Question

For the security rule, elaborate on the safeguards which make it up. What are the contributing factors to each safeguard?

Answer 1

The Security Rule requires appropriate administrative, physical and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of electronic protected health information.

Factors affecting patient confidentiality:

The digital world has revolutionised patient confidentiality. How can you hope to protect information with the growing dependence on online portals and device connectivity?

1. Create thorough policies and confidentiality agreements

Drawing up all encompassing and wide-ranging confidentiality agreements or policies means that everybody on your medical team knows exactly what is expected of them in every eventuality.A confidentiality agreement is, in its essence, a legal document which specifies exactly what information cannot be shared outside of the working premises. This policy must be read from cover to cover by every staff member and signed. It can also be regularly shared with patients to demonstrate that your organisation upholds strict confidentiality procedures.

2. Provide regular training

People adhere best to policies and practices when they fully understand why they are in place. Holding regular training sessions for all your staff members, from administrators to doctors and nurses, helps to reinforce how essential confidentiality requirements are, and provides a refresh of staff duties and expectations.For best results, make these training times fun and a good opportunity to learn while getting to know colleagues. Taking a creative approach to the topic and introducing games can also help the information be more engaging whilst also being a positive experience for your staff.

3. Make sure all information is stored on secure systems

As the standard of healthcare improves and populations expand the amount of patient data being stored has increased astronomically. As a result, many practices and clinics may face challenges in correctly storing this information, both in terms of where huge data quantities can be saved, and making the information easily accessible. Alongside these systematic difficulties it is essential that the highest level of security and digital protection is used when storing patient data. Purchasing platforms or using cloud providers that ensure your data is safe is the best way to look after this.Furthermore it is important that only strictly necessary personnel have access to this data. Levels of password protection that controls access is also worth considering and investing in.  

4. No mobile phones

An easy way to eliminate possible threats to patient confidentiality is to strictly limit or remove mobile phones from patient areas. This ensures that no one could either maliciously or accidentally record or photograph private records or information. According to research by Imperial College healthcare NHS trust in London 65% of doctors used SMS to communicate with colleagues about a patient, opening up concerns about privacy.This can sometimes be a difficult rule to enforce given the proliferation of digital devices. However, regularly reminding staff and patients why it is their best interests can help to reduce any resistance.Strictly controlling the use of mobile phones helps to reduce the possibility of information theft.

5. Think about printing

Once all your technical solutions and security is in place it can be tempting to think you have everything sorted. However, printed materials that contain key patient information are often overlooked. Labels, forms and printed notes can easily be misplaced, or even stolen, if they are in a busy area. Having streamlined, easy-to-use and secure printing systems is well worth investing in.

Factors contributing to integrity:

Identify the problem

Today’s environment requires automating workflows and considering the whole revenue cycle process to ensure revenue integrity. Healthcare providers want an easy, seamless way to manage revenue cycle without errors, such as those caused by patient identification issues. Considering the lack of electronic medical record (EMR) system capabilities to adequately address the critical need for accurate patient identification, it is vital to leverage complementary technologies with core-specific competencies that can improve the overall revenue cycle. For example, improving patient identification and matching processes at the front-end of the revenue cycle process can significantly reduce costs.

As an industry-leader in touchless patient authentication, RightPatient has been helping many healthcare organizations reduce claim errors and denied claims by ensuring accurate patient identification. By eliminating denied claims linked to identification errors, healthcare providers can reduce the burden of back-end activities in the revenue cycle and simplify the reimbursement process to ensure revenue integrity.

Rely on technology

Adopting technology is also essential to ensure that clinical teams across the healthcare ecosystem are accessing high quality shared data to produce the best outcomes. Augmenting the organization’s core systems with complementary technologies on a single, integrated platform enhances internal collaboration with other teams or departments. For instance, RightPatient crosses departmental silos and brings transparency to patient healthcare data across disparate domains. Transparency across teams is critical. RightPatient will ensure that a holistic and accurate medical record of each patient can be accessed by clinical and operational staff members no matter where the patient is authenticated. By automating the patient identification and authentication process, RightPatient improves clinical outcomes and enables staff to proactively focus on other areas where their expertise has the most impact.

Ensure compliance

According to the National Association of Healthcare Revenue Integrity (NAHRI), the goal of revenue integrity is to prevent issues that lead to revenue leakage or compliance risks through effective, efficient, and internal controls across the care continuum, supported by strong documentation and sound financial practices that can withstand audits at any time.

Violation of healthcare compliance is a major contributing factor to financial losses. For instance, HIPAA violations are becoming more common across the U.S healthcare system. HIPAA compliance software, on the other hand, can help address this issue. Such software allows healthcare providers to simplify their compliance efforts and manage training through an effective communication system. Ensuring HIPAA compliance prevents privacy issues that can impact proper revenue cycle management and helps to avoid costly financial losses.

Accurate documentation and coding

Unfortunately, as long as healthcare providers do not address the issue of front-end data validation, claim denials will continue to wreak havoc. Inaccurate patient identification and medical identity theft still remain a major contributing factor to denied claims and payment delays. However, through accurate patient identification, RightPatient enables healthcare providers to bill and code each patients’ information accurately. By ensuring accurate and clinical documentation, this platform significantly reduces inefficiencies of denials and rework, thereby strengthening revenue integrity.

Improve hygiene and foster patient trust with RightPatient

Healthcare providers are witnessing a reduction in non-infected patient activity due to the fear of COVID-19. Visits for general check-ups or other routine procedures have decreased to the obvious financial detriment of healthcare providers. These providers need to reassure their patients that they are taking all precautionary steps to maintain hygiene and control this contagious disease. Adopting RightPatient is a sensible part of this strategy.

RightPatient is a completely touchless biometric patient identification platform that can accurately identify patients throughout the continuum of care. After capturing a photo from a smartphone, tablet, or webcam, RightPatient instantly identifies patients and retrieves their correct medical record. By securing unauthorized access to medical records, hospitals are able to prevent medical identity theft, reduce denied claims, and duplicate records – all of which are vital to a high-performing revenue cycle.

RightPatient also offers remote patient authentication, which is becoming increasingly necessary as people are maintaining social distance by staying at home and getting treatment through telehealth practices. During this process, RightPatient validates patient identities by comparing their ID (e.g. driver’s license) and selfie photos. This process can also help healthcare providers to save money on more expensive identity proofing solutions through credit agencies.

As patient care becomes more complex, so does the management of the revenue cycle. RightPatient can help to simplify and manage the complexity by ensuring safe, ubiquitous patient authentication from various patient encounter points. Full financial recovery from this pandemic may take years, but adopting RightPatient will ensure that you are on a faster path to success.

Factors affecting to security of electronic protected health information:

· Its size, complexity, and capabilities,

· Its technical, hardware, and software infrastructure,

· The costs of security measures, and

The likelihood and possible impact of potential risks