So, the Most Boring subject of all, Security of your Office Data.    Every time I speak to this, I feel like the Grim Reaper.

Of all the subjects I have spoken to, this ranks as the fastest “fall asleep” encountered at lectures and talks we have given or attended!

HIPPA:  Our American equal to PIPEDA Commission  however, they have teeth and actually inspect offices and are enforcing the regulations.  PIPEDA  currently only responds to complaints in writing.  I am certain they will soon have actual Inspectors and that will change a lot for 90% of the Practices in Canada.

Currently, Ontario has two PIPEDA Commissions to deal with.  Federal across all provinces and Ontario Government has another.

Office use of free e-mail, free Drobox are totally  unsecure and very vulnerable.  Not having proper off-site backup and someone responsible to be sure backups ran each working day, will soon lead to severe distress in your office.  Did you know that it is Required to keep your Data in Canada, not a US site?  HIPPA has same rules for USA, ALL data is required to stay in the country.

Offsite can also be done by rotating your portable drives every day, take one home and bring back, take latest one with you (Off-site)  Easy and works well!   Using the Vendors off-site backup for your Practice management software is an excellent choice, however, you STILL need to backup those Gigabits of Images and Documents you have!  We are now required to protect that data for 10 years!   Now think of Cryptor Trojan that devastated a hospital and has cost several Dental offices thousands to recover from, and then this starts to  make sense.

So what is the point of PIPEDA?  I believe we do need a regulatory body to make and enforce how we handle data, protect it and safeguard the Patient’s Privacy.  The response to taking steps to actually conform, is FAR behind the regulations.

Take time to discuss with your support, and to understand the actual Act that relates to you.  Use a Support Company that knows the Act and start getting ready to lose those free mail packages and drop boxes!

IF you read all of this, Congratulations!

The Grim Reaper!

by: Josh Robinson, Support Specialist, Dr Support Pros Inc.