Patient data is being accessed every day at healthcare facilities to the point where an EMR system can experience over a million accesses in just one day. HIPAA requires that all of that patient data is audited to ensure each access attempt is appropriate, so it’s the job of compliance officers to make sure these audits happen.

When it comes to reviewing and managing user access rights, many organizations are failing to do so thoroughly or are simply opting out. The reason? Reviewing user access manually is too difficult, too time-consuming, or not possible for smaller organizations whose focus is elsewhere.

Since 2020, hospitals and healthcare organizations suffered brutal ransomware and phishing attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare cyber attacks came from all sides and caught facilities off guard, from the aggressiveness and sheer volume of hacks and cyber threats.

Let’s face it: When it comes to data security, ensuring your company’s compliance can be a headache, no matter the industry. Unfortunately, this problem is made even worse by the realization that compliance requirements extend beyond your internal operations.

Compliance teams in healthcare organizations have the important task of ensuring patient data is protected from unwarranted access. It is a crucial job within the organization, due to the fact that it is difficult to restrict access to medical workers in the healthcare setting, and restricting access to EMRs could make it more difficult for them to do their daily, or emergency-related tasks.

If you’re in the cybersecurity field, chances are you’ve heard of the castle-and-moat strategy of securing sensitive systems. This strategy focuses on securing the castle (or sensitive system) from external threats while placing minimal controls on trusted insiders.