Voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems offer far superior mobility, functionality, and cost-efficiency than traditional landlines. But like any computer system, it can be vulnerable to service disruptions, equipment failure, and cyberattacks. With proper preparation, however, your phone systems can weather any disaster. Invest in VoIP monitoring services Before implementing any disaster recovery solutions, it’s […]

Ever since the WannaCry and Petya ransomware outbreaks, healthcare organizations have been on their toes. But just when they thought they could relax, a new strain of ransomware has come along. A “Locky-variant” ransomware campaign is currently underway, and it’s every bit as dangerous as previous ransomware attacks. Using old tricks The new ransomware strain, […]

New IT trends are usually equal parts exciting and confusing. Today, that generalization describes blockchain technology perfectly. It’s a complex concept that has the potential to totally revolutionize every industry — including healthcare. Even if you have no plan to invest in blockchain soon, you need to understand what it is. What is blockchain? Although […]

Modern-day cyber criminals utilize every resource possible to launch attacks, one of which has been publicly available until now. Google had just overhauled its personal information policy, especially for the healthcare industry, resulting in the removal of private medical records from its search results. If an individual’s medical records were leaked, that could be both […]

Hospitals and healthcare organizations are usually the first victims of malware attacks. WannaCry ransomware — malicious software that encrypts files until the victim decides to pay the Bitcoin ransom — took advantage of this when it hit several healthcare institutions last month. With more malware expected to target the healthcare industry this year, following HIPAA […]

Two trends have been rising in popularity in tandem: HIPAA compliance audits and social media. Obviously both of these are far too important to be correlated directly, but they do intersect with each other. Social media tends to push people toward oversharing, and that’s definitely something you don’t want when hosting regulated patient data. Celebrity […]

Physicians in certain parts of the world still make house calls, but they’re a rare breed. Today, most patients either go to a neighborhood clinic or hospital, or make a quick trip to a pharmacy for instant relief. Patients who prefer to get treated in the comfort of their own home have another option too: […]

No healthcare provider today can operate without robust technology backing them. That doesn’t mean they have to spend excessively on IT infrastructure they have to manage themselves. One of those tech expenses include costly healthcare software, complete with on-premise components that a healthcare company will be much better off outsourcing. The rising popularity of healthcare […]

Even if notable punishments and fines for HIPAA non-compliance have only been doled out over the last 6 years, data privacy regulations have been around for 14. And with each passing year, these rules evolve in ways that make it near impossible to keep up without an expert on hand. As we kick off 2017, […]

Can you think of an industry that hasn’t improved because of advanced technology? It’s hard to come up with one; much easier to think about where technology has made our lives better. A good example would be the medical world, where everything from robotic surgeries to electronic health records (EHR) — plus these five integrated […]

Computer technology firm Symantec is warning consumers that an infamous trojan virus still targets healthcare data across the United States and around the world. This infamous piece of malware hides among image files downloaded with pirated software. Read on to learn more about the Stegoloader infection, how it might target your business, and what you […]

In this day and age, evolving technologies surround and influence people and businesses the world over. Technology has advanced by massive leaps and bounds in recent years, ushering in convenient developments like autonomous self-driving cars. However, in terms of industries for which artificial intelligence (AI) can do the most good, healthcare is at the top […]

For hospitals, readmission rates are a key performance indicator (KPI). They indicate the quality of care your practice provides and what sort of resources you need in reserve to avoid overcrowding. Some legislation even reduces government payouts to hospitals with high readmission rates. Regardless of whether you want to avoid a stiff penalty or just […]

If your organization hosts data regulated by the US government, you’re familiar with the scare tactics used to sell hosting services. But what lurks behind those vague threats of expensive lawsuits and unfair liability burdens? HIPAA is nearly 100 pages long and few providers actually know what it requires. Unfortunately, it took a massive breach […]

Computers have changed the world in so many obviously amazing ways that cataloguing them is hardly necessary. But what about the more mundane areas of business where technology has changed things, such as with assembly lines or recordkeeping systems? Digital technology has in fact totally transformed the latter, especially in the healthcare industry with something […]

The mere mention of the word “technology” elicits a certain expectation. Namely, that we’re dealing with something that’s modern, and new, and has the potential to change our lives. The word “disruptive” is also indicative of change, so a term like “disruptive technology” may seem redundant. But in healthcare it makes perfect sense as the […]

Medical records are generally inaccessible and hard to understand. In fact, if you were to try reading your own medical data, you might find that it’s almost as if it’s in a different language. A medical record can be riddled with cryptic phrases, acronyms and complex terms that mean nothing in the eyes of someone […]

ESPN recently reported that a laptop containing the medical records of thousands of NFL players was stolen from the car of a Washington Redskins’ trainer. And while the team released a statement saying no health information protected under HIPAA guidelines was at risk, the incident shows that EMRs are vulnerable no matter the size of […]

“We are living in a digital world, and healthcare practices need a URL”. If Madonna could change the lyrics of her 1984 classic to speak to the healthcare industry, she may have sang something like this. A URL is just one facet of the digital strategy that hospitals and private practices alike will need to […]

A recent initiative to give healthcare patients access to the notes their doctor or clinician writes about their visit is continuing its meteoric rise across the country. OpenNotes began a few years ago by researching the benefits of allowing patients to have access to their doctor’s notes. Since that initial study, the number of healthcare […]