HIPAA/HITECH Conversation Starters: Uncover More Opportunities

Healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses all need to be HIPAA/HITECH-compliant. These organizations are considered Covered Entities under HIPAA/HITECH guidelines because they are involved in the direct creation of protected health information (PHI). PHI refers to any health information that can be used to identify an individual.

But Covered Entities are not the only organizations that need to be HIPAA/HITECH compliant. Under HIPAA/HITECH guidelines, Business Associates may also need to be compliant. Business Associates are any organization hired by a Covered Entity (or by another Business Associate), who will encounter PHI during their work. Managed Service Providers (MSP’s), billing companies, consultants, attorneys, collections agencies, and more may be considered Business Associates depending upon the services they render. These organizations need to be HIPAA/HITECH compliant if they want to work with PHI from clients in the healthcare field.

Meeting HIPAA/HITECH compliance can be challenging and costly. DataBank’s HIPAA/HITECH-enabled cloud allows our customers to transform the challenges into opportunities and costs into planned and stable expenses. DataBank may, depending on the services, shoulder as much as 80% of compliance control management, enabling HIPAA/HITECH compliance with a simple, scalable solution.

The benefits of DataBank’s solutions include:

High-Touch Support: DataBank’s HIPAA/HITECH-enabled cloud solutions provide the white glove service that many Covered Entities and Business Associates need. With one partner providing the infrastructure solution, DataBank simplifies the implementation and takes much of the work off the customer’s hands.

Audit-Ready Solutions: DataBank’s solutions are built audit-ready, simplifying the process of preparing for and passing audits. DataBank also provides the information our customers need to pass their audits with confidence.

Monitoring and Reporting: DataBank offers monitoring and reporting features by default within our solutions. We ensure continuous monitoring and management of alerts, lessening our customers’ workloads and ensuring they have full visibility into their environment.

To Determine if a Prospect is a Good Fit for DataBank’s HIPAA/HITECH-enabled Solutions, Ask:

How are you currently attaining HIPAA/HITECH compliance?

Some organizations attain compliance with an on premises solution, others may have a public cloud solution. Ask this question first to get a sense of how they are attaining compliance and what challenges they are facing.

If you are not currently HIPAA/HITECH compliant, how are you planning to attain compliance? Have you tried to get compliant in the past? If so, how?

If your prospect is considering a public cloud solution, or if they tried to reach HIPAA/HITECH compliance through the public cloud in the past, tell them: Public cloud solutions are a good option for some organizations, but the level of support you get with a public cloud solution is low. Those solutions give you the building blocks to reach HIPAA/HITECH compliance, but require you to do a lot of the legwork to get the solution up and running. DataBank takes a high-touch approach. At a public cloud provider you will not have direct access to the CISO or Compliance team to help guide you through the process of implementation, preparation for audits, or continuously monitoring the environment where at DataBank you will.

Did you know that a HIPAA/HITECH-enabled managed cloud solution can help you reduce costs?

Many organizations believe that private cloud solutions like DataBank’s are significantly more expensive than building infrastructure on premises or utilizing a public cloud solution. While it is true that a private cloud solution will be more expensive at face value, when you factor in the costs of hardware upgrades and refreshes, plus all the added costs that come with managing HIPAA/HITECH compliance yourself (hiring and training staff, implementing technical safeguards, managing compliance and security controls, etc.) most customers end up significantly reducing their overall expenses by adopting a HIPAA/HITECH-enabled cloud solution.

Have you had any challenges preparing for or passing HIPAA/HITECH audits?

If yes: Did you know that some cloud providers, like DataBank, build audit-ready solutions that can greatly simplify the process of passing audits? DataBank also provides the information their customers need to pass their audits with confidence.

Have you had any challenges with monitoring and reporting? If yes, what challenges specifically?

Many organizations struggle with a lack of resources to monitor, report, alert, and manage alerts. If your prospect is having challenges keeping up with monitoring and reporting due to a lack of resources, ask them: Did you know that DataBank offers these features by default within their solutions? These features help lessen your workload and make reporting and monitoring easy and simple. DataBank’s solutions ensures continuous monitoring of the services subscribed to, so there are fewer surprises.