Howard university hospital security breach

Patient Privacy Issues

New technology has brought many benefits to the healthcare industry but it has also resulted in challenges involving keeping patient information private and confidential. As more and more healthcare facilities go digital the threat of the private patient record going public is an alarming problem. Not only do patients risk someone hacking into their private patient file there is also the risk of their information being sold. Patient privacy is no longer as secure as it was in the past with the written record. Keeping a patients record from being accessed requires the healthcare facility to take steps to properly secure this information. Even then this private information is at risk from internal and external sources at the healthcare facility.

One situation where the private information of the patient becomes vulnerable is a case where an employee sold patients private information for illegal gains. An employee at Howard University Hospital named Laurie Napier used her position as a hospital tech to access private hospital records and to sell them to criminals so they could be used for criminal purposes (Shultz, 2012). In this situation the employee was caught selling the private information of patients. This private information includes name, address, birth date, Medicare health numbers, and social security number. This private information can be used by criminals to create fraudulent accounts, open credit cards, and create new identities.

The employee was able to steal the private information of tens of thousands of patients because the patient files were password protected but the information was not encrypted to prevent theft. Not only did patients become vulnerable to fraud, the reputation of the healthcare facility also becomes damaged due to their inability to protect patient records. As a result of the illegal actions of Napier she was charged under the HIPPA law. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) privacy rule ensures the healthcare facility does not release the private information of the patient without their express permission.

The Privacy Rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of health information needed for patient care and other important purposes but also ensure this information is held in confidence (DHS, 2015). The Security Rule defines the necessary security safeguards required to be put into place by the healthcare facility, business associates, and healthcare clearinghouses that share patient’s healthcare information. When Laurie Napier stole the private information of over 34,000 patients she violated the privacy rights of the patients and broke the law. Her violation was criminal but they hospital was also at fault due to their failure to protect private patient information.