By Adam Turteltaub

Data risks are enormous for any organization these days, which is why, Marti Arvin (Executive Advisor at CynergisTek) and Don Ahart (Internal Auditor, Hunterdon Healthcare) advocate for data management audits.

As they explain on this Compliance Perspectives podcast (and also at the 2019 HCCA Compliance Institute), a data management audit is about the logistics of your data:  where it is located, how it is classified, where it is stored, how it is used, who owns it, and who is responsible for maintaining it.  That’s even more complex than it sounds because the temptation is to just look across the network, forgetting that much data is saved on laptops, removable devices and even mobile phones.

To avoid getting overwhelmed by the audit, they advise to break it down into manageable parts and recognize that this can be, and probably will be, a multi-year process: once you have the audit done you still need to remediate.

Listen in to learn more about what to look for, how to prioritize risks, and how to make your remediation efforts successful.