EHR Security and Privacy Issues Are Failing Us

Electronic Health Details (EHR) software is rapidly being utilized in the healthcare industry to combine and maintain patient records. Because they have yet to invest in EHR software, several clinics have expressed worries about security and privacy breaches of patients' personal information. Records are more likely to be corrupted in practices that do not use EHR.

Underlining Concerns and challenges

As a result, several nations are modernizing their healthcare systems through the use of information technology. The use of IT has assisted individuals in improving their care experience, improving population health, and lowering health care costs.

The current advancements in information technology have resulted in digitalized health records, which have created new or enhanced methods for successfully collecting, processing, storing, consulting, and sharing health information. Digitized health information is more portable and may be shared throughout health care institutions; it is also much more accessible to public health officials conducting health surveys and developing policies, as well as to patients.

So far, the majority of the literature has shown that a digitalized system has a favorable impact on healthcare outcomes. However, these digitalized health records subject health records to information technology security breaches. Potential users of health information technology are concerned about information technology security and privacy, which undermines trust in electronic health records.

This lack of confidence among health care providers and patients may make the adoption of electronic health records unwelcome, endangering the importance of information technology. This can lead to inadequate healthcare delivery as well as ineffective public health monitoring or health research in the future.

How do Patients Gain Access to EHRs?

Patients have various rights regarding their electronic medical records under HIPAA. According to the directive, patients may:

1. Request a copy of their medical records or acquire access to them.

2. Request that any typographical mistakes or erroneous information be corrected.

3. Receive notifications on how medical records are being used and who has access to them.

4. Choose a mode of communication with the healthcare practitioner.

5. If an unauthorized user has access to any medical information, you will be notified.

6. If you suspect a healthcare provider of violating your rights, file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights.

HIPAA and the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights

Mr Pyles points out that the Consumer Privacy Bill of Protections excludes consumers whose health information is protected by HIPAA while granting more privacy rights to patients whose health information is not protected by HIPAA. He cites a year-long study conducted by ANSI and others that exposed HIPAA's "deficiencies," such as the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services never intended the HIPAA Privacy Rule to serve as a "best practices" standard for privacy protection.

5 Ways to improve patient security in EHR/EMR systems

1. COMPLIANCE WITH HIPAA/HITECH: HIPAA and HITECH regulations govern the protection of sensitive information.

2. AUDIENCE TRAILS: Audit trails track and record where, when, and who visited the system automatically.

3. ENCRYPTION OF DATA: Data encryption restricts access to sensitive data to only authorized individuals and safeguards against data breaches.

4. PROTECTION OF PASSWORDS: EHRs include lockouts, required resets at regular intervals, security questions, and two-factor authentication in addition to alpha-numeric passwords.

5. CERTIFIED BY THE ONC-ATCB: Based on a set of 400 criteria, the Office of the National Coordinator - Authorized Testing and Certification Body only certifies EHRs that are interoperable, functional, and secure.

Concluding Thoughts

Various EHR privacy and security problems are unlikely to disappear entirely from healthcare professionals' agendas. They are the growing pains of transitioning from a paper standard to a digital one.

Human error, access permission violations, outdated authorization procedures, hacking, and ransomware are all examples of reasons that might jeopardize data privacy in EHRs. However, if security solutions in EHR development are designed with competence, all hazards are far from lethal.

Reference and further information:

Privacy-preserving EHR system using attribute-based infrastructure https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1866835.1866845

Security and Privacy in eHealth https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6720676

Rehab Software and EHR https://www.thehealthscore.com/product/

Advances and Current State of the Security and Privacy in Electronic Health Records: Survey from a Social Perspective https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10916-011-9779-x

Security and Privacy Issues In eHealthcare Systems https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Esraa-Zriqat/publication/308874542_Security_and_Privacy_Issues_In_eHealthcare_Systems_Towards_Trusted_Services/links/57f3ced308ae91deaa5acb1d/Security-and-Privacy-Issues-In-eHealthcare-Systems-Towards-Trusted-Services.pdf