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Facing Confidentiality and Electronic Medical Records Concerns



With more and more hospitals employing the electronic medical record as their standard data collection, storage and retrieval system, there are those who are concerned with the risks in the confidentiality and electronic medical records system.

The old way of doing things required a lot of paperwork. This meant more office space was allotted for record keeping. This usually meant a filing cabinet with a key as its main security defense against other people. The talk of confidentiality and electronic medical records keeping true to that sense is only a hype, or fluke. The concerns of confidentiality and electronic medical records falling into the wrong hands are grossly exaggerated.

To put these concerns on confidentiality and electronic medical records intrusive capability, the software developers have added several security measures to insure that only those who need to know about your information get it and the information that the doctor is reading is really about you:

* Biometric identifiers to replace passwords - these biometric identifiers use a person's unique physical characteristic physical characteristics such as a fingerprint, voice or retinal pattern, to identify users gaining access to your file.

* Access logs - this feature, which is installed in the hospitals mainframe, works like a guest book. Each time someone opens or alters your file, the identity of that person is kept in record.

* Limiting access - the forms can be categorized as those open for general viewing (basic medical history, allergies and past ailments) to those forms needing authorization like the list of which hospitals you were confined in and what treatments you received). Depending on the department, making the inquiry, the patient still has confidentiality and electronic medical records are kept in check.

However, the integration of these electronic medical records will happen soon enough and when it does, it will again raise the bar of concern regarding the confidentiality and electronic medical records system's efficiency.

One issue that will certainly tackle the confidentiality and electronic medical records system is about hackers. Given that the current computer system in vulnerable to such digital attacks, patients are concerned about the risk of their medical records being exposed to the public.

Another threat to confidentiality and electronic medical records retrieval system is the participation of insurance companies. Once the integration is made across all the regions, the insurance companies are the first ones who will apply to get access to medical reports. Such details can be used to compute for the insurance claims.

The fear of violation in confidentiality and electronic medical records that the insurer can get about the patient can lead to take action not favorable to the patient's interest, like limiting benefits or completely terminating the patient's insurance coverage.

The problem of confidentiality and electronic medical records being corrupted has increased. With the proliferation of computer viruses over the Internet, the system must be as secure as any bank system in the world.

Lastly, the need to establish a uniform standards or minimum standards for the confidentiality and electronic medical records are open for discussion. Healthcare institutions, hospitals and clinics like to keep a uniform standard on their records.

With different kinds of software and operating systems running on their network, it makes it different to retrieve the information specifically asked for by the doctor and such confusion could lead to the inaccuracy of the detail in the records.

Solving the confidentiality and electronic medical records system and its problems are still quite far from realization. But with patience and persistence, our healthcare will soon be modernized.

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