Key Takeaways:

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•  You need to be aware of HIPAA legislation, and how it might change, to effectively adhere to it.
  
  
•  Use pc monitoring software Insightful to help you be proactive in identifying ways you can improve your data security.

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‍Read time: 6 minutes

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All businesses, no matter which sector they work in, are aware that even though the tech-heavy world in which we work and live is full of benefits, it also has many downsides. 

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One of the biggest downsides of the digital age is how problematic it can be to keep data safe. 

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One of the industries that has largely been affected by this for a long time is healthcare. 

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Healthcare companies collect a lot of data and information about their patients. Much of the information is very sensitive, and as everything around us becomes digital, the sensitive data is becoming increasingly vulnerable to misuse and theft. 

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Back in 2018, hundreds of data breaches resulted in millions of patient records getting stolen. This was largely the result of ransomware, malware, insider threats, and phishing attacks. 

Because of this, many companies in the healthcare space are now relying on hour tracking through remote employee monitoring software solutions like Insightful to help them beat these security issues and be compliant with HIPAA. 

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Let's explore how.

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What is HIPAA?

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA for short, is a United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for keeping medical information safe. 

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The act contains five titles or sections, with the second Title – HIPAA Administrative Simplifications, being the one that people in healthcare refer to when they talk about HIPAA compliance. 

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The purpose of HIPAA is to provide continuous health insurance coverage to workers that lost or are changing their job, as well as to reduce the administrative burdens and healthcare costs by standardizing the electronic financial and administrative transactions.

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Insightful Features to Help You Be HIPAA Compliant

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Insightful healthcare activity monitoring software can help your company see how the computers of their employees are used as well as the data they collect is being stored. 

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Employee Awareness and Training

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One of the ways Insightful can indirectly help to ensure HIPAA compliance is by raising awareness of the legislation among your employees.

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Not just on a surface level, either, but in a way which illuminates areas where employees could benefit from additional support and training.

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It’s one thing to be HIPAA compliant as a whole in your company, but it’s arguably even more effective to instill best practices in each and every one of your employees. That way, you’re strengthening each link in the chain rather than focusing your energy on putting out compliance fires as they emerge.

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You can use the time data you collect through Insightful on your employees to tailor training programs for your workforce. By doing this you ensure that all staff members have an up-to-date working knowledge of best practices when handling sensitive healthcare information.

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Real-Time Monitoring

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One of HIPAA's privacy rules states that it is the healthcare company's responsibility to protect their patient's information. If a healthcare company fails in protecting the patients' information, even when it is accidental or a result of data theft, it could result in serious consequences. That is why healthcare companies need insight so that they can prevent insiders from violating or compromising patient data. 

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With Insightful's state-of-the-art remote employee monitoring features, you can easily keep track of your employees' activities and in real-time know exactly what your employees are doing on their computer, no matter where they are located. With our remote employee monitoring software, you can be sure that the patient information remains secure.

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Risk Assessment

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While it might not factor into your day-to-day operations, carrying out a risk assessment every so often is one of your best bets for staying on the right side of HIPAA legislation.

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Fortunately, Insightful can help you run these risk assessments with minimal disruption to your workflows. With access to a large amount of data spanning teams and departments, all you have to do is dig into the numbers and see where the biggest risk factors lie.

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Whenever you identify a current security measure that has room for improvement - say, for example, you notice too many different departments have access to confidential documents - you can be proactive and address it before it becomes a significant issue.

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Not only will the time data you collect through Insightful allow you to make the best strategic decisions for your business, but it will also give you the means to periodically run internal audits and analyses.

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Confidentiality

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People working in healthcare have to take all the necessary steps to keep personal medical information consistent with the patient's preferences. HIPAA sets detailed rules regarding privacy, access, and disclosure of information. It permits doctors or other healthcare practitioners to share patient info with other people. 

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With Insightful, you can ensure that you are keeping both your patients' and your employees' sensitive info private and protected. To do this, Insightful allows you to disable activity tracking and taking screenshots in specific apps and websites and during specific times, which is the best way to stay HIPAA compliant while enjoying all the benefits of a remote employee monitoring software.

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IT Forensics 

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Sometimes, data will get lost. However, an enforcement rule of HIPAA states that healthcare companies need to account for the data they lose, which also implies financial penalties. With our remote employee monitoring software, you have the needed tools to determine who is responsible for the incident. 

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Since Insightful monitors the computer activity of users, it will not be hard to figure out who accessed the lost data. From there, you can do further investigations into exactly what happened to the data.

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Another rule of HIPAA supports the need for documenting, record keeping, and corroboration. Failure for healthcare companies that come short can result in fines. With Insightful, you can easily be compliant with this, as the data Insightful records is stored in your account.

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Customized Approach

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Since every healthcare organization is unique and will have a different relationship with HIPAA legislation, you need a solution that adapts to your circumstances.

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With Insightful, you get just that: whether you run a small healthcare clinic or a large hospital chain, you can find the tools you need to stay HIPAA compliant with our workforce analytics solution.

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For example, you can set custom alerts that notify you when someone attempts to access restricted data. Or you can build out custom data reports for different departments within your healthcare organization detailing steps they can take to ensure they remain HIPAA compliant.

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You can also configure Insightful to track data in a way which works best for you. Set up app and website usage tracking to make sure teams only use apps essential for their productivity, and measure time spent on certain work-related tasks to ensure operational efficiency.

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Integration with Other Solutions

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Insightful can offer a comprehensive solution for staying HIPAA compliant, but it can also operate as part of a larger software ecosystem.

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Since there are often a lot of moving parts in the healthcare industry, with everything from employee productivity to patient confidentiality, it’s important to make sure you have the right tech stack to address issues quickly and effectively.

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To build a robust HIPAA compliance framework, it might be the case that you need to combine Insightul’s time tracking and workforce analytics features with other solutions.

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Let’s use the example of cyber threats.

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Insightful can help you proactively identify internal suspicious activity if an employee tries to access restricted data. So combining it with a cybersecurity solution that effectively deals with external cyber threats, you can seal your business from the inside and outside from attempts to steal confidential data.

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Staying Ahead of the Curve

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Even doing everything in your power to stay HIPAA compliant within your healthcare organization, there’s still a risk that you get left behind as healthcare data security evolves and new threats emerge.

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With Insightful, you can build an agile work environment whereby you’re able to adapt to new challenges and lean on accurate workforce analytics to make strategic decisions for your business.

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When you have access to a wealth of workforce data at your fingertips, it becomes easier to prepare for and predict future issues you might encounter. If there are changes to compliance on the horizon, it allows you to take the initiative and identify what teams and departments can do to stay up to speed.

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Insightful empowers you to develop the policies, processes, and procedures that will make sure you stay on the right side of HIPAA legislation without living in fear that you’ll accidentally breach a rule.

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What Are Your Next Steps?

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Now, more than ever, there is a need for all companies to establish proper security guidelines. In addition to that, all companies operating in the healthcare space must comply with HIPAA. 

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For the time being, HIPAA is likely to remain the de facto national standard for healthcare-related security and privacy regulations. If your company is working in the healthcare sector, you should adopt a secure and proactive mindset. Just relying on traditional cybersecurity software is not enough these days. 

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Using employee monitoring software in your healthcare company allows you to easily secure your company from the inside. With the ability to effectively keep track of the activity of your employees, you can easily and transparently achieve and stay compliant with the HIPAA.

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Updated on December 7th, 2023

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