The United States’ healthcare system is a three-trillion-dollar industry consisting of doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment providers, and health insurers. With so many components and millions of patients to care for, fast efficient health information systems are needed to reduce cost, store and modify patient information, and administer quality care (Akowuah, Yuan, Xu, Wang, 2012, pg. 40). Although health information systems have helped increase the healthcare industry’s efficiency and effectiveness, it has also exposed millions of patient’s identities and medical records to cyber-attacks. Managers in the healthcare field should be aware of cyberattacks, the laws that protect and secure patient’s privacy, …show more content…
Cyber-attacks cost the healthcare industry 5.6 billion dollars a year (Grealish, 2016). One of the largest attacks resulted in 80 million current and former Anthem Health Insurance customers’ records being accessed (Wallace, 2016). Cyberattacks come in many forms, data breaches, ransomware (a form of malware), online scams, etc. (Savage, 2016, p. 23). One case of ransomware (a takeover of a computer system until a ransom is paid) occurred when Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center’s computer systems were held “hostage” for ten days, causing mass confusing throughout the hospital, and frustrating staff and patients (Savage, 2016, 23). Some patients were even sent to the other hospitals (Savage, 2016 p. 23). In order to regain control of their computer systems a ransom of $17,000 was paid to the attackers (Savage, 2016, p. 23). Scammers, however, cost healthcare providers and Medicare millions by billing them for fraudulent health services. Patient’s identities are also used to gain access to consultations and prescriptions drugs (Gealish, 2016). Events and practices like these demonstrate how disastrous cyberattacks are to the healthcare …show more content…
For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), “standardizes the use of electronic health information and mandates the development of security standards and safeguards for the use of electronic health information” (Akowuah, Yuan, Xu, Wang, 2012, pg. 41). Although, HIPPA is federal mandated, in some cases state laws take precedence over federal privacy and security laws. For example, in states where there is child abuse, death, or injury state laws override HIPPA laws (Akowuah, Yuan, Xu, Wang, 2012, pg. 43). State laws also override federal laws when the state laws protect patient’s information more than federal laws, and during financial audits (Akowuah, Yuan, Xu, Wang, 2012, pg. 43). Therefore, managers must understand and thoroughly educate their healthcare personnel on the on all privacy and security laws, to know how to properly address cyber-attack and prevent
How would you like to keep track of your personal health information record in your computer at home? The electronic data exchange was one of the goals of the government to improve the delivery and competence of the U.S. healthcare system. To achieve this plan, the U.S. Congress passed a regulation that will direct its implementation. The Department of Health and Human Services is the branch of the government that was assigned to oversee the HIPAA rules. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a national public law in the United States that was created to improve health insurability, prevent insurance abuse and to protect the privacy and security of a person’s health information.
As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, is a law designed “to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes.”1 HIPAA mandates that covered entities must employ technological means to ensure the privacy of sensitive information. This white paper intends to study the requirements put forth by HIPAA by examining what is technically necessary for them to be implemented, the technological feasibility of this, and what commercial, off-the-shelf systems are currently available to implement these requirements.
With today's use of electronic medical records software, information discussed in confidence with your doctor(s) will be recorded into electronic data files. The obvious concern is the potential for your records to be seen by hundreds of strangers who work in health care, the insurance industry, and a host of businesses associated with medical organizations. Fortunately, this catastrophic scenario will likely be avoided. Congress addressed growing public concern about privacy and security of personal health data, and in 1996 passed “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA). HIPAA sets the national standard for electronic transfers of health data.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) affects every aspect of health care from patient privacy to insurance coverage. The federal act was first passed in 1996, yet the first major rule did not go into effect until 2003, protecting patient privacy. HIPAA ultimately came into effect due to the issues regarding patient privacy, security and coverage. Another major concern for both health care workers and the public was the exchange of patient information from one facility to another. Until the relatively recent decision to enforce HIPAA, a patient’s medical record was primarily recorded and maintained on paper and stored in locked cabinets or drawers. Not only was this method inefficient, but patients were also starting to become increasingly concerned over the privacy of these documents.
The author also said that due to all of the aforementioned and lucrative it is for hackers to attack health care organizations, one in thirteen health care patients will be impacted by healthcare data breaches.
HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was put in place by the Federal Government for several reasons; better portability of health insurance for employees, to prevent fraud and abuse within the healthcare delivery system, and simplification of administrative functions associated with healthcare delivery (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Due to sensitive healthcare information being shared federal regulations were also put into place, resulting in the “Privacy Rule” and “Security Rule”. The Privacy Rule limits the use and disclosure of patient information. The Security Rule protects the patients’ healthcare information from improper use or disclosure, to maintain information integrity, and ensure its availability (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Both regulations apply to protected health information (PHI) which is any form of health information that can be used to identify an individual patient. Practitioners who refer to HIPPA are not referring to the act itself but the “Privacy Rule” and “Security Rule” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). It is extremely important to understand these concepts as a student in the clinical setting and how each hospital enforces these concepts. Before starting at any clinical site there is an extensive orientation about HIPPA regarding what is appropriate and not appropriate when it comes to patient information and the repercussions of violating HIPPA. In this paper I will discuss Akron General’s rules and policies regarding their EHR, PHI, EPHI, and social media.
The debate is still going on today about what can and cannot be done legitimately with patients health information. There are worries about who should be able to access the patient’s information and for what reasons do they have to be accessing the patient’s health information. While on the other side there is an increasing need for performance assessments, efficient health guard, and a proficient administration for more and better information. Health care services are now starting to realize that they have a lot of work to do to be in compliance with the current health laws on the state and federal level guidelines when it comes to dealing with protecting patient data.
The Security Rule of the HIPAA law affects technology the most in a Healthcare or Human Service organization. The Security Rule deals specifically with Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI). The EPHI has three types of security safeguards that are mandatory to meet compliance with HIPAA regulations. Administrative, physical, and technical. There is constant concern of different kinds of devices and tools because of their vulnerability: laptops; personal computers of the home; library and public workstations; USB Flash Drives and email, to name a few. These items are easily accessible for those attempting to breach security. Workers of the healthcare area have complet...
... of potential threats such as unauthorized access of the patient information. Health care leaders must always remind their employees that casual review for personal interest of patients ' protected health information is unacceptable and against the law just like what happened in the UCLA health systems case (Fiske, 2011). Health care organizations need clear policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations. Through policies and procedures, entities covered under HIPAA must reasonably restrict access to patient information to only those employees with a valid reason to view the information and must sanction any employee who is found to have violated these policies.In addition, it is critical that health care organizations should implement awareness and training programs for all members of its workforce (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013).
The article claims that Cyber attacks against hospitals and doctors have doubled in the past five years. So user can clearly see that there is an increased number of cyberattacks. This shows that any device connect to the internet is not reliable and is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Ransomware attacks can be devastating for databases. The article claims that after the attack user have to make sure to disinfect after this event
In today’s society technology is used for everything. With the invention of computers and the internet this open doors to the cyber world. Today you can do almost anything without having to leave your home. The internet gives us the opportunity of shopping online, ordering food online, working from home and video chatting with friends and family across the world. Everyone has a computer and internet access in their homes. While the internet is really convenient it also opens doors for cybercrimes, loss of privacy and the need for computer security.
Different authors have reviewed the cyber terrorism from different angles. Most of them have focused on the aims and objectives which terrorist wants to accomplish through cyber warfare. Moreover they have stressed over the need to the measures taken to combat cyber-attacks by terrorists.
Andrew Massung Mr. Wyse ENC 1101 15 October 2015 Cyber Warfare: the New Frontier Since the beginning of time, mankind has waged war against each other. Over the years, warfare has evolved, from fighting with sticks and stones to using gunpowder and launching missiles. The newest, and possibly most destructive, type of warfare is cyber warfare. Cyber warfare has the potential to be more devastating than nuclear warfare.
Cybercrime refers to all forms of crime conducted through a computer or a mobile device using computer networks. It is thus the use of a computer with the aim of intercepting and manipulating content, disrupting communication, stealing or generally destroying others’ information or hardware through a network. Although cybercrime is a worldwide problem and affects both small and big companies, small companies are affected more from the dangers of cybercrime. The rapid advancement in technology is causing tremendous problems to businesses in terms of more sophisticated cyber-attacks. This project is interesting and beneficial because it enlightens one on the dangers of cybercrime, thus preparing individuals to know how to prevent attacks while online, how to reduce the effects of a cyber-attack and how to prevent future