Risk Management Success

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:

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

Data security is used to prevent anything that is unauthorized, and it helps to protect all of the data from any corruption. Almost daily, media reports highlight the failure of health care organizations to safeguard the privacy and security of patient data, whether electronic or paper. Preventing data breaches has become more complex, and at the same time, the fines being levied against health care organizations for violating the Health Insurance, (Zamosky, 2014).# In this paper, I will discuss the security measures, how the security measures used and how well did the security measure work.

The electronic protected health information (ePHI) gets electronically stored and collected in hard copy form as they secure the information. According to the U.S. Department of health and Human Service Office for Civil Rights (OCR) report, millions of people have been impacted by HIPAA data breaches. Hence, healthcare organizations must protect and secure personal health data now more than ever because of the threats that are associated with information. This would substantially increase the protection of healthcare from cyber threats. Moreover, these people are extremely diverse and the cleverness of their data information must be organized within hospitals. Medical records are in high demand because of the sophistication of the records.

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,

The introduction of electronic health records has revolutionized healthcare as we know it today. Instead of using paper records, which can easily get lost, damaged, or even stolen. However, now that most healthcare providers have switched to the electronic health records, it is easier to manage the data, edit the data, and share the data to other healthcare providers. The problem is that as many benefits there are to the electronic records, there are just as many threats and problems that they can pose.

Information security so important in healthcare because being able to share data digitally holds a lot of potential for doctors, nurses and clinicians to send and receive content fast and effectively. Although this is a great thing, on one hand, it is also dangerous because patient data and other sensitive information are even more at risk of being stolen, exposed or accessed by unauthorized parties. Because of this, security must be a top priority for any medical organization today and for the future. In order to ensure patient data will be secure, healthcare facilities should implement safeguards on data information.

The healthcare industry is composed of a multitude of moving parts, and information technology is becoming more and more prevalent. However, as healthcare data and information become increasingly digitized, they become less tangible. No longer will providers be able to solely rely on putting physical documents inside a secure locker and behind a locked door. Digitized information will be stored on servers, accessed by a variety of devices, and transmitted by means of wired and wireless communications. So, what does it take to secure sensitive information, such as patient health records, as it traverses digital environments? How can we ensure that patients and healthcare providers readily have access to information, without that information being susceptible to unauthorized disclosure, damage, deletion, or even theft? There are numerous components of information security that answer these and many other important questions; however, information security is a vast field that is comprised of many moving parts such as risk management, legislature, standardization, training and awareness, assurance and auditing, and others. Consequently, information security has become a tremendous challenge for healthcare providers, and it has become increasingly

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.

Patient privacy is a serious concern for healthcare organizations. Protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient information is a major undertaking. Since the enactment of the ARRA-HITECH Act, the confidentiality of patients has been a leading concern for healthcare organizations. Healthcare providers are under pressure to secure access to clinical applications and protect the underlying information technology (IT) infrastructure from misuse by insiders, hackers, and identity thieves (McAfee, 2011). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects the privacy of an individual’s health information and governs the way healthcare providers manage and disclose protected health information (PHI). To comply with the ARRA-HITECH, healthcare providers must introduce appropriate systems and practices to comply with HIPAA. In particular, the act introduces new regulations governing the confidentiality of EHRs.

In delivering a registered care service all staff must have mandatory health and safety training before completing any given task whether this be fire safety, food hygiene, manual handling, infection control, first aid etc. if staff have not received this training then they cannot complete the task, thus ensuring that all service user’s welfare are giving top priority in line with quality and safety outcomes.

The Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is a secure source of information that give clinicians real-time access to a variety of patient health information. It is a new technology in the health and hospital information field where clinical, demographic, and management information is entered in a electronic record. EMR information can be accessed such as patient history, billing or insurance data, allergies, immunizations, medications, orders, laboratory tests, diagnostic results, and images with just pushing a few keystrokes. It is an application technology that has enormous potential to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of health care through decreased medical errors, increased preventative care and improved detection and treatment (Fiato, K. A., 2012).

Electronic Health Records (EHR) become the promise of faster, better and more coordinated health care and this promise became a regulatory requirement for health care providers. The problems with paper medical records have been changed into new and different problems with EHRs. Many hidden factors affect the security and usability of EHRs. The goal of EHR is better clinical outcomes, improved population health, enhanced transparency and better efficiency in healthcare. However, the ethical use of EHR is dependent on its clinical users (Iyer, Leone, & Zapotochny Rufo, 2015). Today hospitals and providers settings have grown wired and dependence on the electronic creation, transmission and storage of data has increased. Many users who access the medical information has little knowledge about computers and have little intuition toward security practices such as logging off or locking the

With the advent of Electronic health systems, Healthcare organizations are facing challenges in securing patient data. According to us department of health & human services The number of breaches has been raised from 2.7 million in 2012 to 94 million in first half of 2015.Recent breach has resulted in 78.8 million records being exposed. The black-market value of health records have much more significance than credit card data. Exposed data brings up to $50,it is 10times as much as stolen credit card number. Health record has lot more information such as date of birth, maiden names, billing information, diagnostic codes and lot more sensitive information, where it can be used for obtaining controlled substances, fraud insurance and wide activities.

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.