Mobile Health Information has become an increasingly popular portal
for patient healthcare. With the ease of schedule making, messages
to providers, to even paying your bill from the ease of an app on your
phone. This also leaves patients' information susceptible to malicious
intent. The article, Ethical and Legal Issues Addressing the Use of Mobile
Health (mHealth) as an Adjunct to Psychotherapy the is supporting
information on how the use of disclosing certain information even
within the guidelines of HIPAA can still possibly breach a patient’s
private information. For example, the article wrote, that the ease of
use of text messaging may be tempting for psychologists to consult
with other professionals about confidential matters over text
messages. However, psychologists should be mindful that this is not a
secure medium and to discuss information only pertinent to the
consultation and only for professional purposes. This is a specific
example that shows how easily well-intended information transpires
can create an improper discourse of health information quickly.
Once we understand how fragile health information can be while in a
mobile data realm we also need to prepare to protect it. Technology
brings convenience, but not at the cost of possible compromise.
Article two, Protecting Patient Information in the Age of Breaches
wrote, “ A breach can happen in a variety of different ways. However,
one of the most common causes of breaches within the health care
field is simply human error. Health care workers who use
unauthorized cloud-based apps can leave a patient’s information
vulnerable to an attack.” Audit trails are a great tool to use to combat
this weak area in the protection of patient health information. By
identifying areas of human error policies and procedures can be used
to thwart these attacks on patients’ privacy while allowing the
freedoms and accessibility of mobile apps for healthcare usage.
References
Karcher, N. R., & Presser, N. R. (2018). Ethical and legal issues
addressing the use of mobile health (mHealth) as an adjunct to
psychotherapy. Ethics & Behavior, 28(1), 1–22.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2016.1229187
Turteltaub, A. (2017, March 16). Protecting Patient Information in the
Age of breaches. The Compliance and Ethics Blog.
