When you deploy behavioral health EHR software, it replaces paper patient charts. “EHR” stands for Electronic Health Record, and is subject to the same privacy laws that a paper chart is under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). EHR software must follow these guidelines to ensure compliance with HIPAA.
Administrative Security Guidelines
To comply with HIPAA guidelines, anyone who has administrative access to your EHR software must be trained in how to act responsibly with the patient’s privacy. If the EHR contains private information about a patient’s physical or mental health, the staff with administrative access to those records must have been trained in the ethics of handling that information.
Facility Protections
Any technology that stores your EHR is vulnerable to being stolen. There are several reasons why cybercriminals might want to steal the data, including gaining access to social security numbers, address locations, banking information and credit card information. The software cannot fully protect against someone breaking in and stealing the information, but as an owner, you can control who has access to the facility where the software is operated.
Access and Transmission Security Protocols
HIPAA compliance requires that your software must be reasonably guarded against unauthorized access to data. That includes data access via malware or other means of transmission. To protect against unauthorized access, your EHR software must include up-to-date firewalls, encryption tools and anti-malware defense systems.
AZZLY provides behavioral health EHR software and features state of the art security functionalities.
