Security vs. Compliance: Key Differences for Healthcare

There’s a reason healthcare is the second most targeted industry for cybercriminals. Healthcare organizations store a lot of sensitive patient data as well as financial information. From Electronic Health Records (EHRs), billing information, and more, your clinic or office is a treasure trove for cybercriminals.

A data breach at your healthcare facility can have a huge impact. Healthcare data breaches cost an average of $9.3 million per incident. And that’s just the cost. Add to that the downtime associated with breaches, the loss of patient trust, and the recovery challenges. No clinic can afford a data breach.

That said, cybersecurity is complex. And healthcare organizations must layer compliance requirements on top of basic cybersecurity. Security and compliance—terms often used interchangeably—are two different tasks. Understanding the difference is crucial if you want to protect your patient data and your business.

Let’s take a closer look at security and compliance in healthcare.

Defining Security and Compliance

At the most basic level, healthcare IT security is about safeguarding patient and business data. Healthcare compliance is about adhering to regulations and standards for patient data in order to handle patient information responsibly and ethically.

That said, there is a relationship between security and compliance. Security measures enforce compliance and can highlight compliance/non-compliance. Compliance measures usually include security requirements.

What is Healthcare IT Security?

Healthcare IT security is the application of technology, processes, and best practices to keep electronic health information safe from unauthorized access and use. That includes bad actors who might use, disclosure, modify, or destroy patient or business information. But it also includes employees and partners who might mistakenly damage, misuse, or disclose information.

Healthcare security goal: Protect patient data against cyberattacks, data breaches, and other malicious activities. 

Healthcare IT security includes:

• Data Encryption: Making sure patient information is encrypted when it is being sent or stored. 
• Endpoint Security: Making sure your clinic’s workstations and servers are protected. You may hear terms like Endpoint Protection (AV) and Endpoint Detection and Response. “Endpoint” is a fancy name for devices. Endpoint security is about identifying and responding in real time to attacks on devices.
• Access Controls: Implementing rules to restrict access to sensitive information—like patient data—so that only authorized people who should have access can see patients’ sensitive information. Common solutions include:
  • • Privileged Access Control (PAM) – Which means that people have access only to the information they need for their jobs. And only a small number of trusted users can access the more powerful administrator and similar accounts.
    • Zero Trust tools – Which assume that someone accessing systems may be a bad actor and therefore requires strong authentication for logins and system access.
• Security Management Tools: Like SIEM and UTD, which monitor for threatening behavior and then assess and act to protect against threats, 24/7.

As you can see, healthcare security is all about preventing breaches and making sure that only authorized people have access to specific data and tools in your healthcare organization.

What is Healthcare Compliance?

Healthcare compliance means adhering to the regulations and standards set forth by governmental and industry organizations. Those requirements ensure that patient data is handled responsibly and ethically.

Of course, the primary focus for healthcare organizations is on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA mandates a number of requirements to protect patient data privacy and security. Compliance demonstrates that your healthcare organization is actively meeting these requirements.

Basics of HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps protect the privacy and security of patient health information. It includes:

1. The Privacy Rule: Which sets standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information (PHI). It includes:

• Patient Rights: Gives patients the right over their health information, including the right to access, inspect, and get a copy of their records.
• Use and Disclosure Limitations: Limits how healthcare providers and others can use and disclose PHI. Requires patient authorization for many uses and disclosures.
• Administrative Requirements: Mandates the designation of a privacy official, privacy training for employees, and requires procedures to protect PHI.

2. The Security Rule: Establishes national standards for the security of electronic protected health information (ePHI).  Its requirements include:

• Administrative Safeguards: Implementing policies and procedures to manage and protect ePHI, like risk assessments, security awareness training, and contingency plans.
• Physical Safeguards: Physical measures to protect ePHI from unauthorized access, like restricting access to computer systems and data centers.
• Technical Safeguards: Technical measures to protect ePHI, i.e. access controls, audit trails, and data encryption.

3. The Breach Notification Rule: Requires organizations to notify individuals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and potentially the media in the event of a breach of unsecured PHI. Provisions include:

• Risk Assessment: Determines whether a breach poses a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to individuals.
• Notification Requirements: Defines the content and timing of notifications to individuals, HHS, and the media.
• Exceptions: Outlines exceptions to the notification requirements.

Failing to be HIPAA-compliant can have huge repercussions for healthcare organizations. At the most basic level, it opens your clinic or practice to cyberattacks, with all the risks and costs associated with a successful breach. Also, HIPAA non-compliance or violations can result in investigations, fines, and even criminal charges.

So, what’s involved in healthcare compliance?

• Regulatory Adherence: Making sure your organization and its employees are following all the policies and procedures laid out.
• Documentation: It’s not enough to follow the regulations—you also need to thoroughly document your implementation and actions to demonstrate compliance. This is an ongoing task.
• Regular Audits: Conduct routine audits to assess compliance status and find areas to improve. 
• Incident Response: You need a plan for security incidents. That means creating and maintaining a robust incident response plan to address security breaches swiftly.

Key Differences Between Compliance and Security

Healthcare IT security has a different purpose than healthcare compliance. That said, the two go hand-in-hand to protect your organization’s data and patient data. For example, you can see that many of the HIPAA requirements revolve around data security and threat response.

Healthcare security is focused on preventing, detecting, and responding to cyber threats. It uses technical tools and systems to restrict access to devices and information and monitor for attacks, then respond to them.

Healthcare compliance is focused on adhering to regulations that have been designed to protect patient data. It requires implementing and following specific tools and processes, many of which are security related. It also requires documenting compliance and doing regular audits of compliance efforts.

Common Challenges in Balancing Security vs Compliance

The balance between security and compliance can be especially tricky for small healthcare businesses. The challenges include:

• Resource Limitations: Many small healthcare organizations have limited resources and operate on tight budgets. Yet, compliance and security require specialized personnel. It can be hard to find enough budget and hire that personnel and manage both IT security and compliance requirements. It is a constant juggling act.
• Complex Regulations: Healthcare regulations like HIPAA and GDPR are complicated and constantly changing. You have to stay on top of the regulatory changes and then stay compliant with them. It’s a lot of time and effort, and it requires expertise.
• Technological Advancements: At the same time, technology is evolving constantly. AI, cloud computing and telemedicine, for example, are some of the more recent changes. They present both opportunities and challenges for healthcare organizations. It takes technical know-how and expertise to adopt new technologies safely without introducing security risks or compliance holes.
• Evolving Cyber Threats: Particularly with the addition of AI, cybercriminals are constantly improving their ability to attack and get around barriers. Your organization has to stay on top of new threats and techniques for attack, while making sure you stay in compliance.

How do Managed Service Providers Ensure Security and Compliance?

Managing security and compliance requires constant vigilance, specialized skills, and significant resources. Hiring and retaining the technical talent to manage IT security and compliance is time-consuming and expensive. If you’re a large healthcare organization, maybe you can afford it. Many smaller healthcare organizations struggle.

Yet, you can’t afford not to maintain security and compliance.

That’s where managed service providers (MSPs) come in. You can work with an MSP that specializes in healthcare IT security, giving you a dedicated security team, without having to build and maintain one yourself. An MSP:

• Brings Expertise and Experience: MSPs provide expert knowledge in healthcare, IT security and compliance. Because the two are so intertwined, having one company that manages the technical aspects of both security and compliance just makes sense.
• Is a Cost-Effective Solution: MSPs provide the expertise without all the overhead of hiring personnel. And they provide a scalable solution, tailored to your healthcare organization’s needs and budget. Outsourcing of cybersecurity and compliance is often the most cost-effective solution for smaller healthcare organizations.
• Continuously Monitors and Supports: MSPs provide 24/7 monitoring and support, to promptly identify and address any security or compliance issues.
• Is Proactive: Too often, strapped healthcare organizations are just racing to keep up. MSPs are forward-looking and informed. An MSP will identify new threats and the technology to address them, as well as compliance changes. That way, you don’t get left behind.

Healthcare IT teams face constant changes and new challenges. Understanding the difference between security and compliance is a critical first step. Balancing the two is crucial to protecting business and patient data, as well as meeting legal and regulatory requirements.

Managing security and compliance on your own can be challenging and time-consuming for small businesses. Partnering with a trusted MSP like BlackPoint IT Services can help you develop robust security, ensure compliance with HIPAA and other regulations, and protect patient data and your business.