Data Security and Compliance: How Custom EHR Ensures Patient Information Protection

As the healthcare industry is transitioning to a completely digital landscape, the data that is being generated and flowing in the entire ecosystem has become more crucial than ever before. Here, what makes things more complicated is the nature of the data the software systems deal with. The sensitive and personal nature of the information requires it to be protected.

The patient data collected in the electronic EHR contains almost the entire medical history of the patient. This data can reveal a lot of things that might put the patient at risk, which will directly compromise the fundamental rights of the patient. 

That is the reason there are several regulatory bodies governing the security aspects of such healthcare software. Every healthcare software needs to take robust security measures that ensure privacy of the patient data and safeguard it from external and internal cyber threats that might occur.

Data security and compliance are some of the major aspects of any healthcare software system, especially EHR software. In such a scenario, custom electronic health records can be your one-stop solution to solve all your data security-related issues.

In this blog, we will see exactly how it can ensure patient safety and help in elevating the overall patient care experience.

Why Data Security Matters in Healthcare?

Before getting into the details of how a custom EHR software helps in protecting patient data, let’s first understand in brief the need of data security in healthcare and why it has become so important in the modern-day healthcare landscape.

• The Rise of Digital Health Records

The shift from paper-based record keeping to electronic health records has brought a huge change in the way healthcare organizations work, and the way care is being delivered to patients. It has helped healthcare organizations in better management of healthcare records with increased accessibility.

The introduction of EHRs have improved efficiency of healthcare providers and in bringing the entire care team on the same page and to work on the same goal.

• HIPAA Compliance & Data Security

Given the sensitive nature of personal health information, it is important to ensure its safety and safeguard it from external threats. Being one of the leading countries in transitioning the healthcare industry to a completely digital landscape, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was introduced. All the healthcare institutions offering virtual care delivery of using technology in their practice in any form, had to comply with its regulation.

These regulations ensure that the patient data is private and securely stored. It helps the patients to know that their healthcare data is safe and is being used to improve their health and quality of care. Furthermore, failing to comply with the regulations of HIPAA can result in heavy penalties and reputation damage for healthcare organizations.

How Custom EHRs Enhance Data Security?

• Tailored Security Features

The best part that comes with customizing your electronic health records system is that you get specific features that suit your needs and requirements. Furthermore, it can be designed with specific security features that can satisfy all the necessary compliance requirements and protocols. 

For instance, access control can be implemented to ensure that only authorized personnel can access patient information. This will ensure internal security within the practice. Apart from that, when the data is in transition with encryptions you can ensure the privacy of the data.

The software can also accommodate additional security features like audit trails, which can help you in finding loopholes in the system so that you can improve that in real-time. All these features keep the data safe from unauthorized access by both other side parties and internal parties. Taking a step further, it also generates a sense of trust in patients and maintains the integrity of the healthcare practice while playing a crucial role in the growth of the practice.

• Reduced Risk of Third-Party Vulnerabilities

Most of the EHRs that have been adopted by the healthcare institutions are off-the-shelf or pre-built EHRs. These EHRs have various vulnerabilities that compromises data security when in transitions. Since these software solutions are widely used, third-party vulnerabilities offer various opportunities to the threats.

In such a scenario, custom EHR software can significantly reduce the risk of losing the data when in transition. Since you get the freedom to customize your EHR software as per your requirements, the focus will be shifted to mitigating the known vulnerabilities and making the EHR software an ideal one for the use of your practice.

Along with that, by adopting the smaller vendor attack surface your custom EHR software can give you all the possible points where an unauthorized user can access the system and extract data. This helps you in understanding the vulnerabilities that exist in the system and you can fix them in real-time without disrupting the process.

• Improved Compliance Management

When you enter the speciality practice space, there are certain specific compliance requirements that you require to adhere to, this can not just be limited to healthcare practice but also if you’re starting a specific virtual care program. 

For example, to start a remote patient monitoring program, apart from compliance with HIPAA and the HITECH Act, you also need to comply with the FDA and other regulatory bodies. These compliances can also vary if the region you’re practicing in varies. Since HIPAA only regulates the US healthcare space, you might need to comply with GDPR if you’re practicing in Europe.

The advantage of custom EHR software here is that it can be built with specific requirements to ensure the practice is running smoothly and securely.

Along with this, the built-in compliance features and automated workflows help completely eliminate human interventions and hence human errors. This will not only help you in efficiently streamline your data flow and manage that data in a much better way with all the security measures that might put the data and your practice at risk.

Peace of Mind with Custom EHR Security

The security features offered by custom EHRs have become quite popular among healthcare providers. It eliminates the risk of putting the data at risk when in transition and when at rest. Furthermore, the customizations that it offers in terms of security and compliance with healthcare regulations simply grant the practice much more flexibility in working and expanding its reach to different geographical locations.

However, the major concerns of many healthcare providers when developing a custom EHR software is the cost. Though this cost might be higher compared to off-the-shelf software solutions, in the long run it can be a cost saving venture that can define a standard for your practice  with enhanced security.

Do you want to have peace of mind and not worry about safeguarding the data in your EHR software systems? Well, it might just become true with the right custom EHR development company.

Conclusion

Data security in healthcare has become extremely important with the high adoption of digital healthcare software systems. It not only helps in maintaining the integrity of your practice but also keeps you away from many legal troubles that might come with it.

Enhance your data protection today and have a peace of mind when it comes to safeguarding your patient’s sensitive information with custom EHR software development. Furthermore, if we’ve missed out on anything, click here and we’ll be happy to help you with more.