As a healthcare public relations agency, we at Aria Marketing are certainly no strangers to reactive pitching opportunities. When the Department of Health and Human Services releases a new draft plan, we are ready to pitch our clients’ expertise on how the rules might impact the industry. When a new data breach is reported, we know which reporters will want to hear from an expert on what went wrong and how other organizations can prevent such an incident. However, while politics and healthcare are deeply intertwined, it is not every day that we pitch a client to discuss a potential national security threat. The U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January, however, presented that opportunity.

The Aria team is sad to say goodbye to summer, but as the warm days fade away we can look back on some of the great milestones Aria reached in August, such as the celebration of our 20^th Anniversary, the launch of our new wellness initiative, and the continued great coverage we’ve secured for our clients. Check out our clients’ highlights from August below:

Goodbye 2016, hello 2017! While the Aria team enjoyed an extended winter break (work perks!), we came back ready to hit the ground running and kick the new year off with a bang. We are sure that 2017 will be a great year for Aria, and are thrilled to share some of the major PR wins our clients achieved in the first month of the year: 

As most of us in the healthcare IT sphere know, telehealth adoption has exploded thanks to COVID-19. In fact, according to a recent survey from our client Kyruus, 75% of patients had their first virtual visit in 2020 and Frost & Sullivan forecasts a sevenfold growth in telehealth usage by 2025.

At the start of the pandemic, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) eased some HIPAA security rules to aid with the rapid shift to virtual care, particularly specifically allowing health systems to use non-compliant remote communication technology such as Zoom, Skype or FaceTime without facing penalties. While the move sped up the adoption of telemedicine, it didn’t eliminate the security and privacy risks associated with them.

As PR professionals, the majority of our communications are handled online – from distributing press releases to conducting competitor research to media relations. However, one thing we often do not consider while doing all of this is cybersecurity.

While cybersecurity might not be front and center on PR professionals’ minds, it is the number one action item for cybercriminals. Just like the 24-hour news cycle, cybercriminals work around the clock to seek out and target unsuspecting users. In order to help our peers avoid becoming a cybercrime victim, we have outlined three security best practices below:

Why the Biggest Threat to Your Health Could Be Cybercrime

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. While companies across all industries ought to be concerned with protecting data, it is particularly important to do so in healthcare. For nearly ten years, Aria has served as the public relations agency of record for CynergisTek, a leader in cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance in healthcare. As a result, we’ve become particularly attuned to the various risks and threats that healthcare providers, health IT companies, and patients face every day. Here are a few reasons why healthcare organizations need to prioritize the privacy and security of the data they manage, this month and beyond: