CET _ Discussion Reply

Discussion 1

Privacy in healthcare is not only complex but also a difficult to achieve. Privacy is experienced at individual level and may be defined differently by different people. Privacy in this context implies right to bodily integrity and free from intrusion to personal information. It is impossible to isolate privacy from confidentiality and security. Therefore, health students need to be trained and made conversant with these three terms. Privacy is concerned with collection, storage and use of personal information. Personal health data has to be permitted for collection and justification provided if the data is to be used for a secondary purpose (Sharyl J. Nass, 2009). Individuals including patients have the right to authorize use of their health information.

Confidentiality on the other hand aimed at ensuring that health information is only exchanged by authorized persons and it is not exposed to third parties. Often clinical officers breach confidentiality by exposing health data of a patient in the course of patient-clinician relationship. Security on the hand is the third very crucial aspect with respect to health information (Sharyl J. Nass, 2009). Healthcare systems need to be secured to prevent illegal access, modification, use, exchange or other forms of attacks including denial of service as well as physical damage to the system.

Based on research HIPPA privacy rule is important. However, it does not protect privacy as it should. HIPPA regulations cannot be uniformly applied to all healthcare settings and concentrates more on informed consent as the ultimate approach to protect heath data instead of offering a comprehensive privacy protection. HIPPA also conflicts with government regulations on health research and tends to be interpreted differently by different institutions (Sharyl J. Nass, 2009). Due to this limitation, health students should be trained beyond HIPPA regulations so as to keep health records safe from unauthorized access and use.

REFERENCES

Sharyl J. Nass, L. A. (2009). Beyond the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Enhancing Privacy, Improving Health Through Research. THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS. Retrieved from http://www.aisp.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BeyondHIPAAPrivacyRule_EnhancingPrivacy_ImprovingHealthThroughResearch_2009.pdf

Discussion 2

Database issues are very common in every project. This is because of the poor design and implementation of the database. The right database is very important as it is the backbone of the project and all the data is stored in it. Security and maintaining ACID property is also important for the right functionality (Parks, & Hall, 2016). This issue came when we were transferring the data from one database to another. The company was replacing the previous database and wanted to have a new database. During this transition, some field values got truncated. For example, the price of the product was 8.988 but on the new table, it got 8.99. The data value got truncated. Instead of 3 precision, it was only two precision. The value got to round off. This is one of the common issues when transferring the data from one database to another. This was because it has different precision by default for the same data type. The issue was very small if seen for a small value but overall, it could create an issue as know the data was wrong. The value of the products got changed and it was to be fixed. The issue was fixed by increasing the precision of the datatype. By default, the precision was less but it could be changed. So precision was set according to the old database and then data was transferred again. It is important to check the datatypes when transferring the data from one database to another then only the right data would be transferred. Otherwise, data may get corrupted or truncated in transferring the data from one database to another. There are various points where things get messy due to technology so every step should be tested properly then only it can be avoided and the project can be successful with the right implementation and approach. Right database is the backbone of the project and data needs to be secure (Katz, 2020).

References

Katz, A. (2020). Improved Teaching of Database Schema Modeling by Visualizing Changes in Levels of Abstraction. Journal of Information Systems Education, 31(4), 294–311.

Parks, R. F., & Hall, C. A. (2016). Front-End and Back-End Database Design and Development: Scholar’s Academy Case Study. Information Systems Education Journal, 14(2), 58–63.

Discussion 3

Protection of Patient Data

It is not an easy task to secure data in the healthcare sector. Healthcare professionals and their corporate partners must balance patient safety by providing good health care and compliance with HIPAA and other regulations. The details are important for the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of patients in healthcare organizations. Other confidential health history and medical records will not allow doctors to care for a patient sufficiently. But, while it is important, this confidential knowledge poses a range of challenges for healthcare companies. When improperly handled, this data will risk patients, turn medical associations into tools for cyber-attacks, and generate financial dangers for healthcare groups rather than helping them (Mbonihankuye, Ndagijimana, & Nkunzimana, 2019).

In compliance with HIPAA rules on confidentiality and isolation, the medical treatment switched to electronic recordkeeping. HIPAA follows electronic services, and patient results are prohibited. Details about personal health have to be covered, not even private information. Many apps take marketing health information and share them with a third party. The customer acknowledges no reason why the data should be shared with third parties. As electronic health records (EHR) are being used and electronic information collection is becoming a significant aspect of the healthcare provider's practice in terms of the security of medical records (Seymour, Frantsvog, & Graeber, 2014).

 Due to the accessibility of medical information sharing and the health team's interdisciplinary complexity, it is critical for healthcare personnel to be skilled in safety knowledge, including fellow doctors, patients, nurses, students, and related health professionals, such as surgeons, nutritionists, case management and interdisciplinary. Therefore, only a handful of organizations such as health systems, provider unions, and clearinghouses may get the customer's privacy records preserved and protected. In handling the patient and organization details, the HIPAA should have protocols and instructions to follow. These organizations should be emphasized, and the data requirements and protocols maintained to some extent, but medical development does not cover all the means to collect the data (Mbonihankuye, Ndagijimana, & Nkunzimana, 2019, pp. 1-7).

HIPAA has information on the security and confidentiality of the customer's data. It has flipped the opinions, security, confidentiality, and approach of health care, insurance, life sciences, and other businesses. Technology-specifically, HIPAA encompasses various domains, including the internet, medical system, electronic medical records, and medical imaging. Several emerging technology developments have created a new obstacle for payers and health care services to comply with HIPAA, including efficient virtualization, cloud storage, smartphones, and smartphone apps (Mbonihankuye, Ndagijimana, & Nkunzimana, 2019, pp. 1-7).

For example, much of the information is freely personal, and HIPAA rules do not protect this information from demands that collect demographic and health information such as sexual activity, pregnancies, and menstrual periods, provided that such applications do not blend with the bodies it regulates. Other software or instruments that collect personal data on health are not included in the HIPAA guidelines. They are regulated and processed by consumers and are more vulnerable to privacy breaches, such as some electronic violations. It is often tracked appropriately, and steps need to be taken to secure patient records.

 

References

Mbonihankuye, S., Ndagijimana, A., & Nkunzimana, A. (2019). Healthcare data security technology: HIPAA compliance. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 1-7. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336649284_Healthcare_Data_Security_Technology_HIPAA_Compliance

Seymour, D. T., Frantsvog, D., & Graeber, T. (2014). Electronic health records (EHR). American Journal of Health Sciences, 3(3), 201-207. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267226700_Electronic_Health_Records_EHR

Discussion 4

A  data breach is a security problem that contributes to loss as well as unauthorized accessibility of data that is sensitive to companies and businesses. Companies including such health industry become major targets for the cyber-attacks also an as large volume of data can be swiped with one attack. This contributes to a major loss for firms in the finance market and also harms their reputation. The data breaches will happen in various forms and otherwise profitable for attackers to snip money, compose identification, and sell that information to obtain income. One popular attack is by exploiting the vulnerabilities of the system because attackers may do malware attacks that are not installed and secured with strong passwords (Swede et al., 2019). Spams & phishing emails are much more commonly utilized malware attempts for having access to the server to steal the data.

The targeted malware attack may be in the type of attachments to mail, user guidance to compromised websites, or even false information which might lead users and provide the credential. The Healthcare industry is described as especially vulnerable to digital privacy violations as well as losses incurred by illegal use of personal & confidential information. HIPPA law is beneficial as it includes guidelines for industries to preserve the safety of patient information and preparation & security protection needs to be undertaken to prevent data breaches & malware attacks. The Healthcare sector has to build a culture in cybersecurity to defend itself from cyberattacks. Large healthcare data has considerable ability to optimize patient outcomes, forecast outbreaks of epidemics, obtain useful information, avoid preventable illnesses, reduce the expense of healthcare delivery, and improve quality of life in particular (Hordern, 2016).

 Even so, agreeing on the allowable uses for data thus preserving confidentiality and otherwise the patient’s right to privacy is really a difficult task. Workers and members of the organization must be equipped with regular instruction that explains the value of patient’s data and its responsibility. Effects of loss of data may contribute to loss of sensitive information as well as significant pay-back for the company. Healthcare staff uses computers to store the data and such computers must be secured and under security measures to ensure sure the information is safe. Workers should be able to use their computers to reach data with firewall security, it should not be essential for social networking websites to really be accessible through hospital VPN channels (Swede et al., 2019). Every three months, workers have to update their email passwords to stop opening or uploading attachments that appear fake to us. On work computers, the installation and continuous upgrading of anti-virus software are important. The workers who currently need access should be provided with managed and approved access to the database. To eliminate any redundancies and damages, data backup protocols & guidelines can be developed up by business and enforced by workers.

References

Hordern, V. (2016). Data protection compliance in the age of digital health. European Journal of Health Law, 23(3), 248–264. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718093-12341393

Swede, M. J., PhD., Scovetta, V., PhD., & Eugene-Colin, M. (2019). Protecting patient data is the new scope of practice: A recommended cybersecurity curricula for healthcare students to prepare for this challenge. Journal of Allied Health, 48(2), 148-155.