Interview Summary
Introduction
The purpose of this interview is to utilize a selected interviewee’s work history and perspectives concerning electronic health records (EHRs), software solutions, and impending government regulations as it relates to information technology (IT) privacy and security. I selected my interviewee because he currently works at the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in Durham, North Carolina in the IT department; and I do wish to continue my career within the VAMC or remain in a government entity. Interviewing the selectee and having an internal perspective as it relates to a governmental organization provided me valuable insight on IT security.
Overview of Career The selected interviewee is Jeffrey S.
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His educational background consists of a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and several certifications such as CompTIA Network +, CompTIA Security +, and Certified Accreditation Professional (CAP). In addition, he is currently enrolled in the CompTIA Cyber Security Analyst (CSA+) certification course. According to Claburn (2016) in 2014 the SANS Institute released a report that suggest having IT certifications can increase income by five percent in the informatics field. When asked what attracted him to informatics and information security, shockingly the response was “Nothing”. “I was looking for anything right after I graduated and was accepted into a two-year internship with Field Security Service (VA’s ISOs); and I was mentored by the previous Durham VA ISO for those two years and upon completion was a full ISO” (Interviewee, …show more content…
Mr. Gardiner explained that the system owner is the local Chief Information Officer (CIO) and his authority comes directly form the VA CIO who reports to the secretary of the VA. More specifically, the CIO is responsible for managing the data by ensuring the VA systems meet VA security requirements, and the information owner or Facility Director is ultimately responsible for the data that resides in the system. Finally, the interviewee provided an example of a project involving security, patient data, and EHR hardware. He described an initiative for a precision oncology system that is a best of breed application for oncology to securely export data in a specific format to be shared with external facilities thereby reducing faxing resulting in a decrease of possible security breaches of patient health information. Faxing has its own patient confidentiality issues such as faxing to the wrong number, in 2009, 65,000 breaches were reported to the Office for Civil Rights (McCann, 2013). Once the pilot is complete the application and process will be used within oncology departments nationally within the
How would you like to keep track of your personal health information record in your computer at home? The electronic data exchange was one of the goals of the government to improve the delivery and competence of the U.S. healthcare system. To achieve this plan, the U.S. Congress passed a regulation that will direct its implementation. The Department of Health and Human Services is the branch of the government that was assigned to oversee the HIPAA rules. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a national public law in the United States that was created to improve health insurability, prevent insurance abuse and to protect the privacy and security of a person’s health information.
As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.
Introduction The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, is a law designed “to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes. ”1 HIPAA mandates that covered entities must employ technological means to ensure the privacy of sensitive information. This white paper intends to study the requirements put forth by HIPAA by examining what is technically necessary for them to be implemented, the technological feasibility of this, and what commercial, off-the-shelf systems are currently available to implement these requirements. HIPAA Overview On July 21, 1996, Bill Clinton signed HIPAA into law.
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. (2005, May 11). Workforce Privacy Training (HIPAA). Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Privacy/Data Protection Project: http://privacy.med.miami.edu/glossary/xd_workforce_training.htm
With today's use of electronic medical records software, information discussed in confidence with your doctor(s) will be recorded into electronic data files. The obvious concern is the potential for your records to be seen by hundreds of strangers who work in health care, the insurance industry, and a host of businesses associated with medical organizations. Fortunately, this catastrophic scenario will likely be avoided. Congress addressed growing public concern about privacy and security of personal health data, and in 1996 passed “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA). HIPAA sets the national standard for electronic transfers of health data.
“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an incentive, the government began issuing payments to those providers who “meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.” (hhs.gov) There are three stages that providers must progress through in order to receive theses financial incentives. Stage one is the initial stage and is met with the creation and implementation of the HER in the business. Stage two “increases health information exchange between providers.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) Stage three will be the continuation and expansion of the “meaningful use objectives.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) The hospital, where I work, initiated the HER mandate many years ago. In this paper, I will discuss the progression and the challenges that my hospital encountered while implementing the EHR mandate.
In the modern era, the use of computer technology is very important. Back in the day people only used handwriting on the pieces of paper to save all documents, either in general documents or medical records. Now this medical field is using a computer to kept all medical records or other personnel info. Patient's records may be maintained on databases, so that quick searches can be made. But, even if the computer is very important, the facility must remain always in control all the information they store in a computer. This is because to avoid individuals who do not have a right to the patient's information.
The health industry has existed ever since doctors bartered for chickens to pay for their services. Computers on the other hand, in their modern form have only existed since the 1940s. So when did technology become a part of health care? The first electronic health record(EHR) programs were created in the 1960s around the same time the Kennedy administration started exploring the validity of such products (Neal, 2013). Between the 1960s and the current administration, there were little to no advancements in the area of EHR despite monumental advancements in software and hardware that are available. While some technology more directly related to care, such as digital radiology, have made strides medical record programs and practice management programs have gained little traction. Physicians have not had a reason or need for complicated, expensive health record suites. This all changed with the introduction of the Meaningful Use program introduced in 2011. Meaningful use is designed to encourage and eventually force the usage of EHR programs. In addition, it mandates basic requirements for EHR software manufactures that which have become fragmented in function and form. The result was in 2001 18 percent of offices used EHR as of 2013 78 percent are using EHR (Chun-Ju Hsiao, 2014). Now that you are caught up on some of the technology in health care let us discuss some major topics that have come up due to recent changes. First, what antiquated technologies is health care are still using, what new tech are they exploring, and then what security problems are we opening up and what is this all costing.
Advances in technology have influences our society at home, work and in our health care. It all started with online banking, atm cards, and availability of children’s grades online, and buying tickets for social outings. There was nothing electronic about going the doctor’s office. Health care cost has been rising and medical errors resulting in loss of life cried for change. As technologies advanced, the process to reduce medical errors and protect important health care information was evolving. In January 2004, President Bush announced in the State of the Union address the plan to launch an electronic health record (EHR) within the next ten years (American Healthtech, 2012).
For my informational interview I spoke with a nurse who has experience working on a medical surgical unit in a hospital setting. She has been a nurse for 10 years. She also has her bachelors degree in nursing. I started my interview by introducing myself and explaining what my assignment was about, and how she could help me tremendously with answering some questions regarding her nursing career, and what she does as a medical surgical nurse.
The Security Rule of the HIPAA law affects technology the most in a Healthcare or Human Service organization. The Security Rule deals specifically with Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI). The EPHI has three types of security safeguards that are mandatory to meet compliance with HIPAA regulations. Administrative, physical, and technical. There is constant concern of different kinds of devices and tools because of their vulnerability: laptops; personal computers of the home; library and public workstations; USB Flash Drives and email, to name a few. These items are easily accessible for those attempting to breach security. Workers of the healthcare area have complet...
Finding the right person to do my interview was difficult. I wanted to interview someone who are passionate in their field. The person that I found was Lawrence Cariaga. He is a dear friend of mind and motivated me to never give up on my dreams and keep shooting for what you believe in. He is a passionate in his work duty and tries his best to help those are in need.
As the future stores in Kinyasi’s plans, he graduates with Bachelor of Science in Computing Security this May recently. He continues his goal to receive the Master of Science and will graduate in the next May. After graduation, he plans to look for a job across the United States as he loves to travel around the new places. He wants to gain more experience through work for next few more years. When he satisfies his goal, he will return to Tanzania, to set up a business and use his skills to improve security. There are not many security companies and he wants to improve the security to prevent hack, threats, and virus risks. If the security plan does not work out, he plans to do entrepreneurship for farming (how to improve crop demands) or build better properties provided for deaf people.
The field of information systems has grown and become more promising than in previous years. This increase demands highly skilled professionals to keep up with the quickly changing world of IS. Looking for a job in the Information Systems field opens the door for many disciplines, each with its significance in the business world. Most businesses need information systems skills to accomplish their goals. There is a wide selection of career options in the field of information systems. There are the technical positions, such as dealing with information management and hardware and software management, and the people-oriented technology positions, such as dealing with the design and operation of Internet applications (“Why Major,” n.d.).
The Technique Of `Behavior Interviewing'--Recruiting The Best For The Job. (1999). Insurance Advocate, 110(13), 20.