Information Security and Privacy in the Medicinal Service Area

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

Privacy and security law questions can become challenging in a telemedicine setting because of the nature of the data and the ways in which it is being used.  Telemedicine is increasingly becoming a medium for generating, transmitting and storing large volumes of electronic health information, and as telemedicine platforms and delivery models continue to evolve, the ways in which providers are creating and using health information are constantly changing.

People tend to keep private information private as the consequences of such information being exposed are dire. Identity theft being one of the main concerns. Sometimes, it depends on the type and severity of the medical condition. In extreme cases, this could lead to public isolation. There are exceptions to this. Highly communicable and contagious diseases need to be disclosed beforehand for prevention.

Information technology (IT) is at the forefront of everything we do today. In the same way, Information Technology has become an integral part of health care delivery (Shi & Singh, 2012). How come? The idea is that IT can improve access to clinical information and can support clinical decision making (Hoyt, 2012); also, it is perceived that any data that can be used to understand and influence health outcomes should be collected and is considered relevant (Burke, 2013). However, like all great things, the integration of IT to health care delivery has presented many challenges; in fact, the IOM report Crossing the Quality Chasm, identified Patient privacy as one

(HIPAA) rules and principles on how the importance of protecting privacy in health information is essential to enhancing quality care[1]. Due to the reason, individuals revealed concern in regards with the privacy and insecure of their health personal information. Hence, to solving this issues the author has demonstrated six parts of how the individual privacy is very important to protect and secure. The first part describes the background information of the health privacy. See

Furthermore, as purchasers offered the opportunity to make and keep up their prosperity and therapeutic records on the web, new issues rise on data openness and genuineness. A peril evaluation will oblige the conspicuous verification of potential threats and vulnerabilities and furthermore possible balance methods that will pass on the undeniable dangers and vulnerabilities to a decent level. This move offers huge points of interest to providers, associations, and patients as cost venture assets and convenience; be that as it may, does it have a sudden cost? Therapeutic records contain likely the touchiest information about an individual, and requests on information security are vital, especially as this data is logically secured and got to on the web.

Privacy and security breaches occur in every sector, including healthcare, leading to a need for better privacy and security measures. With the advancement of technology, there has been an increase in trends regarding how people’s health data is being protected. eHealth is a major technology advancement so the need for better privacy and security measures is vital to ensure that breaches do not occur. There are various steps that can be taken by eHealth Ontario to develop an appropriate strategy to deal and prevent privacy breaches from occurring.

In the future, the consumer will have the ability to access his or her health information via secure applications so that he or she may track his or her own care and progress. Before this is possible, however, all of that person’s health information must be entered into a system which permits the sharing of data across other systems, while also ensuring the security of that data throughout its transference and utilization (ONC, 2014). The ONC is planning to mandate interoperability configurations to existing programs over time so that these multiple programs will “work together” without losing or misrepresenting the data that they contain. While the ONC discussed health information security as a major concern, there were few specifics on how the appropriate level of security would be attained and maintained. In fact, Twila Brase, President and Co-Founder of the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, states that full-scale health IT interoperability is not only a risk to patient privacy but also a potential threat to national security, citing a health data breach that occurred in February 2015, which potentially compromised the records security of 80 million current and former customers of Anthem, Inc.

A hacker downloads thousands of medical records from the University of Washington Medical School [1]. Eli Lilly and Co. accidentally discloses the email addresses of 6000 patients who are taking Prozac [2]. With these incidents fresh in the minds of many people, the privacy of medical information has been a hot topic. It has joined other issues such as the

Online Patient portals are very convenient for patients due to which patient can access data about their health very easily. Online data have many risks of hacking so provide maximum privacy to user data.

Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights in our society. Safeguarding those rights, with respect to an individual’s personal health information, is our ethical and legal obligation as health care providers. Doing so in today’s health care environment is increasingly challenging (OJIN, 2005).

The first principle is that with very few exceptions, health care information about a consumer should be disclosed for health purposes only. The information should be easy to use for those purposes, and very difficult to use otherwise. The second principle is that technical security safeguards be maintained for computerized data. Including audit trails that identify who accessed the data and the prosecution against anyone who used the records for illegal or improper purposes. The third principle is consumer access. The patient should have ability to access his or her records and know others that also have access to them. Patients should be aware of the laws, regulations, and policies that protect their information. The fourth policy is defined as accountability, which is of relation to security and consumer control. Fines and imprisonment are required to those who breach security of personal health information. The final policy is public responsibility. Legislation must be balanced between personal, private interests and national priorities of public health, research, and law enforcement. The excessive flow of information, without patient authorization, is essential to the immediate discovery and investigation in public health crisis. AHIMA's acknowledgement of these five principles are abroad outline of a sensible public policy that balances personal 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.

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.