Health care systems must deal with a recurrent battle to improve regulation in order to safeguard the patient health information. However, data breaches continue in the everyday common industry and it is the duty of the health care advisors to make data security the highest importance. According to the NIST standard, the key purposes of risk assessments are to identify "relevant threats" to the organization, including "vulnerabilities, both internal and external," and the "likelihood that harm will occur, (Kaner, 2015).”
The most significant part of utilization is planning and will not even be credible for security, unless a full risk assessment is completed. Security planning encompasses the development of security guidelines as well as employing restrictions prohibiting computer risks from developing into the here and now. It is impossible to move forward with a plan of action prior to the risk assessment being implemented. The risk assessment will be responsible as a
…show more content…
Methods such as, rate limiting ought to be taken into consideration in order to thwart off brute force Internet attacks. It would also be advised to consider encrypting most information in addition to disbursing the use of multi-factor authentication as opposed to a static password. As it stands in today’s society password protection by itself is hardly ever going to be enough to defend against a hacker, especially for sensitive health data. Good security is multi-level, and it is vital to calculate security risks and make the necessary modifications and updates as necessary. Lastly, it is important not to forget about the service providers and customers. It is particularly significant to ensure there is an unblemished predetermined allocation of accountability for safeguarding personal information and also measures for who deals with the privacy and security complications when they
I do believe that having security in our healthcare system is vital to keeping our hospital communities safe.
Health information is a fundamental piece of data which represents a person, business, organization, or a community. This data is vital in monitoring and coordination of care for individuals and communities. It not only monitors and coordinates patient care, but reduces costly mistakes and prevent duplication of treatments as well as taking a pivotal role in preserving, securing, and protecting personal health information. Since, this information is extremely essential and sensitive, it must remain secure and safe to prevent frauds and cyber-attacks. First of all, this paper discusses vitality of the health information in regards to individuals, professionals, and organizations along with its benefits to improve overall quality of life. Secondly, it discusses the role of information technology in various aspects of the industry and the what the future holds within IT.
There is no doubt in that technology has multifaceted benefits but, at the same time, it has forced mankind to feel insecure. Every industry depends upon the data of the customers and the health industry is no more an exception here. The data of each patient is shared to facilitate health itself and for more rigorous and authentic research. Hence, protecting patient data is very important. It is so important that in 1996, the federal government introduced the Health Insurance
Health Information Exchange (HIE) supports both transferring and sharing of health related information that is usually stored in multiple organizations, while maintaining the context and integrity of the information being exchanged (HIE, 2014). The goal of health information exchange is to expedite access to and retrieve clinical data to provide safe efficient, effective, equitable, timelier patient-centered care (HIE, 2014). HIE “provides access and retrieval of patient information to authorized users in order to provide safe, efficient, effective, and timely patient care” (HIE, 2014).
Hospital and health facility administrators face hardened criminals who hack medical records with ever-increasing sophistication. Hackers gain access to critical information, such as medical claims, financial data, Social Security numbers and credit card data that enable identity theft, credit card fraud and other privacy breaches. One of the major security failures in the news was the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield attack that exposed 1.1 million of its members to thefts of their personal information.[1] Combined with high-profile breaches at Anthem and Premera Blue Cross, the breach illustrates the changing role of medical administrators
Joining the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) benefits individuals and distinguishes them apart from others. AHIMA labels individual’s as competent, knowledgeable and committed to the association through quality healthcare delivery and quality information.
Securing larger volumes of data than before, health care providers must be able to adapt to new methods of data storage and access of patient records. Security breaches in health care organizations is lost or stolen from unencrypted devices and media where the provider is using to retrieve records. As more health providers continue to use mobile devices to access pertinent information from electronic medical records systems the chances for breach increases so dramatically. (Rogers,
Data privacy is vital to healthcare organizations and the health information they store. Johns (YEAR) defines data security as “a collection of protection measures and practices that safeguard data, computers, and associated resources from undesired occurrences and exposures” (p. 207). To protect their information, organizations must develop a data security program to meet the needs of Health Information Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), stakeholders, and the business’s needs. Additionally following the guidelines set by HIPAA is key to being in compliance with the law. These programs differ depending on the organizations that are required to establish them, however, they all follow the same steps in creating and implementing this program
Privacy of health information has become an area of emphasis across the healthcare industry. It is important to understand what data is protected under federal regulations, how it can be shared, and how to prevent any accidental exposure of protected data. It is possible that data that should be protected can be exposed without anyone even realizing a violation has occurred. Exposure of protected healthcare data can result in medical identity theft and is therefore a very important and hot topic. The security and privacy of healthcare data is necessary to ensure consumer confidence in the healthcare industry and to prevent medical identity theft.
Emergency department’s health care information exchange was a proven factor in the Hawthorne effect. “The health care information exchange is a new type of electronic medical record that enables appropriate information sharing between caregivers at multiple health care facilities within a given region”( The Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2014). This system was able to survey patients who go to different medical facilities for treatment and medications. Patients who answered the survey were very truthful with their answers because of fear of being monitored. It saved medical providers time, cost effective and they were able to treat patients accordingly. Their response lead to quality care improvement across the board in treating patients
Security breaches of EMRs vary from someone without consent viewing the patient’s information, to a hacker using the information to steal one’s identity. According to Privacy Rights Clearing House, more than 260 million data breaches have occurred in the United States, including those of health related records. Approximately 12 percent of data breaches involve medical organizations (Gellman, 2012). According to Redspin, a provider of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act risk analysis and IT security assessment services, more than 6 million individual’s health records were compromised during a period from August 2009 and December 2010 (Author Unknown, 2010). A provision of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requires all breaches affecting 500 or more people to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services. This reporting is to be accomplished within 60 days of discovery. The Redspin report covering the period above involved 225 breaches of protected health information. The amount of people with access to an individual’s health record creates concern with confidentiality. According to the Los Angeles
Health information technology privacy and security standards are essential to maintaining interoperability and security in the exchange of health information. Standards provide a common language between different systems that need to share information (Himss.org, 2016). These standards are relevant to healthcare providers to gain access to health records from another facility as to streamline patient care. A more effective and efficient way for a provider to obtain information is to have a provider log- into a device to see results. In gaining access to health information, it is critical to maintaining security. With easy access to information come concerns for securing that information. Security standards provide protection over electronic protected health information.
In today’s age of healthcare, health informatic innovations such as the health information exchange have allowed electronically available healthcare data, such as clinical, administrative, and financial information, to be shared within healthcare systems, hospital networks, and other healthcare settings. As organizations begin to share sensitive information across political, geographical, and institutional boundaries, there is a constant risk of patient data being compromised. Therefore, close attention must be given to confronting the specific problems resulting in an increase in healthcare data breaches, as well as determining the appropriate solutions in order for healthcare organizations to protect sensitive patient data.
Information security and privacy is occupying a most important role in the healthcare territory in order to deliver protected information process to their patients (Appari, & Johnson, 2010). As healthcare department is the organization with vast data and essential information the hospitals has to keep a useful information security technique in their enterprise process (Mishra et al., 2011). Information security is one such phase in the healthcare sphere which is extremely problematic to describe and evaluate even to the individuals who are working on the process. In the healthcare organization, information is of many types which required for the work and even the security is a main control for almost all the practices which are transmitted out in the healthcare field (Appari, & Johnson, 2010). Hospitals, in specific, have been instructed to create a new set of security specialists to protect healthcare data tools techniques upon which exists may rely. Healthcare data is very critical for patients because it is very confidential records. If a medical apparatus is filled with a computer virus it can even exemplify a possibility to patients ' lives. Hence, hospitals should design alertness of the risk, to defend against concerns to healthcare databanks and be concerned about the high risk of infected computers or medical tools being connected to their networks (Mishra et al., 2011).
The rapid changes in technology over the past few decades has left the healthcare industry ill-prepared to operate in today’s environment. Most substantial protections of sensitive consumer information has come as a result of federal regulation, most notably in 1996 with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Protection of information in the healthcare industry has lagged behind all other industries, perhaps because the records aren’t financial in nature or sensitive government information. Implementing simple steps for many organizations may be enough to limit the vast majority of breaches, although a layered, comprehensive security approach should be the ultimate goal for companies.