breach in patient portal

by Lucius Schoen PhD Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read

Breaching the Security of the Kaiser Permanente Internet …

17 hours ago May 11, 2017 · Patients are required to register and can only access their records if they first log in to the portal. However, a flaw on the web portal allowed patients to access not only their own test results, but the test results and PHI of other patients. The website flaw was discovered by a Las Vegas IT consultant called Troy Mursch, who alerted Brian Krebs to the vulnerability last … >> Go To The Portal

EHR vendor QRS is being sued for a data breach that occurred in its patient portal system back in August. Kentucky resident Matthew Tincher is taking EHR vendor QRS to court over a security breach of its patient portal server that potentially compromised his and nearly 320,000 other individuals’ health information.

Full Answer

What are the patient risk factors for password breaches?

May 11, 2017 · Patients are required to register and can only access their records if they first log in to the portal. However, a flaw on the web portal allowed patients to access not only their own test results, but the test results and PHI of other patients. The website flaw was discovered by a Las Vegas IT consultant called Troy Mursch, who alerted Brian Krebs to the vulnerability last …

What do you need to know about the Kaiser online breach?

Jul 06, 2006 · This case study describes and analyzes a breach of the confidentiality and integrity of personally identified health information (e.g. appointment details, answers to patients’ questions, medical advice) for over 800 Kaiser Permanente (KP) members through KP Online, a web-enabled health care portal. The authors obtained and analyzed multiple types of …

What is a breach notice to the Secretary of HHS?

Jan 04, 2022 · The 39-page lawsuit alleges the Knoxville, Tennessee-based healthcare technology services vendor, who hosts an electronic patient portal for healthcare providers, recklessly failed to protect the personally identifiable and health information with which it was entrusted by clients.

What are some patient portal security tips for healthcare organizations?

Breaching the Security of an Internet Patient Portal. 10 October 2016. In August 2000, a breach occurred when an Operations technician applied patches to servers in support of a new KP Online pharmacy refill application. Subsequently, the outgoing e-mail function of KP Online failed and created a dead letter file of outbound messages with replies to patient inquiries that contained …

What are breaches in healthcare?

A breach is, generally, an impermissible use or disclosure under the Privacy Rule that compromises the security or privacy of the protected health information.

Can patient portals be hacked?

Unfortunately, what makes your patient portal valuable for patients is exactly what makes it attractive to cybercriminals. It's a one-stop shop for entire health records, and identity thieves can make a fast buck from stealing this data and selling it on.

What are the disadvantages of patient portals?

Even though they should improve communication, there are also disadvantages to patient portals.
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Table of Contents

Getting Patients to Opt-In.
Security Concerns.
User Confusion.
Alienation and Health Disparities.
Extra Work for the Provider.
Conclusion.

Nov 11, 2021

Are patient portals secure?

Patient portals have privacy and security safeguards in place to protect your health information. To make sure that your private health information is safe from unauthorized access, patient portals are hosted on a secure connection and accessed via an encrypted, password-protected logon.

Why do some patients fail to participate in the use of the patient portal?

The reason why most patients do not want to use their patient portal is because they see no value in it, they are just not interested. The portals do not properly incentivize the patient either intellectually (providing enough data to prove useful) or financially.

What are the pros and cons of patient portal?

What are the Top Pros and Cons of Adopting Patient Portals?

Pro: Better communication with chronically ill patients.
Con: Healthcare data security concerns.
Pro: More complete and accurate patient information.
Con: Difficult patient buy-in.
Pro: Increased patient ownership of their own care.

Feb 17, 2016

Why do patients not use patient portals?

FINDINGS. About seven in 10 individuals cited their preference to speak with their health care provider directly as a reason for not using their patient portal within the past year. About one-quarter of individuals who did not view their patient portal within the past year reported concerns about privacy and security..Sep 21, 2021

How are PHRs protected?

Some PHRs are offered by health care providers and health plans covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, known as HIPAA covered entities. The HIPAA Privacy Rule applies to these PHRs and protects the privacy of the information in them.

What should be in a patient portal?

A robust patient portal should include the following features:

Clinical summaries.
Secure (HIPAA-compliant) messaging.
Online bill pay.
New patient registration.
Ability to update demographic information.
Prescription renewals and contact lens ordering.
Appointment requests.
Appointment reminders.

More items...

Why are patient portals important?

The Benefits of a Patient Portal

You can access all of your personal health information from all of your providers in one place. If you have a team of providers, or see specialists regularly, they can all post results and reminders in a portal. Providers can see what other treatments and advice you are getting.Aug 13, 2020

Why is PHI encrypted?

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to date have related to the theft or loss of unencrypted mobile devices, encrypting the data is a primary defense against data loss and against the consequences of improper disclosure.

Is PHI unsecured?

Under the HIPAA security rule, as long as PHI is encrypted according to National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines, it is no longer considered “unsecured” and provider s are effectively exempt from improper disclosure being considered a “breach.”.