The Need for Standards for Health Information Systems

The Need for Standards for Health Information Systems
Security and privacy issues regarding protected health information are the greatest barrier to adopting electronic health records (EHRs) effectively. In this context, hospitals need to establish policy safeguards to secure EHRs, including access control (technical), administrative, and physical access control safeguards. Most security techniques and measures are categorized based on the three themes or healthcare pillars mentioned above. The technical safeguard is a technique employed to limit or prevent an unauthorized party from accessing an EHR resource. It recognizes that a healthcare organization gathers, stores, and secures clients’ data, which is increasingly sensitive. Administrative safeguards constitute partially physical or technical techniques but might incorporate an element of each. These safeguards are normally in the form of practices, procedures, and policies in the healthcare organization tailored to identify vulnerabilities and threats constantly, thus continually enhancing the facility’s information system security landscape. A physical safeguard is an approach that limits or prevents unauthorized individuals from physically accessing the hospital’s health information system (Kruse et al., 2017). For example...