Healthcare IT - Your Practice s Digital Wellness
Protecting a patient's PHI (Personal Health Information) has always been an important concept in the medical profession. New laws and government mandates have clearly taken this notion a step further: medical facilities failing to protect their patient"s PHI can be penalized under HIPAA. PHI includes but is not limited to:
- Patient's address, phone number and Hospital number
- Patient's date of birth/ SSN
- Patients legal next of kin/guardian and their telephone number
- Patient's insurance information (pre-certification/ DSHS/ Medicare)
- Anticipated Admission date and time
- Patient Diagnosis and Treatments
Digital Clinics Increase Productivity
Health Information Technology is also on the government's radar. As part of the President's mandate to move the medical field towards a digital clinical setting within the next ten years. (1)
The National Coordinator for Health IT, Dr. David Brailer, noted the value-added benefit of investing in Healthcare IT:
Information technology plays a significant role in our progress... [IT] supports treatment choices for consumers and enables better and more cost-effective care... Health IT not only adds value to the way people lead their lives, but it gets more out of our investment in healthcare overall. Health IT can help the U.S. become more globally competitive - that is, it can increase our productivity and our standard of living at the same time. (2)
From patient to doctor to medical billing/insurance clearing houses, each facet of medical care will benefit from a digital medical environment.
Slow Adoption of Digital Medical Practice
As Healthcare transitions to a digital business model, acceptance by the majority of practices has been slow. A Rand Corporation study found that in 2002 only 10% to 16.4% of the nation's physicians had adopted electronic medical record technology.
Reasons most often cited for slow adoption by medical practitioners have been the costs in time and money. Fear of complicated regulations has also hindered the transition. Like other medical advances, an investment in Health IT presents both challenges and opportunities.
HIPAA and Emailing The Doctor's Office
Email messaging can replace the phone calls and numerous postal mailings, adding a financial benefit to the smaller clinic. While many doctors feel that emailing their patients equates to working for free, some clinics have already begun charging for email consultations.
In some cases, patients pay a flat rate from $100 to several hundred dollars per year for the service. A proponent to a digital clinic, Harvard professor of medicine Dr. Daniel Z Sands had said "I think it"s reasonable to assume that if lawyers and accountants charge for time, then physicians should too. (3)"
Email access to a physician extends the level of the clinician's care. Dr. Jonathan S. Wald, Partners of HealthCare of Boston"s director of patient computing reports that, "Patients have told us that with email they can really take their time, and physicians appreciate the more organized specific message (4)." As more small practices come to the digital fold, HIPAA regulations outline what steps they must take to ensure safe communication with their patients.
HIPAA stipulates how digital records containing this sensitive PHI should be kept secure. Extending care to your patient"s privacy isn"t just good business, it results in improved patient service and increased productivity within the practice.
Medical offices which allow physicians to use email as a means of transmitting information must have an "email disclaimer" stating that the privacy of information contained in an email cannot be guaranteed. The information may be confidential and subject to protection under the law, but the fact remains that these disclaimers do not prevent a security breach.
Protecting Outbound Email and Records
Whether an organization is a health care provider, payer or pharmaceutical company, its electronic information must be protected. New email and document security technology, like email anti-theft software, utilizes encryption and rights controls. Protecting outbound emails and files helps eliminate the costs associated with safeguarding PHI.
Email anti-theft technology gives patients the ability to access and securely reply to protected emails containing medical advice, prescription information, etc., from their home or work computers.
The technology works by not only encrypting files, but also by preventing access and usage privileges such as forwarding, editing, copying/pasting and printing. Clinicians can set expiration dates on their email and documents, effectively deleting the documents from the recipient"s in-box and PC at a specified date and time. In addition, users can set access privileges. For example, a doctor can indicate that an email containing medical advice only be accessible by a specific patient or insurance provider.
Email anti-theft controls offer off-site providers the ability to access and reply to secure email and attached files sent across disparate computing environments. The result is the instant and secure sharing of information resulting in enhanced patient service and increased worker productivity.
Making the Move to a Digitalized Office
While it can be difficult to make the move to using digital patient records, the cost savings can be profound, especially when paid back over the lifespan of a practice. Benefits include greater accuracy of health records; less time spent transcribing patient notes and filling prescriptions, and receiving quicker payment from insurance companies.
Email anti-theft software helps medical professionals comply with HIPAA regulations. While by no means is it a comprehensive overall HIPAA security solution, if used properly the technology can help a medical provider meet HIPAA compliance regulations
While no security software in the world is 100 percent unbreakable, even the most advanced digital encryption techniques can be broken or circumvented with enough motivation, time and money. Email anti-theft software can negate the risk of information leakage by safeguarding data no matter where it travels or is stored.
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End Notes:
1.) United States Department of Health and Human Services, "Secretary Leavitt Takes New Steps to Advance Health IT," Press Release on HHS website, June 6, 2005, http://www.os.dhhs.gov/
2.) "Remarks by David Brailer, MD PhD National Coordinator for Health Information Technology HIMSS 2005" February 17, 2005, http://www.himss.org/content/files/DavidBrailerRemarksHIMSS2005.pdf
3.) Dr. Daniel Z. Sands as quoted in Liz Kowalczyk's article "Is Emailing the Future of Doctor-Patient Relations?" The Boston Globe, D2, April 27, 2004, Lexis Nexus - http://www.lexisnexus.com
4.) Dr. Jonathan S. Wald quoted, Ibid.
Tony A. Mohr is a co-founder and organizing shareholder of Essential Security Software, Inc., a leading email anti-theft solutions provider. Mr. Mohr serves as Essential Security Software, Inc.'s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). To download ESS's email anti-theft solution Essential Taceo(R), visit http://ezinearticles.com/
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