HITRUST

Good results don’t necessarily come cheap.

When it comes to the technical infrastructure that manages data within the healthcare industry, it not only needs to be highly useful for approved personnel like doctors and pharmacists, but it also needs to be kept very safe at the same time. In other words, data on these systems need to be both highly secure and highly accessible. It’s a little easier said than done.

The ten biggest healthcare data breaches in 2018 ended up costing major sums of money and compromising millions of patient data records. Breaches in the healthcare space are rising because cybercriminals are gluttons for other people’s data, and hospitals retain loads of it.

Like going to the doctor for an updated checkup, healthcare companies need to know where they stand concerning cybersecurity on the regular. A HITRUST certification is like getting a booster shot that’s valid for two years and will protect you from a wide variety of cybersecurity concerns.

Healthcare organizations are some of the juiciest targets out there for malicious cybercriminals in search of someone to compromise. These entities hoard data that is both highly sensitive and highly identifiable, so breaches here can have serious repercussions on people’s privacy and general security alike. These breaches are not only expensive to fix but leave people feeling especially vulnerable.

The healthcare industry is understandably concerned with compliance and certification — there are lives on the line! The people operating various medical machinery should be fully certified to do so, and patients should see fully qualified doctors for the best outcomes. It’s just how they get the care they need.

But beyond ensuring these requirements are met (and that everyone’s hands are clean in the process), robust healthcare organizations need to be considering their approach to cybersecurity and data protection as well. Data stored by businesses in this category is especially appealing to cybercriminals for its dual nature — not only is it highly sensitive, but it’s highly identifiable as well.

When we see other drivers on the road, we tend to assume they’re all licensed, insured, and level-headed. Until they prove otherwise in front of us, we take it for granted that everyone’s an excellent driver — you know, like us.

But when we show up at a doctor’s office or share payment details for a recent medical procedure, we assume healthcare professionals are following all the best practices concerning the security of that data. But we go to the pharmacy because we need to fill a prescription, not because they’re reputed for their cybersecurity. How do businesses call attention to their cybersecurity mindfulness, and how do consumers make the best choice when it comes to matters of handling their personal data?

There’s a simple answer already out there: they look for HITRUST compliance.

Cybercriminals are already clearly established bad guys online, and it’s up to your cybersecurity tools and standards to keep you safe.

Top-of-the-line firewall and antivirus software might go a long way toward protecting the data on your own network, but how do you protect the most sensitive data when it lives somewhere else entirely? You surely need someone else’s help to protect your data when it lives in places you might not even be aware of. The healthcare industry stashes patient data all over the place, for example.

The ranks of compliance regulations continue to expand, making it confusing and time-consuming for companies to navigate the audit landscape. From PCI DSS to SOC 2 to NYDSF to SOX, companies face a growing list of standards and certifications but no central repository to aggregate, much less organize all these standards. To address this, the healthcare industry established the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST), which designed the Common Security Framework (CSF) assessment to consolidate the compliance process. 

Curious as to how often you need a HITRUST CSF assessment report to stay compliant? Read on to find out now!

Healthcare organizations not only have to be HIPAA and HITECH compliant, but they also have to ensure that their business associates are compliant as well. Which makes sense; if electronic health records (EHRs) are being passed from one healthcare organization to another company, the information is still private and needs to be secured. To ensure this is the case, many organizations are requiring business associates to adopt HITRUST’s data and data security framework, while implementing it internally themselves.

To what degree these business associates are mandated to adopt the HITRUST security framework depends on the healthcare organization. Although leveraging the framework to some degree will significantly protect both the healthcare organization and the associate in the case of an audit.

To understand why organizations are leveraging the HITRUST framework and how it can help, read ahead.

There are plenty of industries with which government intervention plays a necessary role. Unarguably, they provide for national defense, a platform for international relations and foreign policy, and they ensure minimum basic dignity to citizens within their borders. Then — some might say “unarguably” again — there are the sectors with which government intervention lends a less helpful hand. To get specific, today we’re talking about data security in the healthcare industry.

To learn about how and why the private sector has increased the demands for security and how HITRUST, a data security platform, is growing its privacy controls, read ahead.

Over the past two decades, the healthcare industry has undergone a seismic shift in the way that processes are operated and regulated. Thanks to revolutionary technological innovations and several sweeping pieces of legislation, healthcare entities have been strongarmed into changing with the times. The most notable example of this exodus-of-sorts is the medical industry’s shift in how they store confidential client information, painfully transitioning from physical record keeping to a digital storage format.   

This forced change in practices was met with grumbling by some and flat out refusal by others, resulting in a lack of continuity, noncompliance, or only partial compliance. Naturally, the lack of cohesion created a virtual, frenzied feeding ground for hackers and cyber criminals seeking access to patient’s personal data. In response to this rampant rise in digital crime, the HITRUST framework was erected. Today, this security audit system forms the best defense against malicious attacks. So, if you’re a healthcare company, you’ll want to obtain a HITRUST certification. 

Read on to discover how you can go about the process! 

Ever since 1996, with the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), healthcare organizations have been assessing the risks that are associated with electronic health records (EHRs). Now, with nearly every hospital utilizing the latest gadgets in healthcare technology from cloud storage to automation to mobile tablets and devices, the need for protecting patient data is at an all-time high.

To help manage and reduce the risk of data breaches, healthcare organizations promote the use of security frameworks. One such framework is the HITRUST community security framework (CSF). The reason this framework is among the most trusted in the healthcare industry is how it can be adjusted to fit any HIPAA mandate or new healthcare law — thus never leaving room for penalties due to security issues.

In fact, it’s for this very reason healthcare organizations are starting to require their business associates to be HITRUST certified. If you’re considering HITRUST CSF, then you should be aware of the different types of HITRUST assessment.