This article, just published in Technology for Doctors deals with Security of medical records from a vendor perspective. What can be done to more effectively protect data that is stored in EMR. Some common factors emerge, weak passwords, theft of hardware containing sensitive data, good backup policies are the basis for data protection. This is a good review of issues that we currently face.
"Few subjects are more important than computer and network security. Security is an issue for doctors, whether or not they are using EMR solutions. Physicians who continue to use their paper-based record keeping methods are interested because they often cite security concerns as their major reason for not computerizing.
We turned to several respected providers of EMR systems in Canada to get their latest thoughts on how doctors can best protect their data and systems and also to get a better feel for industry trends in security. We spoke with representatives of Wolf Medical Systems, Nightingale, Healthscreen, and Clinicare as well as a noted security expert at Hewlett Packard.
It seems that 2006 has already featured more major security breaches in healthcare than a typical year. No incident has attracted more attention than the temporary loss of a laptop and an external hard drive with 26.5 million patient records belonging to the Veterans Administration in the United States. That in no way diminishes the importance of the cases in Canada that have involved mere tens of thousands of records. The theft or loss of even a few records containing private and sensitive data is an important matter. Link: Technology for Doctors."
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sounds like decentralizing the database would have decreased the seriousness of losing the one laptop and external drive.
all the more reason to leave the data in the hands of those who collect it. bits and pieces are harder to steal that way.
Posted by: yves Raymond | December 02, 2006 at 06:07 PM