Nothing can be worse for your dental practice than being hit by a disaster. It can disrupt your clinic's daily operations and affect your revenue. Disasters come in many forms and can hit your business at any time. This is why you should come up with a disaster recovery plan that will allow your clinic to continue operating or recover quickly during a crisis.
As a small- to medium-sized business (SMB) owner, keeping your dental clinic’s valuable data safe should be a priority. Cybercriminals often target SMBs and healthcare organizations because compared to larger corporations, these entities often lack the technology and manpower to run an efficient cybersecurity system, making them easier to infiltrate.
As cyberattacks against small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) continue to grow, one sector, in particular, has seen a significant increase in attacks over the years — the healthcare sector. Not only can a cyberattack disrupt the daily operations of healthcare providers, but it can also compromise their patients as well.
Healthcare organizations, including small- to medium-sized dental clinics, store a huge amount of patient data, which makes them a prime target for cyberattacks. One of the most successful and most threatening methods of a cyberattack is malware. Malware is software created by hackers with the intent of stealing data, damaging systems or devices, or both.
If you own or are planning to start a dental practice, you have to make sure that it follows the strict standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This act requires small- and large-scale dental clinics to take precautionary measures to ensure the safety and security of their patients' protected health information (PHI).
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the governing body that enforces HIPAA, can impose a fine of $50,000 per patient record that was stolen or compromised, and a maximum fine of $1.5 million per year depending on the type of violation.
If you’re planning to start a dental office, or if your dental practice is starting to grow, you will need to decide whether to purchase new IT equipment or lease them from a managed IT services provider (MSP). If buying or adding new equipment and software will adversely affect your clinic’s cash flow, you should consider leasing instead.
If your dental practice is using Windows 10 operating system (OS), you'll be excited to know that Microsoft is currently working on its new update, which is scheduled to be released around May 2020. Dubbed 20H1 (Vibranium), it's going to be the first of two major updates slated for 2020, and it comes with a collection of improvements that can have a positive impact on your practice.
With 2020 fast approaching, new dental technologies will likely emerge and provide your dental office with new and innovative ways that improve business processes, optimize patient experience, and find more efficient ways to acquire new patients. Below are some of the top dental technology trends you should watch out for in 2020.
Teledentistry
Many people find it difficult to visit the dentist for various reasons.
2019 showed that businesses of all sizes are not immune to cyberattacks. Hackers have developed new malware and techniques to infiltrate and steal corporate data hosted on traditional IT infrastructure, the cloud, mobile devices, and email platforms. As the year draws to a close, we look back at the most pressing cyberattacks of 2019, as well as rising cyberthreats for 2020.
Phishing attacks
Phishing remains the most widely used and most successful form of cyberattack because of its speed.
Did you know that dental healthcare providers are vulnerable to disruption and downtime? Dental offices house a huge amount of sensitive data such as patient files, bank account information, and credit card numbers, all of which can be lost during a cyberattack or a natural disaster.
