Archives : Information Technology
Avoiding computer downtime in your medical practice
Last week I spent no less than 20 hours restoring my laptop to its previous working state after a major computer crash. The problems came on suddenly and caught me off guard; so much so that I didn’t have my backup plan in effect after purchasing the new computer only months ago, and ended up with a lot of rebuild time on my plate that could have easily been avoided.
The critical data…
Keep that PHI protected
From today’s CNN.com: “Stolen Laptop Contains Personal Info of 2,500 Patients.” What’s more…this was a government laptop and there the data was not encrypted.
Laptops get stolen, so if they’re being used in patient care they MUST NOT store accessible PHI. Here are a few ways to address this:
- Don’t store PHI on laptops. This is the absolute best way to prevent the loss of
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Value in finding the right IT person
More often than not, a medical practice will hire the IT “guru” or “specialist” down the street to handle their information technology infrastructure, deployment and ongoing maintenance. In addition, they may rely on this person to help make decisions for a new electronic medical records system or a clinically-related piece of electronic hardware. What often is missing in these processes is the person (or group) that has knowledge of efficient, integrated IT systems AND understands provider needs,…
