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 first security breach case is of Affinity Health Plan. A managed care plan company based in New York, has agreed to pay federal regulators $1.2 million to settle a 2010 incident that affected 344,557 individuals whose data was discovered on the hard drives of copy machines that had been returned to a leasing company. And while security experts say most organizations are more aware today than in 2010 about the data privacy and security risks posed by equipment such as copiers, printers, and fax machines, this settlement puts the risks in perspective (hhs.gov, 2013).
At the center of the agreement was a breach reported by Affinity to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights on April 15, 2010. Affinity discovered the breach after it was informed by a representative of CBS Evening News that, as part of an investigatory story, CBS had purchased four copy machines from a company that had leased them to four different organizations, including Affinity. CBS hired a firm to analyze what was on their hard drives, discovering that the cop...
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Health Security, 2013. Retreived May 23, 2014 from http://healthitsecurity.com/2013/08/14/ocr-affinity-health-plan-reach-hipaa-violation-agreement/ Huffington Post, 2012. Retreived from May 25, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/barnes-noble-credit-card-hacked-_n_2007585.html HIPAA, 2014. HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program: United States
Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/audit/index.html CBS News, 2010. Retreived May 22, 2014 from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/article/company-fined- leaving-electronic-health-data-hard-drive-leased-photocopier Privacy Law, 2013. Retrieved May 22, 2014 from
http://privacylaw.proskauer.com/2013/08/articles/identity-theft/a-1-2-million-photocopier-mistake-health-plan-settles-with-hhs-in-hipaa-breach-case/
Phiprivacy.net. (n.d.). Incidents Involving Patient or Health-Related Data [Pdf file of privacy breach articles for 2008]. Retrieved from http://www.phiprivacy.net/MedicalPrivacy/Chronology_2008.pdf
Schmeida, M. (2005). HIPAA of 1996: Just an Incremental Step in Reshaping Government. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from American Nursing Association Web Site: http://www.nursingworld.org
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.
Identity theft has always been in the back of my mind whenever I use my debit card but I wasn’t too concerned about my health information until I learned about HIPAA. It is a very important set of rules and standards that protects our privacy.
Issa utilizes statistics to suggest ideas. He says, “The Office of Personnel Management’s security breach resulted in the theft of 22 million Americans’ information, including fingerprints, Social Security numbers, addresses, employment history, and financial records” (Issa). Issa also adds that, “The Internal Revenue Service’s hack left as many as 334,000 taxpayers accounts compromised‑though just this week, the IRS revised that number to o...
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.
Security problems generally involve a leak of information because of the type of technology being used in clinical and online practice, such as computers, mobile devices (e.g., cell phones or tablets), email, voicemail, fax machines, electronic records on large servers, and the Internet when administering psychological services online. Regrettably, protection of confidentiality has yet to catch up with the majority of these technological advancements. Some of the primary threats to the security of confidentially information originates from things like web or email viruses, online hackers looking to access information, flaws in software or firewalls, damage or malfunction to the technology itself, and user error (Regueiro et al.,
In the modern era, the use of computer technology is very important. Back in the day people only used handwriting on the pieces of paper to save all documents, either in general documents or medical records. Now this medical field is using a computer to kept all medical records or other personnel info. Patient's records may be maintained on databases, so that quick searches can be made. But, even if the computer is very important, the facility must remain always in control all the information they store in a computer. This is because to avoid individuals who do not have a right to the patient's information.
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...
...entially and securely. Through following the ethical principles of nonmaleficence and fidelity a patient’s privacy and wellbeing can be maintain simultaneously. Even though privacy issues such as proper email and password sharing still arise we as nurses should still be advocates for promoting patient’s privacy and confidentiality. We as nurses have power of influence through various nursing organizations such as the ANA, and because of breaches in security opportunities have been made available for advancement in nursing informatics with a special concentration in cyber security. As health care professionals’ privacy, confidentiality and security are important elements that should not be violated. As our society continues to advance in technology, we as nurses should also be in a mindset of advancement to better serve and protect our patient’s privacy and wellbeing.
In this case, a large health services organization (HSO) in Florida, that has a world-renowned AIDS treatment center had information breach of 4,000 HIV+ patient records, and the list was sent to newspapers, magazines, and the internet. Consequently, this issue was featured in every media vehicle in the world and as CEO, you are requested by the board of trustees to come up a better management information system (MIS) to resolve all information security issues or you will face termination. After hiring an undercover computer security consultant to help determine where the security leak came from, she quickly identifies numerous breaches in computer security and provides a report with the issues identified. The report furnished by the consultant revealed that facility had major problems with the MIS and the staff. In order to determine how to address the issues, the CEO must first answer the following questions: what law is being violated by the employees, why was this law enacted, what are the penalties for such violations, what are the penalties for sharing celebrity information, and should he be updating his resume and looking for another job (Buchbinder, 378).
The days of paper patient health care records are fast becoming a historic dinosaur. There are over 160 million Americans utilizing the internet for Health information and two-thirds are those are physicians and other health care workers who rely on a SSL or VPN to transmit patient health information (DeTora & Linkon, 2009). In addition, the new age of technological savvy patients want access to their health information, desire real time communication with their providers (i.e. patient portals) by providing virtual communication from scheduling appointments, refill prescriptions, and on-line bill payments. However, HealthCare Professionals must address the issue on how to provide secure access.
Privacy is an important security requirement that concerns patients participating in electronic processes. Not giving patients control over their private data might result in patients withholding or trying to delete sensitive medical information from their EHRs in order to reserve their privacy (Alhaqbani, 2010). According to a recent survey among 12,000 people, most Americans don’t trust the security of health information technology. In the survey conducted in September of 2016, found that for consumers who engaged with health information technology at a hospital or physician practice in the last year, 57 percent were skeptical of its overall benefit (M, 2017). As a result, 87 percent are unwilling to share all of their medical information (M, 2017). The survey noted that most of the respondents were concerned that their personal health information is being shared with retailers, and the government or employees
The first federally prosecuted case of a computer crime occurred in October of 1966 when a consultant, Milo Arthur Bennett, hired by Minneapolis bank to program and maintain its computer systems was caught changing the bank’s checking account program. He changed the program so that it did not alert the bank of overdraft charges in his account. Mr. Bennett was found guilty of embezzlement and this began the problem of computer crimes and thus the need to define them and create laws to punish them.
Having a background in Information Technology and network security, I find the concept of contingency plans to be very intriguing. In the health care field, data is especially sensitive as it contains all personal patient information. Being that this sensitive data is widespread throughout the health care system; contingency plans prove to be an ideal asset to the field. They provide the security which is undoubtedly needed in order to maintain the integrity of the data. Additionally they aid in sustaining patient satisfaction, as well as overall quality of care.