![]() Make sure everyone in the office fully understands the importance of protecting confidential PHI. Include contact information for anyone who needs to be alerted right away. It can be helpful to compose a guide or decision-support tool that staff can easily reference in case of an incident. Requirements likely vary based on the specifics of the situation. Consult with a privacy expert or legal representative to ensure you understand what steps are required in the event of a privacy breach. But it’s wise to have a process in place if they do. In an ideal world, errors in handling PHI would never happen. Each staff member should have their own access code, and always use their own password when accessing confidential PHI. Never share passwords with anyone else on the clinical care team, or with anyone at home. It’s also a good idea to change passwords regularly. Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols. Passwords should be changed regularly and should be complex, so they can’t easily be guessed. ![]() When everyone on the care team adheres to these practices, it reinforces and reminds us all that they are important. This includes offering ample space for filling out forms and providing insurance information in a discreet manner.Īlways discuss individual patient health matters in private rooms, never within earshot of other patients or staff members who don’t have a need to know the information. And don’t leave patient forms sitting out in the open. ![]() Demonstrate a commitment to privacy from the very moment patients enter the practice. Encourage Best Practices in the OfficeĮvery person in the office plays a role in ensuring privacy as part of your company culture. However, data encryption is not completely fail-safe, so experts caution that you shouldn’t rely on data encryption as your only defense against healthcare cybersecurity breaches. It’s important for everyone in the practice to understand what steps to take to encrypt data that includes PHI. Data encryption scrambles text to make it unreadable if it gets in the hands of a person who doesn’t have a “key” to unlock it. Many software programs have data encryption capabilities built-in, or you can use third-party resources. Data encryption is required by HIPAA when transmitting PHI over open networks as a way of safeguarding PHI. ![]()
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