Healthcare Data IT Services – Is Your Cloud Solution Secure?

The implementation of Electronic Health Record or EHR healthcare IT solutions that make access to patient records easier for different providers is growing in leaps and bounds. As the medical industry continues to venture into the digital age, many healthcare IT services are embracing cloud storage and other cloud services.

Yet as useful as cloud IT solutions are, healthcare IT consulting services recognize they can present a considerable risk to you and any healthcare practice.

Are Cloud Services An Effective Solution for the Healthcare Industry?

Although many were initially hesitant to embrace cloud technology, most healthcare IT services are now cloud-based to some extent. Many healthcare providers have come to appreciate the advantages gained by using cloud services for storing and sharing data as well as for running applications to improve workplace efficiency.

Because they now have the ability to easily create and share records with providers, insurance companies, specialists, and others in a secure and reliable way, the industry is finally embracing this technology.

Security Issues – A Top Concern with Cloud Solutions

HIPAA compliance is now a prime factor for all healthcare IT solutions and something that all practices and organizations must address with the help of experienced healthcare IT consulting firms. As cloud usage becomes more widespread, the need for secure IT from individual provider to cloud services provider has become more important than ever.

According to HIPAA regulations, providers are responsible not just for keeping their onsite IT secure. As a healthcare provider, you are also responsible for choosing healthcare IT solutions like cloud services run by IT providers that understand the applicable security risks and offer secure HIPAA compliant services. This would encompass addressing issues like mobile technology, access control, and encrypted file storage and transfer, just to name a few.

Since cloud solutions now bridge many gaps between individual medical businesses and the rest of the industry, it is essential that you choose the most reliable cloud services.

Cloud Service Providers Considered Healthcare Business Associates

When choosing cloud solutions as a part of compliant healthcare IT services, it is important that you work closely with that provider to ensure your practice is protected using the right techniques. Cloud service providers are now considered to be medical business associates as outlined by HIPAA’s security regulations. They must sign the same agreements when dealing with healthcare data and adhere to the same security standards as your business.

Even though secure cloud servers hold and transfer encrypted data, they are bound by the same regulations to provide safe and secure services using multi-layered security techniques.

As such, healthcare IT consulting services point out the importance of dealing only with cloud providers who satisfy these requirements and understand their roles as healthcare business associates. Therefore, cloud providers should utilize the latest security technology along with layered encryption and threat detection techniques to uphold overall HIPAA compliance.

Cloud services have become an essential part of healthcare IT services. To ensure you and your cloud provider can maintain required HIPAA security compliance, healthcare IT consulting firms stress the need to contract only with services that can work with you to create the most effective and secure healthcare IT solutions for your business.

Choose carefully, just as you screen and choose other business associates you entrust with sensitive business and patient data!

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