NURS FPX 6616 Assessment 1 Community Resources and Best Practices

Purpose

This presentation addresses the negative harms of technological facilities that have appeared fruitful in delivering accurate and timely care treatments to patients. While Healthcare Information Technologies (HIT) have proved to increase the accuracy of delivering correct care treatments and prevent adverse events, there is a pressing need to raise awareness of cyber-security, data breaches, and patients’ Protected Health Information. About 249.09 million individuals have been affected by healthcare data breaches from 2005-2019 (Seh et al., 2020). Data breaches also result in financial ramifications.

As mentioned in one study, a single data breach costs $8.19 million. Moreover, the USA has the highest cost compared to other countries (Seh et al., 2020). Therefore, it is crucial to consider the cons of a digitally transformed healthcare industry with the advent of Information Systems and Smart Devices, and this presentation aims to address these issues with a subtle approach to evidence-based practices to prevent such problems. 

A Specific Situation Related to Care Delivery and Current Organizational Resources

One fine day at Bellevue Hospital Center, a patient named Jennifer Graham was under treatment for her renal failure, and Electronic Health Records breached her health data. The hospital’s IT department discovered the issue when the team noticed unusual activity on the patient’s health record during the routine system check. They found evidence of a sophisticated cyberattack targeting the patient’s health record on the EHR system. As a result, the attackers gained unauthorized access by exploiting a vulnerability in the hospital’s software. This targeted attack was due to financial gains, which the attacker inquired about in exchange for providing the patient’s PHI back to hospital management.

The Bellevue Hospital Center has a sophisticated EHR system to facilitate data sharing among interprofessional team members and manage patient data efficiently. Moreover, the current practices of the healthcare organization encompass security measures such as encryption protocols to safeguard patients’ PHI. The organization has also strictly enforced adherence to HIPAA regulations, ensuring compliance with federal laws governing the privacy and security of patients’ PHIT. For this purpose, the IT department conducts regular audits and assessments to maintain compliance and address vulnerabilities (Ahmed & Asghar, 2023).

Ethical Issues Related to Use of Healthcare Information Systems

Several ethical issues arise when healthcare information systems are used without appropriate security measures and systems. These include patient privacy and confidentiality, eroded trust in healthcare due to the impact on the relationship with the provider, and data security. Considering Jennifer’s case, her compromised data exposes her to various risks, including identity theft and unauthorized disclosure of her medical condition, leading to impacting her confidentiality and potential harm to her mental and emotional well-being (Favaretto et al., 2020). Moreover, the patient entrusted the organization with her most intimate health information, expecting it to be confidential.

The data breach eroded her trust in healthcare and resulted in her losing her connection with her healthcare providers. Hence, the data breach violated her rights as a patient and compromised her overall health and safety. The ethical obligations of patient confidentiality and privacy are unobserved, which leads to unauthorized use of PHI of patient data, compromising the ethical principles of patient autonomy and informed consent during care coordination (Zarour et al., 2021).

Legal Issues of Current Practices and Potential Changes

Legal issues also occur due to data breaches, such as heavy penalties due to violations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations on privacy and security of PHI. Moreover, the organization confronts legal repercussions due to the lack of strict security systems, which do not allow internal and external data breaches. Healthcare professionals also encounter litigation due to poor adherence to policies and laws organizations and governments enact. Lastly, the organization faces loss of reputation and financial downgrade due to litigation and legal actions (Seh et al., 2020).

The potential changes for legal issues include the implementation of more robust data security measures, such as implementing multi-factor verification and access controls (Suleski et al., 2023). Moreover, legal challenges due to poor interoperability and information exchange can be prevented by promoting seamless information exchange among healthcare providers. Additionally, healthcare organizations and leaders should advocate for legal reforms to support using HIT for care coordination and enhanced patient safety (Naik et al., 2022).

Comparison of Current Outcomes with Best Practices

The current practices at Bellevue Hospital Center dictate the malfunctioning of security systems, lack of multi-factor authentication, and poorly trained staff on data breaches and ways to prevent them. These parameters resulted in privacy violations, legal ramifications, and trust erosion (Seh et al., 2020). The data breach in Jennifer’s case resulted in losing her ethical right to privacy and confidentiality, further eroding her trust in the healthcare system. Moreover, the organization encountered potential legal consequences, including lawsuits and reputational damage. The poor outcomes can be compared with the best practices to prevent data breaches in the future. 

The best practices include upgrading the security systems with the integration of multi-factor authentication and conducting regular security audits to alleviate the vulnerabilities of data breaches and safeguard the privacy of patients (Suleski et al., 2023). Moreover, promoting transparent communication with patients following a data breach is essential, including timely notification and support services. By practicing this strategy, healthcare organizations demonstrate accountability and mitigate reputational damage (Värri et al., 2020). Lastly, stringent policies on practicing HIPAA guidelines must be enacted in organizations to reduce the incidence of legal risks and penalties associated with data breaches. This strategy also protects patients’ rights and avoids the costs of legal proceedings (Seh et al., 2020).

An Evidence-Based Intervention

Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is an evidence-based intervention well suited to prevent health data breaches in hospitals. The MFA is a cybersecurity measure requiring users to provide multiple verification forms before accessing a system or application. This includes adding information that the user knows, such as a password or token number, or applying fingerprint or facial recognition. By requiring multiple factors for authentication, this practice can significantly reduce the likelihood of unauthorized access, even if passwords are compromised (Tirfe & Anand, 2021).

The MFA feature within the EHR system also decreases the risk of insider threats and misuse of patient information. MFA’s added layer of privacy and security ensures that insider misuse of credentials can be effectively reduced. The MFA strategy in using EHRs offers user-friendly features such as push notifications, biometric authentication, or one-time passcodes, which facilitate healthcare professionals’ implementation and adoption of this security measure. Thus, MFA can be a suitable evidence-based solution to address data breach concerns and enhance the security system of EHR systems at Bellevue Hospital Center (Suleski et al., 2023). 

Role of Stakeholders and Interprofessional Team

The successful implementation of MFA to prevent data breaches in healthcare organizations requires the participation of various stakeholders and interprofessional team members. Healthcare administrators and IT professionals are crucial in implementing MFA solutions across the hospital and ensuring their effective operation. The administration will collaborate with IT personnel to integrate the features and train staff on their effective use. Moreover, healthcare providers and clinical staff will be responsible for adhering to MFA protocols and using authentication methods securely to access patient information and EHRs (Ahmed & Asghar, 2023).

Patients have a role in ensuring the security of their health information by following MFA procedures when accessing patient portals or other healthcare applications. When patients engage through secure communication channels, the likelihood of data breaches is reduced. These interprofessional team members, comprising healthcare administrators, IT personnel, clinicians, and patient advocates, collaborate to design, implement, and monitor the MFA intervention to prevent data breaches (Ahmed & Asghar, 2023). At Bellevue Hospital Center, all the stakeholders can collaborate and coordinate with each other to ensure future data breaches can be stopped.

Explanation of Data-Driven Outcomes

The data-driven outcomes must be analyzed once the healthcare organization integrates the MFA strategy. These outcomes evaluate the efficacy of newly integrated technological features to prevent data breaches (Suleski et al., 2023). The baseline data can be measured by estimating the metrics, including the number of unauthorized access attempts, user compliance with authentical protocols, and incidents of data breaches. Analyzing baseline data helps determine whether the current security practices effectively prevent data breaches or require interventions to bridge the identified gap. The baseline data at Bellevue Hospital Centers identifies the gap for double verification, which can be effectively fulfilled by integrating the MFA strategy.

The post-implementation of the MFA strategy will require further regular, systematic evaluations at defined intervals, semi-annually, to monitor data outcomes and measure the efficiency of the new practice. The key performance indicators for MFA implementation will include the number of successful authentication events, the frequency of security incidents, and compliance with security policies (Ahmed & Asghar, 2023). By following these steps in evaluating the data-driven outcomes by MFA, Bellevue Hospital Center can enhance the data security of patients’ PHI and reduce data breaches. 

Practices to Sustain Outcomes

The following recommendations are suggested to sustain the MFA outcomes within the healthcare organization:

• Implement regular training and education programs to ensure healthcare staff understand the significance of MFA within the EHR systems and are proficient in using authentication protocols effectively (Das, 2020).
• Establishing processes for continuous monitoring and auditing of MFA implementation within the EHR system to detect security incidents and identify any vulnerabilities (Ahmed & Asghar, 2023).
• Staying abreast of technological advancements and emerging threats by regularly updating the MFA solutions to address evolving security challenges in MFA and EHR utilization  (Krishnamoorthy et al., 2021).

By adopting these recommendations, healthcare organizations can sustain the outcomes of the MFA strategy and mitigate the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks in hospital’s EHR systems. This enhances patient safety and promotes ethical observation of patients’ rights.

Conclusion

To conclude, the data breach activity in Bellevue Hospital Center raises ethical and legal concerns. The current outcomes can be matched with outcomes obtained from implementing best practices. One such best practice is to implement multifactor authentication. This allows double verification to access PHI and prevents internal and external cyberattacks. This requires the contribution of several stakeholders, including administrators, IT department personnel, clinicians, and patients. Lastly, the data-driven outcomes must be evaluated to identify room for improvement and implement the efforts to promote sustained outcomes.

References

Ahmed, I., & Asghar, A. (2023). Evaluating the efficacy of biometric authentication techniques in healthcare. International Journal of Responsible Artificial Intelligence, 13(7), 1–12. https://neuralslate.com/index.php/Journal-of-Responsible-AI/article/view/7 

Das, S. (2020). A risk-reduction-based incentivization model for human-centered multi-factor authentication – proquest. Www.proquest.com. https://search.proquest.com/openview/38faf90785cf47c997333c8a799e1e83/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y 

Favaretto, M., Shaw, D., De Clercq, E., Joda, T., & Elger, B. S. (2020). Big data and digitalization in dentistry: A systematic review of the ethical issues. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(7), 2495. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072495 

Krishnamoorthy, S., Dua, A., & Gupta, S. (2021). Role of emerging technologies in future IoT-driven healthcare 4.0 technologies: A survey, current challenges and future directions. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-021-03302-w

NURS FPX 6616 Assessment 1 Community Resources and Best Practices

Naik, N., Hameed, B. M. Z., Shetty, D. K., Swain, D., Shah, M., Paul, R., Aggarwal, K., Ibrahim, S., Patil, V., Smriti, K., Shetty, S., Rai, B. P., Chlosta, P., & Somani, B. K. (2022). Legal and ethical consideration in artificial intelligence in healthcare: Who takes responsibility? Frontiers in Surgery, 9(862322), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsurg.2022.862322 

Seh, A. H., Zarour, M., Alenezi, M., Sarkar, A. K., Agrawal, A., Kumar, R., & Khan, R. A. (2020). Healthcare data breaches: Insights and implications. Healthcare, 8(2), 133. NCBI. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8020133 

Suleski, T., Ahmed, M., Yang, W., & Wang, E. (2023). A review of multi-factor authentication in the internet of healthcare things. Digital Health, 9, 205520762311771-205520762311771. https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076231177144 

Tirfe, D., & Anand, V. K. (2021). A survey on trends of two-factor authentication. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 281, 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4244-9_23 

NURS FPX 6616 Assessment 1 Community Resources and Best Practices

Värri, A., Delgado, J., & Gallos, P. (2020). Integrated citizen centered digital health and social care: Citizens as data producers and service co-Creators. In Google Books. IOS Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=iq4SEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA192&dq=notifying+patients+on+data+breaches&ots=VEZnyigOg3&sig=AoF3p2wTJPq_-1cCZ5Mg8XxjY9Y 

Zarour, M., Alenezi, M., Ansari, M. T. J., Pandey, A. K., Ahmad, M., Agrawal, A., Kumar, R., & Khan, R. A. (2021). Ensuring data integrity of healthcare information in the era of digital health. Healthcare Technology Letters, 8(3), 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1049/htl2.12008