Mobile device policy in healthcare - Essay Example

Mobile Device Policy in Healthcare Use of mobile devices and applications is becoming a common place in health care institutions. Most health care practitioners use mobile devices to access records of patients, prescribe drugs, conduct diagnosis, refer and research about health care issues. The Protected Health Information (PHI) is one of the elements that mobile devices help health care practitioners to practice. PHI has some issues that make it of great interest to practitioners in health care sector.

In its broadest definition, PHI refers to any information regarding health status, payment history and health history or a particular person (HealthIT.Gov, 2014). The PHI usually contains detailed information of patients including social security codes, identification details, residential, email and physical addresses, vehicle identifiers, certificates and license numbers, and biometric identifiers (HIPPA, 2015). It is because of containing such information that PHI deserves treatment and handling with highest possible security to protect privacy.

Clinical practitioners in the outpatient surgery center have the on-work privileges to use PHI. Practitioners will use mobile devices to access the PHI of patients only when within the surgery center. No person will carry the mobile device out of the premises of the surgery center. Every practitioner shall bear full responsibilities in case of physical damage of the mobile devices with PHI. The PHI of every patient has unique security preferences, and clinical practitioners should consult patients where access of critical information has restrictions.

No practitioner shall plug any foreign device except chargers into the PHI mobile devices. After every use, clinical practitioners should ensure to log out the PHI accounts accessed. The PHI presents various risks that may compromise the quality of care provided by clinicians. Some of the risks include:1. Hacking of the mobile devices to gain access to sensitive information.2. Virus attack that may manipulate the information and even destroy the device (HIPPA, 2015).3. Theft of the PHI mobile device.4. Breaching of privacy laws especially when one opens PHI application and forgets to close, and accessed by unauthorized persons.5. Risk of snoopers accessing information in case of absence of firewalls.6. Interception of text information in absence of encryption technology.

Measures To protect mobile devices and PHI1. Password codes should be ten alphanumeric characters. This element of security is important, as it is usually difficult to hack.2. The mobile devices shall not have internet capabilities so that they do not connect to the risky global cyber space.3. The mobile devices with PHI shall not go past the premises of the surgery center.4. The devices shall have a central management point with internal networking limited within the surgery center. Exchange of information can only happen via the central management point (American Bar Association, 2015). 5. If lost, the handling clinician must report within 30minutes to enable erasing of every details installed in the PHI mobile device.6. The devices will operate on de-identification mode so to delink common direct identifiers of individual clients. 7. Installation of malware and antivirus software in the mobile devices and the central access and exchange point within the surgery center.

ReferencesAmerican Bar Association. (2015). Protecting PHI on Mobile Devices. Retrieved March 4, 2015 from: http://www.americanbar.org/publications/aba_health_esource/2013-14/november/protecting_phi.htmlHealthIT. Gov. (2014). Your Mobile Device and Health Information Privacy and Security. Retrieved March 4, 2015 from: http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/your-mobile-device-and-health-information-privacy-and-securityHIPPA. (2015). HIPAA ‘Protected Health Information: What Does PHI Include?

Retrieved March 4, 2015 from: http://www.hipaa.com/hipaa-protected-health-information-what-does-phi-include/