PHI is a HIPAA privacy provision that protects the personalized health information of patients kept by certain organizations. Patients have a variety of rights under PHI. In order to comply with PHI rules, all medical payment, treatment, and operation organizations, as well as any other organizations with access to PHI, are considered covered entities and business associates.
Under the privacy regulation, PHI can only be disclosed when it is absolutely necessary, such as while delivering medical care (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Patient names, addresses, and other personal information are among the PHI that covered agencies and their business associates are prohibited from disclosing to third parties under the HIPAA privacy standards.
Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality
The necessity that all healthcare personnel who have access to patient data maintain such information in trust is all what confidentiality means in the healthcare sector. Electronic health records should not be shared with any third parties or passwords to health portals shared or left logged in by healthcare providers (Keshta & Odeh, 2021).
Privacy, on the other hand, refers to the right of each patient to decide how their confidential information is shared. As a result, PHI is safeguarded under the HIPAA privacy rule, which also lays forth limits for when such information about patients may be disclosed (Keshta & Odeh, 2021). For example, healthcare practitioners should never post patients on social media or identify patients in public forums while employing technology in healthcare settings.
Security is a term used to describe the methods employed to safeguard patient health information and give assistance to healthcare practitioners in maintaining the confidentiality of PHI. (Keshta & Odeh, 2021).
As a result of the widespread use of technology, healthcare providers are obligated to take precautions to protect patient information such as logging out of public accounts and storing passwords securely and only exchanging patient information with authorized persons
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
In order to preserve sensitive electronic health information, a team effort by health care experts working in diverse companies is necessary, and interdisciplinary teamwork is the best way to do it. Interprofessional collaboration allows medical professionals to take unilateral actions to ensure the safety of sensitive electronic health data (Cohen & Mello, 2018). As a result of their improper use of social media, thousands of nurses in the United States have been dismissed. Professionals on the multidisciplinary team must exercise caution while using social media in the course of their job so as not to reveal any information about activities or practices that might be used to identify patients, whether they do so intentionally or not (Flew et al., 2019). Health care providers who breach social media standards are typically fired by their employers, while others are suspended indefinitely while their cases are being evaluated.
Evidence-based Strategies (EBP)
Hospitals and other healthcare institutions have used a variety of EBP measures to protect patient confidentiality and security while using social media. Private social networks like Doximity, Sermo, and Peer, which are only available to physicians are examples of such data security measures (Huo et al., 2029). Public social media networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, on the other hand, pose security risks (Chan & Leung, 2018).
There are also formal social media rules in healthcare businesses that all staff members are expected to adhere to. Additionally, these regulations are complemented by formal staff training and technological solutions that boost security. HIPAA-compliant social media use is made possible by the proper use of policies, training, and technology.
References
Cohen IG, & Mello, MM. (2018). HIPAA and Protecting Health Information in the 21st Century. JAMA. 320(3):231–232. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.5630. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2682916
Flew, T., Martin, F., & Suzor, N. (2019). Internet regulation as media policy: Rethinking the question of digital communication platform governance. Journal of Digital Media & Policy, 10(1), 33-50. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jdmp/2019/00000010/00000001/art00005
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