In an interconnected world, businesses use a myriad of tools to run their operations. This is especially true for the healthcare industry, which in itself is often vulnerable to cyberattacks, but when you add in third-party vendors, the risk grows exponentially. Healthcare vendor compliance is one of the most important things to consider when choosing vendors for your healthcare organization; adopting a vendor compliance management strategy is essential for assessing whether or not a vendor is suitable to work with.
Steps to Screening Healthcare Vendor Compliance
There are several steps you can take to ensure your vendors diligently protect sensitive patient data and uphold regulatory compliance standards.
- Send risk assessments
- Establish a contract
- Monitor compliance
- Make compliance a condition for doing business
- Adopt a vendor compliance management process
1. Send risk assessments
By sending vendors risk assessment questionnaires, you assess the risk associated with engaging in a business relationship with a particular vendor. This assessment should take into account the vendor’s security posture, reputation, and compliance history. A HIPAA security risk assessment is suitable for assessing healthcare vendor compliance.
2. Establish a contract
Contracts with third-party vendors should include specific security and data protection requirements. These requirements should outline the security controls the vendor must have to protect sensitive information. One such contract is a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA). A BAA is a contractual agreement between a vendor and a healthcare provider that requires the vendor to meet HIPAA security and data protection standards.
3. Monitor compliance
Once a vendor has been engaged, ongoing monitoring should be conducted to ensure the vendor maintains the necessary security controls.
4. Make compliance a condition for doing business
If a vendor doesn’t “pass” the due diligence process, they aren’t a good choice for your business. Doing business with a vendor that does not meet regulatory compliance requirements can put your business at risk of breaches, fines, and reputational damage.
5. Adopt a vendor compliance management process
Adopting a vendor compliance management process ensures you don’t miss a step when assessing vendor compliance and documenting your due diligence. Due to the number of vendors you likely rely on to run your business, you might need help managing all of them. Compliance management software makes it easier to keep track of compliance documentation, pull compliance reports, and stay on top of vendor compliance management.
Cost of Noncompliance
Lack of healthcare vendor compliance can ultimately put your business at risk. The cost of noncompliance can manifest in multiple ways, and as such, several factors come into play when assessing the cost of compliance. Organizations that fail to meet regulatory compliance standards can face severe consequences, including:
- Data breaches
- Healthcare compliance violation fines
- Corrective actions
- Reputational damage and loss of business
Implementing compliance processes in your business and screening vendors for compliance may seem daunting. However, in the end, it’s worth it. By conducting vendor due diligence and signing contracts, you reduce your liability and risk – and don’t forget that the peace of mind you gain is priceless!
Vendor Compliance Management with Compliancy Group
Manage and monitor important vendor documents with ease using compliance software. Send documents and store them on your compliance dashboard for swift, retrievable proof of your vendor due diligence. The perfect solution for risk monitoring, management, and reporting!
- BAA Management: send, sign, and store all your HIPAA business associate agreements in one place.
- Vendor Security Risk Assessment Management: assess your vendors’ privacy standards, security risk management, and compliance.
- Confidentiality Agreement Management: securely store, quickly access, and index Confidentiality Agreements and related documents.
