Data security and patient privacy are a serious problem for the healthcare industry. Medical data remains one of the most valuable types of information for criminals to target, and the technology health organizations rely on needs to be safe and easy to use. At the same time, health practices may also be under pressure to increase the amount of technology they use to make data more available to patients through systems like portals and online medical records.
Although mobile use can still play a major role in upgrading device use policies for various providers, the promise that this would revolutionize work may be dampened for some by the security risks from negligence or hackers.
A CIO article recently spotlighted some of the other difficulties surrounding BYOD, such as the "legal gray area" encompassing the uses of personal devices for work business. Combining personal access with confidential information could leave company secrets exposed if a device were to be misplaced or otherwise fall into the wrong hands.
In the healthcare, there's an added risk of sensitive information being exposed due to the different types of identifiers often included in one record. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) describes the physical safeguards required under the Security Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
"The standards under physical safeguards include facility access controls, workstation use, workstation security, and device and media controls," the site states. "The Security Rule requires covered entities to implement physical safeguard standards for their electronic information systems whether such systems are housed on the covered entity's premises or at another location."
Greater data security can come with greater overall control of the apps you used and the way they are disseminated. Implement a web based terminal emulator for a greater ease in accessing information securely across multiple devices.