As a healthcare provider, it is crucial to understand how EMRs ensure the safety of patient data. In this article, we will explore the various measures implemented by EMRs to ensure patient confidentiality and information security, helping you to make informed decisions and ensuring that your patients' information remains safe.
What Information Security Means in Modern Health Care
A patient's medical record provides their wellness professional doctor with important information about them so that they can receive proper care and treatment. In the past, medical records were stored on paper, but with technological advancements, medical information about a patient from their medical history, lab exam results, and medications are stored electronically.
This has made it easier to access a patient's file on demand but has also resulted in added responsibility for healthcare providers to ensure their patient's health data is protected. When you guarantee your patients that their data is protected, they are more willing to trust you and can share with you any sensitive and crucial information.
There are three common concepts that are often talked about when handling information. For you to be able to better implement data protocols that will ensure your patients' data is secure, you need to understand these terms:
- Privacy: Patient privacy dictates that they have the sole right to control and decide how their private medical information is to be used and accessed. It asserts that their protected health information (PHI) can only be given to those who require it to further their medical care. A patient must have provided explicit consent for their PHI to be used for research purposes.
- Confidentiality: Confidentiality refers to the responsibility of medical professionals to safeguard any information disclosed by their patients and to utilize it solely for its intended purpose. Healthcare providers must ensure that patient data is not accessed beyond its medical necessity.
- Information security: This refers to the obligation of hospitals and clinical practices to implement physical, technical, and administrative measures to safeguard patient data privacy. This encompasses the tools and techniques organizations utilize to protect medical and personal information, preventing unauthorized access, use, disclosure, or sharing of data with other healthcare providers.
How Can You Protect and Secure Health Information with an EMR?
EMRs are digital systems used to store, manage and share patient medical information electronically. While EMRs offer several benefits, ensuring that the information they contain is adequately protected and secured is essential. Here are some ways that EMRs can be used to protect and secure health information:
- Access Controls: EMRs employ access controls that permit authorized users to access patient data while preventing unauthorized access to patient information. Healthcare providers must implement strict access control protocols to ensure that only authorized personnel can access and use the EMR system.
- Encryption: EMRs use encryption technologies to protect patient data during storage and transmission. Encryption ensures that sensitive information remains protected from cyber threats, including hacking and healthcare data breaches.
- User Training: All healthcare providers and staff who use EMRs should receive training on properly handling and managing patient data. The training should cover the importance of patient confidentiality, data protection and security measures, and compliance with regulatory requirements such as HIPAA.
- Regular Audits: EMRs undergo regular audits to identify and rectify system vulnerabilities, ensuring the system is secure and compliant with industry standards and regulations.
Why You Need an EMR System
Once you’ve set up the EMR system for your practice, you can begin to enjoy an elevated level of patient care treatment and reap its benefits such as:
- Improved efficiency and reduced paperwork
- Better patient care and informed decision-making
- Enhanced communication and care coordination
- Regulatory compliance with HIPAA
- Improved patient engagement and involvement
- Cost savings by improving operational efficiencies and reducing errors
EMRs play a critical role in ensuring patient confidentiality and information security in healthcare. By implementing a secure EMR system, you can ensure the privacy and confidentiality of patient data while also improving efficiency, patient care, communication, compliance, engagement, and cost savings.
Clinicmaster is an all-in-one cloud-based practice management platform designed to keep your clinic running smoothly while ensuring your clients' data remains safe. In fact, our solution is hosted on Microsoft Azure servers, some of the most secure and compliant servers in the world, to ensure your clients’ data remains safe and confidential. That’s also how we’ve helped over 1,000 clinics manage their practice. Request a demo today to learn more about our platform and how it can help you secure your operations.
