Network Performance Healthcare Specialists will make your network secure.

The Internet has rapidly become the most useful communications tool for businesses across the globe. Email, file sharing, Web sites - all of these Web-supported tools have been increasingly adopted allowing organizations to efficiently transmit information due to their ease of use and broad availability. As in the business sector, the Internet has allowed healthcare organizations to streamline their administrative tasks, offering an additional level of service and alleviating back office burden.

In order to achieve this level of simplification, healthcare organizations require specialized networks through which to share data, but establishing dedicated networks between all of these entities is complicated to set up and manage, expensive to maintain, and it is impractical to allocate those costs fairly to each individual participant. As a result, today's complex networks of interconnected hospitals, insurance companies, billing companies. clearinghouses and doctors' offices rely on the Internet as a means to effectively share information and provide more efficient care to their patients.

The Internet is the most commonly available medium through which to transmit patient records, insurance claims, invoices, payments, and even Medicare eligibility forms. Real-time sharing of this information expedites the administrative tasks associated with patient information. Unfortunately, this simplicity and openness, while offering increased efficiency, can also jeopardize organizational data privacy. Healthcare providers face the challenge of securing information and maintaining strict levels of patient confidentiality while still allowing easy access to authorized users.

Problems of patient privacy are not exclusively borne by the public network. Due to the high volume of information being stored and shared internally, it is estimated that between 60-80% of security breaches and/or data theft will originate from within the organization itself. Given the sensitive nature of health data, it is critical to go beyond basic network protection and provide layered security measures, ensuring data privacy and integrity.