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Managed Services including HIPAA Risk Analysis & Security Assessment with Remediation: Protecting Your Patients and Practice

HIPAA compliance can be particularly difficult for small private healthcare practices because it requires a level of expertise in IT and security that is outside of their core skillset. Pleasant Health is here to help close the gaps that are commonly missed.

Partnering with a Managed Service Provider that make security and compliance first is ket to streamlining your business operations 

Pleasant Health is run by Lyle Merdan, a resident of Flower Mound.
A positive attitude and wanting to make your experience Pleasant is just one facet of how we operate.
Lyle has over 25 years of IT experience ranging from working with large multi-national corporations to small business operations.
He is dedicated to staying up to date on the fast moving cybersecurity trends and best practices.
Has a proven track record of achieving compliance.
Previously worked on compliance with the following notable organizations:
United Health Group, Aetna, BCBS TN, BCBS ND, Florida Blue, Cigna, Limeade, and Virgin Pulse

"All You Can Eat" Managed IT Services
Layered defense against threats to your business.
Ongoing E-mail management to reduce spam and phishing
Ongoing IT Security Monitoring - Internal and External (third party)
Risk Report and Corrective Action Plan
Consulting and education of Cybersecurity and technical topics
Ongoing Compliance documentation for HIPAA, GLBA, TITEPA

Many people mistakenly believe that using HIPAA-compliant cloud-based solutions such as Epic, Cerner, NextGen, or Allscripts is enough for their security needs. However, this is not the case. These platforms are just one component of your business that require HIPAA compliance.

 A Risk Analysis will examine all of the other technical and procedural components of what your business uses and how they are used.

The Risk Analysis procedure begins with a comprehensive inventory collection, including hardware (like firewalls), software, existing policies, procedures, services, and subscriptions. Additionally, both historical data and future plans are gathered to provide a complete overview of your operation.

Next, each item from the inventory is thoroughly examined to determine if it poses any potential risk to your system. Once all potential risks are identified, they are incorporated into a Risk Analysis report.

The ultimate outcome of the Risk Analysis is a Remediation Plan. This plan outlines the necessary actions to mitigate the identified risks, ensuring a secure environment for your data and operations.





Peace of mind knowing your practice is protected with the following:
Identifying risks and vulnerabilities
Prioritizing risk mitigation
Ensuring compliance with HIPAA, Texas HB 300, and TITEPA
Protecting patient privacy
Probable reduction financial penalties if something happens
Enhancing cybersecurity
Promoting a culture of security
Facilitating business continuity planning

Reasons to engage with Pleasant Health

Managed Services

End to end monitoring and management of your business IT. Firewall, Networks, Workstations, Laptops, Handhelds, Cloud Applications 

Non-Compliance

Non-compliance with HIPAA and Texas HB 300 pose significant risks for healthcare organizations, their patients, and their business partners. It can lead to Civil Monetary Penalties, Resolution Agreements, reputation damage, and patient harm resulting from data breaches.

Continuous monitoring

Ongoing risk analysis and security assessments are essential for maintaining HIPAA compliance and protecting sensitive patient data in the constantly evolving threat landscape. Regular assessments can identify vulnerabilities and inform risk management strategies, allowing you to continuously improve your security posture and reduce the risk of data breaches.

Security Program

The three foundational concepts of a security program are:
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
This is commonly called the CIA Triad. Following these concepts for a security program will greatly help your business avoid revenue impacting incidents.



An examination of your practice:

Risk Analysis

HIPAA regulations require healthcare organizations to conduct risk analysis on an ongoing basis, with a frequency of at least once per year or more frequently if significant changes to the organization's operations or technology occur.

IT Security Assessment

The HIPAA technical safeguards were first introduced in 2003. The safeguards have not kept pace with the rapid advancements in technology (IoT for example) and the increasing sophistication of adversarial tactics. Going beyond the HIPAA safeguards is necessary with advanced threats that come out every day.

 

Corrective Action Plan

At the end of the Risk Analysis and IT Security Assessment you will have a Corrective Action Plan in hand. With that you can choose to remediate yourself, work with your Managed Service Provider (MSP) if you have one or work with Pleasant Health to get a security program in place.

Compliance

Ensuring HIPAA compliance is critical for healthcare organizations to safeguard sensitive patient data, foster patient trust, and prevent financial penalties resulting from data breaches or regulatory violations. Compliance also streamlines operations by establishing standardized processes for managing patient data privacy and security.

Non-Compliance

Non-compliance with HIPAA and Texas HB 300 pose significant risks for healthcare organizations, their patients, and their business partners. It can lead to Civil Monetary Penalties, Resolution Agreements, reputation damage, and patient harm resulting from data breaches.

Continuous monitoring

Ongoing risk analysis and security assessments are essential for maintaining HIPAA compliance and protecting sensitive patient data in the constantly evolving threat landscape. Regular assessments can identify vulnerabilities and inform risk management strategies, allowing you to continuously improve your security posture and reduce the risk of data breaches.

Security Program

The three foundational concepts of a security program are:
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
This is commonly called the CIA Triad. Following these concepts for a security program will greatly help your business avoid revenue impacting incidents.



Questions to ask yourself:

Do you know where your cybersecurity exposure is for the following topics?
People
Processes
Technology

 In the past 12 months, have you conducted a
risk analysis?

Do you have current information security policies?
If so, are you implementing, evaluating their
effectiveness and maintaining documentation?

Are you giving employees comprehensive training for their roles at the required intervals and documenting?

There are many facets to Privacy, Security and Compliance. Here are some more facets that Pleasant Health takes under consideration.

I used a well-known AI chatbot and asked it about people's blog posts regarding OCR audits.
Click HERE for the transcript.

If you are ready to connect with us click on the paper airplane.

Click on the icon above for more information on many of the relevant regulations 

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