Health Care Information System
In the recent past, the hospital information system has changed into digitalized systems entailing computers involving phases such as information input, processing, output and security. The main concern of this system is to ensure data safety and integrity as per HIPPA guidelines. For compliance with HIPPA provisions in Title II on laws and standards to protect Electronic Health information, the following steps are necessary. The agreement should also extend to the HITECH Act that encourages health entities, and business associates comply with the HIPPA safety and security guidelines. It has achieved the objective through interventions such as monetary incentives, embracing EHR as well as harsh penalties for violation of the set guidelines. It ensures safety by people handling the information to avoid careless handling. The initial step is ensuring that all staff members are well equipped with skills on HIPPA privacy rule. Employees should have detailed knowledge of HIPPA compliance requirements to ensure the success of the audit. The second step entails developing a risk management plan and its assessment. This approach is vital for figuring out possible vulnerable areas to risk. It is possible by making a statement of reports in written and recorded forms then placed in a conveniently accessible location.
The third step involves identifying security assessment and privacy personnel as a way of demonstrating a commitment to adhere to meet HIPPA compliance requirements. The staff should analyze business associate agreements touching on third party agreements. The review should also extend to security guidelines followed by risk review in data safety and IT systems (Fiedler, 2017). The fourth step is reviewing policy implementation to note the procedure applied. It will also involve making a follow up on whether the plan is functional if not point at the problems and conduct necessary changes. The fifth one entails conducting an internal audit to have a chance of identifying vulnerable areas before the OCR audit. It also reviews safety compliance standards and risk management plan. The sixth step is developing an internal remediation plan to ensure covered firms and businesses are adhering and correct path in between audits.
Gap Analysis
Gap analysis is a tool used to spot and describe the health care issues to evaluate the discrepancy between the existing ones and expectation of optimal results. The tool identifies the gaps for effective community health empowerment interventions. The device is sufficient for the entity conducting the audit on electronic health records. The machine is crucial for evaluating where PHI is located, received, or distributed. It entails the assessment of trends and patterns to identify other gauges of possible and existing threats while apply alternative gathering approaches. The tool is crucial to detect vulnerability to threats and attacks, including those that occur in particular ways such as in storage and collection zones. It identifies and records the potential risks such that in case they occur they would cause exposure to e-PHI. The gap analysis also identifies the possible implications of threats in case of their occurrence. The tool carries out a review known as “criticality” to determine whether the potential is high imminent with little impact or low chances to happen with lethal implications.
Gap analysis makes an assessment of the existing critical safety measures by the company to protect e-PHI such as firewalls, intrusion identification, encryption, and passwords. It evaluates the extent to which security measures have been implemented and applied through conducting tests given that reliance on firewalls does not guarantee its efficiency. Gap analysis is critical in assigning of security levels for the identified possible threats and vulnerabilities. The tool determines the level by considering a variety of factors with the main being the chances and impact of occurrence. The risk level could be assigned based on the mean of the assigned averages, effect levels as well as comparison of other possible perils. The security levels are essential in ensuring that all the employees align with the standards that guarantee HITECH act guidelines that represent HIPPA improvement. Also, it is possible to apply fines for the organizations that let their employees fail to adhere to set standards.
The gap analysis tool is crucial in the audit by keeping making reviews and updates on perils assessment to make it a continuous process. The health care optimal expectations should maintain consistency to avoid any disparities in medical services. The consensus is that risk assessment and management is not a one-time approach; instead, it should be an ongoing continuous approach. The main reason for the trend is for the re-evaluation of threats and safety measures to deal with emerging vulnerabilities. The risks and vulnerabilities keep on changing and developing every time; hence if not adequately supervised, it could result to surprise attacks (Kruse, Smith, Vanderlinden & Nealand, 2017). Gap analysis identifies emerging threats where critical interventions can be implemented before the damage occurs. The gap analysis report plays an essential role in the remediation, especially for the review team. In applying the story, the team of experts analyze the outcome, proposals to draft recommendations to eliminate the gaps efficiently. An analysis of the issue it creates the best platform for the improvement of the existing measures to curtail emerging threats.
Fiedler, B. A. (2017). Challenges of new technology: Securing medical devices and their software for HIPPA compliance. Managing medical devices within a regulatory framework (pp. 315-329). Elsevier.
Kruse, C. S., Smith, B., Vanderlinden, H., & Nealand, A. (2017). Security techniques for electronic health records. Journal of medical systems, 41(8), 127.