Post#1 - MassPAT and HIPAA Ransonware Guidelines

MassPAT -  Mass Online Prescription Monitoring Program 
Action Required by Dentists. The Department of Public Health has announced that a new prescription monitoring program, known as MassPAT.  Effective October 15, 2016, all prescribers will be required to check MassPAT each time you prescribe a Schedule II-III opioid.  See attachment or use this link for additional instruction.
www.massdental.org/pmp.aspx
www.massdent
HIPAA RANSOMWARE GUIDELINES​  As some of you may or may not be aware of RANSOMWARE has become a growing concern. There have been offices in our area that have had their practice management software hacked and held for a ransom, and in some cases tens of thousands of dollars!

​​Not only is this a financial concern having to pay to get your data released, incidents like this can shut your office down costing you a huge loss in production and never mind the negative publicity! At least understand the basics about this issue, anyone can be hacked, there isn't much of an option other than paying the ransom if you aren't protected!
HHS.gov Ransomware Guidelines http://www.hhs.gov/blog/2016/07/11/your-money-or-your-phi.html
The first bullet point in the guidelines is having an assessment of your network done. We can help you with this for free... 

DDS Rescue is offering a FREE SECURITY ASSESSMENT! 
See attachment for details. If you are not familiar with DDS Rescue, here's a quick video that explains what they do.     
nstant Virtualization .mov
Understanding data back is a very important topic that needs to be discussed with your IT person, make it a topic at your next team meeting.

I'd recommend you ask your IT person to help you answer these questions:

1 - Is your PM software data being backed up using multiple methods, local removable hard drives and cloud.  Worst case scenario planning, a ransomware attack, water or fire damage. Are you sure you are backing up ALL your data and is it the RIGHT database.  I once had a customer backing up an old test database that was over 5 years old!

2 - How quickly would you be back up and practicing dentistry?  This is a fire drill you want to practice or at least understand what your next steps are if you go down, make this a topic at your next team meeting!  In most cases it can take a minimum of a day or two to get back up and running, do the math, thats a LOT of lost production! 

3. - What are we doing to protect ourselves from Ransomware?  Take the simple step, do the security assessment!

​​If you have any questions let me know, Im not the expert on this problem, but I care about keeping my customers businesses up and running!

Jeff LaVoie - Patterson Dental
Building Healthy Dental Practices Since 2004
Cell: 781-789-5928 781-789-5928
Branch Ph: 978-262-5100  Fax: 978-262-5110
Patient Experience, Practice Lifestyle