Despite its promise, the big data age is fraught with serious worries and possible dangers. Knowing that some personal information is not visible to others until that person chooses to disclose it is part of what enables people to live complete lives, yet that assumption is increasingly untrue (Cohen & Mello, 2018). The spread of health information will aid in improving medical treatment and public health. However, it will also encourage intrusive advertising and discriminatory behaviors that skirt existing anti-discrimination legislation. Then, the security plan for a medium-sized healthcare facility would include several crucial aspects.
The first and fundamental security measure is to educate the employees about all the items of the security plan. Since human resource is crucial in that field of work and practically everything depends on the personnel, everyone should attend special training from time to time. For instance, it includes the usage of secure passwords, updating them frequently, and educating people about how passwords serve as any system’s initial security line against hackers. They also have to be difficult to guess and should not contain personal information, terms, or names from dictionaries.
Moreover, health information, archival and retrieval systems, and storage media are data types that are strictly confidential and cannot be exposed. Thus, besides putting secure passwords on online databases, it is necessary to control who accesses the documents, storage media and how the employee operates with it. If the information is in physical storage, it should never be left unattended. In addition, personnel must avoid discussing health or patient details with unrelated people.
Installation and maintenance of antivirus software is practice number two. Computers in tiny offices are frequently compromised by hackers using viruses and other malicious software that takes advantage of flaws in the system. Once a reliable antivirus program has been installed on the computer, the hospital must maintain the information as current as possible to protect the machine. Additionally, a firewall might be a piece of hardware or a piece of software. Its responsibility is to scrutinize every communication entering the system from the outside and decide whether it should be accepted based on predefined standards (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Control of access to protected health information is another method of security. Controlling the flow of personal information in the healthcare environment will be easier by understanding who requires access and who does not (Cohen & Mello, 2018). It is possible to manage who is on the network and who is not by limiting patients’ access to it. Therefore, it is a good idea to set up a special network for patients to access the internet while in the facility. Finally, it is important to create a plan for the possibility that everything will not always go as intended, which includes disaster recovery.
However, there are certain advantages and disadvantages to each method. Firstly, creating secure passwords is crucial when using any system and keeping data as safe as possible. Additionally, the hospital should regularly change the password to provide information security and prevent hackers from gaining access to the system. Additionally, installing antivirus software and scanning the links and attachments in email messages is extremely helpful. An email has several security flaws and should never be considered safe. Malicious websites can install malware on the computer or gather personal data. Employees should never open any attachments in an email from an unknown sender. People often overlook a firewall because they think it is not significant, but it is quite vital. Next to passwords and regularly updating them, the firewall is crucial.
Moreover, controlling access to protected health information has major significance. In the healthcare sector, employees are morally obligated to keep patients’ knowledge, adding that HIPAA and the Security Rule establish that this is the hospitals’ responsibility (HHS, n.d.). The Security Rule mandates using suitable administrative, physical, and technical protections to maintain the security, privacy, and confidentiality of electronically protected health information. Limit network access is debatable, although it could be an effective method of securing data. If clients or patients can access the internet at the establishment, staff members with smartphones may also have access to information.
HIPAA links and restricts data protection to conventional healthcare contexts and connections. Still, the proportion of health information maintained and exchanged online protected by HIPAA is modest and declining. However, other information originates from less visible locations, including credit card firms, supermarkets, and search engines (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Such information can spread through sources like applications, social media, and life insurance. For instance, over-the-counter prescription sales in pharmacies provide health information from sources not protected by HIPAA (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Since HIPAA only protects specific entities rather than categories of information, it cannot cover a vast array of sensitive data.
Finally, a plan for disaster recovery is necessary to have for each facility. In the healthcare sector, new challenges must be overcome every day. In addition to the new laws and ethics, there are also computers. Society constantly makes breakthroughs, and with those advancements come new hackers and other people looking to exploit the circumstances and flaws in the healthcare system. Therefore, the only way to keep protection is to prepare for the unexpected.
Overall, if the general public were to understand these tactics better, they could believe that only abusive behaviors require regulation and that arrangements like this are beneficial to consumers. Alternatively, it may put pressure on businesses to adopt stronger privacy policies. Some customers could take precautions to safeguard the data they value the most, such as paying cash for a pregnancy test. 21st-century health information privacy standards must be shaped by astute legislation and knowledgeable internet users.
References
Cohen, I. G., & Mello, M. M. (2018). HIPAA and protecting health information in the 21st century. Jama, 320(3), 231-232.
HHS. (n.d.). HIPAA privacy, security, and breach notification audit program: United States Department of Health & Human Services. Web.