Health Care
During the last meeting, many ideas were shared about emerging trends and information technology (IT) tools used in health care, such as e-mail between the patient and provider, e-prescribing, and computerized physician order entry (CPOE). A department supervisor has asked you to provide a brief summary about information technology tools so that he can share it with his staff. Write a paper of 1–2 pages, not including the title and reference pages, that discusses the following:
Select 2 security measures that are needed to protect the patient health record (PHI), such as encryption, e-prescribing guidelines, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines, and describe how these measures are used to protect patient health records.
Be sure to support your information by citing at least 2 references using APA format.
Please submit your assignment.
For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.
ANSWER
Protecting Health Records
In recent years, the use of technology in healthcare institutions has emerged to be standard in the medical system. It is significant to effectively safeguard patient information because of the increasing use of medical software and heightened value of healthcare information. Even though safety has been one of the most significant concerns about healthcare information technology, immense efforts have been made to enhance the protection of essential information. The paper digs into some of the best security measures for protecting health information.
Security Measures
Data encryption is an important measure when information is changed into the encoded and unreadable text to make the data inaccessible minus a decryption key. Encryption assists in safeguarding health information when transferred from one end to the other. Patient health information has recently become a target to hackers; therefore, this information must be protected from unwanted access. In big institutions that allow doctors to use tablets and other smart devices, encryption is a significant way of keeping data safe.
Safeguarding the wireless networks and messaging systems is still essential in keeping health records secure. When a health institution offers free WiFi to patients and a messaging system, the data also gets exposed to unwanted attacks. Therefore, it is an excellent step to create automated procedures that update devices and users (Hedges, 2018). This helps ensure that ex-workers do not continue having access and that the new technology is not left unprotected. It is equally important to keep the system current with any software updates that might arise. Complying with HIPAA is not enough because more other steps are similarly needed to comply with these standards. Encrypting health records and other data and securing devices are the best steps in protecting health institutions against a breach.
References
Hedges, L. (2018, April 26). 4 EHR Security Measures Designed to Protect Your Patients’ Privacy. Retrieved from https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/ehr-security-measures/
