My Administrative Assistant deleted data and stole patient information!
That was the message that made my heart drop in my stomach.
It wasn’t happening to me but it stopped me in my tracks.
It made me ask the question: Who else feels like this? Is your practice truly protected against internal and external threats?
Immediately, I polled my community of therapists and noticed: They didn’t know what to do.
Unfortunately, I’ve navigated a $86, 562 data breach and have a savvy IT and Cybersecurity specialist at my disposal. Lesson learned.
I want to make sure YOU are prepared. Know that these things happen every single day.
So, after talking to fellow therapists, I rallied a few trusted resources because I NEVER want another therapist to have to deal with that gut wretching experience.
Reality Check: Data breaches and fraud happen every single day and WE are not exempt. It’s not a matter of IF it will happen— it is a matter of WHEN.
It doesn’t have to be an Administrative Assistant or Virtual Assistant.
It could be:
- A Clinician
- A biller
- A contractor that is doing work on/in your office suite
- A hacker
- A client
Think about it— how many posts have you seen where a clinician is leaving a group practice and they take their client data with them? We are left pondering: who owns the practice data?
The breach doesn’t have to be intentional, or nefarious in order for it to negatively impact your practice and your clients.
What happens if your EHR is ‘unavailable’ and you can’t access patient information? Is your practice closed for the day or do you have protocols in place to 1) contact your clients and 2) move to a different platform?
What happens if you have an emergency? How quickly can your team divide, conquer, and notify your clients.
Occurrences...
We had an active shooter situation and needed to quickly alert all clients and team members because our office and all surrounding areas were on lockdown.
We needed to quickly communicate with team members and clients so that would not come to the practice. This was a matter of safety.
What about every day occurences like payroll…
What about team members who are “stealing time?”
Do you have protocols in place to identify if a team member or contractor is over billing you?
It might appear that they are inefficient and need coaching or re-training when in reality they might be overreporting their time.
Or when you’ve decided to end a contract or employment… Breaches can occur because of gaps in onboarding and offboarding.
The cost of a breach
According to Purplesec, 29.6% of companies in the US will experience a data breach between 2020 and 2021, and 43% of these data breaches will involve small businesses.
“I didn’t know” is not a valid defense and it’s a costly mistake to remedy.
According to ID Security, a single data breach in a company will cost an average of $3.86 million. You can break down this cost into some possible post-data-breach expenses.
A single data breach in a company will cost an average of about $3.86 million. You can break down this cost into some possible post-data-breach expenses.
Cost of fixing the breach
Reputation damage
Cost of paying hackers
Legal Action
Operational downtime
Do you have protocols and policies in place to mitigate these risks? Do you have the proper insurance coverage to sustain your business in the event a breach interrupts your business operations?
I've tapped my network of trusted experts to help you plug the holes in your business.
We will send the next 6 weeks with industry experts to help increase your knowledge, skills and policies to protect your business and clients against these risks.
| Week | Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
May 9 |
Preparing for termination |
Joy Pittman - HR Consultant |
|
2 |
May 16 |
Protecting your practice: Legal issues to consider |
Attorney Dan Mayer and Melissa Wesner |
|
3 |
May 23 |
Protecting your data while managing a remote team |
Person-Centered Tech |
|
4 |
June 6 |
Cybersecurity and online businesses |
Bill Heather |
|
5 |
June 13 |
HIPAA breaches…what next? |
Person-Centered Tech |
|
6 |
June 20 |
Identifying, mitigating, and reporting fraud in Private Practice |
Dr. Ajita Robinson and Tamika Mitchell, Certified Fraud Investigator |
Join us for what you need.
You can sign up for the individual training OR the series. Choose what you need below. Whatever you do, don’t leave your business vulnerable.
*All trainings occur at 12:00 pm EST, replays will be available within 24-48 hours of the training date.
MEET YOUR HOST
Frequently Asked Questions
The series starts on May 9th at 12:00 pm. Each topic in the series is hosted on a Monday at 12:00 pm EST
The trainings are being recorded and will be available for replay.
Refunds will not be issued. However, you will have acces to watch the replay.
Yes, we anticipate that 1 CE per clock hour, approximately 6 NBCC CEUs will be available. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the CEs are accepted.