks. And that is where hospitals face potential risk!
HIPAA Compliance Risks
Here are five examples of personal devices employees utilize that may create cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance risks:
- Personal Computer: Some employees utilize personal computers if access to work computers is not an option. The hospital IT department does not manage these computers, and they are not equipped with adequate security measures. Once connected to corporate VPNs, they can then become potential vectors for ransomware attacks.
- Printers: Without adequate workstations, employees may be inclined to print documents for reference. Printing documents presents an issue for an organization to destroy confidential documents effectively.
- USB drives: USB drives are a convenient way to transfer information from work to home, but unencrypted or untracked USBs create the potential for HIPAA violations or data breaches if lost or stolen.
- Home Wi-Fi: Many home Wi-Fi devices are out of date and insecure, making them vulnerable when connected to corporate networks.
- Smartphones: We use these to communicate with each other every day, but what happens when someone takes a photo of a patient record and sends it via text message to a colleague to share information? Yes, it is happening in healthcare every day.
Questions?
Windham Brannon’s Healthcare Advisory Practice is dedicated to assisting hospitals and healthcare providers prevent cybersecurity issues.
Email Windham Brannon’s Healthcare Advisors Valerie Barckhoff at vbarckhoff@windhambrannon.com, and Danielle Epps at depps@windhambrannon.com, to discuss how Windham Brannon can assist your organization in optimizing the revenue cycle.
