By Jack Anderson
April 1, 2015
65% of patients would avoid a provider that has had a HIPAA data breach. (Transunion Health Survey)
When healthcare providers and their business associates consider the cost of HIPAA compliance compared to the risk of a breach they frequently think about the direct costs such as fines, penalties, breach notification, free credit monitoring, legal expense, etc. But an even more chilling prospect is the prospect of losing 65% or more of your patients/customers.
Not many businesses, including mine, would survive that sort of catastrophic loss of revenue. The combination of the expenses and the loss of revenue could force bankruptcy and in fact there have been businesses that have filed for bankruptcy because of a HIPAA data breach. (According to wsj.com, The Wall Street Journal, Impairment Resources, LLC filed for bankruptcy as a direct result of a HIPAA breach.)
What sort of costs could a small business expect to get HIPAA compliant, stay compliant, and be able to prove compliance? For just $295 a company with less than 20 employees could get a program that would require about 20 man hours of work under the supervision of a HIPAA expert to get compliant. For another $69.50 a month they could have a plan requiring only a few hours a month that would document their HIPAA compliance activities and also provide a HIPAA expert to answer all of their questions.
For a company with 5 employees or fewer the cost could be as low as $19.50 per month. That is less six lattes per month!
If you want further information or a demo contact me at Jack@compliancehelper.com