Tighten Up Your E-Signature Security
Question: During a recent risk assessment audit, it was found that our e-signatures, including those used by our patients, were accessed by an unauthorized individual outside of our practice. Although this was found during an audit and no confirmed breaches were detected, we are wondering whether there is a way we can better safeguard our e-signatures in the future? AAPC Forum Participant Answer: While the HIPAA Security Rule doesn’t mandate the use of encryption, consider using encryption for your documents and e-signatures through software and form generators; doing so could be hugely beneficial. If your latest risk assessment suggests that encryption is a suitable and necessary measure for your practice, it would be wise to adopt it to prevent any potential violations in the future. Password protection and multifactor authentication (MFA) can also help to protect electronic protected health information (ePHI). Useful platforms such as DocuSign and PandaDoc offer a variety of templates, storage options, and legal resources to help protect the e-signatures of your providers and patients. Lindsey Bush, BA, MA, CPC, Production Editor, AAPC
