INSIGHT: Electronic Medical Records and HIPAA

An electronic medical records information system, or EMR, consists of document management and context management. Documents, or computer files, range from plain text to picture archiving and communications (PACS), that go to comprise a  patient's records. Context management makes it possible to view various patient record documents, stored in different systems or databases, from a single computer screen.

This single-source, ubiquitous access assures prompt medical services and efficient records management for the healthcare professional. It also makes patient EMRs quite vulnerable to misuse, abuse, and other more serious problems in medical service. One of the more common problems is unauthorized eyes reading patient records, as happened to the actor George Clooney: Twenty-seven employees at the Palisades Medical Center, New Jersey, were suspended for a month without pay for violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

The ease of access and document transparency of a well implemented EMR system can improve healthcare productivity. The key technology is storage, or database management, upon which everything else depends. And while the DBMS must be sophisticated enough to store many forms of data and information, with ultra-reliable backup, archive and data recovery systems, it must also provide the security and encryption services necessary to ensure compliance with HIPAA. As the Palisades Medical Center learned, it is not enough to have a code of ethics in place: intruding on patient privacy is breaking a Federal law. 

Thus password access levels, solid encryption methodologies, secure wired and wireless networks, endpoint device control, and other IT policies and procedures are the centerpiece of a reliable EMR system. But so is training and education for healthcare professionals, from receptionist to physician, as this example shows. Consider: What is the policy if an off-site doctor phones a nurse and asks that a patient CAT scan be electronically transmitted to her iPhone? If people do not understand their roles and responsibilities in light of HIPAA, it is a training and education  issue – not a technical one.

Takeaway: If you’re in doubt, find out.

Cheers,
Jack B. Rochester

Comments

[Scott Smith]

I read your article on electronic medical records and would like to recommend that you and your readers test drive our unique solution. MyMedicalRecords.com (MMR), a Patient Health Record, put a priority on two issues that are difficult to find together in most PHR programs and EMR systems. First is ease-of-use—all your healthcare providers need is a fax machine to put all your records into your account: each is turned into a PDF image using a proprietary process, which you then file. Second is privacy and security: we have such a bulletproof system that no hackers-for-hire have ever been able to penetrate it. You can share the account with up to 10 members of your family and each one would have secondary passwords to be sure privacy is protected. We also provide a special file that can be accessed by emergency personnel, which can have your critical information, like blood type and drug allergies. MMR is also by far the most feature-rich PHR on the market and is an Integrated Service Provider on Google Health—we have everything from a drug interaction database that red flags contraindications to calendar reminders for doctor appointments and prescription refills. If anyone wants to try this out for 30 days, just use the code TRYMMR.
Scott Smith
MyMedicalRecords.com
Smith.scott98@gmail.com

[John medical records]

Some software companies that specialize in electronic medical records even allow all patients medical records to be accessed securely from anywhere via the internet.Another huge advantage to keeping electronic medical records is the ease of access and small storage space required, allowing for an incredible fast way to find particular patient record.