Assignment Instructions
Discuss a current news article on ransomware in the health care field. Share an example of how this can impact protected health information (PHI) and the requirements for privacy and confidentiality.
Sample Answer
Discuss a current news article on ransomware in the healthcare field.
One of the current news articles discusses more on ransomware attacks on the United States healthcare care payment processor. The ransomware attack crippled a company that provided the healthcare providers with services to manage insurance claims and customer payments. This forced the company to take most of its operations offline to prevent the effects of the attack from intensifying (Collier, 2024).
Share an example of how this can impact protected health information (PHI) and the requirements for privacy and confidentiality.
The ransomware attack resulted in adverse effects on Protected Health Information (PHI) and confidentiality and privacy requirements. This attack disrupted the delivery of healthcare services as the electronic health records and computers were disabled or encrypted. During this period, the clinicians were forced to manually document care provision and a lot of appointments and medical surgeries were cancelled or delayed. The emergency departments were forced to divert ambulances and a lot of practice infrastructure was damaged so other healthcare organizations opted to close down rather than restore the systems (Neprash et al., 2022). Other instances of operational disruptions during a ransomware attack impose additional financial and human costs and this jeopardizes patient outcomes and safety.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has requirements for safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of patients. HIPAA applies to all healthcare workers and healthcare institutions who submit their claims online. For instance, healthcare providers are in violation of HIPAA if they transmit or discuss PHI with other unauthorized patients. Under HIPAA, sharing of information without prior consent is done only when consulting with other healthcare practitioners regarding a patient, referring a patient to healthcare providers, and providing information required by law for reporting and public health safety (Tariq & Hackert, 2023). Other information disclosures demand explicit consent from the patients and this applies to all the stakeholders in healthcare facilities such as the nurses, providers, administrative personnel, and pharmacists.
References
Collier, K. (2024). Ransomware attack on U.S. health care payment processor 'most serious incident of its kind'. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/ransomware-attack-us-health-care-payment-processor-serious-incident-ki-rcna141322
Neprash, H. T., McGlave, C. C., Cross, D. A., Virnig, B. A., Puskarich, M. A., Huling, J. D., & Nikpay, S. S. (2022). Trends in ransomware attacks on US hospitals, clinics, and other health care delivery organizations, 2016-2021. In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 3, No. 12, pp. e224873-e224873). American Medical Association. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9856685/
Tariq, R. A., & Hackert, P. B. (2023). NCBI. Patient confidentiality. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519540/