Patient Information Collection Case Study

Historically, their IT function has reported up through the Chief Financial Officer. This has led to their financial systems being well developed. But, their Clinical systems are significantly less developed. Clinicians have been ok with this arrangement. Not having more advanced clinical systems has allowed them to develop and maintain processes that they are comfortable with. This is a comfort for the clinicians, but is likely costing the organization money as records are paper based, not electronic. Also, as they have no CPOE installed, they are not performing the safety checks, such as drug interaction that can come with those systems. This is placing an unnecessary risk on patients.

There were concerns related to risks of hackers, malware attacks, password changes which can be disruptive to the clinical workflow and can lead to inefficiency. Human errors, inadequate knowledge and ability to use PHR (health literacy). Are the patients aware of the HIPAA regulations? Some patients of a particular age group refrain from using PHR. Interoperability which is the core purpose of electronic health records is also one of the primary concerns. The use of unauthorized USB drives can lead to the malware attack which may interoperability. The other questions that needs to be answered is despite encryption, firewalls which have been initiated to maintain security, there are still concerns about data security

Hospitals have put in place widespread security and privacy measures to protect patient health information. However, there are still errors being made in data security through the IT standpoint. Some of these errors or issues include:

Information security and HIPAA policies should cover all the necessary access and control measures needed to secure information system resources and deter, shield and protect the organization from security breaches. The scenario demonstrates that the organizations overall information security posture is poor. The HIPAA, remote access and retention policies within the information management division need to be addressed due to the healthcare organizations legal obligation to ensure the privacy of protected information. Security safeguards can be addressed through vigilance and the implementation logical and administrative access controls. Properly administered HIPAA Privacy and remote access policies would not only help alleviate but quickly identify 3 undocumented accounts with global remote access. HIPAA security standards require any user with access to protected health information have a documented need to

In a large service-related Healthcare organization with the staff to patient ratio approximately 1:100, there is a greater threat by technology of breaching security records. Medical records include information about ones physical and mental being. They may contain information about ones relationship with family members, sexual behavior, drug or alcohol problems and HIV status ( Burke & Weill, 2005). The confidentiality is threatened when the medical records information is put on the Internet, by use of telemedicine, and by the use of e-mail by healthcare workers. Although this is the fastest way to store and share

For the regular bystander, the case scenario’s clear reference to the institution’s policy against “unauthorized, unlicensed software copies” (NDC Learning House, 2015) would guide one’s response towards the unit manager’s deliberate violation of the institution’s policy. As a subordinate, however, the action or inaction of this writer would depend on her knowledge and understanding of the Privacy and Security Rules of HIPAA. The commonly used phrase “exception to the rule” does not apply to the two Rules of HIPAA. Regardless of one’s status or rank in the organization, one is bound to keep the privacy and security of the patients’ electronic health

Also, we must look at the physical risks that are in place because of the physical layout of the pharmacy. Since the front of the store faces the mall that means that the person that delivers the drugs or medications is coming from the back door. Which means this puts the server room at risk because the only personnel that need to be in the server room are those that have access to the server room itself. If someone other than IT needs access to this room for any reason, they should get approval at a corporate level. Also, at any point that this server room door should be open for any reason without approval should definitely be monitored to make sure that nothing ends up “walking”. Such computer hardware or cabling are stored here it is an easy target for something to come up missing in this area. There should also be lock on the door that should be a pin code so that no one else knows what that code is. If someone leaves the company for any reason this lock should be changed in order to remain in full security and compliance with company policies.

Numerous steps have been taken to maintain HIPAA compliance in the HIM Department. The facility utilizes Cerner electronic health record. This vendor is HIPAA compliant with security measures built into the software. Additionally there are other technical and physical security measures in place. No individual that is not an employee can enter the HIM Department. All employees have access cards to access areas they are employed in. Additionally, all employees have to log on to their workstation with their access cards and unique passwords.

This case study will examine how Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital identified a security breach in their facility and the course of action taken in an attempt to eradicate the problem. Security breaches are a major subject that must be addressed in the healthcare facility. With healthcare becoming more technology driven it is much easier to access data related to patients, specifically personal health information (PHI). Clearance is also a concern, not everyone in the healthcare facility should have access to a patient’s medical record. In order to protect PHIs, each facility must implement a policy and procedure related to internal, external, and third party security breaches. Security breaches can be detrimental to a healthcare facility and its patients, which is why breaches must be identified quickly for intervention and to minimize harmful outcomes to patients.

The safeguard of patient health information and consumer information is effectively and sufficiently guarded is the upmost importance to any organization. Information security is important because it the law. Any deficiency of an effective information security program can be costly to an organization and be detrimental to patients and consumers. Organizations must be aware of the growing opportunities for breaches in security as technology is advancing is making the collection, maintenance, and dissemination of protected health information easier (Sayles, 2013). The following two security breaches will identify threats, and provide a security plan for the organization.

The executives at Leman Healthcare finally reached their goal of having the latest information available as a tool to reduce errors in the care of their patients. With all staff instructed on how to access information to complete their jobs and report any incidents the executives looked forward to seeing the correct data in reports (Burns, Bradley, & Weiner, 2011). Upon reading the data the executives discovered the new system was not utilized by the QI department because there were no changes in historical patterns. Without the correct data being used the process improvement projects for the entire hospital system could not be designed to meet the needs of patients.

THREAT MANAGEMENT AND DESASTER RECOVERY FINAL PAPER INTRODUCTION: This paper is a danger evaluation of a Medical venture called "Medco" containing patient information. Imparting Data over a wide zone system is of high imperativeness to specialists, medical attendants and the whole staff. The patient information contains delicate data that is at a danger of being presented to hack endeavors and data break.

Medical offices usually are from a great point where every unpaid claim as well as balance due from the patient is detrimental towards the practice. therefore within The idea said Whenever is actually It night out to help employ the collection agency in order to recoup within this uncollected revenue? measures In the event provide for you to evaluate a good physicians practice to be able to discover no matter whether This has worthwhile in order to do so. Below tend to be issues to consider.

The Simon and Company Medical Practice (SCMP) relies heavily upon the internet to conduct daily operations and to maintain the highest level of information security and patient privacy. The SCMP utilizes its Information Technology professionals to employ a number of techniques including account creation and termination, account permissions, password reset reminders, employee and patient awareness programs, and planned vulnerability assessments. Other security solutions include the utilization of a VPN to access the patient portal, and an off-site secure data backup company to store copies of vital patient information, in case of emergencies (McWay, 2014) & (Blackley, Peltier, & Peltier, 2014). Patient

However, there are issues noted that might well be indicators of quite severe security problems and should be items with high visibility during any audit. First off, the two computers in the break area Kiosk for employee Internet access bring up the possibility of shared accounts. The prohibition of sharing passwords is a basic and standard internal control around the globe (Bunn, n.d.). The principal purpose is to safeguard other employees from inappropriate suspicion in the event that an account is used for inappropriate purposes (Bunn, n.d.). Next, having wireless Access Points on ALL their networks is a very troubling and even more troubling due to their legal requirement to ensure HIPAA compliance of the personal health records of their employees. HIPPA compliant systems are required to have vigorous tracking and reporting of all inconsistencies, errors, and breaches as they occur. The regulations require swift notification if a patient's information is compromised (Ciarlone, 2014). Also, the DMZ and internal LAN use Windows Server 2008 and is “END OF LIFE” for most versions as of 4/9/2013 (Microsoft Support Lifecycle, n.d.). Without a Microsoft direct support contract, you will no longer receive security updates that can help protect servers from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software that can steal information (Microsoft Support Lifecycle, n.d.). The very fact that the company has never