In the first part of this blog, we beamed our searchlight on the need for patient health data protection. We mentioned the proliferation of data encryption as a foremost measure for protecting sensitive health data. In this blog, we shall be examining other PHI protection measures, to wit:

Data Protection Technologies

Various data protection technologies are adopted by health institutions in a bid to secure and protect patients’ health data. The most popular ones amongst them are:

Cloud Storage

Recently, there has been a shift from the local storage of data to cloud storage. This move has gained prominence in the health sector as more health institutions become more aware of the great risk that comes with storing data locally. Be it private or public cloud storage, there is usually ease of management of endpoints (or the hundreds of PCs that store patients’ data).

Blockchain Technology

Blockchains can perhaps be said to be the most secure way of storing and managing data, at least for now. Stored data on blockchains are automatically encrypted and time-stamped, forming an immutable record of data. The strong security provided by this tech helps to nip unauthorized data replication in the bud

Third-Party PHI Protection Compliance

Professional practices are not islands –there’ll always be a need to outsource services to outsiders or third party providers. However, it has been discovered that most PHI breaches occur from the end of third party providers. This is why the US’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) restrict how data may be shared with third-party providers, and makes health institutions ultimately responsible for whatever breach caused by whoever they grant access to patient health information. Most health institutions, therefore, have in-house compliance policies in relation to outsourcing to third parties.

In all, the obligation to protect patients’ health data or information, is vested on all health care institutions, providers, clearinghouses, amongst others. They must, therefore, ensure compliance with data protection best practices as contained in the HIPPA.