Healthcare cyber security has become a top priority as the industry faces a rising threat of malicious attacks. Find out how one organization is going the extra mile to protect patient data with BlueOrange Compliance.
Located in Riverdale, NY, RiverSpring Living operates a comprehensive array of healthcare facilities and services tailored to meet the diverse needs of older adults and offers a full spectrum of care solutions.
As a large healthcare organization, RiverSpring Living is responsible for protecting the safety and privacy of patients, employees, and other key stakeholders.
While it is essential to ensure regulatory compliance, healthcare organizations are increasingly looking for additional ways to protect their systems from unnecessary risk, especially in the area of cyber security.
Healthcare Cyber Security Risks
The constant rate of change inherent to the modernization of IT systems and processes can pose challenges to teams.
“We have gone through our digital transformation journey over the past five years and moved many systems to the cloud,” said RiverSpring Living CIO, David Finkelstein. “In doing so, we have increased our risk.”
The healthcare industry faces a rising threat of malicious attacks that target protected health care and personally identifiable information. These breaches often compromise sensitive patient data, leading to financial losses and reputational damage for healthcare organizations.
According to the IBM 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach in the healthcare sector was $10.93 million. Perhaps even more concerning is this number represents a nearly 20 percent increase from the 2021 report of $9.23 million.
These costs include expenses related to investigation, notification, legal fees, and loss of business which will likely continue their upward climb.
“Ransomware attacks and phishing attacks are a concern,” said Finkelstein. “With a workforce of two thousand plus employees, not everyone is quite as security conscious or hardened as the IT team to keep these things out.”
After initially realizing RiverSpring Living needed an ongoing healthcare cyber security and compliance partner, Finkelstein and his team went on the search for solutions. The first order of business was to perform the required HIPAA risk assessment.
HIPAA Security Risk Assessment
Mandated by the HIPAA Security Rule, a HIPAA security risk assessment is an evaluation of security policies and procedures to determine whether an organization is adhering to the Security Rule requirements.
Failing to conduct such an assessment is a violation and can leave healthcare providers unaware of vulnerabilities and potential breaches.
The organization selected BlueOrange Compliance as their HIPAA compliance and cyber security partner.
“BlueOrange really understands the standards, understands the risks, and understands the long-term care healthcare industry very well, so they can help guide us in getting closer and closer to perfection every single year,” said Finkelstein.
In healthcare, changes are inevitable, but a comprehensive compliance strategy with a focus on cyber security can help providers to protect their employees, patients, residents, and other stakeholders from unnecessary risk.
Learn more about the steps that RiverSpring Living has taken to boost their cyber security and compliance strategy by accessing the full case study today.
