Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Risk Assessment & Security Audit
Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Risk Assessment & Security Audit
Risk assessment and threat assessment should go hand-in-hand.The outcome of the risk assessment and threat assessment should provide recommendations that maximize the protection of confidentiality, integrity and availability while still providing functionality and usability. The purpose of a risk assessment is to ensure sensitive data and valuable assets are protected. An organization should take a hard look at who has access to sensitive data and if those accesses are required. The security audit should monitor the companies systems and users to detect illicit activity.The security audit should
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Third, it places restrictions on how agencies can share an individual's data with other people and companies. Fourth and finally, it lets individuals sue the government for violating its provisions," (Apollo Group, 2013).
There are three major ethical priorities for electronic health records: privacy and confidentiality, security, and data integrity and availability. The key to preserving confidentiality is making sure that only authorized individuals have access to information. The process of controlling access begins with authorizing users. The user’s access is based on pre-established, role-based privileges. Hence, designating user privileges is a critical aspect of medical record security: all users have access to the information they need to fulfill their roles and responsibilities, and they must know that they are accountable for use or misuse of the information they view and change.
Security Management Effectiveness
PFCH has had a little privacy compliance issues in the past, but the issues were investigated and handled quickly. The major concern for the hospital is the loss of the CD's containing patient medical information and medical errors. This could have been avoided with additional security measures in place. At first glance, the company seems very effective in their ability to secure and protect the information. The company has asked for proof of their effectiveness and the
There are many essential features found in a heath information system that are designed to protect patient privacy. For starters, at this candidate’s organization, every login is specific to an individual nurse and the
There are many problems that could arise from a patient’s information landing into the hands of a stranger, a boss, an enemy, or any other individual that does not have permission to view that information.
This affects the delivery of healthcare in that the information needed by providers, physicians, medical staff, and the patients themselves, may not be delivered correctly, timely, and of course securely. Various systems will be discussed and each how they affect healthcare delivery, in particular Electronic Health Record (EHR), Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) (also sometimes referred to as Computerized Provider Order Entry).
The electronic protected health information (ePHI) gets electronically stored and collected in hard copy form as they secure the information. According to the U.S. Department of health and Human Service Office for Civil Rights (OCR) report, millions of people have been impacted by HIPAA data breaches. Hence, healthcare organizations must protect and secure personal health data now more than ever because of the threats that are associated with information. This would substantially increase the protection of healthcare from cyber threats. Moreover, these people are extremely diverse and the cleverness of their data information must be organized within hospitals. Medical records are in high demand because of the sophistication of the records.
Dr. Kemp defines an electronic medical record (EMR) as “the digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patients ' medical history from one practice” (Kemp, 2014). He also differentiates between the use of the term electronic medical record (EMR) and electronic health record (EHR). An EHR is more “comprehensive” than an EMR. It allows for data sharing across multiple practices. The use of both EMRs and EHRs has gained in notoriety in the last decade. And it appears that the use of these two terms is interchangeable. The idea of data sharing and having one’s health records at the click of a button is highly appealing. While there are several ethical implications to explore when dealing with computerized charting, the objective for this research review will focus primarily on three interesting concepts: autonomy, finance, and privacy, as it relates to information technology.
As head of a team working on an Electronic Health Record (EHR) project, it is important to remember that at any moment, a member of the team could find himself with unauthorized access to sensible information. It is capital that we remain always in compliance with the Privacy Rule (Privacy and Security, 45 CFR pt 164, 2006), therefore, a policies and procedures to avoid such unwanted occurrences must be put in place. Here is a policy appropriate to the given short scenario.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was intricately designed to provide not only a more efficient health care system but also as a protection for private patient information and data. With the widespread use of technology and computers in hospitals, the availability of patient information, their health portfolio, and their previous care has greatly improved the efficiency of health care. However, this also means that there is greater leeway for that information to be lost and/or shared without patients consent.
Although the EHR is still in a transitional state, this major shift that electronic medical records are taking is bringing many concerns to the table. Two concerns at the top of the list are privacy and standardization issues. In 1996, U.S. Congress enacted a non-for-profit organization called Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This law establishes national standards for privacy and security of health information. HIPAA deals with information standards, data integrity, confidentiality, accessing and handling your medical information. They also were designed to guarantee transferred information be protected from one facility to the next (Meridan, 2007). But even with the HIPAA privacy rules, they too have their shortcomings. HIPAA can’t fully safeguard the limitations of who’s accessible to your information. A short stay at your local
4.2 Requirements: The “patient-centric” can be achieved PHR sharing a core requirement is that each patient can control who are authorized to access to their own PHR documents. The user controlled read/write access and revocation are the core security objectives for electronic health record system. The security and performance requirements are as follows:
Patient portals are designed to allow the patient to see parts of the medical record. However, the majority of portals do not push the entire medical record into the portal. The reasons for this decision vary from system to system. There are two reason, while valid, do not allow the patient to become a full participant in healthcare. The first is security and access. Security pertains to mobile and web based use and how to protect the information. Access pertains to how the information is accessed and whom. The second is medical information sensitivity. This can become complicated and, in some cases, cause mistrust from the patient .The patient has the
In a world full of electronics it would only seem logical to have health records electronic. Not only are medical records efficient, reliable, and quick to access, new technology allow patients to access their own personal medical records with a simple to use login and password. “People are asking whether any kind of electronic records can be made safe. If one is looking for a 100% privacy guarantee, the answer is no”(Thede, 2010). At my hospital, upon every admission we ask the patient for a password for friends and family to have to have if they would like an update on the patient 's condition. We do not let visitors come up and see the patient without the patient 's consent. In doing these things, we help to ensure the safety and protection of the patient 's health information and privacy.
For us as security managers to begin to dissect the threat we must go back to the Risk and threat assessment as stated in (Risk and Security management 2008) the threat assessment specifically defines the scope, nature and impacts of risk the company may face during the life span of the operation. It should be written in the context of both the risk environment and the company’s risk tolerences, as these will define what risks are considered noteworthy and which fall within acceptable ranges for a project or organization. The Security Director should not assume that the initial threat assessment will be read in conjunction with the intelligence review. Therefore the key elements from the intelligence review should be included (if) to clarify the environment in which the organization will operate. The threat assessment can be conducted in isolation of a site visit, although specific risks associated with the project will be difficult to ascertain without firsthand knowledge through an actual visit. Secondary threat assessment may be done concurrently with, or as part of the security survey to provide the final specifics for the organization itself, as opposed to the more overarching initial assessment.
In today’s health care industry providing quality patient care and avoiding harm are the foundations of ethical practices. However, many health care professionals are not meeting the guidelines or expectations of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) or obeying the organizations code of ethics policies, especially with the use of electronic medical records (EMR). Many patients fear that their personal health information (PHI) will be disclosed by hackers or unauthorized users. According to Carel (2010) “ethical concerns shroud the
In light of available security measures and their widespread acceptance within the information security community, there is no excuse for healthcare organizations to fail in fulfilling their duty to protect personal patient information. Guaranteeing the confidentiality and privacy of data in healthcare information is crucial in safeguarding the data of patients as there should be a legal responsibility to protect medical records from unauthorized access.
This has been accepted as a method to improve the quality and delivery of care, according to AHIMA’s Information Governance Principles for Healthcare. Data integrity is critical to meeting these expectations which includes privacy prevention through the use of standards and procedures. However, the smallest error transmitting patient’s data will have a domino effect in an electronic environment that may present a risk that can be magnified as the data transmits further downstream to data sets, interfaced systems and or decision support systems. We live in a world that consistently progresses into new technology, but New Technology Creates New Privacy, Security Challenges (Gordon, 2015). Unfortunately, this will also include threats and issues with maintaining privacy issues with patient’s data. Some of the threating issues that are posing to be problematic is poor documentation, inaccurate data, insufficient communication, and of course the copy and paste functionality. FIFTH SLIDE These unsafe methods can result in errors and possibly fatal incidents for the patient. In addition, risky measures can have an unfavorable effect on securing the privacy of the patient’s record. Anything less that may have an impact on the patient’s quality of care, their rights, the healthcare professionals and current work practices. There are also legal responsibilities, because the security of a patient’s records is vital?