Healthcare Horizon: Business Insights in the World of Healing

In industries across the spectrum, cloud computing is far outpacing physical storage infrastructure. It may provide you a sense of security knowing your data is physically on-site, however, these systems often take up valuable space, are easily compromised (including physical theft), and cost a fortune to maintain. The cloud is a "new" technology that provides an efficient working model that is secure for any industry, especially those that house sensitive data like governments, financial institutions, and healthcare.

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LegitScript certification is a way for mental health practitioners to establish and build trust with potential patients online. 

Potential patients and their loved ones are searching for mental health professionals online. If they are searching on social networks, such as Facebook, and using search engines, such as Google and Bing, licensed mental health practitioners need to be certified to advertise on these platforms.

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Drug rehab centers are big business, with over 1,500 facilities around the U.S. and 3.7 million people receiving treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Many are filled to capacity, and many more are needed to meet the growing demand for rehab treatment.

Some of the most famous include the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, with 16 treatment centers nationwide. Drug and alcohol addiction can affect anyone; as much as society might not want to acknowledge it, this is a widespread nationwide epidemic.

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Sometimes, information not intended to be public knowledge is inadvertently shared with others. Just as easily as it can happen in a casual conversation with a friend, it can also happen in the workplace. So, what is an incidental disclosure? The incidental disclosure definition, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a, "disclosure that cannot reasonably be prevented, is limited in nature, and that occurs as a result of another use or disclosure that is permitted by the Rule." What happens when there is an incidental disclosure in a healthcare setting? There is not a clear-cut answer. It simply depends on the magnitude of the situation. In general, healthcare settings are fluid environments. That means that a patient overhearing another patient's diagnosis or a visitor catching a glimpse of a screen with some personal health information (PHI) is not common grounds to facilitate a HIPAA violation. 

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Organizations in the healthcare field will be familiar with HIPAA, formally known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Signed into law in 1996, it sets a national standard for protecting personal health information (PHI). It ensures that patients know how their information is stored and shared through consultation and consent. According to the HIPAA Journal, in the twelve months leading up to October 2023, there were 678 reported data breaches that contained 500 or more records across the country. There is room for improvement in protecting sensitive PHI, especially when dealing with large databases.

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Any break in the standard flow of a business can result in severe financial losses. Where do these losses stem from? One of the most expensive business interruptions is IT or system downtime. What is system downtime? It's when a technological "glitch" shuts down production. For healthcare companies, it's when servers shut down and your electronic health records become unavailable. No appointment scheduling. No access to patient records. No processing of payments.

There are some estimates that downtime costs range from $427 per minute for small businesses to as high as $9,000 for large enterprises.

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Change management models are a crucial part of any organization. Healthcare settings in particular are known to be resistant to change and have a lot on the line when it comes to implementation. In order to stay competitive, it is important to know how best to implement change management strategies that will keep your organization running smoothly and efficiently. There are many different models for change management frameworks, but which ones work the best for healthcare?

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We have compiled a list of the top HIPAA-compliant messaging apps which provide concise descriptions and key features, assisting healthcare practices and systems in maintaining patient data securely and providing a better patient experience in the ever changing nature of healthcare technology.

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The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA) is Canada's federal law on patient privacy (Canada equivalent of HIPAA). It is comparable to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States, however, there are a few key differences to be aware of.

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