Privacy Concerns in Mobile Access of Healthcare Informatics Systems

Mobile connectivity to healthcare informatics systems in the emergency room (ER) could allow for the immediate retrieval of patient records, diagnostic information, and critical update communication among healthcare providers. In an emergency, this portability enables quick decision-making and faster communication. Concerns focus on the increased danger of illegal access and data breaches as a result of mobile device loss or theft (Molitor et al., 2023). Furthermore, the ER’s fast-paced nature creates concerns about unintended disclosure of patient information, potential communication problems, and the difficulty of verifying compliance with healthcare standards surrounding the use of personal devices.

Implementing adequate security measures is critical to addressing concerns about mobile access to healthcare informatics systems in the ER. This involves encrypting patient data during transmission and storage, as well as establishing strong authentication procedures to access sensitive information on mobile devices. Regular training sessions on responsible mobile device use and privacy rules for healthcare professionals can reduce the danger of unintended exposure (Bandari, 2023). Establishing and enforcing clear organizational policies on the use of personal devices, in addition to frequent audits and changes to security standards, can help to ensure patient privacy and confidentiality.

Arietis Health, a revenue cycle management business, announced that the MOVEit Transfer attack affected over 1.9 million people across 50 healthcare institutions in a recent data breach reported on October 17, 2023. The compromise affected widely used file transfer software, and MOVEit delivered a patch on the same day the vulnerability was discovered, May 31. To minimize such breaches, businesses should implement security fixes as soon as possible, undertake regular vulnerability audits, and improve staff cybersecurity training to spot and avoid potential risks like the MOVEit Transfer hack.

References

Bandari, V. (2023). Enterprise data security measures: A comparative review of effectiveness and risks across different industries and organization types. International Journal of Business Intelligence and Big Data Analytics, 6(1), 1–11. https://research.tensorgate.org/index.php/IJBIBDA/article/view/3

Molitor, D., Raghupathi, W., Saharia, A., & Raghupathi, V. (2023). Exploring key issues in cybersecurity data breaches: Analyzing data breach litigation with ML-based text analytics. Information, 14(11), 600. https://doi.org/10.3390/info14110600