Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy Going Broke
Open-source is a wonderfully dangerous idea if this is how we intend to support it. #Heartbleed anyone?
Privacy breaches at Rouge Valley hospital may have affected Ajax-Pickering patients
Ontario’s privacy commissioner has found the Rouge Valley Health System failed to protect patient health information following a review of two separate privacy breaches, which may have affected patients at both Centenary and Ajax-Pickering hospitals.
What is your appetite for risk with your patient data?
Is your cloud (online web-based) application vulnerable to hackers? Do you even know if the OpenSSL security flaw and bug affected your important data? Are you paying attention to your investment? Or do you even care?
With many moving full steam ahead with cloud-based solutions, recent developments have casted a slight shadow on the security of patient data and how much risk a medical practitioner is willing to take with personal medical information in the cloud.
When you visit the doctor, nurse practitioner or other health professionals there is a trust developed; whereby your confidentiality is respected and observed. As a patient you assume that all efforts are taken to uphold that trust. You assume that your personal medical data is secure from the prying eyes of others. However do you really know if your personal information is safe? It’s amazing to know that so many regular individuals assume, in Canada, that their personal information, located within a Doctor’s office, is 100% safe and secure. But what happens if they find out that there was a breach in security? What happens if a patient came to view results of something extremely important, only available within your EMR or medical software, and your “Internet” connection is down? What do you tell the patient? Are you certain that your medical information is safe?
Read: Cisco and Heartbleed, A Class Action Lawsuit In The Making (Seeking Alpha)
Although the term “online web based billing software” is the new buzz word, not all solutions have to be cloud-based. Many use terms like “bill from anywhere“, or “use any web-browser“, yet there are alternatives, which still allow you to be in control or your data. Many companies will never tell you how often their networks are down. Fear is used scare individuals into thinking that their equipment is safe with their company. “ 99% up-time“, is the standard default line for most online and cloud providers. However, as a medical professional, you assume the risk to your reputation and medical license. Patients believe that “you” and your medical practice are in trust of their personal medical and critical information. We all know, once trust is broken it is often difficult to repair.
Good luck trying to blame your technical problems on others when your cloud application is down (offline), your web-based provider was hacked (losing personal patient information) or even have disappeared with your data (bankrupted). Some comments from online vendors are shown below.
” Sorry about that folks, someone literally drove over our Internet connection this morning and ripped it from the pole. Everything restored.”
“The six-hour outage of Cerner’s network late last month has raised fresh concerns about cloud hosting of patient records.”
“ Target ignored its own alarms—and turned its customers into victims of an epic hack“(Bloomberg Businessweek)
“EBay initially believed user data safe after cyberattack“(Toronto Sun)
If your medical patient records are in the cloud ask yourself the following questions.
- Who actually has your data?
- Where, on planet Earth literally, is your data located?
- Are their cloud servers in Canada? The U.S.? Overseas? Or in an undesirable location in another country?
- If your patient data is in a foreign country what laws govern access to that information?
- Who is actually looking at your entrusted patient data?
- What is the risk and liability to your medical practice?
When choosing a vendor, for your medical software, never assume that the data within their office. Ask questions, first and never assume. Servers could be anywhere.
“If the cloud that hosts your data has servers in a foreign country, the laws of that foreign country may govern your data when stored in that server.”
Think of a more balanced approach to medical file management and health records. There are options to mobility that will not compromise your medical data. Just because it looks cheap, bleeding edge and downright “cool”, does it make it the best solution for you?
You can survive without your Facebook page, even Microsoft Word online for a while, but what about your medical records, lab reports and more; in relation to your office, or hospital? Under some certifications and requirements today EMR is considered a medical device; which must operate and function in a specific manner. If medical records and software were like a pace-maker, how much risk would you take?
All Your Medical Data In The Cloud? Not So Fast, Says #Privacy Official
When it comes to electronic health records, “the switch to cloud is inevitable.” That’s according to Joy Pritts, Chief Privacy Officer at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in the Obama administration, who spoke at a “Health Care, the Cloud, and Privacy” panel hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, Patient Privacy Rights.
Electronic health records are exactly what they sound like: A collection of health information in digital format that can include a wide range of data, from intimate details of your medical history and test results to demographic data to your billing information. Digital records are superior to physical ones because they can be transferred quickly when patients switch providers, help doctors get a complete picture of patient health, eliminate the need for redundant testing, and provide new opportunities for analyzing treatments for efficiency and effectiveness.
Manage Risk – Get patient consent before storing records in data clouds MDU advises to avoid legal issues
Get patient consent before storing records in data clouds MDU advises
Some GPs and independent practitioners have asked the MDU about their legal and ethical responsibilities when using virtual servers accessible over the internet, known as ‘data clouds’, to store patient information. The MDU, which indemnifies over half of all UK doctors, advises that clinicians consider very carefully the risks involved in storing confidential medical information in third party off-site cloud facilities. Dr Claire Macaulay, MDU medico-legal adviser, explained: “Traditionally information such as patient records has been stored locally within the practice. But cloud computing can offer a convenient alternative, not least because the information can be accessed from any computer. However, the potential security and confidentiality risks of doing so may, for the present time, outweigh the benefits.” – See more at: http://www.themdu.com/press-centre/press-releases/get-patient-consent-before-storing-records-in-data-clouds-mdu-advises#sthash.565UnHGT.dpuf
Private clinics misleading Ontario patients, advocates say
Ontario Health Coalition says many clinics are billing patients for medically unnecessary services
Many private clinics in Ontario are misleading patients and billing them for medically unnecessary services, public health advocates charged Tuesday.
A “significant” number of clinics contacted by the Ontario Health Coalition were charging patients extra fees on top of billing the Ontario Health Insurance Plan for necessary procedures, such as colonoscopies, the group said.
One clinic was charging patients $50 “administrative fees” for such things as a snack and patient records, according to OHC, which worked with six university students to conduct the research.
Such fees were more common among cataract clinics, which were charging patients hundreds and even thousands of dollars for medically unnecessary tests and procedures when they came in for needed surgery, said OHC’s executive director Natalie Mehra.
Clinics are manipulating patients, who are confused about what they need and what they don’t need, she said. Some patients they spoke to were concerned that if they refused to pay extra fees, that they would get substandard care.
Walk-In Doctor Clinics in Toronto
