The Impact of

Infrastructure to Support Health Care Informatics by Brandy Watson February 17, 2012 Walden University

The Impact of

There are many reasons why the standardization of confidentiality and privacy within health informatics are important. Privacy allows individuals to disclose, or not to disclose information to their health care provider. Confidentiality ensures that the given information is not disclosed to anyone unless prior consent or permission is given by the individual. I feel that these standards allow physicians to provide the utmost care to the individual while establishing a level of trust that makes the individual comfortable. It also enables the individual to have more control over his or her own health. Confidentiality within health informatics allows important information to be available to those who are authorized to use it and unavailable to those who are not. In my current employment, one of our care management systems restricts diagnosis and authorizations from some users and allows those without those restricted limitations to do so. It is usually up to the physician or care group to secure the systems that are used and the information contained within them. They are also responsible for determining what is safe, suing national standards and guidelines from government organizations such as the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Two important things to consider when assessing the privacy and security of a health IT system is risk management and information integrity. Though I personally have found no documentation with proof, I think the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), would guide decisions that are made regarding the risk management and integrity of health IT systems. User authentication and automatic log off are two features that aid the containment of database information.

The Impact of

References Englebardt, S. P., & Nelson, R. (2002). Health care informatics: An interdisciplinary approach. St. Louis: Mosby.