Privacy Issues in Healthcare: Unauthorized Access to Records - Essay Sample

Introduction

A privacy issue is the definition of an occurrence where information about s subject is released to another party without their consent. That is whereby an unauthorized party gains access to information which they are not supposed to have in the first place. Privacy issues in healthcare involve a party gaining access to healthcare records which they are not supposed to have access. For example, an individual may gain access to medical records of a patient without proper authorization or the patient's consent that constitutes a privacy issue. There are multiple privacy issues in the healthcare field; which have the effect of compromising the information infrastructure in an organization or the entire healthcare setting. For example, when an individual gains access to a person's healthcare records, they might publicize it, against the interests and welfare of the patient. Moreover, some information is not meant for public access; because it is sensitive in nature. Thus, that raises the necessity of making sure information is handled in a way that will ensure it is safe from any privacy issues.

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There are various privacy issues in the healthcare sector; which have to be highlighted so that appropriate steps can be instituted. The problems may affect institutions or individual; hence the severity of the issues varies. Information may be leaked about a patient, which may lead to poor judgment from the public, tainting their reputation. Moreover, information about authorization in the healthcare sector can be accessed, and its privacy compromised; which may also lead to undesirable consequences. To help in establishing procedures and frameworks to help battle the various privacy issues, there is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; which is meant to safeguard the security of health records and the information that is associated with healthcare. Their role is to make sure that the multiple issues that affect privacy if healthcare information is avoided. That is through instituting measures and frameworks that are meant to safeguard information and its associated credibility. Thus, there will be a highlight of the roles that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act play in addressing the various privacy issues in healthcare.

The first privacy issue that is faced by the healthcare field is unauthorized access. That is the major issue that faces the privacy of information in healthcare. That is whereby an individual gains access to records, in most cases with malicious motives. The access is through physical or electronic means, which is as a result of taking advantage of the weak infrastructure meant to safeguard information. For example, electronically, unauthorized access can be carried out by hackers. That is whereby they study the vulnerability if the information's framework, and put in place plans to gain access to the information (Meingast et al., 2006). The motive for access may be just malicious or for their personal gain. Whatever the reason, the unauthorized access has the effect of compromising the quality of the information. That is because they can use it in a way that may lead to undesirable consequences, for example leaking the health records to the public. That is against the motives upon which the information was collected in the first place. Thus, HIPAA is charged with the responsibility of making sure the chances of unauthorized access are minimal.

The other privacy issues that the healthcare sector faces are the unregulated and irresponsible sharing of health records. That is whereby an individual with authorized access to healthcare records shares it with another party; which is within their interests and not the welfare of patients or the healthcare sector. For example, the individual may share the information for business purposes; to aid a manufacturer forecast the demand for a drug in healthcare. Moreover, the sharing of information may be to another party; who has malicious motives against others; for example, blackmail. The sharing of healthcare records is against the proper framework that is established regarding the handling of health records. Thus, that calls for the institution of appropriate measures that are meant to safeguard the healthcare records. Both parties are guilty of breaching the regulations about the handling of information in healthcare.Therefore necessary steps have to be taken to avoid that occurring at another time.

There are many other privacy issues that the healthcare sector faces; which need to be addressed through the HIPAA. The handling of data from devices and applications is another issue; whereby there is the likelihood of the data handled getting into the wrong hands. The creation of effective teams to help in the handling of information is also a legitimate issue. The people that oversee the activities in the units should be competent, and foster best practices so that there are minimal undesirable issues that the healthcare sector faces. Keeping with the pace of creativity and innovation is the other issue. That is because in most cases, there are no regulations for new developments; which increases the risk of data in healthcare being mishandled (Abouelmehdi et al., 2018). Lastly, there is ethical conduct; which covers almost all the other issues in healthcare. The people in healthcare must adhere to the best practices so that the privacy of data is respected.

There are various ways through which HIPAA can be a solution to some of the issues mentioned above. That is in addition to many others that are related to privacy in healthcare. First, it is about system security; which is meant to safeguard data stored on devices as well as online. Various security measures are associated with this consideration. First, there can be authentication; which is aimed at avoiding instances of unauthorized access to the information about healthcare. That will enhance security because only the authorized parties will have the chance of viewing data that is related to healthcare. The other option is the use of firewalls. That will serve the same purpose of preventing unauthorized access; where the data will be safeguarded from any access by malicious parties. Conducting periodic checks on the system to authenticate the access granted to various parties is another undertaking. That will ensure the systems are accessed only by the parties that are authorized to do so. These measures will serve the purpose of safeguarding the data; which will be great for the healthcare sector in the long run.

The above measures are categorized into three major types; each with its dedicated purposes. First is physical level security; which is meant to prevent access to premises that store data by unauthorized parties. That may be in the form of security features in buildings, offices and safes that contain data. Moreover, there is administrative level security; which checks access breaches by the staff that works in a given healthcare setting. Lastly is system security; safeguards the linkage between internal and external communication in the healthcare organizations (Eisenman et al., 1970). The second category is information security; which can also be safeguarded in three ways. That is data encryption, freshness protection, Data Integrality and authentication. When such measures and enhanced and enforced through HIPAA, then the privacy issues in electronic health records will be solved to a large extent. However, that depends on the cooperation of other parties that are involved in the handling of the data.

A Training and development initiative by HIPAA is the other way that the security of data can be enhanced. The HIPAA can undertake various activities that are aimed at making sure the multiple stakeholders in healthcare have the relevant skills for dealing with the security of data within their area of authority. For example, they should make sure the people that handle data are competent; so that the data can be safeguarded in the best way possible. Conduction of seminars and conferences is another way that the objective can also be achieved. That is whereby the skills of the stakeholders will be enhanced or kept up to date. That is because technology which is used in the healthcare setting is dynamic. Therefore, the people that are in charge need to have their skills and competencies updated so that they can serve their roles efficiently despite the various changes in the industry.

The other solution to the privacy issues in healthcare is periodic audits of the systems that are used to store, process and share data. The history of their operations should be scrutinized to ensure there is the maximum level of compliance with the regulations that are set under the act. That will make sure that the parties in charge adhere to the standards that are set. In conjunction with the audit, there should be a well-defined corrective and punishment undertaking by the act; which spells out repercussions of breaching the set standards and rules. That will serve to make sure there is adherence to the specifications of the act, as the punishment for any violation will be clear. Lastly, there should be the creation of a culture of privacy in healthcare. That is whereby the standards that are set are embraced for a long time, consistently, until all healthcare organizational make it typical to operate on that basis. That will enhance data security because the various parties will adhere to the requirements of the act because it will be their culture.

However, there are various risks too, which are associated with the role that is played by HIPAA. For example, when the intervention is too strict, it might cultivate a culture of fraud in organizations. That will have the effect of developing unethical practices instead of taming the vice. Furthermore, there is the risk of acting as a barrier to creativity and innovation in the handling of information. That is because there will be the need to audit all new procedures; which might act as a bottleneck for embracing change. However, with proper coordination with various stakeholders, the risks can be minimized, and the best attributes are cultivated in healthcare. In the long run, the privacy issues in electronic healthcare records will be solved in the best manner.

References

Abouelmehdi, K., Beni-Hessane, A., & Khaloufi, H. (2018). Big healthcare data: preserving security and privacy. Journal of Big Data, 5(1), 1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40537-017-0110-7

Eisenman, Lane, Miluzzo, E., Peterson, Lu, H., Zheng, X., ... Nd. (1970, January 1). Security and Privacy Issues in Wireless Sensor Networks for Healthcare Applications. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10916-010-9449-4

Meingast, M., Roosta, T., & Sastry, S. (2006, August). Security and privacy issues with health care information technology. In 2006 International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (pp. 5453-5458). IEEE.