Essay on Privacy Concerns With Electronic Medical Records

Use of an EHR presents major opportunities for the compromise of patient’s personal health information (PHI). The facility must ensure proper safe guards are implemented and functioning properly at all times. Employees need to be educated on the safety measures to prevent breach of patient confidential health records. Privacy breaches can result from misuse or improper storage of PHI by the healthcare professional, by third party payers, or by lack of proper encryption in the EHR system itself (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a law that holds healthcare facilities and professionals accountable for keeping PHI confidential, patients to control

Electronic health records were a technological advancement in the healthcare industry in which paper patient record’s became digital. The transition from paper to digital charting allowed easier, quicker access to patient information for those who were authorized to do so. EHRs are secure and protected with username and password access only. It contains information such as patient medical history, procedures, diagnoses, medications, labs, tests, and treatments. Healthcare professionals and organizations who are authorized to access a patient’s electronic health record can do so at ease via a secure network or online database (HealthIT, 2013).

With an increasing usage of computers and internet, the access towards new technology advancement has become easier. Each member of the community and health care providers can access the information easily and can integrate into their health decisions. The introduction of HIT implementation has improved access to information and decision making based on evidence-based practices. At the community level, introducing their personal information could be a threat to their personal data because of an increasing breach of data in technology. Steps for the protection of Personal Protective Information (PPI) of community members are essential for effective implementation of HIT. In this respect, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have been implemented so to protect the personal information of the patients which ensure that the data breach from any healthcare facility would lead to the heavy fines. This step at the governmental level has created the sense of satisfaction among the community members regarding their PPI.

Using EHR software can potentially put your organization at risk if you do not follow privacy protocols to an exacting degree. While paper records also make it easy to violate a patient’s privacy, the convenience and immediacy of electronic records make it easier to violate privacy at an unprecedented level.(The pros and cons of EMR, 2015).

According to studies carried out in several countries, many concerns regarding data security and privacy arose. A study conducted in United States stated that approximately 25 million compelled authorizations occur every year for the disclosure of health information. It has become a concern about the accessibility of EHRs to unauthorized persons. There can be some technical security errors in the system which may disclose information to unauthorized persons or companies, therefore protection is required against the manipulation or unauthorized abuses. EHRs also have difficulties in maintaining data privacy as administrative staff can have access to information without the patient’s explicit consent. (Fernandez - Aleman,

The internal force in this case can include Marissa’s job requirement which dictate her to be on call 24-hour for troubleshooting the EHR system, the inadequate procedure for remote access control and screen logoff time, the recent change in the health condition of Marissa’s Mother that require her to move in with Marissa, the breach of pastor’s health information and the issue of employee access of Protected Health

contained in the EHR Has valuable information , even as an employee at a health care

While it is important to know every aspect of this four distinct components, it is especially important for those who will work with patients’ health records to understand the regulations regarding security of electronic health records (EHR). While Privacy rule are designed to protect a patient’s identifiable health information from unauthorized disclosure or use, whether electronic, paper (written) or oral, Security Rules covers only protected health information that is in electronic form or sometimes called EPHI (Electronic Protected Health Records). All records of a

In most cases privacy and security risks apply to both paper and electronic records. With the growing demand for the electronic health record (EHR) system, the transfer from paper to electronic can be risky. For this project we were asked to compare and contrast the security issues between maintenance of paper medical records and the EHR system, also we were asked to discuss what requirements and issues need to be considered when doing a conversion to an EHR.

Computers and cell phones are examples of the technology that have become part of our everyday life. The technology that we use is constantly changing. Same is true in the healthcare industry, technology is being used for most things you do in health care. Goodbye paper, hello electronics.

The Electronic Health Record may be a positive step towards the future of health care and the way it is implemented daily. It has strongly become widely accepted in most institutions and slowly traditional paper charts will be no more and become obsolete. As this shift continues to happen attention to security must not be left behind. Security will play a major role in the advancement of EHR’s. As stated by McCormick and Saba (2011) following the International Council Code of Ethics for Nurses that states nurses “hold in confidence personal information” and “ensures that the use of technology

The medical record is a private document that are formatting from certain elements, it tells a story of sickness, structures, thereby explains, and the treatment plane. It illustrates the medical map that any health practitioners can pursuit. So, medical record is not only a reflection of practice and thought, but also it figure s of what the kind of health care is received. With the rabid growth of modern technology and increase the number of patients and diseases. There is a demand to replace the traditional medical record by the electronic medical records. However, the electronic medical records could raise some ethical issues.

The desideratum to secure patient’s records in a healthcare environment led to the adoption of the Electronic Health Records (EHR). The EHR is a computerized system that maintains the health record and contains a comprehensive health history of an individual. The availability of healthcare records in an electronic format has conveniently amended the quality of healthcare services. This paper presents a systematic literature review concerning the privacy and security issues that confront the medical industry in the utilization of electronic medical records.

One of the biggest issue with EHR is that patient data can be accessed by unauthorized users. If that information fell in the wrong hands, a patient can become a victim of identity theft. To resolve the issue, healthcare organizations should first train their employees on HIPAA and the consequences for not following it. Then, they should give a different password to each authorized user to known who access the patient’s file. Finally, they should make sure their computer has a security system to detect and stop a

In 1973, with the beginning of the computer age, the government adopted fundamental principle of information protection (Gelman R., 2008). In 1996, the federal government created the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect medical health information instates and across state lines. The law aims to assure that only authorized individuals can access stored data; that they can only access it when they need to use it for an authorized purpose; and that what they see is accurate. Also, Under the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules employers are accountable for the employee breach of confidentiality, and we all heard of instances when employee’s action lead to considerable fines to the employer. Additionally to HIPPA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act mandates securing patient medical records information internally and