A few best practices for healthcare social media

The presence of the social media in the healthcare sector is perhaps the best indication of the extent to which they have pervaded every facet of our lives. Who would have imagined a few years ago that something as serious as healthcare would be influenced by something that is as seemingly frivolous as the social media? Call it the reach of technology or the power of marketing. Whichever way you look at it, it is a fact that the social media are now an integral part of healthcare.

Given the fact of the social media’s presence-and a growing one at that-in the healthcare sector, understanding the best practices for healthcare social media is not just optional; it is mandatory. Why? It is because while the social media have enormous power in influencing; it comes with a huge responsibility. The possibility of the social media causing mischief, either intended or unintended, can never be trivialized or underplayed.

Social media best practices for healthcare should help to mobilize the media for the better

It is a fact that the social media have been a gigantic source for a number of highly far-reaching actions such as mobilizing public opinion and causing the fall of governments. They can also largely influence public and buyer behavior. There are unimaginable things the social media can do. What is needed is the power to harness it for the right reasons. With healthcare being an area that has awesome reason for being violated and misused; there is a compelling case and reason for understanding and implementing the best practices for healthcare social media.

As of now, the regulations that relate to the best practices for healthcare social media are largely fluid and interpretative. This makes it a grey area. If there is a global groundswell in favor of regulation of the social media; there are equally vociferous voices against it, too. So, how does one go about formulating a set of social media best practices for healthcare? This becomes a rather open-ended and subjective point of discussion.

Shun insensitivity, spread good

The bottom line is that the best practices for healthcare social media are ideally decided at the individual level of the healthcare provider. While best practices for healthcare social media are left to them, the critical requirement is that the social media practices should avoid causing hurt, should not give out false medical information about the patient or the industry or the healthcare provider, and should not give out unnecessary information that impinges on the privacy rights of the patient.

While all these are important to bear in mind from a privacy or legal point of view, social media best practices for healthcare should ideally consist of a set of practices and approaches that go on to enhance the reputation of the healthcare provider and making the patient feel good. Towards this end, social media best practices for healthcare should be positive.

A few social media best practices for healthcare

Keeping the sensitivities of the sector as a whole in mind, one can think of a set of social media best practices for healthcare that could be on these lines:

Educate

Social media have a humungous opportunity to reach out to literally millions of people. Why not utilize it in a manner the benefits people? Well, it may not be the job of a healthcare provider to offer educational degrees and certificates, but surely, the social media can be used to spread a few good words about the healthcare industry, the healthcare provider, general tips on health, etc.

The healthcare provider will be doing the general population a lot of good by spreading information about certain disease outbreaks and the ways to take care to prevent them from spreading, for instance. The healthcare provider can also get its senior staff to write blogs that could open new perspectives among people. The social media offer an opportunity to become some kind of thought leader.

Inspire 

Inspirational stories and blogs are of value to anyone. In a healthcare related blog, they are invaluable. Many patients look for great inspirational stories of how people with ailments similar to theirs have triumphed against odds and conquered disease. This kind of story can make a very positive impact on many patients.

Uplift and motivate

Any patient needs a dose of motivation in her life. Writing and sharing uplifting and motivational stories is one of the social media best practices for healthcare. When patients read them, they feel a sense of high that they can do what someone else did.

Social media policy for healthcare

Why has social media policy for healthcare now become a rather indispensable part of the official routine of most healthcare settings? Simple: The sheer prevalence of this medium. The social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, YouTube or Instagram offer unlimited opportunities for spreading information about a business or individual to vast sections of the populace. For healthcare settings, it is a tool of enormous use and value because the healthcare unit can propagate information in unimaginable ways through the social media.

However, social media policy for healthcare is a matter of some concern because the information this sector deals with is extremely sensitive and confidential. We all know that the tool that governs Protected Health Information is the Electronic Health Record (EHR). All that hackers need is access to this information. Given the high demand that this data commands in the black market-estimated to be higher than that of even social security and insurance information-it is natural that social media policy for healthcare should be designed to ensure that in the process of giving out information, the healthcare unit should not disclose information that it is meant to safeguard.

Social media policy for healthcare should ensure that HIPAA provisions are not violated

This is important not only from the viewpoint of safeguarding patient information, but also because doing so invites penalties under HIPAA. When private information is disclosed to the wrong sources, it can lead to a serious breach of the provisions of HIPAA, which is concerned with safeguarding Protected Health Information (PHI).

Preventing such a scenario from occurring is the main purpose and reason for which social media policy for healthcare should be enacted. Organizations are aware of the high potential for information leak in this industry. This makes it imperative for them to frame policies that will help the organization achieve this. The point to be borne in mind about social media policy for healthcare is that all policies must be framed with clarity. This is the most important quality for policies, because when they are ambiguous and hazy, they can be interpreted in any way by an employee. This can be used as a very solid excuse to get away from prosecution because the person who impinges data can take shelter under the subjective element of a policy.

How should social media policy for healthcare be framed?

The social media policy for healthcare should be framed keeping in mind the nature of the social media. Which are the most important reasons for which people use the social media and what are their most frequent activities? If the healthcare setting understands this basic information, it will go a long way in helping it frame a proper and safe social media policy for healthcare. One of the most common uses of the social media by people is photos. Most social media users love to upload photos of anything and everything.

When in a hospital, it is common to see patients or their relatives or friends upholding photos of their near and dear ones recuperating at hospitals. They could upload photos for every step along the way, such as taking medications, entering the operation theater, getting nursed, and so on. While these can be lighthearted in nature, they can become dangerous and legally actionable when they end up leaking sensitive, protected information about the patient.

Messaging

Messaging is the soul of the social media. WhatsApp handles literally billions of messages every day from around the globe from its vast user community. Sending harmless messages about the patient’s general health is fine. But information about which medications have been prescribed, their dosage, whether the patient is complying with the treatment regimen or not-these are potentially tendentious bits of information that could land the users in jail if done wrongly.

Interacting

Policy on how to interact with hospital staff should constitute the third part of social media policy for healthcare. Many people have a tendency for befriending hospital staff. This may not be a bad thing in itself, but when it goes beyond mere offline greetings and other gestures of gratitude or friendship and gets carried on the social media, the relationship enters a grey area. This should not be misused for gaining negative motives. Social media policy for healthcare should cover these aspects and should show utmost care in these dealings.

Having said all these, it is most important to keep in mind the fact that social media, by their very nature, offers enormous scope for misuse. The social media policy for healthcare should be the real guide to help employees understand how to deal with sensitive information.

 

Defining and Implementing Your Own Sharps Safety Program

Sharps constitute one of most dangerous sources from which healthcare professionals can suffer physical injuries in the course of their daily work. Sharps, of which needle sticks are a part, are instruments that have the potential to cause serious problems in the healthcare setting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that close to 400,000 sharps-related injuries take place in the healthcare environment in the US every year.

While the pinprick in itself can be hurtful; the fact is that sharps injuries can cause a much deeper impact: these can result in occupational transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as at least 20 other pathogens.

Gain complete knowledge of all the aspects of sharps management

The need for managing sharps is thus a matter of vital importance. A full-length explanation and familiarization with all the aspects of sharps safety will be imparted at a very in-depth webinar on this subject that MentorHealth, a leading provider of professional trainings for all the areas of healthcare, is organizing.

At this veritable boot camp for sharps injuries, MentorHealth brings to you the seasoned executive with 40 years of experience in the life sciences & healthcare industries, Angela Bazigos.  Angela has held various positions in the course of her illustrious career, during which she has worked in areas as varied as Quality Assurance, Regulatory Compliance, Business Administration, Information Technology, Project Management, Clinical Lab Science, Turnarounds and Business Development.

Want to understand the ins and outs of sharps management in the healthcare setting? Please enroll for this webinar

Focus on preventing sharps injuries

This is going to be a detailed, three-hour session, at which Angela will offer total understanding of the risks of sharps injuries that are common in this industry, and how to prevent and manage sharps injuries. Professionals who are vulnerable to sharps injuries, such as the perioperative educator, manager, and staff RN, will be given complete knowledge of how they can educate their healthcare team members on the importance of sharps safety in the healthcare setting. Angela will offer learning on the techniques that can be used in the healthcare setting to prevent sharps injuries, and to also customise them to the unique needs of different individual work settings.

From this learning, participants will be able to identify the risks of bloodborne pathogen exposure and get clarity on the legal issues associated with this. They will also learn about the current status of multidisciplinary sharps safety initiatives, the components of a sharps safety program, and the barriers to change.

Angela will cover the following areas at this webinar:

• Assessment your facility’s sharps injury prevention program
• Facts, Legal Concerns & Care
• Development and implementation of your planning and prevention activities
• Implementation of your prevention interventions

• • Safer Sharps Devices
  • Safe Work Practices
  • Needle sticks & Disposal of Needles

• Implementation of your post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) management interventions
• Reporting sharps injuries
• Healthcare Personnel Safety Reporting Plan
• Evaluation of the impact of your prevention interventions.

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2018 Cybersecurity Concerns in Healthcare and How to Address Them

1. Cybersecurity attacks are rising, and 2018 might be the worst year yet.

By now, everyone is aware that cyber attacks and data breaches are omnipresent risks in healthcare—and hackers often seem one or two steps ahead of our preventative attempts. Organizations are working hard to catch up with these threats, but that doesn’t keep industry experts from anticipating a breach this year.

According to a recent survey from Ponemon Institute, 67% of CISOs believe a cybersecurity attack will happen to their organization in 2018. As attacks get harder and harder to decipher (unlike the golden days of foreign princes offering you money), this survey reports that the majority (65%) thought a careless employee would cause a breach, followed by concerns over ransomware attacks and patient data being compromised at a large scale.

It’ll take time to address every concern listed in Ponemon Institute’s survey, but when it comes to the 65% who worry about their employees, you don’t have to be one of them. This blog covers everything you need to know about how implementing a security awareness program can make employees your strongest—rather than your weakest—defensive players.

Read This! The Benefits of Empowered Employees: Why a Good Security Awareness Program Matters

Meanwhile, for those worried about compromising thousands of patient records during a data breach, this scenario (and many like it) can be avoided through the right precautions. Get started today: use these eight tips to implement strong security practices and avoid a data breach.

Read This! 8 Ways to Protect Your Healthcare Organization from a Data Breach

2. Healthcare organizations are worried about ransomware/malware.

HealthIT Security writes that in 2017, “78 percent of [healthcare] providers report[ed] that they experienced a healthcare ransomware or malware attack.” Because of how successful these attacks have been, many expect they’ll increase in 2018, leaving providers uncertain about how to address the possibility of a ransomware and malware infiltration.

Identify EHR vulnerabilities

Unfortunately, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) can be affected by ransomware. Blocking ransomware and malware attacks requires broad preventative measures like employee training, properly-configured firewalls, secure systems, and strong access management policies (more on that under item 4), but you can also protect your EHRs from infection through data encryption and periodic backups.
EHR backups are one of HIPAA’s many compliance requirements; if you haven’t already, make them a priority. Take some time to create copies of your database. Update them frequently—and store them offsite, just in case an attack cripples your current infrastructure. When you’ve built policies and processes around these backups, add them to your incident response plan so you can refer to them in an emergency.

Don’t have an incident response plan yet? Create one using this blog of templates and resources.

Read This! Data Breach and Incident Response Plans | 2017 Templates & Resources

Protect your IBM i data

If you use Windows systems, you already know your environment can be affected by ransomware and malware. But if you use IBM systems or servers in your organization, like many still do, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that these attacks (and similar viruses) can’t affect you.

Unfortunately, that just isn’t true.

Read these blogs to learn how malware and ransomware can hurt your IBM i data, then take the free virus scan at the end to check your IBM i (or Linux or AIX) systems for compromise.

Read This! Is Your Data REALLY Safe on the IBM i (AS/400)?

Read This! Malware, Ransomware, and Viruses vs Your IBM i Server

Free Virus Scan: Check Your IBM i, AIX, and Linux Servers for Threats

3. Unsecured health systems are vulnerable to compromise.

Healthcare organizations juggle hundreds of important responsibilities a day. They provide their patients with top-notch care, secure their technology from life-threatening risks (like power outages or equipment failure), and do everything else that comes in between.

With all these tasks to focus on, many haven’t been able to update their systems and equipment. Providers want to secure their data with the best possible technology, but investing in new equipment, software, and hardware can cost a pretty penny. On the other hand, a well-placed attack at an area of weakness can cause a breach that costs even more than it would’ve to invest in up-to-date systems.

Read More: Three Hospitals’ Medical Devices Hacked Using Ancient XP Exploits | Medical Devices are the Next Security Nightmare

“Healthcare facilities make extensive use of legacy systems,” writes Harvard University in this report. “In fact, numerous hospitals still rely on devices that have reached their end-of-life or that are no longer supported.” What does that mean? While it may save money in the short-term, if any of your systems are outdated or unsecured, including that one printer staff rarely use, a well-aimed cyberattack could sneak into your network and cause havoc.

Our suggestion? If you can’t afford to purchase new devices, ensure they are all up-to-date on the latest security patches. It may help to create a map of your devices too, so you can tell where you may have gaps and vulnerabilities in your network.

4. Organizations lack cybersecurity policies and audit processes.

As healthcare technology changes due to evolving patient, vendor, and employee needs, so should cybersecurity policies and audit processes. However, this piece can be easy to overlook—and it’s become an issue that needs to be addressed in 2018.

According to Healthcare IT News and the PwC Health Research Institute, “while 95 percent of provider executives believe their organization is protected against cybersecurity attacks, only 36 percent have access management policies and just 34 percent have a cybersecurity audit process.” This means that two in three organizations don’t have the right plans in place to ensure their data is safe.

Create cybersecurity policies

Good cybersecurity policies are important. In fact, you likely already have some implemented in your organization. But as the stats suggest, over 60% of providers lack an effective Identity and Access Management (IAM) policy, leaving them wide open to risks from inside threats like careless employees, vendors, and users.

We recommend reviewing your current IAM policy to ensure all your gaps are covered. The following blog discusses five recommendations from the DHS’s OCR (Office of Civil Rights) that you can use to get on the right track.

Read This! 5 Ways to Fight Internal Health Data Breaches

Audit your organization

To combat any business vulnerabilities you might have, your organization should strive to complete frequent risk assessments. This is already a requirement of HIPAA and HITECH compliance. However, it doesn’t hurt to also conduct them during specific events, like when introducing new third-party vendors, adding new locations or offices, or integrating new devices.

There are different ways to run a risk assessment. You can run it manually, but this is typically a resource-heavy process and leaves room for error. You can also use software to automate your evaluations. Good software will track activity logs, encrypt files, give you control over your keys and certificates, and let you build reports on important system information. An even better solution, like managed file transfer, will do all that for your Windows, Linux, and IBM i systems—and help you meet HIPAA compliance requirements too.

Read This! Why Healthcare Organizations Need a Managed File Transfer Solution

5. Patient records could be maliciously altered, causing serious damage.

As cyber attacks evolve with today’s growing technology and devices, industry experts are concerned that hackers will change their strategies of getting patient data. Instead of holding patient data hostage, some organizations are worried that attackers will tamper with records to falsify their information.

Falsely altered records mean more than compromised data and financial ruin. According to this article on the vulnerabilities of unsecured systems and health devices, “hackers can change medical record information on allergies, diagnoses, or doses of prescribed drugs. Incorrect information on even one medical record could be fatal.”

So, how does an organization safeguard against this sort of attack? Having audit policies in place to watch for unauthorized changes made to patient records is a start. By using a solution that scans activity logs for any out-of-place adjustments, you can be alerted to strange additions and quickly catch a problem (internally or externally created) before it escalates.

Understanding HIPAA requirements for safeguarding PHI

Meeting the legal requirements required of a healthcare provider hinges on and depends directly on a clear grasp of HIPAA compliance requirements. A thorough grasp of HIPAA compliance entails being fully equipped with all the knowledge needed to put the proper policies and procedures in place. This is because providing the appropriate patient rights and controls on the uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information (PHI) is one of the hallmarks of being in compliance with HIPAA.

So, any organization that is being audited or is the subject of a compliance review has to show to the government that it not only has the ability to demonstrate how it is addressing all of the required security safeguards; but that it also has the documentation necessary for safeguarding patient PHI.

Knowledge of the fundamentals is necessary

Solid grasp of HIPAA compliance requirements is necessary on the part of a healthcare practice, business or organization to understand all that it takes for protecting PHI. Complete and thorough understanding of the fundamentals of HIPAA compliance requirements is a must for an entity that has to ensure that the safeguards it currently has are good enough to withstand government scrutiny.

This is necessary for HIPAA implementation’s own sake; further, there is another major reason why healthcare practices, businesses or organizations need to have very sound knowledge of the HIPAA requirements. It is the significant rise in the number of HIPAA data breaches. Only a proper understanding HIPAA compliance requirements help entities understand which requirements they need to meet in order to safeguard PHI.

Hear from the expert on how to show compliance with HIPAA requirements

Given the enormity of the need for understanding HIPAA requirements in toto; it is necessary for entities to know clearly what needs to be done to facilitate this. This is the knowledge a webinar from MentorHealth, a leading provider of professional trainings for the healthcare industry, will be providing. The speaker at this webinar is Jay Hodes, who is President and Founder, Colington Security Consulting, LLC.

In order to gain the fullest understanding of the requirements needed for HIPAA compliance and all the aspects related to it, please register for this webinar.

The purpose of this webinar is to give participants an understanding of all aspects of HIPAA compliance. To make this understanding less complicated and likeable, Jay will break down the complexities of HIPAA compliance requirements in a simple and easy to understand method. The participants of this webinar will get clear knowledge of all the requirements for a comprehensive HIPAA compliance program and what steps they need to take in order to mitigate risk.

Jay will cover the following areas at this discussion:

• Why was HIPAA created?
• Who Must Comply with HIPAA Requirements?
• What are the HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules?
• What is a HIPAA Risk Management Plan?
• What is meant by “Required” and “Addressable” Implementation Specifications?
• What are Administrative, Technical, and Physical Safeguards Requirements?
• What is a HIPAA Risk Assessment?
• What are HIPAA training requirements?
• What is a HIPAA data breach and what happens if it occurs?
• What are the penalties and fines for non-compliance and how to avoid them?
• Creating a Culture of Compliance
• Questions

This course will be of immense value to personnel involved in one or another way with HIPAA implementation. these include Compliance Officers, HIPAA Privacy Officers, HIPAA Security Officers, Medical/Dental Office Managers, Practice Managers, Information Systems Managers, Chief Information Officers, General Counsel/Lawyers, Practice Management Consultants, Any Business Associates that accesses Protected Health Information, and IT Companies that support Medical/Dental practices or other healthcare organizations.

Fill the form to get more updates on Hipaa requirements

The costs of medical malpractice are exorbitant

The costs of medical malpractice are exorbitant, to put it mildly. First, what is a medical malpractice? A straightforward definition of medical malpractice is that it is an act of wrongdoing, a sort of negligence by a medical practitioner in diagnosing or administering treatment that leads to harm in a number of ways to the patient. This negligence is usually the result of choosing a substandard drug or mode of therapy that leads to this situation for the patient.

The physician works in close contact with the patient, which brings them into a kind of sacred and intimate relationship. This goes beyond just the administration of the drug or conducting tests. Patients, even when they are highly educated and knowledgeable about disease, come to physicians seeking some kind of solace and reassurance. Ordinarily, in this kind of scenario, there should be no place for a medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice can still happen

Yet, although physicians and patients work on a kind of unwritten, implied trust; there are occasions when a medical malpractice can happen. A medical malpractice usually happens when this trust is broken. A medical malpractice can happen in a number of ways, misdiagnosing or administering the wrong drug being just some of these instances.

A medical malpractice can be said to have taken place when any of these scenarios happen:

• An untoward result of treatment or surgery
• An outstanding invoice being mailed to a patient who is not satisfied with the treatment methods or outcomes
• A physician’s wife or assistant working as the office manager filling up a medical leave authorization form and charging money for it
• Just a perceived lack of concern on the part of the doctor or personnel.

Since any of these can count as medical negligence, it is all the easier for patients to seek legal remedy when they feel they have been wronged in one way or another. America being the highly litigious country that it is; it is always good to devise the means to avoid being taken to court for medical negligence.

Learn the in-depth aspects of medical negligence

In what ways can medical practitioners avoid showing medical negligence and being taken to court? The diligence and care that they should take to avoid being in such a situation will be the basis of the learning a webinar that is being organized by MentorHealth, a leading provider of professional trainings for the healthcare industry, is organizing.

http://www.mentorhealth.com/control/w_product/~product_id=800934LIVE/?Wordpress-SEO

The critical need for learning about medical negligence

Why is this learning important? It is because it is essential for medical practitioners to understand the elements and nuances of medical negligence, given that the field of medical negligence being a colossal one that involves huge amounts of money in damages. A book by the late Steve Jacob says the following startling facts and disclosures about medical negligence:

• Using a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report as the basis, PwC estimated that malpractice insurance and defensive medicine accounted for a tenth of the total healthcare costs. This is corroborated by a 2010 Health Affairs article, which puts these costs at about one-fortieth of all of healthcare spending;
• The depth and extent of fear of being taken to court for medical negligence is reflected in a 2010 survey, at which American orthopedic surgeons conceded that almost a third of the tests and referrals they order were medically unnecessary and was being done purely to reduce physician vulnerability to lawsuits;
• An analysis made by the AMA in 2011 found that the increase in the average amount to defend a lawsuit went up by around 60 percent in less than decade from 2010 to $47,158, from $28,981 in 2001. This was accompanied by a steep rise in the average cost to pay a medical liability claim-whether it was a settlement, jury award or some other disposition. This cost went up to $331,947 from $297,682 in 2001;
• A good portion of doctors’ professional careers are spent in fighting lawsuits, no matter what the final outcome is. The average span of a medical negligence litigation is over two years. If doctors spend around a year and eight months in defending cases that were eventually dismissed; medical negligence claims going to trial took three and a quarter years to settle. Another painful piece of statistics concerning medical negligence is that physicians who finally won the case spent as much as three years and eight months in litigation;
• A New England Journal of Medicine report estimated that by age 65 around three fourths of all low-risk specialist physicians have been subjected to at least one lawsuit for medical negligence, while it is an unbelievable 99% for high-risk specialties practitioners.
• Finally, Brian Atchinson, president of the Physician Insurers Association of America [PIAA], nearly three fourths of legal claims for medical negligence do not result in payments to patients, while physician defendants prevail four out of five times in claims resolved by verdict.

Being organized in the backdrop of these situations; this webinar on medical negligence by MentorHealth will cover the following areas:

• Understanding What’s at Stake in Litigation
• What every Doctor must Know
• Steps to Take after Summon and Service Receipt
• Trail Players Burden of Proof
• Types of Trials Discovery Process
• Depositions
• Motions In-Li mine
• Jury Selection
• Opening Statements
• Presentation of Evidence
• Summation and Final Instructions
• Jury Deliberations
• The Verdict and Relief.