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EHR Security: Risks, Benefits and Measures

Published on:
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15 min read

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have evolved significantly since their inception. The concept of electronic medical records began to take shape in the 1960s and 1970s, but it wasn't until the early 2000s that EHR systems became more widely adopted in healthcare settings. The demand for better treatment for patients and the effectiveness of the medical service were major factors in the trend for EHR adoption. EHRs are digital records of patients' entire medical histories that are kept up-to-date by healthcare professionals. With EHR, a person's official medical record can be shared between various authorities and facilities. It includes a wide array of information, such as demographics, medical history, medications, allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, and radiology images, in addition to contact details and details on visits to medical specialists. Unlike conventional paper records, EHRs allow for seamless sharing across various healthcare institutions, facilitating effective and coordinated patient care. The records contain information about the family's medical history, allergies, vital indicators, and allergies, as well as details about insurance, hospitalizations, illnesses, and surgeries.

The primary purpose of EHRs is to enhance the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery. They serve to provide accurate and up-to-date patient information at the point of care. They facilitate communication among healthcare providers. EHR improves patient safety by reducing errors associated with paper records. It enables better management of chronic diseases through integrated data analysis. The next development in healthcare that has the potential to improve patient-clinician relationships is electronic health records or EHRs. Because of the data's immediacy and accessibility, providers will be able to make better decisions and deliver better care. The following topics are going to be covered in this article.

  • What is EHR Security?

  • What Are the Risks of Using Electronic Health Records (EHR) in Patient Care?

  • How Does HIPAA Influence the Security and Privacy of EHR?

  • What Are Common Security Concerns in EHR Systems?

  • What Are the Consequences of Security Breaches in EHR Systems?

  • How Can Patient Information Security in EHRs Be Enhanced?

  • Who Sets Up Security Measures in EHR and Practice Management Programs?

  • Can EHRs Be Accessed via Mobile Devices?

  • What Are the Advantages of EHR Security?

  • What Are the Disadvantages of EHR Security?

  • How Frequently Should Passwords Be Changed in EHR Systems?

  • What Are HIPAA Compliance Requirements for Storing EHRs?

  • Which Medical Records Are Most Vulnerable to Unauthorized Access?

  • How Does HIPAA Regulate EHRs and EMRs?

  • Why Are Privacy and Security Essential in Healthcare Information Systems?

  • What Safeguards Protect Digital Patient Records?

  • What Measures Help Prevent Identity Theft in Medical Records?

  • Are There Risks to Storing EHRs on Cloud-Based Systems?

What is EHR Security?​

An electronic health record (EHR), a computerized store of that data, tracks a patient's entire medical history in real-time. All information, including diagnoses, medical history, prescriptions, vaccinations, X-rays, laboratory findings, and clinical notes, automatically updates when a doctor or provider accesses a patient's electronic health record (EHR). Medical professionals can safely and effectively access and update patient data through the electronic management and storage of EHRs, unlike paper-based records. EHR systems give medical staff members a single platform to work together, communicate, and decide on patient care. The EHR can enhance patient care by improving the precision and lucidity of medical records, thereby reducing the frequency of medical errors. They can make health information accessible, minimize test duplication, cut down on treatment delays, and empower patients with the knowledge they need to make better decisions. Key elements of EHR include data encryption, user authentication, and audit controls. Maintaining robust EHR security is crucial for several reasons.

  • Patient Privacy: EHRs contain highly sensitive personal health information, which means they are prime targets for cyberattacks. Protecting this data is essential to upholding patient confidentiality and trust in healthcare cybersecurity systems.

  • Compliance with Regulations: Healthcare organizations must comply with legal standards such as HIPAA, which mandates specific security measures to protect electronic health information. Destruction of reliability and severe consequences may result from noncompliance.

  • Preventing Data Breaches: Effective EHR security minimizes the risk of data breaches, which can have devastating consequences for both patients and healthcare providers, including financial losses and reputational damage.

  • Enhancing Healthcare Delivery: Secure EHR systems enable healthcare providers to access accurate patient information quickly, improving clinical decision-making and overall patient care quality.

What Are the Risks of Using Electronic Health Records (EHR) in Patient Care?​

EHR risk factors mainly stem from a variety of variables, such as problems with users, budgetary concerns, and design defects that make it difficult to use EHRs as a useful tool for providing healthcare services. Because they contain protected health information and potentially generate revenue on the dark web or black market, EHRs are useful to cybercriminals. Names, dates, any contact information, including phone/fax numbers and email addresses, social security numbers, account numbers, health plan numbers, medical record numbers, certificate/license numbers, license plates, device IDs and serial numbers, IP addresses, photographs, and biometric identifiers like fingerprints and retinal scans are examples of protected health information. More information is available to criminals from these information categories than from any other compromised record. Cybercriminals utilize this information for a variety of purposes, including extortion, fraud, identity theft, data laundering, hacktivists, promoting political agendas, and sabotage. The following are common risks of using EHR.

  • Concerns about privacy or security

  • Data loss or destruction

  • Inaccurate transmission from paper to computer

  • Potentially susceptible to hacking

  • Reason for treatment error

Healthcare providers are calling for more prepared EHR systems as the use of EHRs increases. Vendors are increasingly using off-the-shelf operating systems and comparable third-party software to satisfy this demand. Utilizing these on the shelf products increases the risk of collateral harm from security breaches. Healthcare executives should think about the following tactics to improve their organization's cyber posture;

  • Assess risk prior to an attack

  • Utilize VPN with multi factor authentication (MFA)

  • Create an endpoint hardening plan;

  • Implement endpoint detection and response (EDR)

  • Safeguard emails and patient medical records

  • Work with cyber threat hunters

  • Practice red team/blue team exercises

  • Go beyond prevention

How Does HIPAA Influence the Security and Privacy of EHR?​

HIPAA, is short for The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. In 1996, the federal legislature passed HIPAA, a statute that protects the confidentiality and integrity of patient health data. This implies that your health information, whether stored on paper or in an electronic format, must remain confidential and safe. The majority of healthcare professionals now use electronic health records (EHR) instead of traditional paper records. Electronic information storage has many advantages, but there are many potential security and privacy risks. Healthcare businesses must use a range of security measures, such as passwords, PINs, encryptions, and login and change audit reports, to safeguard patient health information in order to comply with HIPAA. HIPAA primarily affects electronic health records (EHRs) by establishing stringent regulations to ensure patient safety and data security. Medical service providers and associations are required by HIPAA to adhere to strict guidelines for handling, storing, and sharing electronic health information. Medical care providers must implement administrative, physical, and specialized safeguards to protect electronic PHI (ePHI) from unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction in accordance with HIPAA's Security Decision. This includes safeguards like encryption, access restrictions, and standard risk assessments.

A nationwide set of basic security requirements is established by the HIPAA Security Rule to safeguard all electronic health information (ePHI) created, received, maintained, or transmitted by a Covered Entity (CE) or Business Associate (BA). The technical, administrative, and physical security measures that CEs and BAs must use to protect ePHI are outlined in the Security Rule. Healthcare companies must adhere to the following Security Rule's obligations and protections:

  • Administrative safeguards: These are policies, processes, and administrative measures designed to stop, identify, contain, and fix security breaches. They include choosing, creating, putting into practice, and maintaining security procedures to safeguard ePHI and to control employee behavior about its protection. Performing a security risk analysis that finds and evaluates threats to ePHI and then putting security measures in place to lessen those threats is a crucial necessity.

  • Physical Safeguards: These are the tangible methods, rules, and practices that secure electronic information systems, as well as associated structures and machinery, from environmental threats and illegal access. These protections include technology and the policies and procedures for its use that protect ePHI and control access to it.

  • Organizational requirements: According to these requirements, a CE must enter into agreements or contracts with BAs that will have access to the CE's electronic health information. The standards offer the precise requirements needed for written agreements or contracts.

  • Policies and Procedures: In order to adhere to the Security Rule's requirements, a CE must implement adequate and reasonable policies and procedures. Written security policies and procedures, along with written records of necessary actions, activities, or assessments, must be maintained by a CE for a period of six years after their inception or the last effective date, whichever comes first. A CE is required to examine and update its documentation on a regular basis in response to organizational or environmental changes that impact ePHI security.

What Are Common Security Concerns in EHR Systems?​

Hackers may find it simpler to breach a network's security when encryption is implemented. Security analytics tools find it much harder to track and identify breaches and targeted attacks when encryption is in place. In order to monitor encrypted traffic and avoid blind spots, which allow hackers to take advantage of the encryption network, hospitals, and other medical facilities need to implement extra security measures beyond encryption. Blind spots will become more significant cybersecurity problems as more businesses use encryption, particularly when sensitive data is involved. Healthcare administrators need to be aware of these little-known but extremely dangerous flaws to ensure adequate safeguarding of patient privacy and optimal network security.

Malware has the ability to extract data from websites where consumers are viewing EHRs. Ransomware locks down a user or a system until a predetermined sum of money is paid. Although ransomware is less common than many other forms of malware, its prevalence is predicted to rise as more businesses transfer important and sensitive data to electronic storage. Some file formats on compromised systems are encrypted by more recent ransomware families, which are collectively referred to as crypto-ransomware. In order to obtain a decrypt key, users must pay the ransom using specific internet payment methods.

Malware can potentially cause significant delays in computer processing speed. In a clinical setting where prompt access to information can be crucial to providing the best care possible, this can persist and lead to major issues. Such malware has the potential to completely crash the machine in the worst-case scenario. The practice will not be able to access patient information if all medical records are stored electronically. Additionally, depending on the electronic storage method in use, it could get corrupt.

Another danger is phishing. Password security is more crucial than ever because electronic medical records are becoming more and more common. Phishing techniques are incredibly cunning and can pose as official emails or warnings to trick users into disclosing personal information, including codes or passwords, in order to obtain sensitive data.

Data breaches can occur due to both external attacks and internal mismanagement. Internal breaches may arise from staff inadvertently sharing sensitive information without proper authorization, while external breaches involve hackers gaining unauthorized access to EHR systems. The shift towards cloud-based EHR solutions has introduced new vulnerabilities. While cloud services offer scalability and accessibility, they expose EHR data to risks associated with external access points. EHR systems with inadequate architecture may have unforeseen effects that compromise patient welfare and medical treatment.

What Are the Consequences of Security Breaches in EHR Systems?​

A security breach in the context of Electronic Health Records (EHR) refers to any unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of protected health information (PHI) that is held or transmitted by healthcare organizations. This can occur through various means, including hacking, insider threats, or accidental disclosures. Such breaches compromise the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive patient data, which is protected under regulations like HIPAA and the HITECH Act. Immediate consequences of security breaches in EHR systems are as follows.

  • Data Loss: One of the most direct consequences of a security breach is data loss. This can manifest as the deletion or corruption of patient records, which may disrupt healthcare services and lead to incomplete patient histories. Data loss can hinder clinical decision-making and affect patient care quality.

  • Patient Trust Issues: Trust is fundamental in the healthcare sector. A breach can severely undermine patients' confidence in their healthcare providers' ability to protect their sensitive information. This erosion of trust can lead to patients being less willing to share vital health information, ultimately impacting their care.

  • Potential Identity Theft: EHR systems contain a wealth of personal information, including Social Security numbers, financial details, and medical histories. Cybercriminals often target this data for identity theft, leading to fraudulent activities that can have long-lasting effects on victims' financial and personal lives.

  • Financial Loss: The financial repercussions of a security breach can be substantial for healthcare organizations. Costs associated with breach notification, legal fees, regulatory fines, and increased cybersecurity measures can escalate quickly. For instance, healthcare providers may face penalties under HIPAA for failing to safeguard PHI adequately.

  • Operational Disruptions: Breaches often necessitate significant operational changes, including overhauls in IT infrastructure and employee training programs. These changes can disrupt normal operations and lead to temporary declines in productivity as staff adjust to new protocols.

  • Psychological Impact on Patients: Beyond financial and operational issues, patients may experience anxiety or stress related to potential identity theft or privacy violations. This psychological toll can affect their overall health and willingness to seek care in the future.

How Can Patient Information Security in EHRs Be Enhanced?​

To safeguard EHRs and foster user trust, a variety of security techniques and solutions are available. Providers must create a security-focused culture by teaching staff members about risk factors and how to prevent them, as well as ensuring that they adhere to protocol while exchanging information and granting access to documents. Potential weaknesses in network security that could result in data compromise will be highlighted by a threat assessment. This will assist you in confirming your security program's current level of maturity. Healthcare providers must put in place a method to authenticate users in order to guarantee that only authorized parties have access to confidential information. Features like two-factor authentication and BYOD management will be included in successful identity access management. To guarantee that PHI cannot be read or intercepted while in transit, encryption is essential. Providers can protect PHI and EHRs stored on the network by using internal segmentation firewalls. To make sure that any threats that breach the perimeter cannot jeopardize patients' private information, this isolates private data behind an extra layer of security. As the role of device interoperability in healthcare grows, this will become more significant. Web applications are frequently the target of cybercriminals. Vulnerable apps on patients' mobile devices cannot be used to jeopardize patient data when utilizing an EHR app, thanks to effective application security, like a firewall. Endpoint security gives insight into every device linked to the network and permits segmentation according to their permissions.

Who Sets Up Security Measures in EHR and Practice Management Programs?​

The setup of these security measures is a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders, and they each play a crucial role. The integration of IT professionals, compliance officers, security officers, and healthcare administrators ensures a comprehensive approach to data protection.

  • IT Professionals: They are responsible for implementing and maintaining the technological infrastructure that supports EHR systems. Their duties include configuring secure networks, managing access controls, and ensuring that software updates and patches are applied regularly to mitigate vulnerabilities.

  • Security Officers: They focus on the physical and digital security of health information. They carry out risk evaluations, create and implement safety regulations, and address security issues. They identify potential threats and take measures to protect electronic Protected Health Information, or ePHI.

  • Compliance Officers: They ensure requirements for HIPAA type institutions. They conduct audits, oversee training programs for staff on data privacy, and manage relationships with third-party vendors. Third party following the same requirements is important.

  • Healthcare Administrators: These leaders oversee the overall operations of healthcare facilities, including budgeting for security measures. All departments follow their roles in maintaining data security with their lead. They make IT, compliance, and security teams communicate properly and implement cohesive strategies.

Can EHRs Be Accessed via Mobile Devices?​

Yes, EHRs can be accessed via mobile devices. The increasing prevalence of smartphones and tablets has led to the development of mobile EHR applications. The creation of health applications, particularly for mobile devices, has exploded in the years after the pandemic. In the custom EHR solutions market, this rise has been especially noticeable. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a growing need for these systems, but the worldwide health emergency had sped up this tendency even more. These apps allow healthcare providers to access patient records, order tests, prescribe medications, and communicate with colleagues, all from the convenience of their mobile devices. However, the number of mobile devices being used to store, retrieve, and send electronic health records is growing faster than the devices' security and privacy features.

What Are the Advantages of EHR Security?​

EHRs and the electronic exchange of health information can help you give patients safer, better treatment while making real improvements to your business. Even in the event of incorrect data retrieval, properly classified EHRs remain incomprehensible. The data is useless to criminals since files with encryption demand a special code key to view, unlike paper documents that are accessible to everybody. Cloud-powered EHR systems benefit from a reduced susceptibility to file fraud during transmission, as they encrypt and send files online. Top-notch data security facilities store the actual data, ensuring multiple backups to prevent data loss. IT professionals oversee security measures, automatically updating them to reflect the latest available security measures. Remote backups shield healthcare professionals from the severe destruction of paper records that can occur from fraud, fire, and unforeseen events. Electronic data makes it simple to track who has access to any given file. This capability makes it possible to quickly identify and halt the source of data breaches.

What Are the Disadvantages of EHR Security?​

EHRs have a number of drawbacks as well. EHRs' drawbacks are mostly related to a variety of reasons. These reasons include problems with users, costs, and design defects that make it difficult to use them as a useful tool for providing healthcare services. here are some of the main disadvantages of EHR security.

  • Security and Privacy Concerns: EHR systems are susceptible to hacking, like almost any other computer network nowadays, which means private patient information could end up in the wrong hands. By limiting physical access, digitizing medical records improves security, but it increases the risk of cyberattacks. All digital systems are susceptible to breaches or unintentional leaks, even with strict security safeguards in place. Even while EHR systems are made to be as secure as possible, this danger may still exist, particularly if your infrastructure is inadequate. Digital systems may raise privacy concerns about inappropriate sharing or repurposing of health information. Health information may be exchanged with partners for advertising, health coverage, or studies, contingent upon the health service and its rules. This implies that a patient may not have given their express consent or been aware of the potential uses of their data. In addition, technical issues are more likely to occur with electronic health records, which could lead to unintended mistakes or make it impossible for medical personnel to promptly access vital documents. This could result in therapy being delayed or other unintended consequences brought on by the technical issue.

  • Data Consistency: Electronic health records must be updated instantly following every patient visit or whenever information changes due to their instantaneous nature. If they don't, other medical professionals would be forced to use erroneous information to decide on suitable treatment plans.

  • Deployment and Support: Purchasing an EHR can be expensive, and operations may be slowed down during the deployment phase. You should think about how technical issues would affect your task. Will you be able to get quick tech support when you need to troubleshoot or access records offline? To keep the system ready for new technology needs and policy changes, such as new HIPAA standards, EHRs also need regular updates and training.

  • Transition and training cost: Digitized health records can streamline healthcare procedures and lower expenses over time. But the initial cost may be substantial when switching from traditional documentation to an electronic healthcare system. Interoperability problems might be directly caused by the expenses of upgrading to a new electronic system. Every employee in a medical facility needs to receive training on how to safely use electronic health records. Effective training is essential for maintaining daily operations as well as for ensuring error-free compliance with pertinent security, privacy, and healthcare standards.

  • Patient Fears: Patients may misunderstand a file entry because electronic health record systems allow them to view their medical information. When the provider isn't present, this could lead to excessive worry or even panic.

  • Malpractice Responsibility: The use of electronic health records raises a number of possible liability concerns. For instance, while switching from a paper-based to a computerized EHR system, medical data may be lost or deleted, which could result in treatment errors. Doctors can be held accountable if they do not access all of the information available to them because they have more access to medical data through EHR.

  • Compliance: Legal compliance must be considered as healthcare institutions manage the transition to digital health records. To guarantee that new systems are implemented in a way that complies with the law, medical institutions must carefully analyze all applicable privacy laws and security standards.

The ability to quickly adhere to consumer privacy rights must be taken into account while implementing a new electronic health records system. This includes being able to accommodate customer requests to see, remove, transfer, or modify any of their personal data, as mandated by laws such as the CCPA, GDPR, and HIPAA.

How Frequently Should Passwords Be Changed in EHR Systems?​

It would be ideal to change this password every sixty or ninety days. For further security, you can change earlier or mandate an access code that is texted to a mobile device or email address. To truly protect your patients' data, provide a security question as well. When logging in for the first time, after being inactive for a while, patients should be required to login back. Passwords should be a minimum of 12 to 15 characters and incorporate caps, lowercase letters, and special characters. Passwords should not be reused. If you do, all of your accounts will be owned by a hacker who manages to get hold of just one. A dictionary word should never be used as a password. If necessary, combine multiples into a passphrase. Common number substitutes should be avoided. They are currently integrated into cracking tools. No matter how strange, a short password should not be employed. Given the speed of modern computers, even complex but short passwords can be easily cracked. The most lengthy passcode you can think of is the most effective defense.

What Are HIPAA Compliance Requirements for Storing EHRs?​

Software that complies with HIPAA does not guarantee compliance with the law because there are numerous behaviors that can lead to privacy and security violations. Yet, HIPAA's primary focus is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI. This includes patient data protection and is accessible only to authorized users. HIPAA compliance means following the Title II section of HIPAA, which is also called Administrative Simplification Provisions. It includes the following HIPAA compliance requirements.

  • Transactions and Code Sets Standard: To file and process insurance claims, healthcare companies must adhere to a standardized electronic data interchange (EDI) system.

  • HIPAA Privacy Regulation: This rule, which is officially called the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, creates nationwide guidelines to safeguard patient health data. A summary is as follows;

    • Privacy manager existence.

    • Documented policies and processes.

    • Employees expertise.

    • Patient's permission

    • PHI protection

    • Procedure for examining and confirming PHI requests.

    • Patient inquiries about PHI access.

    • Inform patients if breach

    • Identifying groups

    • Informing partners

  • HIPAA Security Regulation: Patient data security is governed by the Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). A summary is as follows;

    • Risk analysis for weaknesses

    • Guidelines and protocols for electronic protected health information (ePHI)

    • Restricting ePHI access and keeping encrypted

    • Incident response

    • Education on HIPAA Rules

    • Security Updates

    • Backup plans

    • Make contractors adhere to HIPAA security rules

Because EHR systems standardize data and speed up health data transfer, they have fundamentally altered the way medical data is gathered and used during treatments. To safeguard the data they use, providers must still follow the rules established by HIPAA. According to the HIPAA Security Rule, all healthcare organizations must protect patient healthcare data, whether they retain it in-house or hire a vendor to handle and store their patient records. This is because vendors must also adhere to HIPAA. A BAA must be signed by the healthcare organization and any vendor that is recruited and will have access to, transmit or store PHI.

Which Medical Records Are Most Vulnerable to Unauthorized Access?​

In the context of medical records, vulnerability refers to the susceptibility of sensitive patient information to unauthorized access, which can lead to significant harm or distress. This includes the risk of exposure to physical, emotional, or psychological harm due to the disclosure of sensitive health information. Vulnerable populations, such as those with mental health issues, victims of domestic violence, or individuals lacking decision-making capacity, are particularly at risk. The concept encompasses both the potential for harm from unauthorized access and the inherent challenges these individuals face in protecting their own information. Certain types of medical records are particularly susceptible to unauthorized access due to their sensitive nature.

  • Mental health records often contain diagnoses and treatment details that can lead to stigma or discrimination if disclosed.

  • Information on substance use disorders is highly sensitive and can expose individuals to social and legal repercussions.

  • Documentation related to past abuse or violence is critical for safeguarding but poses a risk if accessed by abusers or others who may exploit this information.

  • Family histories of genetic conditions can have implications not just for the individual but also for family members.

  • Information regarding sexual history or sexually transmitted infections can lead to significant personal and social consequences if exposed

How Does HIPAA Regulate EHRs and EMRs?​

HIPAA contains a number of important regulations that have an immediate effect on EHRs and EMRs.

  • Privacy Rule: This rule sets standards for the protection of PHI. It grants patients rights over their health information, including the right to access their records and control how their information is used. The Privacy Rule applies to all forms of PHI, whether electronic, written, or oral, and mandates that healthcare providers implement safeguards to protect this information from unauthorized access.

  • Security Rule: This rule specifically addresses electronic PHI (ePHI) and outlines the necessary safeguards to ensure its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It requires healthcare organizations to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect ePHI stored in EHRs and EMRs. For example, access controls must be established to limit who can view or modify patient records.

  • Breach Notification Rule: This rule requires covered entities to notify affected individuals and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) following a breach of unsecured PHI. If a breach affects 500 or more individuals, it must be reported to the media.

EHR software's access control systems include cybersecurity and physical safeguards to improve data security. Data owners can use these technologies to control who has access to, edits, and shares information. Access control may differ according to the environment. In extremely secure locations, such as government buildings, access control is mandatory. There are many levels of access privileges, including secret, limited, and confidential. Permissions and information flow can only be managed by administrators. If it is a normal company, it depends on a person's position within the company. While administrative workers may solely deal with finance, doctors may have access to all patient medical records. It is role-based access. Data owners can choose who has access to their information using the discretionary access control paradigm. It gives access just to those who need to know and gives more flexibility. It is riskier, though if permissions are not properly controlled.

Another crucial security element that makes sure data cannot be accessed by anybody without the right decryption keys is encryption. By transforming PHI into a coded format, encryption aids in its protection in the setting of EHRs. Without the required cryptographic keys, encrypted data is useless, even if unauthorized workers manage to access it.

Because they enable practices to keep an eye on who has access to their data, audit logs are crucial for electronic health records that comply with HIPAA. Healthcare providers can promptly identify breaches and guarantee adherence to the HIPAA minimum required standard by creating an audit trail. System-level audit trails record device information, log-on attempts, and successful or unsuccessful access attempts. User actions within an application, such as adding, reading, or removing ePHI records, are tracked and recorded by application audit trails. User audit trails monitor actions taken by the user like commands run or attempts to log in, to confirm compliance with HIPAA security regulations.

Why Are Privacy and Security Essential in Healthcare Information Systems?​

Privacy and security are foundational to establishing trust between patients and healthcare providers. When patients feel confident that their sensitive health information is protected, they are more likely to share complete and accurate details necessary for effective treatment. A lack of trust can lead patients to withhold information, which may have serious health implications. A breach of privacy can have significant psychological consequences for patients. Anxiety and depression will be possible, as will a loss of control over their own data. National guidelines for safeguarding people's medical records and private health information are established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Compliance with legal frameworks such as HIPAA is essential in the healthcare industry. HIPAA enforces strict rules on the use of protected health information

The healthcare sector is a prime target for identity theft due to the wealth of personal information it handles. Inadequate privacy and security measures can lead to data breaches with severe consequences. Breaches can expose sensitive patient information and lead to financial loss, identity theft, and erosion of patient trust. With investigations, legal fees, and remediation efforts, the problem will get bigger. When patients' health records are compromised, their medical history is breached and potentially impacts their treatment options. This not only violates patient privacy rights but can lead to misuse of data by third parties, such as insurers or employers.

What Safeguards Protect Digital Patient Records?​

Safeguarding digital patient records is primarily centered around privacy, trust, and regulatory compliance. Medical records contain sensitive personal information, like medical histories, diagnoses, and treatment plans. They are prime targets for cyberattacks, identity theft, and fraud. Protected well, patients receive accurate medical care based on reliable information. The confidentiality of patient records builds trust between patients and healthcare providers. Safeguarding digital patient records is crucial for several reasons. Some concrete actions that can be taken to lessen data theft and unauthorized access to EHRs are listed below.

  • Put in place limitations on accessibility that restrict access to patient records to authorized individuals only when absolutely necessary. Quickly disable inactive accounts.

  • Upgrade and patch systems and software to the most recent reliable versions. Using outdated technology puts your security at serious risk.

  • You can keep an eye on system modifications and access attempts via audit logs. Examine logs frequently to identify any unusual activity and determine areas that might require improvement.

  • The security of protected health information in electronic health record systems has also been maintained by the use of encryption. In particular, encryption has improved EHR security when health data is in transition.

  • Firewalls have been shown to be highly effective in protecting a company's network and the protected health information that is stored on it, despite the fact that they can be expensive and vary depending on the size and scope of an organization.

  • Apart from firewalls and cryptography, other noteworthy security measures include radio frequency identification (RFID), cloud computing, antivirus software, initial risk assessment programs, and employing a chief information security officer.

  • In case you employ on-site storage servers, divide data storage into several silos to prevent all patient data from being compromised at once in the event of a breach in one area. Archive and remove from the everyday screens the patient information that is no longer required. Keep your server room closed at all times and restrict access. Before discarding outdated electronics, always take out hard drives and safely erase any stored data.

  • Personal precautions include all documents that contain your medical information. They should be kept safe, including containers with prescriptions, vouchers for health insurance, healthcare providers' invoices, and prescription medications. Statements of explanation of benefits (EOB) from your health insurance company and paperwork of sign-up procedures for health insurance are other important assets of patient records.

What Measures Help Prevent Identity Theft in Medical Records?​

To effectively prevent identity theft in medical records, several key measures can be taken. It will improve data security and compliance with regulations such as HIPAA. A detailed overview of the measures that protect identity theft in medical records is given below.

  • Multi-Factor Authentication(MFA) is essential for securing access to sensitive medical information. Users must supply two or more verification criteria. Even if a password is compromised, an additional factor—such as a one-time code sent to a mobile device or biometric verification—must be provided to gain access to electronic health records (EHRs) and personal health information (PHI).

  • Conducting regular audits of access logs and user activities is crucial for suspicious behaviors. It includes mechanisms to record and examine activity in systems that contain or use ePHI.

  • Data masking involves obscuring specific data within a database so that it remains usable for testing or analysis without revealing sensitive information. This technique protects patient identities during data sharing or analysis.

  • Secure login processes include using unique user IDs, automatic logoff features, and strong password policies. Unique user identification helps track individual access, while automatic logoff ensures that sessions are terminated after a period of inactivity.

  • Robust access control policies include defining user roles and permissions based on job responsibilities, thereby limiting access to only those who need it for their work. Unique user identification assigns a unique identifier to each person who has access to ePHI. Emergency access procedure obtains necessary ePHI during emergencies. Automatic logoff terminates electronic sessions after a predetermined period of inactivity.

  • Data integrity safeguards guarantee that ePHI isn't accidentally changed or deleted. This includes using checksums or digital signatures to verify data authenticity.

Are There Risks to Storing EHRs on Cloud-Based Systems?​

Yes, there are significant risks associated with storing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) on cloud-based systems. Although cloud employment in these systems comes with many benefits, serious medical errors can result from a variety of EHR vulnerabilities, including incorrect data entry, unanticipated data conversion, choosing the incorrect file or field, and recurring errors. These kinds of mistakes will quickly spread to all other documents in a cloud-based EHR and become serious mistakes. You won't be able to track the mistakes easily, and your system will continue to malfunction.

Another problem is the problems of internet access. The entire working process will be significantly impacted by an Internet outage because cloud-based EHR data is accessed online. The practices suffered significant financial losses as a result of canceling a full day's worth of patient visits.

The most important issue is data security. Since a third-party vendor controls the data, the biggest risk associated with web-based systems is data breaches. Patient information may be compromised since your data is stored on the same database server that hundreds of other customers use. Additionally, cloud providers have the ability to mine your clinical data and potentially sell it to other businesses.

Finally, compliance with healthcare regulations is critical, and cloud storage can complicate this process. The ineffective management of the process may end up with legal repercussions and loss of patient trust. The need for robust compliance frameworks adds another layer of complexity to managing EHRs in the cloud.

What are the Security Measures for Cloud-Based EHR?​

Several security measures can be put in place to lessen these risks:

  • End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): This method ensures that data is encrypted before it is uploaded to the cloud. The service provider or an intruder cannot read the data without the encryption keys held by the user. Setting up endpoint security, detecting dangers by filtering outgoing and receiving emails, and guaranteeing that it is distinct from networked medical devices and network segmentation are used. Data backup is essential in addition to encryption.

  • Strict Access Controls: Only authorized workers should have physical access to servers and data storage facilities. You should put in place protections against theft, fire, and other calamities that can jeopardize the data security of your patients. Implementing strict access controls helps limit who can view or manage sensitive data. This includes role-based access permissions, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and regular audits of user activities.

  • Data Encryption at Rest and in Transit: Encrypting data both when it is stored (at rest) and during transmission (in transit) provides an additional layer of protection against interception and unauthorized access.

  • Incident Response: A clear incident response plan is essential. In the event of a security issue, this will lessen damage and downtime. Defined responsibilities, communication channels, and escalation procedures should all be part of your response strategy.

Last updated on by Zenarmor