Email is the focus of this month’s Healthcare IT News. In the healthcare industry, the confidentiality of patient data is one of the highest priorities. Not complying with patient privacy regulations, such as HIPAA, can have serious consequences for both healthcare practices and the patients affected. It’s the responsibility of every healthcare business to protect any personally identifying data.
As technology advances each year, hackers are advancing their methods of getting private information. It’s vital that those in the healthcare industry are not only protecting their data, but ensuring that their methods of protection are up to date and effective.
Email encryption is the process of authenticating and encrypting email messages to prevent outside recipients from reading the content. This layer of protected jumbles the data being transferred back and forth. Without email encryption, you run the risk of having your private emails read by anyone. End to end encryption secures your email from the time it you hit send to the time the intended recipient opens it. Traditional email is never deleted from unsecured servers which means even after being sent and opened, they are vulnerable to being intercepted by unauthorized parties. The two biggest benefits to email encryption are:

• Easy way of protection. As email security is growing in demand, IT companies are streamlining protection processes and can manage and secure email data for you.
• Money saving. HIPAA and other privacy violations add up in costly fines and damage control. Ensuring your emails are protected will save you from these fines. This will also provide a safeguard against potential lawsuits and the expenses they accrue.

Email encryption is one piece of the puzzle in protecting data and compliant with patient protection laws.  Healthcare protection laws can be complicated to understand and it can be difficult to know exactly how to comply and what software is needed. Choosing IT professionals will ensure your data is managed and your patient’s privacy is protected.
IT Practice, a HIPAA Certified Company based in Raleigh, NC, provides a wide range of IT solutions for Dental, Medical and Small Business Professionals across North Carolina and Virginia. Contact IT Practice today for a free consultation to determine your exact IT needs.