Security and Integrity of health care information systems Term Paper

Security and Integrity of health care information systems - Term Paper Example Unfortunately, maintaining security and integrity of the information systems and applications is still a challenge to many hospitals and associated organizations that handle patients’ records, even after changeover to electronic storage and operations. In the healthcare industry, different stakeholders such hospitals, governments, insurance companies, pharmaceutical agencies, and the patients have various privileges to the electronic records where necessary, in order to accomplish their duties. Access to the HIS, information exchange, and disclosure of confidential data becomes prone to attack from multiple threats. This paper discusses change in the field of nursing, the use, security, and integrity of health information systems, potential threats to the HIS and EPR as identified in various researches, and their effects. It also discusses some measures to insecurity and poor integrity of health information systems. Keywords: Nursing Informatics, Healthcare Information System, Change Theory, Electronic Patient Record, Medical Identity Theft, Threats, Vulnerabilities, HIPAA, HITECH, Information Exchange, Frauds, Security, Integrity, Privacy, Confidentiality, Authorization, Authentication, Technical And Administrative Safeguards, Information Flow, Audit Logs, Healthcare Organizations, Medical Records, Business Associates, Patients, Stakeholders 1. Introduction With the changes taking place around the globe and especially changes in technology â€Å"informatics is no longer an option for nurses and other health care providers. It is a requirement† (Ball, DuLong &Hannah, 2011, p. 5). The use of computerized information systems in healthcare has undoubtedly increased the efficiency of medical record keeping, but contributed to the risk of security exposure. Sensitive personal and medical information on patients that requires privacy, risks being compromised incase of security breaches on the healthcare information systems. Protecting the healthcare inf ormation systems and data is therefore an important factor in improving healthcare quality. The increasing need for information sharing between the healthcare stakeholders (patients, providers, and payers) and the modern digital trend in record keeping create a need for better security of information. Whenever insecurity of IS exists, unauthorized access, dissemination of information, and operations on data and systems can occur, whose effect could not only affect the patients, but the healthcare providers and physicians decisions. Medical identity theft is one of the major frauds in cases of IS insecurity. Although the EHR pose various benefits to the patients, such that they can routinely review their health records electronically, it’s a fact that numerous people can view the EHR simultaneously. The systems is built on a number of compatible information technology tools, whose corruption or hacking is a lead to healthcare IS breaches. Patients’ information can be st olen for personal gains, or falsified for wrong diagnosis among other effects. Security, privacy, confidentiality, data availability, and integrity are the ethical priorities in EHR. Medical identity theft and other breaches can be detected and prevented under various procedures to secure healthcare information and IS against fraud. Several laws have been enacted and continue to be implemented ways to enforce security in healthcare IS and their content. The HITECH Act and HIPAA security rules are various government legislations that assist in