Health Information Management – How to Protect Patient Data?

When it comes to healthcare institutes and businesses, patient data is of prime importance. It not only plays a key role in identifying the patient but also helps them diagnose better. Without proper methods to manage personal information and medical records, doctors and health personnel would not be able to effectively treat individuals. Where sensitive patient data offers benefits, it has a number of challenges as well. If the information is not handled properly, it can cause more harm than providing ease. 

Why is Patient Data at Risk?

The personally identifiable information (PII) of patients is always on the verge of potential cybercrime. Since the medical profile of a person gives as much detail as possible about an individual, fraudsters try to exploit it by stealing health records. If patient data is compromised it has two setbacks: 

(i) The individual who is a victim of medical identity theft is at the risk of losing their health insurance and other medical benefits. 

(ii) Organizations that fail to protect their patients’ data are liable to non-compliance penalties under healthcare rules and regulations. 

What’s the Solution?

In order to ensure better protection of the patient’s data and their privacy in information sharing, a health information management (HIM) system is necessary. HIM systems are run by healthcare professionals which organize patient data into groups. This helps employees and medical staff to properly follow procedures that are essential to protect patient data. Below are three ways how HIM workers protect the PII of patients: 

Complying with HIPAA

HIM professionals practice HIPAA across medical institutes for better flow of health information. The HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is the official state law in the US that is concerned about protecting the privacy and security of patient data. The federal healthcare law lists guidelines on how to safeguard electronic health records and how to share them with other medical affiliates.

Failure to comply with HIPAA means that patient data is at risk of being exposed to fraudsters. Therefore, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) puts heft fines and penalties in case of non-compliance with the regulation. This ensures all HIM systems practice the law to make sure their patients’ data is kept as safe as possible.

Fighting External Threats

Cyberattacks are a growing concern, especially in this age of digitization, and the healthcare sector is no exception. The Becker’s Hospital Review in a case study shows that healthcare data breaches make a total of around $5.6 billion every year. Another research by TrapX, a cybersecurity firm, states that a 63% increase in cyberattacks was observed from 2015 to 2016, with the top 10 incidents accounting for more than 12 million records of patient data. Some of the most common ways fraudsters steal the medical identity of patients are listed below:

Phishing Attacks: Often sent by email, phone call, or text message, phishing attacks intend to steal the personal information of individuals so that fraudsters can use it to seek benefits.

Malware: A malicious software is inserted into the healthcare system which corrupts files and steals sensitive information. 

Ransomware: Similar to malware, ransomware is created with the purpose of infecting the system but prompts a ransom in exchange for sensitive information. 

Health Information Management (HIM) systems keep an eye on these external threats to make sure the privacy and integrity of sensitive patient data are not compromised. 

Practicing Global Standards

Global regulatory authorities in the healthcare sector have issued rules and regulations needed to minimize medical identity theft. A solution built on Know Your Patient (KYP) standards incorporates all these guidelines in order to ensure HIM professionals are equipped with state-of-the-art healthcare tools.