Overview
Ethical considerations help to maintain the validity and accuracy of patient information by identifying and addressing potential threats to data integrity. A comprehensive risk assessment plan that incorporates ethical considerations promotes trust, confidentiality, and the reliability of health care data. Review the literature regarding HIPAA and one or two other policies that govern electronic health record (EHR) design and development. Then for this assignment, you will develop a health informatics risk assessment plan.
Part One:
Write a 2- to 3-page analysis addressing the following:
- Justify policies and standards that govern EHR.
- Consider the policies that aim to improve health through the use of EHR.
- Evaluate issues that surround EHR system design and development.
Part Two:
An important step in securing electronic protected health information (ePHI) is to implement reasonable and appropriate administrative safeguards. To assure compliance with the administrative safeguards for validity and integrity standards, an evaluation of the security controls, an accurate and thorough risk analysis, and a series of documented solutions should be performed. Using the modified risk assessment tool from The National Learning Consortium (NLC), conduct a risk assessment for your organization.
Instructions:
- Download the risk assessment tool.
- Using the information in the “Existing Measures” column, answer the risk analysis questions. Your answers should be in the Risk Assessment column. Tip: When examining each of the individual questions, consider the question and your organization's current posture.
- Likelihood: This is a judgment by the respondent of how likely an undesirable event, such as a power outage or fire, is to occur in the medical practice. Please select from the dropdown menu the appropriate corresponding choice of Very Likely, Likely, or Not Likely for each asset.
- Very Likely would be defined as having a probable chance of occurrence.
- Likely would be defined as having a significant chance of occurrence.
- Not Likely would be defined as a modest or insignificant chance of occurrence.
- Impact: In the event that an undesirable event such as a power outage or a fire occurs, what is the level of impact on the practice? The response is a judgment by the practitioner of what impact an occurrence of the threat would have upon the medical practice. Please select from the dropdown menu the appropriate corresponding choice of High, Medium, or Low for each asset.
- High would be defined as having a catastrophic impact on the medical practice; the medical practice is incapable of offering medical treatments or services, and a significant number of medical records have been lost or compromised.
- Medium would be defined as having a significant impact on the medical practice; the medical practice may offer a reduced array of treatment services to patients. A moderate number of medical records within the practice have been lost or compromised.
- Low would be defined as having a modest or insignificant impact on the medical practice; the medical practice can continue to offer treatment to patients, and some medical records may be lost or compromised.
- Provide your recommended control measures in the last column for each item.
Submitting Your Work
Put your responses in a Microsoft Excel® document.