How to Find Balance Between Productivity vs. Security and Compliance

how to find balance between productivity vs security and compliance
However, in order for each one of them to work successfully, business owners must find common ground between each of them.

The truth is productivity, security, and compliance are all important to your business. However, in order for each one of them to work successfully, business owners must find common ground between each of them. More importantly, it’s imperative to define how each of them apply to your business needs too. On the one hand, you’re business is always trying to meet the demands of higher productivity and then on the other hand, security and compliance become just as important.

How does your business find a way to balance their goals of productivity, security, and governance? 

How To Balance Productivity, Security & Compliance 

Your business may define productivity as producing 500 units one week and then 800 the next. It’s obvious your level of productivity has increased. Your business was more productive in the second week than in the first, right? For a service provider, your productivity is defined by the number of customers your business is able to serve. However, today, productivity means giving your employees the flexibility of doing their job which could mean logging into your network from a mobile device, but this opens the door for exploitation by hackers. So, how do you continue to balance productivity, security, and compliance? The experts suggests; “a professional blend of management, resources, and strategy.” 

The need for productivity has created a demand for device compatibility, new workforce benefits, new technology, and vendors that have access to your network information. This has created IT obstacles that have never existed before which insights the need for a balance between productivity, security, and compliance. In fact, it may be harder for small business to keep up with the demands of all three, but here’s how your business can find the perfect balance: 

Choose To Be Adaptive & Context-Aware 

Stop asking users to authentic themselves and take the matter into your own hands. For example, when a user is logging into your network, background authentication checks like: are they using the same device, has their number recently been ported or are they logging on from a geographical location are all safety and compliance measures that can help you form the perfect balance between productivity too when met with the right tools. Your governance rules may be more stringent with a administrator who can change your system configurations or your finance staff who can access sensitive data over employees with less privileges. 

Think Technically “Smart” 

Why give your employees access to more of your network than what they need to do their job? The best balance between productivity and security is the least-privilege rule. Never give your employees access to more than what they need to avoid a security risk, but with the ability to still remain productive. For instance, any data that users upload to the cloud should be encrypted or blocking any downloads from a bring-your-own device (BYOD). 

Utilize Adoption & User Experience

Users absolutely hate things that get in their way. For instance, complex password requirements and hardware tokens feels like it is enabling their work which impacts their productivity. However, there are proven technologies that will streamline and improve the user experience while protecting your security. Use single-on features that don’t require a key fob, adaptive authentication (that remembers their device and log-on pattern), or even go passwordless. 

Bottom line: How do you balance productivity, security, and compliance? Identify the most profitable balance between the three along with what works best for your employees and for your business. 

You’re invited to contact us at the AE Technology Group for more details on balancing your productivity, security, and compliance. We’re you IT support and managed services professionals. Together, we’ll focus on the productivity of your team while protecting your business security and keeping you fined tuned with the current compliance standards. 

HIPAA Compliant IT Support And Its Value To Your Business

hipaa compliant it support and its value to your business

If your business is in New York City or Long Island, you can find HIPAA compliant IT support at AE Technology Group.

HIPAA Compliant IT Support And Its Value To Your Business

One example of why HIPAA and the HITECH Act are so important is the Anthem security breach of 2015. At the time, hackers stole private information of close to 80 million customers and former customers. This information excluded credit card information and health information but included names, phone numbers, home addresses, and Social Security numbers.

According to an article from Modern Healthcare,

“The FBI is still investigating the attack, and so far has found no evidence that Anthem members’ data have been sold, shared or used fraudulently… Anthem provided two years of credit monitoring to those who were affected.”

If this can happen to a company like Anthem, the second largest healthcare provider in North America, it is all the more important to make sure you are doing your due diligence in hiring a HIPAA compliant IT firm to help with your IT needs.

For more information about HIPAA complaint IT, contact us at AE Technology Group today.

Five Things You Should Know About the HIPAA Omnibus Rule

five things you should know about the hipaa omnibus rule

It’s been six months since the newly passed HIPAA Omnibus rule went into full effect. The goal of the new rule was to provide better protections for patient information.

For health providers and IT companies, it’s all about compliance, and non-compliance can bring stiff penalties from the Office of Civil Rights.

Have you ensured your office is aligned with the new requirements? Here are five things to check:

  • Business associate accountability. The new rule expands how “business associates” are defined. In a nutshell, any company that sends or regularly accesses patient data is a business associate. This opens up a huge arena of liability. Each associate is responsible for protecting the data they are entrusted with, and the “source” of the data breach is the entity that will be held accountable. Business associates might include health IT companies, personal health record vendors, e-prescribing gateways or anyone that transmits or gathers your patient data. Be sure you are protected by having a valid Business Associate Agreement with all your subcontractors that clearly outlines their responsibility.
  • Patient access. The rule stipulates that patients must have access to their medical records in the electronic format they prefer, even if the patient’s requested format creates a security risk. Hospitals and providers are only obligated to let the patient know about the increased risk.
  • Marketing partners. Providers must obtain permission from each patient before partnering with a third-party service for marketing purposes. This would include third-parties that wish to sell to the patient or simply collect payment. If the third-party needs access to patient data, the patient must give permission first. Marketing agreements that were already in place before the Omnibus rule have until September 23, 2014 to obtain permission.
  • Protected data for the deceased. Providers can release health care data regarding a deceased person to family members, close friends or others that the patient indicated was involved in their care or payment for care. However, data is no longer protected once the patient has been dead for 50 years.
  • The role of a risk analysis. There are many aspects to the Omnibus rule. The most effective way to measure compliance is to perform a regular risk analysis. If a data breach were to occur, the Office of Civil Rights will want to see evidence that the company performed a risk analysis.

Health care is going through tremendous reform. Legislative requirements are continuing to evolve. As a result, it’s imperative for health care organizations to have an IT partner they can trust. AE Technology Group specializes in Health Care IT. We know IT and we know the health care industry, including IT HIPAA compliance.

Contact us to find out how we can ensure your office is in compliance and meeting legislative requirements.

Protect Your Health Records by Getting HIPAA Compliant

protect your health records by getting hipaa compliant

HIPAA compliance is something that all organizations dealing with health records have to comply to for the sake of patient privacy. If you’re new to this industry and just learning what HIPAA stands for, it stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that makes sure all protected health information isn’t compromised.

But what IT steps should you take in order to make sure that happens? Those who overlook these things potentially face steep fines as well as thwarting patient trust.

Limited Access

You have to assure that only authorized personnel have access to medical files containing private information. This includes specific policies about who takes over workstations and who gains access to electronic documents. In those policies should also be a careful plan making sure health data doesn’t get compromised when being moved to another location or when it’s being destroyed.

Encryption and Audits of Electronic Documents

Encryption is going to be imperative when storing health documents in the cloud. With so much concern over hackers gaining access to electronic documents, a solid encryption system will bring the best possible safeguards HIPAA expects.

Audits complement encryption by providing a trail of who’s been accessing those electronic documents. You have to keep a close watch on who signs in and stop anyone who isn’t authorized. Fortunately, many electronic document programs have excellent logs that let you keep track of who’s been accessing the files.

Providing Disaster Recovery and Backup

You and your patients don’t want medical files missing if your building is destroyed during a natural disaster. HIPAA expects you to prove you have a reliable backup system that can be quickly accessed as part of a disaster recovery process. You should be able to move to another location and access those records in the cloud without any downtime. This can allow a continuity as if nothing happened and allows patients to access their files whenever they need them.

Proving Network Security

You’ll also need to prove some sort of network security that keeps your systems running as safely as possible. Things like virus software and firewalls will need to be employed and assured to be working or updated correctly. Security expectations extend not only into the cloud but also your email systems or Wi-Fi signals.

Keep in mind that any violation of these things could impose even stiffer fines based on The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. This was an amendment that reinforces HIPAA to impose larger fines for companies willfully not complying to the regulations.

Yes, you could call it a psychological response to get companies to step it up in compliance. It’s also because so many companies are increasing the use of electronic documentation.

Here at AE Technology Group, we can help you get HIPAA compliant easily with our cloud solutions and other IT services.

Contact us about the comprehensive options we offer and how we can cover every angle. We work to understand your business first so we know exactly what you need rather than provide tech that may be superfluous.