Breach Of Patients Safety By Using Of Medical Devices Essay

The booklet “Equipped to care” provides practical information on medical devices for health professionals, who will enhance patients care” (Department of Health 2000). Demographic factors, changing illness patterns and the concept of patients as consumers of healthcare will act as a driver to the delivery of care, where sophisticated device usage will become increasingly routine (Department of Health 2002). Medical devices have moved from being tools to support clinical practice to being an integral requirement in treatment delivery (Quinn 2000). Breach Of Patients Safety By Using Of Medical Devices Essay. However, use of medical devices is not entirely free of risk since sometimes they malfunction, or sometimes clients may have increased suffering from their misuse.
Over the past 20 years, there has been significant development around medical device safety, from MHRA and the Department of Health. However, in the later years, available studies have been limited. Research articles were published in the early stages of development on the safety of use of medical devices and were reinvestigated some years later, in 2001 – 2003. For some time, there has been a shortfall of ongoing research, and tremendous advances in medical equipment at the same time, previous research were deemed unreliable.
It is perceived that major devices of the earlier time are now considered as minor. The major devices being studied today would not have been foreseen in previous years. The evolving complexity of devices and the need for training have been highlighted. .

Unauthorized access of data, networks, applications and devices by bypassing the underlying security mechanism entails a security breach. In a patient-physician relationship, privacy is the key principle. Patients may refuse to reveal significant information to the physician if disclosure may lead to stigma and discrimination. Medical health records have a range of purposes apart from diagnosis and treatment. A good example is that such information is utilized in improving the health care system efficiency, development of public policy and in conducting medical research. Such information is also shared with payer organization such as insurance companies (Huston, 2001). Breach Of Patients Safety By Using Of Medical Devices Essay. The information should only be shared with the full consent of the patient. However, the consent requirement should not hinder medical research though proper procedures need be developed to solve this procedural problem.

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All healthcare information shared with any organization should be used for the primary purpose only and privacy should be maintained. In addition, the electronic systems used in the sharing and storage of health care information should be well protected with firewalls and other security applications (Win, 2005). Other web-based platforms for the exchange of information should be secure and confidential. However, this will only happen if patients manage their data effectively.

Threats to privacy are categorized into two categories, which include organizational threats and systemic threats. Organizational threats arise when an external or internal agent exploits system vulnerability and accesses patient’s data. Systemic threats mostly occur from inside the information flow by people who are legally allowed to access the health care information. Insurance companies should always take measures to ensure that patient’s privacy and confidentiality is maintained. It is important to regularly conduct security risk assessment to uncover any system vulnerabilities.

Assignment 2

Security Breaches in Healthcare Insurance

A security breach entails the unauthorized access of data, networks, applications and devices by bypassing the underlying security mechanism. This usually occurs when an application or individual illegally accesses a private and confidential IT perimeter. A security breach is the first stage of a security attack usually by a trespasser such as a cracker, hacker or a reprehensible application. A security breach is deemed to have occurred if any of the procedures, system or security policies are violated. In many organizations, security breach is carefully monitored for quick identification and mitigation.Breach Of Patients Safety By Using Of Medical Devices Essay.  The whole process of monitoring to mitigation is done by a firewall of software. When a potential breach is identified, the firewall or software sends a message to the security administrator. Health insurance companies hold the medical data of their clients mostly in digital form. Such data is prone to a security breach. Some of the reasons why anyone would want to steal medical data are for blackmail, identity theft, activism and fraud among others.
Health information privacy and security background

In a patient-physician relationship, privacy is viewed as the key principle. To enable correct diagnosis and treatment, patients are required to share their personal information with the physician. However, in cases where disclosure may lead to stigma and discrimination, patients may refuse to reveal significant information to the doctor. Over the years, a patient’s health care information records accumulates important personal information such as identification, habits, genetic information, medication history, sexual preference, employment history, psychological profiles, income history and assessment of mental and personality state.

Medical health records have a range of purposes apart from diagnosis and treatment. A good example is that such information is utilized in improving the healthcare system efficiency, development of public policy and in conducting medical research. Medical records are shared with the payer organizations such as insurance companies, Medicaid, Medicare and social insurance in justifying payment of rendered services. Healthcare providers can also use the information in the management of their operations and improving service quality (Appari & Johnson, 2010).

In the last few decades, the US healthcare industry has experienced tremendous changes driven especially by the registration such as “Health Maintenance Organizations Act of 1973” and “landmark Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996” (Appari & Johnson, 2010 p. 282). HIPAA privacy and security rules require that covered entities maintain a safeguard to their information using policies and physical and technical safeguards. This will help in the monitoring and control of information access. With the sophisticated technology existing in recent times, healthcare information is mined, digitalized and transmitted for efficient health care provision.  Breach Of Patients Safety By Using Of Medical Devices Essay.This has revolutionized the threats to healthcare information access. Considering these emerging threats and the need to provide cost-effective health care, the US Congress has considered significant federal regulations such as the Health Information Privacy and Security Act ((Appari & Johnson, 2010, p. 282). All this is meant to protect the privacy of patients and ensure that health care data is safe from any unauthorized access. In addition, payer organizations such as insurance companies have a responsibility to ensure that healthcare data in their disposal is safe. Breach Of Patients Safety By Using Of Medical Devices Essay.