Robert Ouko

Running head: 1-2 JOURNAL: SECURITY MEASURES 1-2 Journal: Security Measures Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation 1 1-2 JOURNAL: SECURITY MEASURES 2 1-2 Journal: Security Measures Health information system (HIS) has significantly guided efforts to bridge the gap between quality healthcare provision and ongoing business processes in the healthcare sector. For such reasons, strategies that aim at enhancing patient privacy protection have assumed a significant priority in the healthcare industry. The consistently growing integration of information technology into healthcare provision has raised substantial concerns over the need to adopt secure protection guidelines for handling health information to reduce the vulnerability of patient data. This essay assesses the different strategies that healthcare organizations employ in their attempts to address privacy and security concerns of heath records in an era marred with vast information acquisition options. Prior computers and computer integration into health care delivery, accredited hospitals in the country enacted efforts to safeguard health information. Today, both large and small hospitals have a medical records department responsible for restricting the access of such records exclusively to authorized individuals. Policies regarding the acquisition, application, and access of health information have been positioned to enhance privacy and security. Many patients perceive health information as personal and tend to keep such to themselves. However, hospitals and healthcare facilities are obliged to access information regarding their medical history, previous test results, allergies to certain elements, symptoms, as well as their response to specific therapies (Jardim, 2013). Additionally, specialized medical personnel such as clinical researchers and epidemiologists require such records to follow up on the response to treatments, risks patterns associated with certain diseases as well as genetic models for specific conditions. Decisions about the specification of individuals authorized to access health data are elaborate to minimize the chances for potential conflicts between patient’s entitlement to privacy 1-2 JOURNAL: SECURITY MEASURES 3 and demand for such information for medical evaluations. As a measure to guarantee the safety of electronic information regarding patient’s health, hospitals need to establish the most appropriate set approaches used to deploy security mechanisms within the healthcare organization. However, each combination of such methods is limited by the high costs and time consumption of the access pathways which compels most service providers to bypass specific systems within the access pathways. This happens because, conventionally, each care provider with legitimate intent to access patient information ought to be subjected to several repeated access procedures each day. Sayles & Burke (2019) expounds on the best practices aimed at enhancing the security and privacy of health information within the health care function. The text sheds light on the details regarding the protection of privacy, especially risk assessment on issues such as ransomware and other fraudulent involvements directed to healthcare information. Of the options available for mechanizing security and safety of health data, improving computer network security, and facilitating worker's awareness of their responsibility to protect information stand out. However, as a post-action criterion, service providers incorporate detection and action against cyber violations into their computer security systems. A proper selection and application of a combination of security measures limit unauthorized access to information, and continuously guarantees privacy and security organizational health information. In summary, increased computerization and the overall improvement in cyber technical skills poses a threat to an organization's information security and privacy. Healthcare organizations are urged to understand comprehensively and put into consideration the effectiveness, costs as well as the interrelation between security and access to information before implementing programs for enhancing security and privacy in the health care sector. However, 1-2 JOURNAL: SECURITY MEASURES there is a prior need to outline the types of privacy and security threats likely to be related to unlimited access to information. Additionally, facilities ought to review and authorize a specific limit of uses for which health information can be put and conduct a practical evaluation before settling on a technical and organization option for extending protections for health information. 4 1-2 JOURNAL: SECURITY MEASURES 5 References Jardim, S. V. (2013). The Electronic Health Record and its Contribution to Healthcare Information Systems Interoperability. Procedia Technology, 9(2013), 940 – 948. Sayles, N. B., & Burke, L. K. (2019). Introduction to Information Systems for Health Information Technology, Third Edition. Chicago, IL, U.S.A: The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Press.