The Health It Security Concerns

Living in the age of technology, individuals today have more access to information than ever before. Information has been the pivotal component in the evolution of human civilization. The significant improvement in information sharing within our world has been mainly due to our ability to communicate through intricate design, gestures and languages. This growth is attributable to knowledge sharing and resource utilization. Information has always been our greatest tool and as we move to incorporate IT in healthcare, we must not look past concerns such as the privacy and confidentiality of patient information.

Health IT has effectively changed the care structure around the globe. EMR driven information exchange is enabling better coordination within the care continuum, resulting in improved response times and better quality of care. However, while technology has enhanced the responsiveness of clinicians, it has also increased their responsibility. Patients entrust physicians with the task of safeguarding their personal health information and any breech of this trust in not only unlawful but unethical.

EHRs are changing the game. With digitized health data, patient information safety is not limited to ensuring physical controls. says an information security analyst.

With the government eying a Nationwide Health Information Exchange Network, it is imperative for practices to establish controls and ensure the safety of sensitive patient information. There are significant potential risks involved with third party interaction. While the government has already established rules for health information exchange, by establishing governing bodies such as HIPPA. Development in Health Information Exchange (HIE) is prompting new standards along with a principle based approach governing the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in health information exchange.

The medical community is increasingly looking towards the cloud based platform to ensure HIPPA compliant backup and storage. Cloud EHR transfers the responsibility of secure information exchange to a third party, limiting the providers liability. However, this does not exempt the physician from ensuring a safe and secure working environment within the practice. After all, health information exchange is not limited to EMRs. Most physicians often use unsecure platforms to share patient health information, most commonly via text messaging (SMS). Text messaging in not HIPPA compliant and physicians must realize the importance of safeguarding information exchanged through such mediums. While using de-indentified patient health information is a better practice, physicians should move towards safer platforms altogether. The introduction of patient portals has meant that there are multiple health IT companies providing a secure health information exchange platform, today.

Most health IT experts fear that physician negligence would lead to major lawsuits, affecting the healthcare industry in a negative way. John Lynn from healthcarescene.com believes that any lawsuits against providers for unsecure information exchange would serve as a warning for others and lead to a widespread adoption of secure information exchange platforms.