The breach of health records of patients reported by Codman Square
Health Centre of Massachusetts involved unauthorized access. In the
breach, the privacy of 3,740 patients of Codman Square Health
Centre was affected. The sensitive information of the patients, such
as names, gender, birth dates, address, as well, as health insurance,
were compromised. The incident shows the risk of exposure of
personal patient information during the electronic transmission of
patient health records.
Recommended Steps
In order to prevent such types of security breaches in the future, it is
important to take the essential steps at the earliest. The first step
that the Codman Square Health Centre must take is to create a
security team. The security team must be made responsible for
protecting the sensitive data of patients. They must identify the
potential security threats and find ways to mitigate the risks.
The next step is to review the current security policies relating to
patient health information (Martin & Imboden, 2014). On the basis
of the existing policy, a new security policy must be developed in
order to mitigate the identified risks. The new policy may include the
use of advanced techniques to protect patient data. For information,
the patient data may be encrypted before being transmitted digitally
or electronically. The security policy may even include restricted
access to the health information of patients from authorized
computer accounts only.
Effect of Privacy and Security Strategies on Organizational Success
The implementation of effective privacy and security strategies has a
major impact on the overall organizational success. The adoption of
these strategies helps healthcare organizations to secure the
personal information of their patients. This helps in increasing the
trust of the patients in the system and working of the organization. It
allows the healthcare organizations to gain more loyal and satisfied
patients who continue to avail their services. This, in turn, ensures
the optimum success of the organization in meeting the safety and
privacy needs of the patients and also helps in increasing its
revenues. On the other hand, if the strategies are not implemented
properly, it can hinder organizational success. Organizational success
has a direct relation with the satisfaction of the consumers. The lack
of security policies will result in a lack of trust and dissatisfaction
among the patients, thereby affecting the reputation of the
healthcare organization and hindering organizational success.
Laws and Standards
The ethical considerations relating to the scenarios include
respecting the privacy of the patients and using the data only after
gaining the consent of the patients (ALUAŞ, 2016). The legal
considerations include adhering to the legal laws relating to the
safety and privacy of patient information.
One of the important legal laws applicable in this case is the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. The
law ensures optimum protection of the privacy of the health
information of patients. It focuses on establishing security standards
in order to protect sensitive health information while they are being
transferred electronically (Summary of the HIPAA security rule.
HHS.gov, 2021). The act plays a vital role in protecting the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient information. The
application of such acts will help in lowering security breaches
effectively.
References
ALUAŞ, M. (2016). Ethical and legal considerations of healthcare
informatics. Applied Medical Informatics., 38(3-4), 91-98.
Martin, N., & Imboden, T. (2014). Information security & insider
threats in small medical practices.
Summary of the HIPAA security rule. HHS.gov. (2021, June 28).
Retrieved November 18, 2021, from
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/laws-
regulations/index.html.
