WCH Service Bureau WCH Service Bureau
  • Services Services
    • Medical Billing
    • Provider Credentialing
    • Medical Auditing
    • Real-Time Eligibility
    • MIPS Support
    • Webinars
    • Practice Analysis
  • Products Products
    • Credentialing Application ©
    • iSmart EHR ©
    • PMBOS ©
    • Time Management Program
  • WCH Franchise
  • Company
    • About
    • Our Offices
    • Careers
  • News
    • WCH Insights
    • Healthcare News
    • WCH News
  • Contact Us
  1. Home
  2. > HealthcareNews
  3. > HealthcareNewsItem
Phone: 888-924-3973 Subscribe Pay Now iSmart Login Technical support

Protect yourself and your patients from cyberattacks

3/10/2022
As we step together into the world of metaverses, cryptocurrency and augmented reality, cybercrimes become more and more sophisticated. If in 2008 we only had to worry about our emails getting leaked, in 2022 cybercrimes can be literally life-threatening. With hackers from all over the world targeting critical infrastructure and facilities in the US, healthcare entities are as vulnerable as never when it comes to healthcare cybercrimes.

According to the report by HealthIT Security and the FBI, this year cybercriminals have managed to hack community health centers, oncology clinics, and even simple practice management entities. Hacker groups like Conti have claimed 16 ransomware attacks against healthcare facilities, while their “unofficial” toll equals roughly 1000. Attacks on vital healthcare facilities endanger the lives of thousands of patients by limiting real-time access to their protected health information (PHI), and even by making equipment to malfunction. Below are the four key healthcare security trends to know in 2022. 

I. Healthcare is the most vulnerable and costly industry for cybercriminals

According to a report by IBM, in 2020 alone healthcare cybercrimes were worth $7.13 million dollars in revenue losses. For the last 10 years since 2010, this amount had been increasing exponentially.

II. Healthcare facilities are among the most frequently targeted objects for cybercrimes

The same report also outlines three industries that suffer the most from ransomware and data breaches: healthcare, energy, retail. 

III. The number of healthcare data breaches is steadily increasing year by year

In 2020, over 600 attacks on healthcare facilities have been reported, with just 199 reported cases in 2011. The outcome is the following: we are no longer invincible against them!

IV. The number of cases is rising, but so do the penalties.

Last year, hundreds of healthcare providers, insurance plans, and revenue cycle management providers were fined for not being HIPAA-compliant. With the lives of people at stake, this is not surprising at all.

With all this in mind, no healthcare provider is immune from data breaches! For this reason, our billing and IT experts have made a list of things that you can do now to protect yourself from costly cyberattacks:

I. Educate yourself and your staff on cybersecurity and digital awareness.

No matter how sophisticated your security measures are, ordinary people will always be “on the front line” of cyberattacks. No antivirus shall protect your facility from opening phishing emails and clicking on suspicious links. A seemingly minor miscalculation may lead to a million dollar revenue loss.  According to our internal research, most data breaches are caused by ignorance and carelessness of employees. Therefore, here is what you and your employees need to know:
• Do not click on the links that look suspiciously long and sent without any pretext, even if you receive them from your patients, friends, or relatives. The same goes for the links that tend to “mimic” any legit website, for example, www.myaccount.medicare.com should never be confused with a true Medicare website, www.medicare.gov. 

• Do not download & open large attachments in an email received from an unknown/suspicious sender. In most cases, your anti-spam filters will deal with such emails. However, when they will not, you should not open a 70-mb PDF sent by an email that looks something like this: sdsjfwdoifjiefw@gmail.com.

• Do not browse or upload sensitive information while using a public Wi-Fi. As primitive as it is, this warning is still ignored by many people, resulting in massive data leaks.

II. Know what must be protected – differentiate PHI from any other type of information.

It is critical to be aware on what must and what must not be protected in compliance with HIPAA. Any information related to a patient’s clinical condition that allows third parties to identify this patient (by obtaining his/her first/last name, date of birth) is legally obliged to be protected. No information on specific patients and their clinical conditions must be stored in insecure storage, such as Excel Sheets and Google Docs. On contrary, any other information that may identify a patient but does not reveal anything about his/her clinical condition (for example, an outstanding out-of-pocket balance) may be stored on all other sources.

III. Use a secure cloud-based EHR system

While Excel sheets may be leaked or accidentally deleted, the same does no go for most of the Electronic Health Records systems. Cybersecurity is among the top priorities of healthcare software development. Therefore, we encourage you not to use At WCH Service Bureau, we care about the security of your data. For this reason, our experts have developed iSmart EHR, a sophisticated chart records software that can save you hours of work, and protect your data from breaches. iSmart EHR is fully HIPAA-compliant, and it has many cool additional features, such as hundreds of chart templates and reports.

Interested? Try it out: https://ismartehr.com/

Now that you are aware of all the potential threats and ways of dealing with them – it is time to act! Data breach = revenue loss, let alone your reputation among patients.

Read more news
Liked the article? Share with friends:

WCH News

January 18, 2023
WCH Accomplishments 2022
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW YEAR, IT IS CUSTOMARY TO  SUMMARIZE THE RESULTS OF THE PREVIOUS ONE. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR TRUST AND SHARE OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH YOU.Creden...
December 26, 2022
Professionalism is Not Afraid of Obstacles
Professionalism is Not Afraid of Obstacles WCH is always happy to share its success stories with you. This month, we want to feature a recent story about the journey of our pharmacy specialty cus...
November 07, 2022
NEVER STOP LEARNING
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, Nelson Mandela. We are glad that people who gathered at the WCH team share this opinion and are proud that th...
August 09, 2022
Introducing WCH CredyApp
Introducing WCH CredyAppWCH Credentialing team knows all challenges of handling credentialing internally. WCH has done credentialing for over 20 years, helping healthcare providers of various specialt...

Healthcare News

January 18, 2023
Get $26,000 per Employee with Federal ERC Credits
Get $26,000 per Employee with Federal ERC CreditsLike the PPP/EIDL, there is no repayment as it is a tax credit of up to 26,000 per W-2 worker you employed in 2019/2020.It is no secret that the Corona...
December 26, 2022
Cuts in Physician Payments Will Reduce Access to Care
Cuts in Physician Payments Will Reduce Access to Care The MGMA’s data shows that 90% of medical facilities reported likely declines in access to care following the 2023 payment cuts in the ...
November 29, 2022
LockBit Ransomware Campaign: New Suspect
Lockbit ransomware campaign, the variant that has been known to target healthcare in the past, is back on the radar. Thus, the Department of Justice reported that on November 15, 2022, the alleged cha...
November 04, 2022
Warning about the threat of imprisonment for breaking the HIPPA Law
If prosecutors find that providers disregarded PIR (protected information rules) in a way that warrants more punishment than fines and penalties - the doctor faces up to a year in prison on charges of...

Ready to start?

Contact Us
linkedin
⟶ let's start
WCH Service Bureau
Payment options
WCH Service Bureau WCH Service Bureau WCH Service Bureau WCH Service Bureau WCH Service Bureau
Pay Now
Services
  • Medical Billing
  • Provider Credentialing
  • Medical Auditing
  • Real-Time Eligibility
  • MIPS Support
  • Webinars
Products
  • Credentialing Software ©
  • iSmart EHR ©
  • PMBOS ©
  • Time Management Program
Company
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
News
  • WCH Insights
  • Healthcare News
  • WCH News
Support
  • Feedback
  • Technical Support
  • Privacy Policy
888-924-3973
3047 Avenue U, Brooklyn New York 11229
Fax: 347-371-9968
Follow us:
2023 WCH Service Bureau, Inc.® | Web Design and Programming by WCH Service Bureau, Inc.® | Privacy Notice
Can I help you?
Anna
Anna
Administrative Assistant
Hi, what service does your question relate to?
Medical Billing
Provider Credentialing
Medical Audit
Franchising
PMBOS
iSmartEHR
Eligibility
MIPS Service
Other
What are you interested in?
Let me help you.
Please, leave your contact details and we will answer your question.
Thank you for your request, we will respond as soon as possible.
Let us Help You

Dear Provider,
WCH can help your practice in your credentialing needs! Using a credentialing specialist with the knowledge, expertise and connections that can help position your practice ahead of time. Let us help you today! During credentialing process WCH becomes your external credentialing department for all communications, submissions, follow up and any other questions that will come up during the process.

WCH Specializes in:

  • All individual Medical specialties
  • Mobile IDTF
  • Single & Multispecialty Groups
  • Urgent Care, Labs, DME, Pharmacy
  • Article 28, 32, 31
  • Revalidation, Reinstatement &
  • Exclusion
We help Providers in All States! WCH provides Clarity, Comfort and Security in your Practice.
Let us Help You
Wch SErvice Bureau

Medical billing services offered by WCH Service Bureau go far beyond the usual understanding of billing.

 

What we offer is not just excellent professional billing and collection services. We also stand as guardians of your reimbursement and compliance with federal, state laws and regulations as well as private insurance policies and procedures.

 

Do it right! Do it with WCH!

Let us Help You
Wch SErvice Bureau

Periodic medical chart auditing is vital for any healthcare provider and medical practice. Let the professionals evaluate your coding, billing, and documentation practices! Our auditors are AAPC-qualified CPMAs (Certified Professional Auditors) and CPCs (Certified Professional Coders). We perform comprehensive Chart Auditing. We can do the following services for you:

  • Identify areas of risk leading to upcoding or downcoding and medical coding accuracy;
  • Ensure that coding practices are compliant with the regulations set forth by private and government payers;
  • Evaluate Incident to guidelines and services performed on collaborative premises;
  • Perform Analysis of Denials/Duplicate billing /Appeal process/Modifier usage;
  • Review Front Desk work including but not limited to: Eligibility verification/Benefit maximums verification/Excluded services verification/Authorization process/Patient responsibility (deductibles, copays, coinsurance)/Coordination of benefits;
  • Evaluate Insurance plans participation and consistency of contracted rates;

Do it right! Do it with WCH!

Try WCH PMBOS
Request information
Perfect! Please fill in the form

What service does your question relate to?

Let us Help You
Wch SErvice Bureau

Do it right! Do it with WCH!

REQUEST FREE DEMO
Planned number of Providers : *
Specialty : *
Job Role : *
Perfect! Please fill in the form
Perfect! Please fill in the form
Have any questions? Please contact us practiceanalysis@wchsb.com
Leave us a feedback
 
Thank you
for your feedback!
Wch SErvice Bureau

Thank you for your interest in our company!
Our team will process your request and will respond as soon as possible during regular working hours.

Subcribe
Subcribe Subcribe
 
Our site uses cookie.

This site uses cookies for analytics, personalization and advertising. By continuing to browse it, you agree that we use of cookies. To find out more or change your cookie settings click here.