HealthCare CyberSecurity
Hello, my name is Alex Hales. I love to read, write, and learn. I was Mechanical Engineering student turned Technical Communications student about half way through my undergrad. Its been a great change. I love to drive change from the people around me. I like to teach people simple truths. I am a technical communication expert and am interested in cybersecurity. Specifically, I have found the section of health information security interesting through my work as a pharmacy technician for the past 3 years. After viewing Shane Smith and Edward Snowden's interview about Covid 19 and information on YouTube, I have been hooked.
What Information is Being Taken?
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPPA, is a federal law that mandates national standards for private patient health information without consent of the patient themselves. Protected Health Information, or PHI, is an individuals information that is covered by the HIPPA ruling. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states the ruling, "address the use and disclosure of individuals’ health information by entities subject to the Privacy Rule (including) individuals and organizations... called 'covered entities.' "
These "covered entities" include: healthcare providers like doctor's office's or pharmacies. It also includes healthcare insurance plans, specifically: health, dental, vision, prescriptions (Rx), Medicare, Medicaid, HMO's, etc. Take a look at the CDC website for a more complete listing. These officers need to have this information to more effectively do their job, so as patients, we allow them to have it. They use this information only to provide the best care for their patients, while others may seek to use it for dangerous purposes. As a healthcare worker, HIPPA allows the use of PHI in many cases, however when one begins to use Protected Health Information for their own gain, there is a problem.
Check out the CDC for a more complete list of do's and don'ts of use and distribution of PHI. For our purposes, a healthcare worker using PHI to communicate with other healthcare workers whither it be a doctor office, insurance provider, a pharmacy, or other healthcare related area, the information is being protected and used under the HIPAA law. When one tries to take the information about another by force whither physical or online, that is a violation of the HIPAA law.
Let's learn about Cybersecurity together by diving into what HIPPA is being taken, why we should fight against hackers trying to take it from our healthcare system. Learning from our mistakes is essential to our future endeavors to lessen the impact hackers have on gaining control of our data.