When it comes to your technology, as a physician you are facing five common issues. What are they?
1. You are a big cyber target.
As a physician the sensitivity of your data is a critical component to the role you play. Cyber criminals are not naive to that. The value of the data you hold is extremely high, making you a big target for cyber attacks. Research has shown that on average a healthcare data record is valued at $250.00 on the Black Market. $250.00 for one single record. The next highest value record is a payment card, which estimated to be valued at $5.40 on the Black Market.
This means the data you hold for one patient is 45 times more than the next highest value. We weren't joking when we said you are a big target.
2. Your staff is your biggest cyber weakness.
The number 1 cyber threat is social engineering/phishing. Which means that one wrong click by a staff member could have detrimental impacts on your practice.
3. Your reimbursements are shrinking.
Because of this, the value of seeing more patients in the same amount of time, is becoming more and more critical. You are having to be more efficient than ever. Having technology that doesn't run smoothly can lead to hiccups in your efficiency. But more than just eliminating downtime caused by technology,what if your technology could be an asset that increased your efficiency and the success of your practice? It can and it should.
4. Patient engagement is crucial to your success and positive outcomes.
Because of #3, this is becoming more and more important. Less face time with patients requires better technology and skills to aid in the process of your practice's flow.
5.Your EHR was developed 20 years ago and it is hindering you from all 4 of the above.
Most EHR was written 20 years ago and if we are being honest, it has a lot of flaws. It was never designed with cyber threats and public internet in mind, and it is preventing the very thing it was design for which is- efficiency.
If you are a physician reading this, it's time to think about what you can and need to be doing to address these issues head on.
Ensuring you are continually taking your employees through Security Awareness is one simple step that can go a long way in protecting your practice.
Along with that, creating a technology success plan is critical. It's time to starting to leveraging your technology to aid in the efficiency and success of your practice. For more information on creating a technology success plan, reach out to us today.
As a physician you cannot change the fact that the sensitive data you have makes you a big cyber target. But you can make sure that you are taking the proactive steps to be a hard target.