Now, more than ever, it is important for healthcare providers to stay on top of their security programs and techniques to protect patient data from malicious activity. As organizations continue to switch from paper to electronic health records and increasingly turn to the cloud to store those records, fax over IP is the reliable, secure choice to ease that transition and stay HIPAA compliant. A recent data breach at a Massachusetts hospital may have been avoidable if FoIP’s cloud-based technology had been utilized.
A former employee of UMass Memorial Medical Center is suspected of having stolen patient information to open credit cards and cell phone accounts, according the the hospital.
Over 2,400 patients have been notified that sensitive information such as birth dates, addresses and Social Security numbers may have been misused. The affected patients had been seen over a 12-year period.
According to the a statement from UMass Memorial, the hospital discovered the breach in March, however, it didn’t begin to notify patients until May, the Worcester Business Journal reported. A statement from the hospital said it waited two months to inform patients because it took an extended amount of time to determine what information the former employee had access to and could have compromised.
“To help prevent this type of situation from happening again, UMMMC is further strengthening its [security] program, including identifying additional measures and enhancements to existing safeguards to protect patient information,” read the hospital’s statement.
Requirements for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act call for a dedicated, secure computing environment to protect patient data. The Department of Health and Human Services has begun hitting healthcare organizations with higher fines for HIPAA non compliance, as is the case with UMass Memorial, and many have begun moving their data to the cloud to avoid breaches and the fees that come along with them.
In-house compliance solutions can be incredibly expensive, with estimates for a healthcare organization with 350 physicians costing $280,000 up front, according to cloud provider Atlantic.Net. On top of the money upfront, an in-house server would have ongoing expenses, including higher energy and bandwidth costs, as well as salary for a network administrator.
Staying HIPAA compliant with FoIP
Utilizing a HIPAA compliant online fax solution, such as a cloud server, is cost-effective and ensures compliance with a wide network of connected physicians. Storing patient information in the cloud also allows doctors to access medical records from anywhere with an Internet connection, aiding patient care.
Fax over IP is an obvious feature to add to a healthcare organization’s cloud network. FoIP allows for HIPAA compliant internet faxing, and aids in compliance efforts by offering a more secure way to send messages while also creating an archive of faxed documents that can replace paper records.
When faxes are sent with a FoIP service like FaxCore, messages are transmitted over the Internet and the data within is stored in a secure data center that employs encryption techniques developed by the National Security Agency. All sent documents are stored on an organization’s dedicated server, creating a searchable database of records. Faxes can either be sent to a traditional fax machine or to an email address, making them portable and convenient.
Enhance enterprise communication, collaboration and compliance efforts with a proven FoIP solution from FaxCore. Contact FaxCore today to learn more about their ‘Partly-Cloudy’ fax solutions.
