What Is Third-Party Vendor Risk Management for Healthcare Facilities?
Third-party vendor risk management assesses and mitigates risk associated with vendors that access your healthcare facility’s systems. The evaluation of third-party vendors includes their quality of products or services, compatibility of those products or services with your systems, and their security measures to ensure they do not present any risk associated with a vendor-customer relationship. This is accomplished through a vendor third-party risk management (TPRM) process.
By implementing third-party vendor risk management strategies, you can be assured that your data is kept secure and private while reducing any potential liability associated with allowing third-party vendors access to your systems. An established vendor risk management program also allows you to ensure your third-party vendors comply with applicable regulations such as HIPAA.
Why Is Third-Party Vendor Security Vital?
Third-party vendor risk management is essential to a healthcare facility’s overall cybersecurity strategy. One of the easiest ways to introduce risk into a healthcare environment is through third-party vendors contracted to perform workforce management, analytics, and billing services. In a world where data breaches are becoming increasingly common, ensuring that all your third-party vendors use the most up-to-date security controls and protocols to protect critical data is more important than ever. The benefits of a healthy vendor relationship and well-structured information security method include:
Increased security: Having a comprehensive third-party vendor security plan in place ensures that all your vendors use the latest security protocols and processes to protect your data.
Regulatory compliance: A well-developed third-party vendor security plan helps ensure all your vendors comply with SOX and other relevant regulations.
Greater trust: Having a third-party vendor security plan in place helps to demonstrate to potential candidates, patients, partners, and other stakeholders that you take the security of their data seriously.
Risk mitigation: A third-party vendor security plan can help identify gaps in existing security measures and create strategies to address those gaps, helping to reduce the risk of data breaches.
Follow These Steps to Help Navigate Third-Party Vendor Risk
Healthcare facilities handle sensitive patient and candidate information daily, and vendors have access to this data. Third-party vendor risk management makes sure that the vendors you work with meet your security and privacy standards. Without proper risk management, there could be potential risks that could lead to data breaches.
There are several steps involved in third-party vendor risk management that healthcare facilities should consider. These include:
• Understanding
The first step in vendor risk management is understanding your vendor’s security protocols and procedures. You need to be aware of the types of data they can access, the security measures they have in place, and how they protect this data.
• Assessment
Once you understand the risks of working with a particular vendor, you must assess their security controls. This will include reviewing their policies and procedures and conducting an independent security audit. This will help you identify gaps in their security posture and address them before they become problematic.
• Mitigation
Once you have identified potential vulnerabilities, you must create a plan to mitigate these risks. This could include implementing additional security controls such as encryption, two-factor authentication, or access control lists. It’s crucial to ensure that all vulnerable data is protected and that your vendors are held accountable for meeting your security requirements.
• Continuous Monitoring
It’s not enough to have a plan to mitigate risks; you also need to ensure that your vendors follow best practices and remain compliant with industry standards. This is why continuous monitoring is so important. Regularly auditing your vendors and ensuring they are following your policies can reduce the chances of a security breach.
• Vendor Agreements
Having a written contract with each of your third-party vendors is essential to outline the relationship and expectations. This agreement should include information about the vendor’s responsibilities, security measures, and liability in the event of a breach. Having a clear set of rules in place can help ensure that all parties involved understand their roles and can help prevent any disputes down the road.
How Does Third-Party Vendor Security Factor Into Workforce Management?
Any vendor you use must also be compliant in terms of healthcare recruiting. This means any third-party vendor you choose to support your recruitment efforts must thoroughly understand the regulatory requirements related to healthcare recruitment and patient data.
Compliance has become so specific to every vertical—from healthcare to finance and government—that we now see vendors specializing in compliance for one area customize their existing solution for other industries rather than build a new program from the ground up. As such, vendors should ensure that all candidates they source are legally allowed to work in the industry, and their background checks are up to date. Vendors should also have plans to protect your candidate data against data breaches, with policies around data retention and sharing outside your organization.
The vendor should also be able to demonstrate that its systems and processes meet the necessary healthcare compliance standards. The vendor should be ready to explain how it will ensure your candidates’ data is protected, ensure compliance with various regulations, and audit your organization’s processes to ensure they are following agreed-upon protocols.
Compliance is an ongoing process that doesn’t end when a new hire starts working for your organization. Vendors should be able to describe how they will audit your company’s human resource practices continuously, ensuring that policies comply with regulations and protecting employee data at all times.
Navigate the Risks of Workforce Management With Expedient VMS
With the help of our experts, healthcare organizations can easily manage their third-party vendors. Our Vendor Management System (VMS) provides a comprehensive suite of features to streamline and simplify vendor risk management while helping facilities comply with applicable regulations.
Our platform empowers healthcare organizations to quickly identify and review new vendors, track their performance over time, and ensure they meet all safety requirements. With this system in place, it becomes easier for organizations to connect with worthwhile candidates, quickly respond to regulation changes, and maintain the highest security standards.
