Don’t Fool Around…Back Up Your Data

April Fools’ Day

It’s April and the first day of April has been designated as the celebration of April Fools’ Day in most countries, celebrating a day of jokes, hoaxes, and fun.  The day-long celebration is viewed upon as a for-fun-only observance, because no one wants to be seen as a ‘Fool’ on any day of the year.

While we enjoy a great joke at the Solo Media Group, we don’t believe a business losing their important documentation is a joking matter and the company that finds themselves in such a situation without a backup plan might unfortunately feel like a ‘Fool’.

During this month, we aren’t fooling around; we’d like to address an important issue, the idea of backing up your data.  We’d like to pose a question to our business owners, “Do you have a backup strategy or backup policy in place at your business to protect your digital content in the face of events beyond your control or natural disasters?” 

Not Having a Plan to Back Up Data, Is No Laughing Matter

As a business owner, can you answer with assurance that you are equipped with a plan to implement in the wake of data loss resulting from situations such as accidental deletions, hard drive failures, virus attacks, theft, sabotage, fire, flooding and other natural disasters?  Solo Media wants you to beware of the potential dangers of not having a plan in place.  Too often, organizations put the emphasis on recovery when it’s already too late.  Having a backup strategy is essential to the protection of your information in the face of adversity.   

The key to creating a successful backup strategy deals with answering the traditional questions, “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How:” 

-       Who will be responsible for backing up the data?

o   Who will test the validity of the back up?

§  Should we simulate a disaster to test the system?

-       What items do you want backed up?

o   Which items can we not afford to lose?

-       When will the data be backed up?

o   What is the frequency of the back up?

-       Where will the backed up data be stored?

o   Onsite/Offsite or a combination of both?

-       Why do we back up our data?

o   Who would be mostly impacted by the loss of our data?

-       How will the data be backed up?

o   What types of back up will you perform?

By answering these questions, you are on a great path to creating a backup policy for your organization.  We want to admonish you to put a disaster recovery plan in place before you ever have need of one. 

From design to implementation, the Solo Media Group offers consultations and various disaster recovery solutions for your enterprise that will get you back up in no time.    

Not having a solution in place for your private and sensitive material would be foolish, let’s celebrate this year’s April Fools’ Day by being smart.  Back up your data today.  For more information, contact us at contactus@solomediagroup.com, or 313-312-4078.

About Solo Media Group

Solo Media Group (www.solomediagroup.com) is a media marketing firm located in downtown Detroit, Michigan specializing in health information systems and assisting physicians with integrating their knowledge of medicine with Solo Media’s knowledge of technology, HIPAA, and meaningful use.  While health information technology is their specialty, they also provide media and marketing services for other small businesses. It is the desire of Solo Media Group to inspire physicians and other small business owners to fly high with Solo Media in all of their technological and marketing needs.

The Audits are Coming!

Almost all the healthcare entities including hospitals and physician practices are subjected to a wide range of audits. All these medicals audits ensure the quality of medical practices. The HIPAA audits can be considered as the latest addition to the audit list. Physician practices have a limited time to meet the demands of the HIPAA audit.

After the practice receives a letter that it is to be audited, the practice has up to 10 days to send over all requested information. Within the next one month to three months, the practice is subject to a physical audit lasting three business days to 10 business days. The auditors use this time to scrutinize the practice’s policies and procedures, to analyze its technological protections and security measures, to observe the overall environment with safeguarding health information, and to interview the staff. After that the auditor will send a draft final report by summarizing all the observations. The physicians have a period of 10 days to refute the comments before that auditor submits the report to the government. This year, the government intends to physically audit 115 covered entities.

The government posted the 165 total performance criteria to help the physicians with preparations for an eventual HIPAA audit. According to the criteria, the practice will be reviewed in satisfaction of the Security, Privacy and Breach Notification Rules. Some criteria need a screenshot of the practice’s computer system in order to get an idea about health information. Other criteria require the auditor to review documented risk assessments that the practice determined were not security breaches.

The practice is requested to develop and deploy an information activity review process, conduct risk assessments, select a security official and develop and implement procedures to respond to and report security incidents. Based on the complexity of a physician’s practice, the HIPAA auditor will review formal or informal policies and procedures, how encryption keys are protected, the types of encryption used, restricted access to modify or create keys to appropriate personnel and how keys are managed.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule focuses on several areas of compliance including the notice of privacy practices for the patient’s protected health information ,the patient’s right to request privacy protection for PHI, the individual’s right to access their PHI, administrative requirements, uses and disclosures of PHI, amendment of PHI and accounting of disclosures. For these areas, HIPAA audit protocol requires the practice to obtain a valid authorization for the use or disclosure of PHI, account for disclosures of PHI and comply with minimum necessary requirements.

Meeting the demands of a HIPAA audit cannot be done overnight. Therefore the physicians should be proactive and they should develop a work plan to review HIPAA policies and procedures. Then they can implement such policies and procedures with staff and management and update as necessary to reflect changes in the technology and the law, as well as to create detailed supportive documentation of all compliance decisions and activities.

Marching Into Better Teams

The name, Vince Lombardi is synonymous with creating winning teams.  He was a former NFL coach with a top winning record and a role model for us all to follow as we seek to create award-winning teams.  Teams should consist of a group of like minded people with qualities that are harmonious to the goals and activities of the assembled team.  An important feature to recognize with building effective teams is to appreciate the unique attributes each team member possess and then align those attributes with the others to make a formidable capable of achieving remarkable results.

At Solo Media Group, we believe that building effective teams is the genesis of all effective and efficient work flows.  In order to take off in your business and see measurable results, galvanizing your team around goals, objectives, and ideals is highly important. 

 Team Building In March 2013

Solo Media Group has a vested interest in helping you develop better teams and we have a suggestion for your team during the month of March, “Make Up Your Own Holiday.”  Working within your organization and with your associates, create your own special company holiday that you will celebrate on March 29, 2013 and hopefully celebrate it annually on the last Friday of every March. 

As a team, you will establish the attire, whether your own customized holiday will have costumes or branded shirts that Solo Media will be happy to design and print for you.  Your team also needs to decide upon the name of the holiday, prepare a brief fictional history of the holiday, and who celebrates it and how it is observed. 

You are only limited by your imagination with this activity and we believe that it will foster a oneness within your team and assist to build stronger relationships within your company. It is also our belief that this will not only bring your teams closer but it will also serve as yet another element to brand your organization.

We suggest that you document the celebration and then share your story through your social media business and personal profiles, your company blog, and email newsletter. 

Solo Media offers services that will make your company’s own special holiday a success.  Building an effective team this month is within reach, Solo Media would love to be a part of all of your celebrations. 

Contact us at www.solomediagroup.com or 313. 962. 5310 for more information.

About Solo Media Group

Solo Media Group (www.solomediagroup.com) is a media marketing firm located in downtown Detroit, Michigan specializing in health information systems and assisting physicians with integrating their knowledge of medicine with Solo Media’s knowledge of technology, HIPAA, and meaningful use.  While health information technology is their specialty, they also provide media and marketing services for other small businesses. It is the desire of Solo Media Group to inspire physicians and other small business owners to fly high with Solo Media in all of their technological and marketing needs.

Testing the Heart of Your Internet

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February is Heart Health Month

The second month of the year, February is designated as “America’s Heart Month” which is designed to bring awareness to cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.  It is possible that if you don’t suffer from any complications related to heart disease, you may not pay attention to one of the most vital organs in your body, your heart.  In the same instance, you may not pay much attention to the heart of your internet which deals with the speed of your internet connections.  However, if you have ever been without internet connectivity or even slow connectivity, you may have felt like you might be experiencing extreme heartache. In both instances, it is vitally important to address heart related issues to improve the quality of life both your heart and the heart of your internet.

At the Heart of It All

At the Solo Media Group, we are interested in you getting the most out of your hard earned money from your internet service provider as it relates to speed and connectivity. It is our desire to show you how to determine you are getting the speed that you are paying for. Broadband Internet, generally known simply as Broadband, is the name given to high speed internet access. Standard broadband is 512kb and is 10 times faster than its former counterpart, dial-up.

When you choose your internet provider, do you consider the amount of available bandwidth?  At the heart of it all, bandwidth deals with the amount of data that you are allowed to download/upload at any given time. Broadband Internet Service Providers (ISP) are required to publish their bandwidth capabilities which are generally what people use to determine which plan is best for them. Unfortunately, the posted Bandwidth results aren’t always correct.  It is important to note that the reported speeds are certain to be different due to the amount of activity being downloaded and/or uploaded and the amount of users accessing the internet at various times.  Therefore, internet speeds can fluctuate depending on the day of the week and/or time of day, depending upon the activity on the network. In light of this information, Solo Media suggests random speed tests to be conducted on your service provider at certain times of the week.   

Solo Media offers the following web tools that are geared towards checking the speed and the performance of your internet connections. [speakeasy.net]

Getting to the heart of the matter, regular checkups and tests are essential to a heart healthy lifestyle and Solo Media Group is in full support of the National Heart Health Month.

About Solo Media Group

Solo Media Group (www.solomediagroup.com) is a media marketing firm located in downtown Detroit, Michigan specializing in health information systems and assisting physicians with integrating their knowledge of medicine with Solo Media’s knowledge of technology, HIPAA, and meaningful use.  While health information technology is their specialty, they also provide media and marketing services for other small businesses. It is the desire of Solo Media Group to inspire physicians and other small business owners to fly high with Solo Media in all of their technological and marketing needs.

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