Hipaa Security Rule for Mobile Devices

Healthcare technology has grown and evolved over time. With the conversion to electronic medical records and the creation of social media just to name a few, ensuring patient privacy is of the utmost importance for healthcare facilities in this day and age. In order for an organization to avoid hefty fines, it is imperative that a healthcare administrator maintains compliance with the standards and regulations associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This paper will provide a summary

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed by congress in 1996, and helps to ensure the privacy and security of Electronic Health Records (EHR's). By following the rules and regulations set forth under HIPAA, we can ensure the safety of patients' EHR's. We are responsible for protecting patients' records, and there are many measures we can take in order do this. Firstly, we must always keep patients' health information private. This means no discussing the records with people that are not authorized to know, and even then, we should only disclose the minimum necessary amount of information possible. For covered entities, we must designate a privacy and security officer to ensure the privacy

Lately I have been hearing a lot about security of patient’s health records and how people are losing their jobs behind accessing information that they have no need to be in. It got me to wondering just how secure our personal information is from prying eyes and how who is alerted when these prying eye are in information that doesn’t concern them. So, when I ran across this article “Security Audits of Electronic Health Information” and “HIPAA Security Rule Overview” it caught my eye and curiosity on how they might work hand in hand when it comes to protecting what information is accessed by personnel. So, I choose these articles to get more information on this topic.

The government has also ensured compliance with HIPAA by implementing the HIPAA audit. The focus on specific controls such topics as policies and procedures to ensure privacy, confidentiality of the PHI of patients and evaluation of the action plans of the violation of security. Other security measures, including background checks of employees, all internal restrictions on the availability of private information and physical security measures to determine if they comply with the guidelines established by the HIPAA

The HIPAA regulations define security as the health care providers are accountable for maintaining the confidentiality of individually identifiable health care information or the Patient Health Information(PHI). Excretion of the HIPAA Security Rule surrounds the following three vital shields for PHI in electronic form

The significance of patient privacy and the security of confidential information are increasingly vital given the approval of electronic health records. Healthcare providers have recognized striking prices due to security threats and subsequent breaches. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002), under the Privacy Rule healthcare establishments must establish protections that establish procedures and rules that guarantee least levels of privacy in relation to patient information. When violations are recognized, it is required that a compliant be created by the individual or unit experiencing the violation. In the complaint, the name of the person who participated in the violation, in addition to the nature of the violation, must be comprehensive. The filing of the complaint initiates an investigation by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under HIPAA values (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The establishment of a procedure related to privacy violations has resulted in many cases relating to electronic data breaches. Next is a consideration of two such cases to demonstrate the role of privacy in regards to HIPAA and electronic health database breaches.

Some include administrative, physical and technical safeguards. In administrative safeguards it allows the reader to understand the security management process to reduce risk and vulnerabilities. Security personnel responsible for developing and implementing security policies. Information access management minimum access to perform duties. Physical safeguard is about the limit of physical access to facilities, and how workstation and device security policies and procedure covering transfer, removal, disposal, and reuse of electronic media. Finally, technical safeguard is about the access control that restricts access to authorized personnel’s. Audit controls for hardware, software, and transitions. Integrity controls to ensure data is not altered or destroyed. Transmissions security to protect against un authorized access to data transmitted on network and via email. Moreover, there are three pillars of data security confidentiality, availability, and integrity. Confidentiality refers to the prevention of data loss, and is the category most easily identified with HIPAA privacy and security within healthcare environments. Usernames, passwords, and encryption are common measures implemented to ensure confidentiality. Availability refers to system and network accessibility, and often focuses on power loss or network connectivity outages. Integrity describes the trustworthiness and permanence of data, an assurance that the lab results or personal medical history of a patient is not modifiable by unauthorized entities or corrupted by a poorly designed process. Database best practices, data loss solutions, and data backup and archival tools are implemented to prevent data manipulation, corruption, or loss; thereby maintaining the integrity of patient

Physical safeguards is the implementation of policies and procedures to limit physical access to its electronic information systems and the facility or facilities in which they are housed, while ensuring that properly authorized access is allowed which Disposal and Media Re-Use, areas mandatory to be addressed. Technical safeguards includes the implementation of policies and procedures for electronic information systems that maintain electronic protected health information to allow access only to those persons or software programs that have been granted access rights. Requirements include: Unique user identification, Emergency Access Procedures amongst other recommended areas for compliance. I would seek and review these policies to ensure the organization is being compliant. Noncompliance in this area could be detrimental for both the organization and for the patients serviced. If PHI is breached at the organization and there is no established procedure that would ensure corrective action immediately, HHS could impose hefty fines, patients may be notified and could file complaints as well.

I evaluate security control test plans and conducts detail security assessments of information systems that evaluate compliance of administrative, physical, technical, and organizational polices safeguards in order to maintain HIPAA compliance base on the Office of Civil Right (OCR) protocol, NIST SP 800-66 Rev1 and security controls (NIST SP 800-53).

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.

Today, technology is usually way ahead in every aspect of our world, especially with mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. All of these devices have photography and data transmission as well as storage capabilities. These functions, on mobile devices, present legal challenges and issues especially when it comes to compliance with HIPPA. While HIPPA regulations do describe how patient health information or PHI should be handled, to date, they have not been changed to specifically account for smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Laws and policies must be implemented to protect PHI on personal mobile devices. At the state level, the policymakers that will be contacted are Richard Corcoran, House Health Committee Chairman and Aaron

In a world full of electronics it would only seem logical to have health records electronic. Not only are medical records efficient, reliable, and quick to access, new technology allow patients to access their own personal medical records with a simple to use login and password. “People are asking whether any kind of electronic records can be made safe. If one is looking for a 100% privacy guarantee, the answer is no”(Thede, 2010). At my hospital, upon every admission we ask the patient for a password for friends and family to have to have if they would like an update on the patient 's condition. We do not let visitors come up and see the patient without the patient 's consent. In doing these things, we help to ensure the safety and protection of the patient 's health information and privacy.

In light of available security measures and their widespread acceptance within the information security community, there is no excuse for healthcare organizations to fail in fulfilling their duty to protect personal patient information. Guaranteeing the confidentiality and privacy of data in healthcare information is crucial in safeguarding the data of patients as there should be a legal responsibility to protect medical records from unauthorized access.

This research article examines the security concerns of using mobile technology systems in health care institution. Various methods of ensuring privacy and security of patient’s electronic medical information are addressed. This high quality article is relevant for present day mobile security issues. The authors utilize a host of credible references in the health care and information technology fields.

The portability of mobile devices allows for continuous access to business and personal information, regardless of location. This portability also leads to the very common incidence of loss or theft of mobile devices. In fact, one survey of consumer users found that one out of every three users has lost their device4 at some point in time.