In this, the information age, practices rely heavily on the internet and other computer-based strategies for storing and retrieving patient medical information. More than 90% of practices in the United States utilize electronic medical records, and the majority of smartphone and tablet users have downloaded at least one app designed to track their health. 

These technological advances, while improving accessibility, have also made it more difficult to protect patient information. The shift to telehealth has exacerbated the problem. Despite the difficulty, safeguarding medical information is crucial to protect patients from identity theft.

Federal Law

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is the defined set of legal requirements to protect patient information. Originally passed in 1996, HIPAA’s privacy and security rules safeguards patient health information at the healthcare-provider level. Organizations acting for practices, including insurance firms, must legally adhere to these federal restrictions.

Precautions Practices Can Take to Protect Patient Information

While patients certainly have a responsibility to use discretion in disclosing or sharing their medical information, healthcare providers must also be vigilant. Not only do they have a legal obligation to protect patient information, it is part of honoring the trust patients put in them.

Have Practice-Specific Policies

Not all healthcare facilities work with the same kind of information or interact with patients or external organizations in the same capacity. The plan for your practice to keep patients’ medical information safe should reflect the work you do and be geared toward the particular data with which your organization transacts. The goal to keep electronic health information secure should be reflected in your practice’s policies, procedures, and systems. Your plan should also include training goals and systems for your employees.

Keep Security Training Current

The people carrying out your security plan will chiefly include the physicians and nurses in your practice. All of your employees should be well-versed, not only the methods of security, but also on its importance. Make sure your team understands how to store and send data securely to protect patient information, using methods we will describe below.

HIPAA regulations are an evolving entity, and as we continue to base more of our information and information-sharing technologies online, the regulations governing those will also adapt. New regulations, beyond HIPAA, may be a thing of the future. For this reason, it is critical that medical staff stay up-to-date on their security training. Anticipating changes can make regulatory adjustments even easier.

While patient error is not the responsibility of a healthcare practice, educating patients on the basics of security protects them and makes a medical facility’s duty easier. Help patients understand the importance of keeping their medical information safe and not sharing it, especially not on social media. They should never assume that any online forum is safe.

Use Encryption

Encryption is a computer data protection strategy that converts information into code. This makes the data less accessible without authorization and is an especially good strategy to protect patient information. All data and especially mobile devices in your facility should be encrypted. 

Other methods available to make storage more secure include passwords, firewalls, and antivirus software. Passwords should be strong, using combinations of letters and numbers that are not easy to identify easily. Staff should log out of networks when they have finished working on them and should refrain from using personal devices to access patient information.

Other strategies practices can employ to protect information while it is stored include using secure hardware and software, vigilantly monitoring online forums and cloud-based services, and destroying information that does not need to be kept.

Be Wary During Remote Handling

Information is at its most vulnerable when it is in transit, either during telehealth sessions or when being transferred between patient and practice. For telehealth work, invest in a secure wifi network, and encourage patients to have the same when accessing their medical information. The video platform used in remote conferencing should also be secure. While they make communicating with patients easy and immediate, be wary in the use of options like texting or private messaging. These platforms have minimal security features and may even violate HIPAA standards. 

Routinely Clean House

In addition to keeping your plan to protect patient information current and in harmony with HIPAA standards, regular housekeeping is an essential part of any good security strategy. Keep your practice’s firewalls and security software up-to-date at all times through updates. Every year, perform a security risk analysis to verify the security of all the storage tools you employ.

Establish a Failsafe

Sometimes the worst does happen. Hacks are sometimes successful, and breaches in security do occur. Before they do, establish a response plan designed to contain damages and mitigate losses. This should include a chain of command, but the response should not be dependent on it since immediate action is the key to minimizing damage. Have corrective methods ready to go in case of an incident, i.e. enable remote wiping or disabling on all your networks and servers.

The term telehealth describes a method of remote healthcare utilizing telecommunications technology. This may include everything from a telephone call to a video chat between patient and healthcare provider. Telehealth has been a successful practice since before the COVID-19 pandemic, but enforced quarantine certainly caused an uptick in its use. Today, telehealth makes healthcare more accessible to those who would not otherwise be able to receive treatment, and successful telehealth can be achieved by taking conscious and deliberate steps.

Strategies for Both Patients and Healthcare Facilities

Both patients and providers have a part in creating a successful telehealth session. These include a good setup and being present during the process.

Find the Right Spot

In order to have a successful telehealth session, it is important to set the scene. Neither patient nor provider should be distracted, so both parties must find quiet spots that allow them to work undisturbed. Make sure things in the background (posters, pets, equipment, etc.) won’t be distracting. The ideal spot has good lighting if the telehealth session will be conducted over video conference.

Quality equipment 

While neither party needs to create a recording studio, making sure you use quality cameras and sound equipment can mitigate the frustration of poor audio or video quality. This lends itself to better care and overall more successful telehealth since neither party has to worry about the sound or picture cutting out. You may also choose to use headphones or earbuds to block out background noise.

Secure Internet Connection

Sufficient bandwidth is essential for a telehealth session to be successful. The fanciest camera on the market cannot save a telehealth session if the internet goes out. Delays, lost information, and severe frustration are only a few of the side effects of a faulty connection. Minimize other internet uses during a session for best results. Practices may even have a dedicated wifi just for telehealth calls.

Keep Relevant Information Close

The middle of a telehealth session is not the time to try to find pertinent medical records, and sifting through your medicine cabinet is not a good use of the appointment’s allotted time. Instead, have relevant information at hand before the session begins. Healthcare professionals will have a list of questions ready, and patients may feel free to do so as well. 

To receive the best care possible without a medical provider in the room, patients should also keep a list of medications ready, for providers will ask for them. Have an explanation of your symptoms ready, especially if you have experienced difficulty performing routine activities. If you have the metrics of your vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and weight) taken within the last 24 hours, those are helpful to have onhand.

Stay Engaged

Incorporating telehealth successfully into a practice means we all need a little coaching on our web-side manner. During a telehealth session, both parties should remain attentive, keep eye contact, and ask good questions. Healthcare workers should adopt a professional tone and explain the telehealth process systematically and clearly. Patients should repeat any instructions given to them to ensure they have them correct.

A good web-side manner isn’t just about demeanor. Apparel also comes into play. Both patient and provider should wear solid colors since patterns can show up differently on screen, playing with the eyes and tricking them into seeing movement. In addition to scrubs, medical professionals should consider wearing their lab coats while on the call to inspire confidence.

Keep good notes

Both patients and providers should have questions beforehand and make sure to cover them during the appointment. Healthcare professionals should let patients know that they will be taking notes so patients do not feel like physicians are not paying attention.

Make Plans to Follow-Up

Many telehealth sessions lead to follow-up appointments, whether via technology or in-person. Establish the necessary next steps before the call ends. Doing so will allow both parties to walk away understanding what comes next.

Successful Telehealth Practices for Medical Facilities

If telehealth is an option offered at your practice, you have an additional responsibility to use the technology wisely.

Offer Multiple Platforms

Medical facilities should offer telehealth on multiple platforms to best reach the maximum number of clients. This is a failsafe against some IT problems. There are many online communication systems on the market. Zoom is taking the world by storm, but FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and other platforms are available for use. Find the best combination for your practice.

Prepare the Patient

To have a successful telehealth session, let the patient know what to expect. Consent must be properly documented, and be sure to let patients know they have the right to stop at any time. Make sure patients understand the billing process for telehealth before the session.

Follow protocol

In terms of getting to the root of a patient’s problem and offering treatment solutions, telehealth sessions are the same as in-office visits. Adhere to proper protocols to give the best care while avoiding legal and billing difficulties.

Maintain Privacy

Prioritizing privacy is crucial for successful telehealth. This involves keeping the room in which telehealth calls take place secure. Conversations should remain confidential in the same way in-facility visits are. If other practitioners or staff are in the room, be sure to notify the patient.

They say that nothing succeeds like success. With that in mind, how can you create a successful medical practice that continues on an upward trend? The most important thing a practice can do is provide quality care. From there, we offer a few suggestions on how to elevate any medical facility. The success of a medical practice is achieved through internal and external strategies: practice management and marketing.

Practice Management

As already mentioned, the foundation for a successful medical practice is quality patient care. That goal is augmented by providing excellent customer service, keeping records up-to-date and organized, and basing procedures and practice management on defined and achievable goals.

It’s All About People

The people in an organization make all the difference between a successful medical practice and an unsuccessful one. Surround your practice with successful people and teams, those who know their business and have a drive to improve and elevate their work environment. Remember that patients are the lifeblood of a practice, so give each one the best care possible. 

Communication Is Key

Listen when patients explain their symptoms and challenges. While an attending physician may know pretty quickly how to help, patients do not want to feel that they are being shuffled along as part of an assembly line. Patient treatment is improved when healthcare professionals remember that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Patients are more likely to develop loyalty with a business or practice if that practice communicates with them in the manner most convenient for the patient. The most successful medical practices have many methods at hand to relay information to their patients. These may include texts, calls, emails, signage around the facility, and notifications on the practice’s website and on social media.

Embrace Delegation 

Healthcare providers are able to provide the best healthcare when they can focus on doing so. Have staff dedicated to administrative work so doctors and nurses can focus on diagnosing, chart prep, blood work, and prescribing treatment. Delegation can also help minimize the risk of burnout among staff. 

Outsourcing your medical billing is a help strategy for building a successful medical practice for two reasons. Doing so allows medical staff to focus on what they are best at: providing patient care. It lends an outlet so healthcare workers do not need to spend valuable time sifting through billing information or “dead claims.” Outsourcing the billing also gives a practice plenty of space to grow. 

Resource Management

Use your resources correctly and wisely. Stay on top of current research and emerging technologies, and implement these in a way that your practice can support. This may include online or over-the-phone treatment options, like telehealth. These solutions make healthcare more accessible across the world.

Wisely managing available resources also includes the space in your clinic. Do you have a room that is not being used? Perhaps more storage space would be more valuable as another treatment room or a space to analyze tests. Maximize the resources you already have.

Follow the Money

Successful medical practices always have a budget and work within them wisely. Have a plan for every expenditure and be mindful of the inventory you already have. Make sure that every piece of your practice’s medical equipment is being used effectively to generate business and revenue.

Marketing

If you want to build a successful medical practice, have good marketing strategies. This may seem an odd priority for a medical practice, which should never be confused with a fortune 500 company, but it remains very important for medical practices to build their loyal patient base. In our digital age, over 72% of Americans begin their search for healthcare providers online. Your online presence should be easy to find, easy to navigate, and easy to understand. 

First Impressions

In both your in-person facilities and your online content, walk through and try to see it through the eyes of a patient. Is the layout pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate? Is there any technical jargon that a layman must decipher? Does your physical location speak of professionalism, competence, and compassion? Does the waiting room put patients at ease? You only get one shot at a first impression, so make sure that yours reflects well on your practice.

Know Your Audience

In the marketing material you put out, know your audience. Direct your content toward potential patients, other physicians, insurance companies, etc. and be consistent. With all the content you produce, work toward the goal of gaining new patients.