As information becomes more accessible, as electronic data from around the world can be brought together instantly, information that might have taken months to gather, is now available at the click of your mouse. This power to gather information quickly has gained particular importance in the medical field. Now a patient’s medical records can be assembled from dozens of sources, doctors, hospitals, dentist, pharmacies & insurance companies, & amalgamated into a complete report of a patient’s medical history, a boon to medical professionals who need & use such information to diagnose & determine treatments. The rise of this capability has necessitated the requirement for a comprehensive medical information security policy that will protect your right to privacy without impeding the legitimate use of the information for the health interest of the individual.
The capabilities of internet communication, such as file transfers, email, e-prescribing, & the like have brought to the fore the question of the security of this information as it passes along internet lines. A prescription for a controlled pain killer, for instance, could be intercepted between the doctor’s office & the pharmacy, & the information it contains could be used by an addict to pose as the patient and divert the prescription to him or her instead. The information on the prescription could be changed before being forwarded to the pharmacist, increasing the dosage, even adding other medications to the prescription. Without an information security policy guiding this transaction, your prescription might be easily hijacked.At a different level, the lack of a medical information security policy designed to protect the confidentiality of patient records could result in anything from losing a job to informing criminals of who in the population are vulnerable to attack. A potential employer might decide not to hire an otherwise qualified person because their intercepted medical records show that person has HIV. The records of a paraplegic who has scheduled home care nursing tells the criminal this patient is vulnerable & alone at certain hours of the day – a good candidate for a burglary. Without a competent medical information security policy in place to avert such possibilities, lives and property may be endangered.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5135230
