Internet Content Filtering for HIPAA Compliance in Healthcare Organizations

Internet Content Filtering Plays Vital Role in Meeting Compliance Challenges

The 8e6 R3000 Internet Filter , an internet filtering, monitoring and reporting appliance combined with 8e6 Enterprise Reporter plays a vital role in helping healthcare organizations meet the challenges of complying with the federal security regulations set out in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The new rules under this act, which stipulate the measures healthcare organizations must take to safeguard protected health information (PHI), must be in place by April 2005. Given the electronic nature of most PHI, from insurance approvals to prescription requests to medical histories, the implications for the healthcare industry are enormous. Mishandling confidential data not only raises the likelihood of civil and criminal penalties; it also could result in the loss of an organization’s reputation, credibility and customers.

It becomes incumbent on CTOs, CIOs, and other information technology professionals to work closely with healthcare organizations’ senior management to view compliance in the context of their overall business and devise a PHI security strategy. When it comes to protecting the integrity of confidential and mission-critical data, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurance providers and other healthcare organizations face many of the same challenges companies in other industries do: to be on constant guard against unwanted incursions from the outside, simultaneously keeping their own healthcare employees from (unwittingly or wittingly) doing damage from the inside. The difference is HIPAA raises the stakes for healthcare organizations, subjecting them to the risk of heavy penalties.

Fortunately, internet content filtering technology can be used to address many of these potential vulnerabilities. The 8e6 R3000 Internet Filter together with the Enterprise Reporter is a comprehensive, cutting-edge solution for healthcare organizations facing the pressures of HIPAA compliance. It features a range of filtering parameters and blocking technologies to prevent access to unauthorized sites, transmission of sensitive information over web based e-mail and IM, and downloading of files containing malicious code. It also comes with advanced tracking and reporting capabilities to give healthcare organizations a detailed view of system activity and a way to demonstrate compliance to regulators, partners and customers. Scalability, simple setup and an open-source operating system all help to ease administration and configuration while performance is never an issue. By deploying it as part of an overall strategy for ensuring the integrity of PHI, they can be sure to remain on the right side of new regulations.

>> Full Details of Meeting the Challenge of HIPAA Compliance with the 8e6 R3000 Internet Filter

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