The ongoing digitization of healthcare has ushered in a more connected and accessible health ecosystem, but also new risks of hacking, leaks and other data privacy violations, as well as increased regulatory and oversight processes.
Here, according to a blog post from Chicago-based law firm McDermott Will & Emery, are three ways that healthcare organizations can navigate these risks and regulations while developing new digital initiatives.
1. Be accurate about quality: Beyond ensuring a digital product performs at the highest possible level, the organization behind it must adequately describe its abilities to clients, consumers and regulatory bodies to avoid liability.
2. Factor the regulatory environment into your business plan: Rather than developing and deploying a digital health initiative first, then fitting it into the many legal and ethical requirements of the healthcare system later, organizations would do well to observe and adhere to those requirements from the beginning.
3. Implement — and update — robust oversight structures: To guarantee constant compliance with all regulations, a healthcare organization should have structures in place that monitor compliance and evolve with the organization, thus preventing any surprise fines or citations.
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