Compliance of Electronic Health Record Applications With HIPAA Security and Privacy Requirements

2019 ◽  
pp. 1605-1618
Author(s):  
Maryam Farhadi ◽  
Hisham M. Haddad ◽  
Hossain Shahriar
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Patient Treatment ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Privacy Requirements ◽  
Improper Use ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

Electronic health record (EHR) applications are digital versions of paper-based patients health information. EHR applications are increasingly being adopted in many countries. They have resulted in improved quality in healthcare, convenient access to histories of patient medication and clinic visits, easier follow up of patient treatment plans, and precise medical decision-making process by doctors. EHR applications are guided by measures of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability. However, there have been reported breaches of protected health identifier (PHI) data stored by EHR applications. In many reported breaches, improper use of EHRs has resulted in disclosure of patient's protected health information. The goal of this chapter is to (1) provide an overview of HIPAA security and privacy requirements; (2) summarize recent literature works related to complying with HIPAA security and privacy requirements; (3) map some of the existing vulnerabilities with HIPAA security rules.

Compliance of Electronic Health Record Applications With HIPAA Security and Privacy Requirements

2018 ◽  
pp. 199-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Farhadi ◽  
Hisham M. Haddad ◽  
Hossain Shahriar
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Patient Treatment ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Privacy Requirements ◽  
Improper Use ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

Electronic health record (EHR) applications are digital versions of paper-based patients health information. EHR applications are increasingly being adopted in many countries. They have resulted in improved quality in healthcare, convenient access to histories of patient medication and clinic visits, easier follow up of patient treatment plans, and precise medical decision-making process by doctors. EHR applications are guided by measures of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability. However, there have been reported breaches of protected health identifier (PHI) data stored by EHR applications. In many reported breaches, improper use of EHRs has resulted in disclosure of patient's protected health information. The goal of this chapter is to (1) provide an overview of HIPAA security and privacy requirements; (2) summarize recent literature works related to complying with HIPAA security and privacy requirements; (3) map some of the existing vulnerabilities with HIPAA security rules.

Assessing HIPAA Compliance of Open Source Electronic Health Record Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
Hossain Shahriar ◽  
Hisham M. Haddad ◽  
Maryam Farhadi
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Patient Treatment ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Patient Health ◽  
Treatment Plans ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

Electronic health record (EHR) applications are digital versions of paper-based patient health information. EHR applications are increasingly being adopted in many countries. They have resulted in improved quality in healthcare, convenient access to histories of patient medication and clinic visits, easier follow up of patient treatment plans, and precise medical decision-making process. The goal of this paper is to identify HIPAA technical requirements, evaluate two open source EHR applications (OpenEMR and OpenClinic) for security vulnerabilities using two open-source scanner tools (RIPS and PHP VulnHunter), and map the identified vulnerabilities to HIPAA technical requirements.

scholarly journals How well is the electronic health record supporting the clinical tasks of hospital physicians? A survey of physicians at three Norwegian hospitals

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Roger Schopf ◽  
Bente Nedrebø ◽  
Karl Ove Hufthammer ◽  
Inderjit Kaur Daphu ◽  
Hallvard Lærum
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Electronic Health Record System ◽  
System Stability ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Clinical Workflow ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Record System ◽  
Electronic Health

Abstract Background The electronic health record is expected to improve the quality and efficiency of health care. Many novel functionalities have been introduced in order to improve medical decision making and communication between health care personnel. There is however limited evidence on whether these new functionalities are useful. The aim of our study was to investigate how well the electronic health record system supports physicians in performing basic clinical tasks. Methods Physicians of three prominent Norwegian hospitals participated in the survey. They were asked, in an online questionnaire, how well the hospital’s electronic health record system DIPS supported 49 clinical tasks as well as how satisfied they were with the system in general, including the technical performance. Two hundred and eight of 402 physicians (52%) submitted a completely answered questionnaire. Results Seventy-two percent of the physicians had their work interrupted or delayed because the electronic health record hangs or crashes at least once a week, while 22% had experienced this problem daily. Fifty-three percent of the physicians indicated that the electronic health record is cumbersome to use and adds to their workload. The majority of physicians were satisfied with managing tests, e.g., requesting laboratory tests, reading test results and managing radiological investigations and electrocardiograms. Physicians were less satisfied with managing referrals. There was high satisfaction with some of the decision support functionalities available for prescribing drugs. This includes drug interaction alerts and drug allergy warnings, which are displayed automatically. However, physicians were less satisfied with other aspects of prescribing drugs, including getting an overview of the ongoing drug therapy. Conclusions In the survey physicians asked for improvements of certain electronic health record functionalities like medication, clinical workflow support including planning and better overviews. In addition, there is apparently a need to focus on system stability, number of logins, reliability and better instructions on available electronic health record features. Considerable development is needed in current electronic health record systems to improve usefulness and satisfaction.

Electronic health record use among cancer patients: Insights from the Health Information National Trends Survey

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia A Strekalova
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Records ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
National Trends

Over 90% of US hospitals provide patients with access to e-copy of their health records, but the utilization of electronic health records by the US consumers remains low. Guided by the comprehensive information-seeking model, this study used data from the National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Survey 4 (Cycle 4) and examined the factors that explain the level of electronic health record use by cancer patients. Consistent with the model, individual information-seeking factors and perceptions of security and utility were associated with the frequency of electronic health record access. Specifically, higher income, prior online information seeking, interest in accessing health information online, and normative beliefs were predictive of electronic health record access. Conversely, poorer general health status and lack of health care provider encouragement to use electronic health records were associated with lower utilization rates. The current findings provide theory-based evidence that contributes to the understanding of the explanatory factors of electronic health record use and suggest future directions for research and practice.

scholarly journals Search Functionality Within the Electronic Health Record and Health Information Exchange Databases

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Gregory ◽  
Jordan Hill ◽  
Titus Schleyer
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Patient Information ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Health Information Exchange ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Search Function ◽  
Electronic Health

Background and Hypothesis:  In the US today, over 95% of healthcare institutions operate using the electronic health record (EHR). While proven to be a substantial improvement to medical practice, the substantial amount of retained information within those records has made searching the EHR for relevant material difficult and too time consuming. We hypothesize that by providing a search function within the EHR with added capability of collaborative filtration, physicians will be better able to retrieve important patient information and thus provide more efficient care.     Project Methods:   Emergency Department physicians of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Indiana University Health Hospital were recruited to partake in this study based on their use and familiarity of the EHR Cerner and/or Health Information Exchange (HIE) CareWeb Search function. Participants filled out a pre-interview, Likert-scale questionnaire to determine their general impressions of search functions and the frequency with which they were used. Additional insight was obtained during an interview focusing on participants’ previous experiences searching within the EHR/HIE. Participants were then shown a mock-up of potential collaborative filtering integration into CareWeb in order to collect opinions regarding the feature’s usability/practicality, display/format, and a number of suggested terms.    Results:   From the pilot study, current challenges that limit clinician search function use include limited time in clinician workflow, information overload, and inaccurate results. Clinicians are more likely to conduct searches when treating patients who have limited medical history, complex histories, known recent visitations, and/or who have been seen at other institutions. Participants demonstrated interest in a collaborative filtration search feature; they expressed a preference to have the feature recommend five related search terms.    Potential Impact:   The data from this study aims to refine the way healthcare providers search within the EHR/HIE. This will allow healthcare providers to more efficiently extract relevant patient information for improved healthcare delivery and proficient clinician workflow. 

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