How can hospitals better protect the privacy of electronic medical records? Perspectives from staff members of health information management departments

Abstract

Based on the findings obtained, we suggest that hospitals should provide continuous ethics awareness training to relevant staff and design more effective strategies for improving the protection of EMR privacy in their charge. Further practical and research implications are also discussed.

Research in health information management: An expanding field of enquiry

“…The importance of patient access to their health information through patient/personal health records was explored (Hanna et al, 2017;Hemsley et al, 2016;Kang et al, 2015). Information technology and web-based applications are being used increasingly by patients of all ages and in numerous settings (Ayatollahi et al, 2016;Forster et al, 2015;Usher et al, 2016); factors influencing patient privacy (Randall et al, 2016;Rezaeibagha et al, 2015;Sher et al, 2016) were also examined, along with those concerning education, workforce, and training requirements of clinicians and health professionals both in Australia (Rowlands et al, 2016) and internationally (Adeleke et al, 2015;Makinde et al, 2016) It is my vision that the scope of research into health information management, and the involvement of health information managers (HIMs) in other areas of research, will continue to extend beyond the "traditional" hospital model so that investigations involving management of health data in all sections of the health arena will strengthen the profession and enrich the pages of HIMJ. In a climate where science, when inconvenient, is so easily questioned, it is imperative that we promote and support academic excellence and integrity.…”

“…The importance of patient access to their health information through patient/personal health records was explored (Hanna et al, 2017; Hemsley et al, 2016; Kang et al, 2015). Information technology and web-based applications are being used increasingly by patients of all ages and in numerous settings (Ayatollahi et al, 2016; Forster et al, 2015; Usher et al, 2016); factors influencing patient privacy (Randall et al, 2016; Rezaeibagha et al, 2015; Sher et al, 2016) were also examined, along with those concerning education, workforce, and training requirements of clinicians and health professionals both in Australia (Rowlands et al, 2016) and internationally (Adeleke et al, 2015; Makinde et al, 2016)…”

Continuance compliance of privacy policy of electronic medical records: the roles of both motivation and habit

“…Through compliance with a stated privacy policy, employees of these healthcare facilities can effectively protect the privacy of the patients. Despite several studies which have investigated the determinants of adherence to a privacy policy [4, 5, 8, 11, 58], patient privacy and the ultimate success of EMR remain dependent on continuance protection rather than on one time protection. Surprisingly, prior to this particular study, little, if any, effort has been made to fill this gap in the literature.…”

“…Although existing literature has significantly enhanced our understanding of the drivers for privacy policy compliance [4, 5, 8, 11], little is known about what happens afterwards. Persuading hospital employees to adhere to EMR privacy policy is of limited value if they subsequently eschew it and then return to risky non-compliance behaviors.…”

Health Information Management: Implications of Artificial Intelligence on Healthcare Data and Information Management

“…HIM professionals are becoming more involved with developing solutions for healthcare organizations to better manage and use data. For instance, HIM professionals are actively participating in the development of policies, procedures, and best practices to ensure data are being used ethically and abiding by the required laws when research or data reporting is being adopted 55 . However, in the future, HIM professionals are going to need to be more involved in developing similar policies and procedures to accommodate AI developments.…”