The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Medical practices should exercise caution and seek support from a trusted Managed Service Provider before storing medical records in the cloud.

In recent years, many healthcare organizations initiated a digital transformation journey. This entails taking all aspects of their operations and making them more efficient through the use of technology.

And now there's no turning back, as people spend more and more time online to accomplish a variety of tasks, including looking up medical information and/or searching for medical providers.

If your organization handles sensitive patient information, you need to comply with HIPAA. Failure to do so can result in fines, penalties, and legal fees. Not to mention the bad reputation you'd incur if your patients found out you failed to keep their sensitive health information safe.

They don’t call back, they don’t answer your texts, and when you get time with them, they are disheveled, rude, and uninterested, doing just the minimum to keep things going.

This sounds like a bad date...and it’s one that many dental practices are on with their current IT guy.

Now more than ever, we depend on technology to run our businesses (and our lives). When the "internet goes down," most businesses are at a standstill until they are back online, costing thousands in lost productivity and sales.

It's not just the BIG problems but things like file access, password protection, being able to print, and recovering files or versions of files that were accidentally overwritten or deleted.

Many things around us are not intended to be harmful, but have the potential to be dangerous. Take a plastic bag, for example. Although designed to contain things, it can become a suffocation hazard for young children.

This concept of potential danger can also be applied to legitimate and bootleg software programs categorized as riskware.

A visit to the dentist is often a poor experience, especially for patients getting a painful treatment such as a tooth extraction or a root canal. Often, their stress over the treatment itself is compounded by the hassle of setting the appointment, filling out endless forms, and getting asked the same questions over and over by the dental staff.

To improve their operations and provide better patient experience, many dental practices in New York have leveraged IT solutions like appointment management apps, oral imaging, and automated billing systems. While such IT solutions offer plenty of benefits, they also introduce new cybersecurity concerns that dental practices must take seriously for the following reasons:
Patient records are protected under HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 safeguards a patient’s protected health information (PHI) from being disclosed without the patient’s knowledge or consent.

Numerous digital advancements enable healthcare organizations to address several key industry challenges, such as safeguarding medical records and providing better care management for patients. Electronic health records (EHRs), in particular, allow quick access to patient records, helping healthcare organizations diagnose patients more effectively, reduce medical errors, and provide safer care.

Healthcare providers have recently been a major target for email scams. Between December 2020 and February 2021 alone, the number of phishing attacks targeting pharmacies and hospitals increased by a staggering 189%. Unfortunately, conventional phishing attacks aren’t your only cause for worry — your dental clinic could be at risk of falling victim to a business email compromise (BEC) scam too.