How a DAM Solves Compliance Challenges in Healthcare Challenges associated with meeting compliance mandates and legislation cause IT and privacy professionals a lot of headaches when working in the healthcare space. Data privacy and data protection are important in any organization. However, in a healthcare setting, the amount of sensitive data, files, and images are extensive. Compliance challenges for healthcare organizations are significant. Regulations including Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) should sound familiar. These require healthcare organizations to protect Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personal Identifiable Information (PII) from unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in significant financial penalties, and damage to the organization’s reputation. Neither are something an organization can afford today. How common are data breaches? Healthcare is the third most targeted industry for data breaches in 2022. The majority (80%) of data breaches were attributed to hacking and IT issues and fall under the most common types of attack (ransomware, supply chain attacks, Cloud, or business email compromise). The second-most cited cause of data breaches were attributed to unauthorized access, resulting in 16 percent of reported healthcare data breaches. For large hospitals, 30% of most data breaches are a result of a record of exposing patients’ private health information. The cost of a breach: Between March 2021 and March 2022, the average cost of a data breach in the healthcare sector reached over 10 million U.S. dollars. This is an increase from 9.23 U.S. dollars between May 2020 and March 2021 according to Statista. The cost of the breach is obviously a concern when protecting data. Heavy fines can impact the bottom line. However, the cost to reputation and loss of potential revenue can be devastating for healthcare organizations as well. Impact to a team: A breach impacts internal and external stakeholders. Teams including IT managers, project managers, digital asset managers, taxonomists, compliance managers, database managers, and marketing feel the impact. Executives including the CIO, chief privacy officer, CMO, and CTO feel repercussions of a breach as well. The first question many ask is, “Is this my fault?” or “What should we have done to prevent this?” As a result, teams may feel ill-equipped to prevent future breaches and leave the organization. This is another “cost” healthcare organizations want to avoid. The Digital Asset Management (DAM) Solution: The good news is that there are solutions available to help reduce compliance and data privacy risks . Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions have become an increasingly important tool for healthcare organizations. A DAM helps manage, protect, and organize sensitive data. It provides a central repository for assets including patient images, electronic health records, administrative documents, brand assets, and more. This ensures all materials are approved for use and that each person accessing files are pre-approved, no matter their location, role, or affiliation. This is especially critical for marketing and communications teams as they work with outside vendors and partners. Compliance officers and IT security directors understand the value of a DAM solution in meeting regulatory requirements and safeguarding PHI and PII against potential data breaches or compliance issues. Many DAM solutions also have specific HIPAA and compliance functionality for additional protection against data breaches or IT failures, malicious or not. This includes access, permissions, integration of consent forms, and files for media that are essential in a healthcare setting. One of the primary challenges that a DAM solution helps solve is managing the vast amount of digital assets that healthcare organizations generate. From medical images and videos to electronic health records (EHRs) and administrative documents, healthcare organizations must manage a large volume of data. The Role of Integration: Although DAM solutions play a key part in safeguarding sensitive data and files, there are many different solutions that make up a modern technology stack. Especially in a healthcare setting. Finding the right DAM solution and then integrating it properly within the rest of the ecosystem is critical for data protection and compliance. A cross section of teams including compliance, marketing, IT, security, and others need to ensure they are using the most effective digital asset management solution to meet their needs. Then, focus on the integration across technologies to ensure there are no vulnerabilities. A no-code iPaaS solution like OneTeg can help streamline multiple integrations across the digital supply chain. Data protection and compliance are an ongoing battle for highly targeted healthcare organizations. Read the latest use case with OpenText DAM solution in a large hospital for inspiration on how to keep your digital assets and bottom line safe from security breaches.
