With the rules and regulations of HIPAA policies constantly in flux, it’s difficult to be sure that your law firm is in compliance with the latest guidelines. In fact, many firms have been using the same methods of compliance for years and years, continuing to do so because no major issues have been encountered. Little do they know that many of these methods are outdated and were not necessarily secure in the first place.

Have you investigated if your current legal practice management system is compliant? Is your current system still actively supported by your operating system? Do you have an active support team updating and maintaining HIPAA compliance? Do you know what any of this means? Well, if you’re interested in keeping your firm protected and free of a potential breach of HIPAA policies, here are 7 tips to make sure your law firm is secure and protected:

Encryption

Install an end-to-end encryption service for your email, which will require authentication from both the sender and recipient.

Although this concept may sound like a foreign language, this ensures that the information being sent via email is done so in a controlled and secure way, all the way through the end user’s receipt of the message. Without this encryption service, there is no guarantee that information being sent from one inbox will safely reach the recipient without being breached during transmission.

HIPAA regulations regarding email are often broken, as the process of email is so core to law firm business. MerusCase offers built-in message and attachment encryption, called User+ messaging. User+ messaging will prompt receivers to create a MerusCase account and/or sign into MerusCase before reading their email messages. This feature allows us to keep your email messages from leaving our servers, maintaining their security.

Install encryption software on all data storage devices, too.

Though physical security (like locked cabinets and security codes) is important, your law firm cannot rely solely on the physical in order to protect the information being stored on your computers and devices. For example, what if the computers are stolen? Or perhaps someone from outside the firm gains access to the computer’s data? You're better safe than sorry.

Remember: any storage medium that touches HIPAA-protected information needs to be secured, meaning that it’s important to encrypt your backups and flash drives as well. One easy solution for encrypting backups is to use cloud storage, which is generally HIPAA-compliant depending on the service. For example, if you store your data in a system like MerusCase, you won’t have to worry about data encryption of HIPAA-compliance issues, as Merus takes care of that for you behind the scenes, safely backing up your data on a daily basis.

People, Processes, and Passwords

HIPAA compliance doesn’t stop at technology: make sure your employees are in the know.

It’s important to ensure that all employees are up to date with proper HIPAA training and that your firm’s processes are compliant, in terms of how PHI data is handled at each step of the litigation process. A great place to start is with establishing protocols to ensure that employees are accountable for their actions. For example, make sure that strong password enforcement is maintained on all critical systems, use cable locks for equipment, and implement a two-factor authentication process to provide an extra layer of security on top of any passwords; this could involve authorization though a second device, a security question, or even a physical authorization such as a fingerprint.

Choosing a secure legal practice management system is a vital part of your HIPAA strategy.

A legal practice management system will help securely manage all aspects of your firm, including everything from billing to client profiles to keeping track of incoming email, upcoming deadlines and so much more. The one caveat is that, in order for a legal practice management system to be in compliance with HIPAA regulations, the system must offer an active support team and must be actively working to keep the software up-to-date with legal requirements, so choose wisely!

Establish a Good Security System

Invest in quality anti-malware and anti-virus software; under no circumstances should you settle for the free software!

These free options are generally not fully legal for businesses to use and they ultimately do not have the best protection against viruses. Viruses can cause a lot of damage. They are known to crash whole systems, allow hackers to steal information, and they are not always easy to remove. So effectively prepare yourself, you wouldn’t want any of that to happen!

Try to avoid the default firewall security systems because they simply don't provide enough security.

Instead, opt for a commercial security firewall with advanced firewall capabilities and VLAN tagging. What does all that mean? Essentially, VLAN tagging will provide added security to each file and an advanced firewall will give you the option to create specific security configurations based on your firm’s needs. You may also be interested in some of the options that small business-oriented boxes can provide, so be sure to do your research before making a decision!

Employ a managed network switch that can handle VLANs.

Though this option may be slightly more expensive, the switch segments your network and reduces the amount of data collisions that occur when multiple computers are simultaneously transmitting data.

With these simple changes, you will be well on your way to maintaining HIPAA-compliance! Although it may take some dedicated time, it’s important to keep up-to-date with current HIPAA best practices, which you can do by checking out the HIPAA Security Tool Kit or the United States Department of Health, HIPPA page.

Do you have any tips or best practices to share in terms of how you keep your law firm compliant? Let us know in the comments below!