No one likes to make mistakes, especially when they could've been avoided. They can cost companies millions of dollars and take years to recover from. In the worst cases, these mistakes can be the death of a business. The health care industry knows this all too well.
Abiding by the strict regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and protecting a person's private health information takes diligent effort from—and involves—every individual across every department. Companies that fail to comply may be required to pay millions of dollars in penalties, in addition to dealing with the extraneous costs of breach remediation, audit fees and changing business protocol. Then, there is a business reputation to protect. No one wants to be associated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Wall of Shame.
Simply put, there are no shortcuts to maintaining HIPAA compliance and it's tough to recover from a data breach, in more ways than one. That said, there are cost-effective ways that can help prevent them from happening in the first place.
HIPAA and the Data Center
Under the rule titled “Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information,” covered entities must “implement policies and procedures to limit physical access to its electronic information systems and the facility or facilities in which they are housed, while ensuring that properly authorized access is allowed. Access to hardware and software must be limited to properly authorized individuals.”
With many of the breaches in the HHS Wall of Shame stemming from unauthorized access on network servers, cabinet-level electronic access control with audit capabilities have taken a new direction.
Avoiding the Wall of Shame
Chatsworth Products’ (CPI) eConnect® Electronic Access Control (EAC) provides the necessary tool for the physical layer requirement of HIPAA. Through the eConnect interface, users are able to remotely program, monitor and control each cabinet access and keep a log entry for security and regulatory compliance purposes.
eConnect EAC works with CPI's eConnect Power Distribution Units (PDUs) to support the three key elements of remote management at the cabinet level: power monitoring, environmental monitoring and physical access control.
This integrated PDU-based cabinet ecosystem uses a single network connection and one interface to monitor all three elements, greatly simplifying rack management and enhancing security.
For more details on eConnect EAC and how it can help you stay compliant, download the Regulatory Compliance Application Sheet.
Brittany Mangan, Digital Content Specialist