Healthcare Data

Healthcare Data
Healthcare Data
Assignment Purpose:
To identify data security processes in a disaster.
Assignment Description:
You are the HIM director of a 200-bed acute care hospital, which has recently been struck by a tornado. Unfortunately, the main computers and back-up tapes have been destroyed; however, the HIM department in the basement with paper charts remains intact.
Calls are coming in requesting information on injured patients. Nurses and physicians are in the department looking for information on patients. Since, the computers are down, no one is sure what to do.
How do you control the situation? How do you protect the data? How do you track the data? What should be included in a disaster recovery plan to address this type of situation?
Develop a checklist of 25 items that can be used in this type of situation that addresses at minimum the above four questions.
There are two types of health data: structured and unstructured.
Health data that is structured is standardized and easy to transfer between health information systems.
A patient’s name, date of birth, or blood-test result, for example, can be stored in a structured data format.
Unlike structured data, unstructured health data is not standardized.
Unstructured health data includes things like emails, audio recordings, and physician notes about a patient.
While developments in health information technology have increased data gathering and usage, the complexity of health data has hampered industry standards.
[2]
According to estimates from 2013, over 60% of health data in the United States was unstructured.
[3]
Collection
In the 1970s, health informatics, a branch of health data management, surpassed medical informatics.
[4]
Health informatics differs from medical informatics in its use of information technology. It is roughly described as the collection, storage, distribution, and application of health data.
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Individuals are the source of all health data, but the most direct, if frequently disregarded, method of data collecting is informal personal data collection.
An individual checking off that they’ve taken their prescription on a personal calendar, or a person counting the amount of sleep they’ve received in the previous week are both examples.
Health-related data sources
Most health data was collected within health care systems prior to recent technology developments.
Individuals interact with health care providers as they move through health care systems, and this interaction generates health information.
Clinics/physician offices, pharmacies, payers/insurance companies, hospitals, laboratories, and elder homes are all examples of touch points.
Clinical studies, health agency surveys, medical equipment, and genomic testing are all ways that information is gathered.
Once recorded, this information becomes health data.
This information often contains a record of services received, their conditions, and the clinical outcomes that resulted from those services.
[2]
A blood draw, for example, might be a service received, with a white blood cell count as a condition of that service and a reported measurement of white blood cells as a result.
Administrative and billing data, patient demographic information, progress notes, vital signs, medications diagnoses, vaccine dates, allergies, and lab findings are all often gathered and found in medical records.
[5]
The scope of health data has been broadened thanks to recent advancements in health information technology.
Advances in health information technology have spawned the eHealth paradigm, which has broadened the scope of health data collecting, use, and philosophy.
In academics, eHealth, a concept coined in the health information technology industry[6], has been defined as
a new field that combines medical informatics, public health, and business to refer to health services and information supplied or enhanced via the Internet and similar technologies.
In a broader sense, the phrase refers to a state of mind, a style of thinking, an attitude, and a dedication to networked, global thinking in order to enhance health care… through the use of information and communication technologies.
[6]
mHealth, which is considered a subsector of eHealth, arose from the convergence of eHealth and mobile technologies.
[7] A definition of mHealth is
The use and capitalization of a mobile phone’s core utility of voice and short messaging service (SMS), as well as more complex functionalities and applications such as general packet radio service (GPRS), third and fourth generation mobile telecommunications (3G and 4G systems), global positioning system (GPS), and Bluetooth technology, are all part of mHealth.
[7]
The rise of eHealth and mHealth has broadened the concept of health data by opening up additional avenues for patient-generated information (PGHD).
[8] PGHD is defined as “health-related data developed, recorded, gathered, or inferred by or from patients or their designees… to help address a health condition,” which includes “health history, symptoms, biometric data, treatment history, lifestyle choices, and other information.”
[8]
Patients can use MHealth to track and report PGHD outside of the clinic.
A patient, for example, may track and distribute PGHD using a blood monitor connected to her or his smartphone.
A new digital health paradigm is being formed by PGHD, mHealth, eHealth, and other technical developments such as telemedicine.
The term “digital health” refers to a patient-centered health-care system in which patients manage their own health and wellbeing using new technology that collect and analyze their data.
[9]
In the twenty-first century, data has become increasingly important, and who owns it has shaped new industries.
[10]—and the health-care industry is unlikely to be an exception.
Because of the rise of PGHD, some experts predict that patients will have more power over the health-care system in the future.
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Patients can use their power as data producers to push for increased openness, open science, clearer data use consent, more patient involvement in research, development, and delivery, and easier access to study findings.
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To put it another way, “health care will be owned, operated, and driven by customers” is a foregone conclusion.
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Furthermore, some major technology firms have entered the PGHD market.
Apple’s ResearchKit is one such example.
These businesses may be able to enter and disrupt the health-care sector thanks to their newfound PGHD clout.
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Individuals, public health, and medical research and development can all benefit from health data.
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Primary and secondary uses of health data are distinguished.
When health data is utilized to provide health care to the person from whom it was obtained, it is referred to as primary use.
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When health data is utilized for purposes other than providing health care to an individual, it is referred to as secondary use.
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The primary and secondary uses of health data have increased as a result of digitization and health information technology.
Over the last decade, the United States’ health-care system has embraced electronic health records (EHRs), a natural progression given the benefits of EHRs over paper-based systems.
[15][16] EHRs have increased the use of health data for secondary purposes such as quality assurance, clinical research, medical research and development, public health, and big data health analytics, among others.
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[18][19]
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Personal health records (PHRs) have extended the primary uses of health data, although being less popular than electronic health records (EHRs)[20].
Patients manage PHRs, which can include both patient and provider-reported health data.
[20]
While a solo PHR system is possible, integrated EHR-PHR systems are seen to be the most beneficial.
[20] Integrated EHR-PHR systems broaden the primary uses of health data by allowing individuals more access to their personal health information, which may be used to track, assess, and improve their own health.
[20] This is a crucial component of the digital health paradigm.
Privacy and security
There were no comprehensive federal laws that governed the security or privacy of health data in the United States prior to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.
[21] The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs the use and distribution of protected health information (PHI) by certain institutions, such as health practitioners, health care clearinghouses, and health plans.
[21]
HIPAA went into effect in 2003, after being delayed by federal-level negotiations.
[21]
Despite the fact that HIPAA created health data security and privacy in the United States, there were still loopholes in protection.
The introduction of new health information technologies has widened the chasm.
[21]
[22]
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act was signed into law in 2009.
The bill attempted to fill in HIPAA’s inadequacies by extending HIPAA standards to new entities, such as business associates or subcontractors who hold health data.
[21]
The US Department of Health and Human Services published an Omnibus Rule in 2013 that implemented the final elements of HITECH.
[21]
Despite these changes to the law, security and privacy concerns remain as healthcare technologies evolve and become more prevalent.
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It’s worth noting that from October 2008 (when the data was obtained) until September 2017, Social Indicators Research provided scientific proof of 173,398,820 (over 173 million) people affected in the United States (when the statistical analysis took place).
[24]