It is important to maintain governance and compliance for healthcare entities and medical practices in San Diego. The US Department of Health and Human Services recently reported cybersecurity breaches skyrocketed in 2021 to an all-time high affecting more than 45 million individual patients. What are the primary risks for any medical practice or healthcare related business?
The primary risks are monetary exposure and damage to your brand and reputation and resulting monetary exposure. When a patient’s information is exposed or your system suffers a breach it becomes a direct reflection on you as a professional as well as your practice. The American Journal of Managed Care recently reported institutions which suffered a public data breach including:
- American Medical Collection Agency or AMCA – 25 million patients
- Dominion National – 2.96 million patients
- Inmediata – 1.5 million patients
The Journal further reported that the failure to maintain governance and compliance for healthcare entities and medical practices results in consequential damage to the reputation and brand of offending institutions and practices. As a result, these entities must substantially increase their marketing budgets and develop public facing strategies to re-instill confidence in their patients and the community at large. The result: an average increase more than 2/3 the existing budget.
Governance and compliance for healthcare entities requires a well-conceived and implemented legal strategy encompassing all corporate and employment related documentation backed by state-of-the-art internal IT systems and applications, and rigorous, systematic and consistent processes and practices to protect patient data on internal systems, as well as during patient interactions and on any printed forms, appointment summary or receipt information provided to the patient during their visit.
Clinical governance has gained the attention of most healthcare professionals over the past several years as Medicare increasingly ties reimbursement to the patient experience. Clinical governance and compliance policies and procedures combine the protection of the patient’s personal information and medical data with the delivery of excellence in every aspect of your organization’s service.
The Watkins Firm has served the medical business and healthcare industry for decades. If maintaining crucial governance and compliance for healthcare entities and medical practices in San Diego or Southern California is important to you, we invite you to review the strong recommendations of our clients and the legal industry and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.
