Impact of mobile health and medical applications on clinical practice in
gastroenterology
This article talked about the digital interventions of mobile health apps (MHAs)
and medical apps (MAs) for diagnosing and treating gastroenterology in managing
chronic diseases in patients. Despite the advantages of using MHAs and MAs, some
challenges must be met, including ethical and legal aspects, before utilizing these
technologies.
Ethical considerations before using these apps are that users of health-related apps
understand how to use the app, including the positive and negative in using the apps.
Ensure that users understand the possibility of being treated by avatars or telemedical
consultants. Also, medical providers/ organizations need to consider that some users
might be elderly with a lack or limited access to modern ICT devices (smartphones) when
planning digital medical solutions.
(Bork et al., 2020).
Scripps Health was attacked by hackers. Now, patients are suing for failing to
protect their health data
After a ransomware attack hit the organization, a San Diego Scripps Health patient
filed a class-action lawsuit. The hackers stole data from 150,000 patients. Scripps Health
notified 147,267 patients of the breach and that the hackers acquired health and personal
information. The hospital had to take a portion of its health system offline for several
weeks, causing a disruption in care and forcing medical personnel into using paper
records. One of the patients affected, Johnny Corning, states that the breach harmed him
and suffered lost time, annoyance, interference, and inconvenience resulting from the data
breach. Losing access to the Scripps portal caused him the inability to communicate with
his doctors, access test results, and request prescription refills (Landi, 2021).
d d Educating employees on HIPAA policies and the consequence of not abiding by the
rules established by the policies can help minimize unintentional security breaches.
Having a designated team monitoring staff access ensures that their entry is limited to
their role.
References
Bork, U., Bottcher, M. D., Busse, T. S., Ehlers, J., Kernebeck, S., & Weitz, J. (2020, Aug 7).
Impact of mobile health and medical applications on clinical practice in
gastroenterology. doi:10.3748/wjg.v26.i29.4182
Landi, H. (2021, Jun 22). Scripps Health was attacked by hackers. Now, patients are suing for
failing to protect their health data. Fierce Healthcare:
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/following-ransomware-attack-scripps-health-
now-facing-class-action-lawsuits-over-data-breach
