Guide to Clinic Data Security
While the effective use of technology has improved clinics’ operational efficiency, lowered operating costs, and enhanced the patient experience, it has also made sensitive patient data vulnerable to leakage and cyberattacks.
Protected health information as one of the most sensitive private data of your patients is extremely valuable for criminals. As the healthcare sector is one of the biggest targets of cyberattacks, you as a healthcare service provider has the duty to keep your patients’ personal data secure and not fall into the wrong hand.
The guidelines to do so thus come with strict requirements and hefty penalties and fines by PDPC (Personal Data Protection Commission). Any leakage or negligence of your patients’ personal data can cause you or your clinic to be suspended.
SingHealth PDPA
Data protection requirements according to SingHealth PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act) include:
Limiting access to only doctors and healthcare personnel who are involved in your care, and to the supporting internal processes
Conducting regular checks to ensure that your personal data is only accessed by authorized persons
Removing details, as far as possible, that identify you when using your data for internal purposes
What can you do as a doctor to keep your clinic data secure?
As a doctor, you need to be incredibly vigilant about protecting your patients’ data.
Here are five essential steps to uphold your clinic data security:
Choose a HIPAA and MTCS compliant electronic medical records system
Establish a granular user access control
Keep track of access logs
Train yourself and your staff on data protection
Update password regularly and do not share user account
Choose a HIPAA and MTCS compliant electronic medical records system
The electronic medical records (Medical EMR) you use in your clinic must meet the requirements for the whole set of international and industry-specific compliance standards, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Multi-Tier Cloud Security (MTCS) Singapore standard.
Legal compliance is the foundation of a robust data security program. It also gives your patients assurance that their data is secured and they have ownership of their individual data, which is the key to earn your patients’ trust.
Establish a granular user access control
A strong healthcare data protection system goes beyond compliance. You have to establish granular user access control of the EMR system for your team.
Granular user access controls define who in your clinic can have access to which part of the data, and what they can do with that data. This requires you to clearly define roles and the corresponding privileges of your team members.
Potential chaos and risks can happen with unclear establishment of user access. A doctor is inadvertently given access to the financial system could lead to operational inefficiencies. A non-medical staff member having access to sensitive medical records of your patients is another potential risk that you must be aware of.
Once the roles and privileges have been established and assigned, users must also authenticate their identities through passwords, tokens, etc. before logging in. For those who can access more sensitive information, you can consider setting up the level of authentication needed.
The key to establishing secure granular user access control is practicing the ‘least privilege’ rule, meaning a role should be ideally assigned the least amount of access possible. For more defined roles, the necessary access to the system, and sometimes a selected number of privileged commands, should be clearly defined and assigned accordingly.
Be explicit in access and permissions for each of your team members. It is critical to prevent accidental and even intentional data tampering that can lead to severe data leakage.
Keep track of access logs
Needless to say, you need to monitor your team members’ activities in your EMR. It can be easily done with a quality EMR software, which automatically records which user did what, when, through the which device, in the network
For example, when a user logs in to your system after working hours and views, modifies, or even prints certain information of a specific patient record, each activity together with the user’s name, workstation identifier, and a specific time is clearly recorded for your investigation.
Conduct regular review of the access logs and investigate accordingly. Accessing patient information after clinic hours can be suspicious, but you may also find out it is your staff filling bills from home
Most importantly, keeping track of access logs helps you identify the weaknesses of your operations and tailor your security strategies to mitigate any potential risks.
It is also the deterrence to all users in your clinic to stay vigilant and compliant.
In the worst-case scenario of a data leakage incident, an audit log allows you to pinpoint the precise entry point and evaluate the causes and damages.
Train yourself and your staff on data protection
One small human negligence in handling sensitive patient data can lead to disastrous consequences.
You should always ensure your team receives sufficient training on data security and every user of EMR in your clinic should be equipped with the necessary knowledge to use the system securely.
Some important practices to uphold that should be covered in data protection training include:
Uninstall unnecessary applications on all devices
Set up and maintain anti-virus software
Update to the latest operating systems
Change default configurations
Clear all data from discarded devices
Your team should understand the importance to adhere to security policies and practice data protection habits in a way that cultivates a security culture in your clinic.
Update password regularly and do not share user account
Change your account password regularly is one of the best practices to protect your data. It can significantly reduce any potential risk of attacks and danger. Keep your password complicated and difficult to guess. Avoid sharing accounts with anyone, even your own staff.
Conclusion
Protecting your patient’s data is the responsibility of you and your team. Although there are elements that are out of your control. Third-party services you engage in, such as the EMR and CMS software you chose play an integral role in securing your data. HIPAA and MTCS compliance is a must. The software should be secure and the vendor should be reliable with a proven track record.