Security breaches and privacy invasion have become a rather common and extremely dangerous practice over the last few years. The evolution of technology has indeed shifted most business models online and even though that has numerous benefits of its own, there is no denying the fact that it brings with it a fair share of challenges. The biggest challenge these firms, that have shifted their operations online, face with is information leakage. Firms and companies get access to very personal and sensitive information with the consent of the user of course, but the information must not end up in the wrong hands. In case such a situation occurs, it can put both the customer and the firm into a very awkward position. The customer will obviously get worried about the information leakage whereas the company will be wary of the fact that their reputation gets dented greatly.
An example of such a case can be of an online medical firm that gets access to personal health information of the patient. In such a scenario, the information is extremely valuable and must be kept with the firm at all costs, however, if some sort of suspicious activity takes place and the records go missing, it can be very harmful for both, the company and the customers. In order to avoid such a situation, medical firms usually opt for the HIPAA compliance option. HIPAA is basically an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that serves the main purpose of protecting the PHI or the patient’s health information and limits the access to these records to a few people only. This way only the medical caretaker or the doctor from the firm, who is treating the patient, can gain access to the medical records.
A HIPAA compliant company is extremely secure and cannot go through an episode of online information leakage or hacking etc. To learn more about the benefits of HIPAA compliance visit https://www.providertech.com/
Do I Have to be HIPAA Compliant?
It is completely up to the firm or the organization if it wants to apply for the HIPAA compliance. However, it must be thought of being HIPAA compliant as a sort of investment that only helps the business grow in the short as well as the long term. In order to become HIPAA compliant, only a one-time hefty cost needs to be covered but the major advantage of being HIPAA compliant is that the patients can trust the organization blindly.
It is indeed true that many organizations that operate in the same market have come to know about the importance of HIPAA compliance and therefore the firms that do not register themselves for this, miss out on a very big opportunity to improve their brand image, become more secured and ultimately to gain a wider and a more reputable customer base. Hence, it can be said that being HIPAA compliant has more benefits than disadvantages so if a firm has ample capital to spend, becoming HIPAA compliant is definitely the way forward as it leads to greater opportunities and negates many threats.