Lauded for the effectiveness in capturing and the dissemination of data, EMRs have improved healthcare productivity with higher outputs as initial benefits to the overall industry.

Having tremendous potential, EMR’s still have a long way to go when it comes to securing and protecting sensitive patient health information. There is an increasing concern for security and safety of patient health records. A security breach can be disastrous, especially with medical records being deemed personal property of patients.

The ONC is dedicated in making electronic health information as secure as technically and humanly feasible and the HITECH act prioritizes health IT security. It is clear that the HIT industry understands the significance of the changes EMR has brought, with multiple compliance bodies already established to initiate and dictate portability protocols.

It is vital for both vendors and practices to protect and secure personal health information. In case of disaster or system failure, many cloud based EMR vendors offer intensive security features such as intricate encryptions, remote storage and backups. With the ethical responsibilities they carry as a part of the healthcare community, hospitals have also begun training staff on issues such as potential security breaches.

By highlighting risks and responsibilities, Issues such as misuse of personal information or unauthorized access can be surely resolved. The numbers of reported physical security breaches for electronic health information are staggering, whilst digital information is thought to be more prone to electronic breach or failure.

Interestingly, only 10 percent of health care information breaches resulted from hacking or Internet crime, while approximately 80% of records lost in the last 5 years were the result of hard drives, laptops, and other storage devices that vanished

Through processes and staff to protect and safeguard the patient’s privacy and health information, it’s imperative that every practice should ensure utmost diligence and dedication. Protecting your patient information is as vital as protecting a life and cloud based systems are a much better choice with offsite storage, back-up and other advance security features.