Catalyst Healthcare Marketing

Why Medical Practices Need Secure Websites

Secure websites help medical practices keep their patients safe and build trust

Secure websites help medical practices keep their patients safe and build trustYou work in the medical profession, so you know all about HIPAA, but many practices find that they have a lot of questions about whether they need a HIPAA-compliant website. It’s common for medical practices to also have questions about secure websites in general.

Thankfully, you don’t have to figure it out on your own. Catalyst Healthcare Marketing is here to help. Read on for an introduction to website security and online HIPAA-compliance.

Secure websites are essential for medical practices

The practices that already work with us know our web team uses industry best practices to give our clients secure websites. From ensuring that websites have an SSL certificate to staying on top of security updates, we work hard to keep your site safe.

Why is it important to keep your site secure? It turns out there are several reasons, which are especially critical for medical practices.

  • As a practice, you want patients to think of you as trustworthy and professional. Having the right security on your website helps you cultivate this image among your patients.
  • A secure site can also help you increase your website conversions. How? Many patients will look for signs that your website is secure, such as the SSL lock in the URL bar, before connecting with you through your website.
  • Every practice wants to appear at the top of Google search results. The Google algorithm considers many different factors, including the security of a website. As a result, having the best SEO in the world isn’t enough to overcome a site that’s not secure.

Having robust security on your website also helps you stay on the right side of HIPAA.

Does your entire website need to be HIPAA-compliant?

Speaking of HIPAA, you might be wondering if your website needs to be HIPAA-compliant. When you learn how much a fully HIPAA-compliant website can cost, you might panic a little bit. However, you’ll be happy to know that you can have a secure site that meets HIPAA requirements with a little help from HIPAA-compliant forms.

As you know, HIPAA protects patient PHI (protected health information). The following list includes some examples of PHI.

  • Patient name, address, phone number and social security number
  • Demographic information
  • Patient medical records and photos as well as lab and test results
  • Patient payment and insurance information

If you’re collecting any of this information on your website, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a HIPAA-compliant form to do it. After all, nothing is more important than patient privacy.

If you’d like to learn how Catalyst Healthcare Marketing can help you join our clients who have secure websites, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today.

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