The news has been full of patient data breaches, and the horror, heartache and humiliation that healthcare organizations have come to feel about their dirty laundry – and ineptness – set out for all to see.
But how do patients feel about all this? Do they worry their electronic health records (EHRs) will be the next to be revealed?
CDW decided to do a study of patient perceptions of IT security in healthcare. Who do patients trust to view and manage their personal information? What do patients consider to be their personal information? How do they think EHRs will affect the privacy and security of that personal information? How patients will they likely respond to security breaches? And finally, what steps should healthcare organizations take to prepare for the new information technology security requirements created by the transition to EHRs?
CDW set out to find out.
Not surprisingly, 90 percent of patients answered that the information they feel most important to keep secure is financial information. But the same percentage also felt personal ID information mattered the most. Sixty-three percent felt keeping their health information private and secure was the most important, while 22 percent felt it was their family information; 13 percent, their business transactions, and 12 percent, their Web histories.
Another interesting finding was that 63 percent trust their doctors’ offices to keep their information safe, while only 10 percent trust their insurance companies, and seven percent, their employers!
Almost 50 percent of respondents said they felt “somewhat negative” about the impact EHRs would have on the privacy of their personal and health data, and 20 percent were “somewhat positive.”
A little good news: 83 percent trust their doctors to use their data in their best interest, and 67 percent trusted their physicians’ practices to keep their data safe.
But here’s what should give us all a shiver. Thirty percent of surveyed doctors’ practices had only basic anti-virus software and 34 percent did not use firewalls.
Even more shocking, 50 percent of survey respondents said that yes, they had been warned by a business or organization of the potential loss or theft of their personal data, and nine percent cut off all ties to the business.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
