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7 Tips on Writing Compelling Content for Your Healthcare Website

7 Tips on Writing Compelling Content for Your Healthcare Website

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7 Tips on Writing Compelling Content for Your Healthcare Website

The changing landscape of the healthcare industry has brought several changes. More and more companies have realized the necessity of digital marketing, which highlights the need for consistent online engagement and the importance of healthcare website design.

To survive the changing market and attract more potential patients, it’s crucial to create compelling content to interact with consumers. If you’re having trouble writing copy for your website, here are some tips to stand by during the writing process. 

Write from Your Readers’ Point of View

When it comes to writing, you always need to consider your readers. What subjects, information, and topics interest them? What do they find useful? Learn what your target audience is looking for and write content that can meet these interests and needs.

One effective way to do this is to put yourself in your target readers’ shoes while you write. If you’re targeting local readers, you can conduct a survey and research on unmet needs (e.g. need for animal treatment centers, proper healthcare for an aging population) in the community to help you narrow down the kind of content you need to create.

Keep your content in line with your services and the services you plan to add in the future. Through the kinds of content you produce, consumers can easily connect your company with a particular service.

Consider The Audience’s Reading and Medical Comprehension Level

As several healthcare practitioners know, terminologies in the science community can be quite confusing. However, since you’re writing for a more general audience, be reminded that not everyone knows the names and terms for diseases, symptoms, and other conditions.

Write in a way that a person without a medical background can understand. Use plain words with a simple yet ample description. Most importantly, explain simply how the subject affects them personally. 

For a more extensive explanation in writing health-related content, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a set of guidelines, resources, and materials that you can check to assist your writing.

Incorporate Relevant Keywords 

To write the most applicable kind of content for your website, select keywords that are connected to your practice. For example, if your services focus on mental health, words such as “psychology” and “mental illness” are among the words you can use in your copy.

After selecting the keywords, incorporate them into your articles, blog posts, and other kinds of content. Search engines such as Google take account of these keywords in displaying their search results. Keep in mind, however, that your copy shouldn’t all be about keywords. Do your research and add these specific terms in the article without breaking the narrative’s flow to make it sound more natural to your readers.

Ensure that Information is Accurate

The healthcare field is always updating. There are new discoveries, medicinal breakthroughs, and previous studies continuously being debunked or supported. Thus, it’s crucial to only choose sources that are reliable, timely, and relevant to your topic.

Additionally, don’t forget to properly cite your sources. Website visitors need to know that the information they’re reading is backed by well-founded studies and research. For instance, take a look at RightPatient’s blog posts – we always cite credible sources that help us to explain better why our touchless biometric patient identification solution is crucial for US healthcare providers. 

Google also rewards well-researched content, which can raise your search rankings and lead more visitors to your website.

Keep It Simple

People click on a link because they think they can get something they want or need. If your copy is filled with information irrelevant to your topic, readers will simply scroll through it, realize that it won’t help them, and simply go to another site.

Thus, when you’re writing copy, get to the point, and stick to your topic. Avoid segueing to different ideas or subject matters that are not important to it. If you think that readers will find the extra information useful, providing a link to another page or reference site will give them the option to know more about the other subject.

Proofread Your Work before Posting

Before submitting a copy, make sure to proofread it first. Misspellings and grammatical errors can disrupt the article’s flow and break the reader’s train of thought. It also looks unprofessional, which may affect your healthcare brand image.

Thus, make sure to go through your copy multiple times before submission. There are several websites and apps that you can use to check your work for simple spelling mistakes or errors. With that said, if you’d like it done more professionally, consider hiring a copyeditor to help check the quality of your work.

Create Original Content

One of the things to avoid in creating content is to duplicate another work. Not only does this infringe on the intellectual property of the other website, but it may also affect your search engine rankings.

The best way to go is to write your own content. While there are several similar articles on the internet, writing an original copy will have your unique voice in relaying information and offer something different from the rest.

Writing isn’t easy, and writing for healthcare is even more so. Aside from the amount of research, there are also rules and guidelines in the healthcare industry that you need to uphold. Do the work, however, and it will greatly reward you. Producing great content will not only attract a wider audience, but also further cement your company as a reliable healthcare provider in the community.

Blockchain in healthcare - from doubts to must-have

Blockchain in healthcare: from doubts to must-have

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Blockchain in healthcare - from doubts to must-have

In 2019, blockchain in the healthcare market comprised 2.12 billion USD. Market experts forecast it to reach 3.49 billion USD by 2025 explaining the prominent growth by the increasing demand for secure technological boost. Being in the epicenter of hi-tech trends, blockchain is believed to be one of the key directions in healthcare innovations in the near future.

Blockchain in healthcare - from doubts to must-have

Drug origin tracking and patient data security have become major problems in the industry. HIPAA entities confirmed a massive patient data leakage in March 2019 when medical information of 912,992 people was exposed with uncertain outcomes. This number indicates a 14% increase in data breaches compared to the period of 2013-2018 when medical data of 15 million patients was stolen through the whole 5-year period. 

According to the World Health Organization, about 30% of all drugs sold in Africa, Asia, and LATAM can be counterfeit. The tendency is gaining momentum yet along with the growing demand for diverse medicine.

Market trends

In Europe, starting from February 2019 the Falsified Medicines Directive obliges pharmacies, healthcare providers, and hospitals to follow strict authenticity control measures, otherwise, they may be removed from the legal healthcare market. 

The US Food and Drug Administration has signed requirements for healthcare supply chain advancement to enable the government and market players to take control over drug production quality at no risk for consumers. By 2023, all medical entities falling outside the regulations will be forced from the market until full legal compliance.

To accelerate advancements in the industry, the US Synaptic Health Alliance has been created involving top market players such as Humana, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, Quest Diagnostics, Multiplan, Ascension, and others, who aim to let the healthcare industry evolve with the help of blockchain. The companies believe that the technology’s peculiarities will eliminate the risk of data leakage and reduce operational costs for the entities.

Why blockchain?

Due to the distributed nature, blockchain is able to solve challenges in security, authorization, storage, compliance and other issues in healthcare.

To begin with, healthcare is about personal interaction which sometimes lacks systematizing, especially in unprecedented situations like the coronavirus pandemic. Having a trusted, one-for-all system could help mitigate most of the messy processes. Leaking patient data through platform sources would become transparent to all platform participants. What is more, the data won’t be leaked since each interaction with sensitive data would require confirmation by the system, or the majority of votes, i.e. users.

Automated compliance 

Pharma supply chains involve dozens to hundreds of intermediary contractors, and each of them is obliged to abide by the laws and rules of certain legislations. Moreover, sometimes laws change and pharmaceutical companies must immediately obey them. A blockchain-based platform is built in a way that data and platform software is distributed among the platform participants. Once you set up regulations for automated compliance verification, they immediately apply to the whole platform if the majority of authorized users, i.e. consensus, approves it. Starting from that moment platform users will always be on the same page in all platform-tracked processes. Automated compliance would save a lot of time and man-hours without the risk of overlooking or missing something.

Removed counterfeit

Another huge challenge in healthcare is counterfeiting and fraud. The WHO expects that more than ten percent of all medicine worldwide is counterfeit, with 16.5 billion Euros lost due to this in 2019 according to the EUIPO. Every medicine needs to pass numerous tests and trials over a long period. At this point, drug-producing companies face the risk of failure due to component specifics or lifetime, drug inconsistency, market release date delay, troubled entry to national markets, or other reasons. And here some of them may opt to take an unknown, cheaper, trustless ingredient to accelerate the process. Blockchain removes this risk as all data on a blockchain-based platform is tagged and trackable up to its origin visibly to all authorized users. More than that, a company can tag drug ingredients and medicines with IoT sensors. In this way, the batches will be visible throughout their whole way up to sales to an end-user. Shady or careless contractors will be unable to add an unknown competent to a batch since all batch data will be transparent for the whole supply chain.

Improved trials

Blockchain allows for faster recalls and fair testing. 

With blockchain’s opportunity to provide the same information to all platform users, collaboration improves by itself. 

As a result, blockchain automates what can be automated, tracks what should be tracked, and drastically decreases failures due to human error. What is more, thanks to the use of blockchain data cannot be lost, compromised or hacked. In this way, a pharma supply chain gets full control over medical processes.

Use cases

At the moment all world’s biggest software developers utilize blockchain in their healthcare initiatives. IBM and Microsoft continue fitting blockchain in various domains. Other biggest blockchain in healthcare developers are Gem, Patientory, and Guardtime.

In January 2019, Aetna, Anthem, HCSC, PNC Bank, and IBM launched their initiative to develop a blockchain-based network for healthcare supply chains. At about the same time, Estonia announced it will use blockchain throughout the country to improve the overall performance of the healthcare system.

In 2019, a blockchain startup Solve. Care partnered with Arizona Care network and Uber Health for the development of a digital wallet for physicians, and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals for the development of a patient management platform.

In 2020, HealthVerity announced its blockchain-based project to solve cybersecurity challenges following HIPAA regulations. The future platform is expected to bring high security to patient data. Lumeric, another blockchain development company, was acquired by St. Joseph Health to tame smart contracts for improving their administrative supply chain.

In the midst of 2020’s pandemic, Aetsoft announced their digital health passport platform. The platform can be used by medical institutions for ongoing tracking of citizens’ healthcare. The company expects the project to be successful as it can help track patient and citizen’s COVID-19, tuberculosis, HIV, and other test results on an institutional and even national level. Personal data is secured and private unless a person decides to share the data view with others. Information cannot be faked as each piece of sensitive data is marked and individually identifiable.

Conclusion

Blockchain’s perspectives in healthcare continue evolving with more projects entering the industry on the wave of the ongoing pandemic. The technology can massively improve and simplify processes in the industry through hi-end security and data control. All sensitive information about patients, doctors, staff, medical tests and trials, stock, and any supply chain documentation can be safely stored on blockchain visibly only to authorized staff, and unreachable to people from outside the system due to the distributed nature of the technology.

protecting patient data in healthcare

How Doctors Can Transmit Patient Data Securely

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protecting patient data in healthcare

The following guest post on protecting patient data was submitted by Heather Lomax.

Communication efforts in the last few years have greatly advanced between doctor and patient. Instead of having patients drive out for a visit or make drawn-out phone calls every time something needs to be discussed, some doctors’ offices have started to use online portals and email correspondence with patients. These options are extremely efficient, but they also place patients at a higher risk of medical identity theft. Therefore, special measurements need to be taken in safely transmitting patient data.

protecting patient data in healthcare

Doctors must take precautions when sharing patient data. Learn more about how doctors should protect your PHI in this guest post from Heather Lomax.

PHI Data and Email Encryption

First and foremost, patients need to make sure their devices are encrypted when they access medical data. Not operating on such a system places data at risk for theft with ease. Therefore, portals offering medical data need to be encrypted as well. Patients should be made aware that if their computers at home are not secure, then they place their data at risk there as well. Sending patients emails also requires another degree of encryption.

Different Types of Email

Several types of emails exist when it comes to safely transmit data information to patients. For web-based email applications, doctors’ offices and patients alike need to use accounts with HTTPS encryption. This method is the only means by which web-based email is secure. The email is sent to a patient should also be encrypted using either PGP encryption methods or Symantec Digital IDs. In both of these aspects, each email comes with its encryption.

Use Cloud Services for Fax and Email

HIPAA regulations make specific claims about how data should be transmitted between office and patient. One of the methods to use for this communication relies on cloud services for both faxes and emails. These cloud services have their own firewalls and encryption procedures, and they make certain that data only goes to a specific location. More often than not, a specific receiver has to acknowledge that they accept fax. A VPN access code can be used for this process.

Biometric Identification

As passwords become obsolete and even unsafe for healthcare data security, biometric identification is steadily rising in practice when it comes to accessing sensitive information. With passwords comes the potential of breaches in security, even with the most carefully crafted codes. However, with the use of fingerprint analysis, retina scans, and facial recognition software, it’s nearly impossible for identity fraud to take place since these characteristics cannot simply be imitated. And not only does it reduce the risk of billing fraud – it also prevents deadly medication errors, improves response rates to medical emergencies, and expedites health information exchange services (which will be discussed in the next section).

Use Three Different Forms of Health Info Exchange

When in doubt, doctors’ offices should use three, distinct methods of Health Information Exchange (HIE) with patients and other medical offices. The first type is directed change, where data can be sent and received securely through an electronic medium between providers and coordinated support care. The second option is a query-based exchange, which offers providers the opportunity to find and request information from patients and other providers when unplanned care takes place. Finally, doctors’ offices can use consumer mediated exchanges, a method that allows patients to have control over data and how it is used among different providers.

Conclusion

A great deal of options is available when it comes to transmitting electronic patient data. Rather than relying on flimsy means of protection, alternative options with tighter security like encrypted care, biometric identification, and HIE paths should be implemented instead. If your practice or hospital can introduce even one of these methods as part of their data transfer strategies, you’ll notice a great improvement in workplace efficiency as well as security for your patients.

Author bio:

Heather Lomax is a contributing writer and media relations specialist for Blaze Systems. She writes articles for a variety of medtech blogs, discussing solutions for optimizing healthcare data protection and clinical technology.

medical record safety

Peace of Mind: A Short Guide To Who Handles Your Private Medical Information

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medical record safety

The following guest post on who handles Protected Health Information (PHI) was submitted by Brooke Chaplan.

From basic information such as your height and weight to the types of medications you are taking, your health history, diagnoses, billing information and more, your healthcare providers have access to an incredible amount of very personal information about you and others in your family. This is information that you do not want to fall into the wrong hands. This begs the question of who actually has access to all of the information in your medical file.

medical record safety

Many patients are unaware of how many people have access to their sensitive medical information.

Well-Trained and Screened Candidates

In most healthcare offices, hospitals and other settings, the administrative or medical team that has access to your records is usually well-trained and thoroughly screened. These individuals typically must pass a thorough background check before being permitted to work in the office, and the office often has safeguards and high-tech protocols to prevent employees from mishandling or abusing the information that they gain access to. Some of the professionals with the most access are healthcare administrators that hold a degree in their field.

Your Health Insurance Company

If you are one of the many millions of Americans who have access to health insurance, your health insurance company may keep track of your medications, treatments, diagnoses and more. Health insurance professionals are often required to uphold strict standards of confidentiality in the same way your healthcare providers are. In addition, as is the case with hospitals and medical offices, health insurance companies usually go to great lengths to prevent employees from misusing or abusing the data that they come across over the course of their regular work day.

Potential Hackers

In 2015, as many as a third of all Americans were impacted by a security breach that involved their healthcare data or records. Information such as their address and Social Security information may have been passed on to hackers. Some hackers sell the data they obtain through their attacks, and others use it personally with malicious intent. For example, with your name, address, Social Security number and birth date, they can commit identity theft. Many medical offices and hospitals are aware of this and other potential risks to their patients, and they regularly take steps to continuously update and improve technology in an effort to reduce this risk for their patients.

Your private data should remain private at all times, but the unfortunate reality is that the system in place in the healthcare industry right now is not perfect. Patients should make inquiries to their healthcare providers to learn more about the steps a particular office or hospital is taking to keep their data from falling into the wrong hands.

Author bio:

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.

patient safety in healthcare

4 Ways Medical Personnel Can Implement Policy into Patient Safety Protocol

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patient safety in healthcare

The following guest post on improving patient safety in healthcare was submitted by Rachelle Wilber.

The safety of patients in a medical facility is just as important as treating their condition. People must feel protected when visiting a hospital or clinic. Otherwise, they will be reluctant to seek medical care in times of need. Medical personnel have a unique perspective in terms of patient care, which can be helpful for improving safety measures. Here are four ways that doctors, nurses, and other staff can encourage necessary changes to patient safety protocols.

patient safety in healthcare

Ensuring patient safety has become a focal point for healthcare organizations.

Record Risks & Vulnerabilities

Administrators prefer to work with facts and figures. They rely on this type of data to reveal problems and highlight successes. Those with concerns about patient safety should thoroughly document this issue, including any ideas for a solution. This information will have a much greater impact than a passionate speech.

Share Patient Concerns

Customer service is a core principle of the medical field. An important part of making someone feel safe is listening to them. Doctors and nurses can speak for their patients, and allow their fears to be heard. For example, many parents are concerned about childhood healthcare in this country. Medical facilities can share information about the importance of a balanced diet, or how to address mental and emotional issues.

Continuing Education

It may be difficult to influence certain policies and procedures when you are unfamiliar with how things work. Dealing with matters that affect the public can be extremely complicated. Medical personnel who are serious about having an impact should consider continuing their education. Earning a master’s in public administration can prepare you for the challenges of creating a safe and comfortable environment for the patients.

Consult the Legal Department

Sometimes, administrators are hesitant to make changes because they are worried about legal ramifications. They may fear that the end result leads to more problems than solutions. While gathering the details on a particular problem and how to address it, it would be helpful to consult the facility’s legal department. They can explain any laws involved and how to adhere to them. This will smooth things over with administration, so your ideas can be seriously considered.

Security and risk management are generally put in the hands of a facility’s administration. Along with other things, their job is to implement and maintain procedures for threats and emergency situations. However, patient protection is a unified effort. Healthcare providers spend more time with patients than anyone else in a facility. Their insight is a necessary component of any safety protocol.

Author bio:

Rachelle Wilber is a freelance writer living in the San Diego, California area. She graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Media Studies. She tries to find an interest in all topics and themes, which prompts her writing. When she isn’t on her porch writing in the sun, you can find her shopping, at the beach, or at the gym. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

medical identity theft prevention

Medical Identity Theft: How Hospitals Can Reduce Risk

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medical identity theft prevention

Hospitals are generally considered to be a place to seek refuge — a safe haven for both employees and patients alike. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Incidents of medical identity theft are becoming more and more common. Issues involving improper use and disposal of data, hacking, and theft result in not only adverse financial consequences but can also even have negative impacts on healthcare and personal well-being. Identity theft is something that every hospital needs to be aware of and prepared for — these steps can be helpful in preventing medical identity theft and ultimately reducing your hospital’s risk.

medical identity theft prevention

Medical identity theft can be just as damaging to hospitals as it is to patients. Learn more about what hospitals can do to protect themselves from falling victim to medical identity theft.

Reduce risk associated with personal patient information

The use and storage of patient’s social security numbers is the main source of vulnerability when it comes to identity theft. Data breaches and entry errors can mean that a patient’s information can fall into the wrong hands — compromising the safety of both the individual and the hospital itself. While much of the fraudulent use of patient information comes from stolen or leaked data, verbal or physical forms of sensitive patient information can also end up in the wrong hands. Hospital employees should take care to never discuss patient information in public areas, or with friends and families. In addition, physical forms including patient charts and records (even if they only contain the name of the patient) should be safely used and stored.

Ensure that secure methods are used in storage of patient health information

Every health organization should take necessary measures in order to ensure the safety and security of patient information. An investment in appropriate health IT may be costly up front, but it could end up providing endless savings — both financial, and otherwise — in the long run. Additionally, the use of a unique health safety identifier (UHSI) is a great measure to strengthen information and data security, with positive results extending all the way to the patient.

Avoid storing personal information of patients unless absolutely necessary

While many healthcare providers perceive that patient information — including social security numbers — must be stored for billing and insurance purposes, this simply isn’t the case. The storage of sensitive information (like social security numbers) isn’t always needed, and unnecessarily doing so may pose a risk for the patient and the hospital.

Dispose of patient information responsibly

Just as sensitive information should not be stored unless absolutely necessary, it is also imperative that patient information be disposed of in a responsible manner. Outdated or unused medical information, forms, and billing data should be shred or erased completely when no longer needed.

Assemble and utilize an advisory committee

In any healthcare setting, it is beneficial to have a diverse team of leaders that comes together to regularly review and assess security issues and vulnerabilities. By raising awareness and discussing perceived risks, hospital leaders can be well-informed when it comes to making decisions and implementing efforts to reduce risks and protect sensitive information.

how hospitals can prevent medical ID theft in healthcare

Respond appropriately to issues and concerns

Not only can an advisory committee help prevent against identity theft, but the designated team of experts can be essential in addressing issues promptly and adequately. Utilization of an inventory system that tracks all processes and systems that contributed to the security breach can allow for the hospital to pinpoint the weaknesses and make necessary improvements. Once an issue is discovered, the advisory committee will be better prepared to — while looking at the data inventory — prioritize areas of concern and make adjustments that are needed.

Educate the patients themselves

As many hospitals strive to do the best they possibly can when it comes to securing patient information, actually sharing statistics and suggestions with the patients themselves can further improve the security of that information. Patients should be encouraged to keep their cards and information in a safe place and should be told to take caution when sharing sensitive details. Patient participation is crucial when it comes to combating identity theft and security tips and suggestions can be posted as signs throughout the hospital — or given to the patients in a brochure.

Medical identity theft is increasingly becoming a great threat to the safety of patients and health care providers. While there are many ways that patient information can end up in the wrong hands, there are fortunately many ways that both hospitals and patients can prevent this from happening. By working together and considering these tips, hospital staff members can ensure that the information of their patients can remain as secure as possible.

Author bio: 

Joanna Sommer is the Senior Editor for InformedMag and is passionate about security and tech. She has been working in the home safety and security field for 5 years. Joanna loves to travel and enjoys going to hot yoga and Barre classes. She is dedicated to creating articles that both educate and help people make an informed purchasing decision.

complying with HIPAA regualtions

HIPAA in a Nutshell

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complying with HIPAA regualtions

The following guest post on the HIPAA law was submitted by Shae Holland.

HIPAA regulations represent a major transformation in the way healthcare organizations handle information regarding their patients. All patients should understand their rights, just as all healthcare facilities must know and conform to the privacy standards. Let’s examine the ins and outs of HIPAA regulations and what they mean for you.

complying with HIPAA regualtions

Learn more about the landmark Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), why it was enacted, and who it applies to.

What You Need to Know

HIPAA is an acronym that stands for the Health Information Portability and Protection Act. It was initially passed in 1996 and was the first protective act in the United States passed on behalf of patients’ personal information.

HIPAA was designed to ensure that your healthcare information is only accessed and shared with your permission, and only in the following contexts:

● Coordinating information about your care and treatment
● Providing information to your family, significant other, or friends who are directly involved in your treatment
● Assessing the quality of care provided by the doctor or healthcare facility in question
● Relaying any information requested by law enforcement agencies

The sharing of patients’ personal information in any other context is unlawful and can lead to heavy fines and even heavier settlements — sometimes heavy enough to force an noncompliant business or facility to close. (But more on that later.)

HIPAA regulates many other areas of the healthcare industry as well. Because we’re only covering the basics, we won’t go into detail about all of them. But HIPAA also regulates

● Doctor and Patient Reimbursement
● Coding
● Security
● Care Management

Your Rights According to HIPAA

HIPAA gives you the ability to do any of the following:

● View the information listed in your health records
● Request corrections to information on said records
● Decide who can access and share your health information (and more importantly, who can’t)
● Require providers and other healthcare facilities to request permission to share your information for marketing and other non-treatment purposes
Is All of My Information Protected?
● Any information a doctor puts in your medical record
● Information stored within the computer system of your health insurer
● Billing information from your healthcare provider
● Conversations your doctor has with nurses or other physicians regarding your treatment or care

If at any time you feel that your privacy rights have been violated, HIPAA regulations allow you to file a complaint with Health and Human Services, or file a complaint directly against your insurer or provider.

Why HIPAA Compliance Is So Important

Failure to comply with HIPAA regulations can result in many negative consequences for a healthcare provider or even a small practice; these include both civic and criminal penalties. Fines can be extraordinarily hefty — in 2013, Advocate Health System of Downers Grove, IL, settled three claims of HIPAA violation for $5.55 million.

Who Has to Comply With HIPAA, and Who Doesn’t?

HIPAA does not apply to every healthcare provider, but it does apply to most of them. All healthcare workers must undergo some kind of training or education on HIPAA compliance.

Health Plans: Health insurance companies, company health plans, HMOs, and even certain programs provided by the government (Medicare, Medicaid) must follow HIPAA regulations.

Healthcare Providers: Any provider who conducts business electronically must comply with all recent regulations.

Clearinghouses: Entities that process non-standard patient information must follow these rules as well.

The following are a few of the groups who don’t need to comply with HIPAA regulations:

● Employers
● Workers Compensation Carriers
● Life Insurers
● School Districts
● Law Enforcement Agencies

Conclusion

For over two decades HIPAA has sought to improve the safety and accessibility of medical records. Compliance can be complicated and even annoying for healthcare providers and related businesses, but the benefits of additional personal information security are worth it. After all, it’s a healthcare provider’s job to protect their patients’ health; protecting their personal information and privacy is a natural addition to that duty.

Author bio:

Shae Holland is a professional copywriter with expertise on a range of topics. She’s passionate about healthy living, loves hunting, and adores her two springer spaniels.

big data

How Big Data is Changing Medicine

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big data

The following guest post on big data in healthcare was submitted by Chris Saviano.

Big Data is one of those buzz terms you’ll see all over the internet. Something about it sounds slightly sinister, like Big Tobacco. But Big Data is more innocuous: it’s just a term used to define large amounts of data. It can encompass any sort of data coming in, from marketing and demographics data to stock ticker data. In the terms of healthcare, that will mean electronic medical records data, aggregated research and payer information, to name a few sources. And this Big Data is changing medicine in a big way.

big data

Big Data is more than just a buzzword in healthcare – it is fundamentally changing care delivery as we know it.

Improved technology

Monitors themselves are changing, thanks to Big Data. CNBC reported on a tiny heart monitor patch that can generate 30,000 pages of data on a patient’s heartbeat, and then distill it into a 15-page full report for physicians. The device is made up of a chip and two electrodes.

All of these data points are compiled into a huge database, which grows with each new patient the device monitors. The machine-learned capability gets smarter with each new addition. Then with each new set of data, that helps doctors diagnose faster.

Patient care streamlining

One of the more noteworthy ways Big Data is changing medicine is through better patient care, the heart of any good medical facility. Large amounts of data collected from patients can help doctors educate patients during treatment decisions. Having a wider set of data available helps doctors tailor solutions to each patient.

One of the biggest advantages of Big Data is that it offers a predictive model for patient outcomes. This can result in earlier diagnosis and reduced mortality from conditions like sepsis or congestive heart failure.

According to MapR: “A machine learning example from Georgia Tech demonstrated that machine learning algorithms could look at many more factors in patients’ charts than doctors, and by adding additional features, there was a substantial increase in the ability of the model to distinguish people who have CHF [congestive heart failure] from people who don’t.”

Increased security

MapR also reported on the security features of Big Data in healthcare. Predictive analytics help payers identify inaccurate claims and fraud. Big Data helps with this in that companies can go back into large messes of datasets for past claims and use machine-learning algorithms to detect patterns in fraud.

Key red flags in data include reusing services in short time periods, duplicate charges for healthcare across different hospitals at the same time and prescriptions filled at the same time in different locations. Through this system, companies can assign risk scores based on past behavior and find items of note in large seas of data that would have been impossible to find before.

Faster, more efficient breakthroughs

Big Data is changing medicine behind the front lines of patient care, as well. Researchers looking at gene variants made a search function for the huge sums of data they’ve pulled during gene research. The functionality is called MARRVEL (Model organism Aggregated Resources for Rare Variant Exploration) , but you can think of it as Google for the human genome. Researchers anywhere can also search the database in minutes.

Author Bio:

Chris Saviano is responsible for Business Development and Sales at PGM Billing and leads PGM’s product integration between proprietary cloud-based practice management software and integrated back office service operations.

protecting healthcare data

Healthcare Data Security: How Doctors and Nurses Access, Utilize, and Protect Your Information

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protecting healthcare data

The following guest post on healthcare data security was submitted by Brooke Chaplan.

Anyone who has been to a doctor’s office, hospital or other healthcare institution knows that these can be busy places with patients waiting to be seen and professionals bustling about to perform their duties. With all of this activity going on and various personnel involved in your care, you may wonder about the security of your medical records. Sensitive information lies within the paper and electronic files used by your medical providers. Let’s take a look at how doctors and nurses access, utilize and safeguard your healthcare data.

protecting healthcare data

Docs and nurses need access to your protected health information (PHI) to provide you optimal care. What steps are they taking to protect that healthcare data?

Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security

First, it’s important to identify the difference between three different terms that are often used interchangeably within healthcare. The concepts of confidentiality, privacy and security are related, but each has its own significant meaning with regard to balancing the needs of patients, providers, the public and other relevant parties such as insurance personnel. When discussing confidentiality in the medical field, the term refers to the duty of personnel to hold any patient healthcare data to which they have access in the strictest of confidence.

Privacy is a separate concept that has to do with an individual patient’s right to decide how personal medical information is shared and with whom. You may be familiar with HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This statute by the federal government states that, while a patient’s right to privacy and control of their healthcare data still exists, there are some parties to whom such data can be shared without prior patient approval. These include public health officials, health organization administration and payment providers. Finally, there is security, which is all about the protection of confidentiality and privacy of patients. It refers to the ways in which healthcare data is stored and accessed.

Medical Records and Their Use

Your medical records contain a wide range of information. Your full name and unique patient number within that particular healthcare network is stored in your records, along with demographic data like your date of birth, gender and race. Your allergies, medical conditions, lifestyle habits in addition to detailed accounts of every provider visit, lab result, prescription and referrals. Your payment, billing and insurance information are also kept in your medical records, as is your family medical history.

Organizational Policies and Procedures

As you can see, there is a great deal of sensitive and personal healthcare data kept within your individual medical records. In order to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of patient data, healthcare and medical organizations pay special attention to create structured policies and procedures regarding the way such information is handled, stored and accessed. Each network will have its own unique set of guidelines, but the matter is taken very seriously among medical providers. In fact, an entire profession known as healthcare or nursing informatics is dedicated to the management of healthcare data. Many universities also offer a masters in nursing informatics program. An informatics expert is usually employed to help organizations protect patient health information and to ensure only necessary professionals can gain access.

Healthcare providers work hard to care for your medical needs. They are also concerned with the proper care of your personal data. You can rest assured that procedures are in place to ensure the security of your private and confidential information.

Author Bio:

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.

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Top Patient Privacy Concerns With Healthcare Data Integration

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The following guest post on patient privacy was submitted by Avery Phillips.

In many industries, the proliferation of mobile, cloud, and data collection technology is far outpacing the ability of regulatory bodies to keep up. This is especially true in healthcare, partly due to the sensitive nature of patient records and partly due to widespread adoption of mobile health tracking by both practitioners and the general public.

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Learn more about the privacy implications when patients share health data online in this guest post from Avery Phillips.

Consumer-generated data is one significant challenge in legislation and education related to privacy, as it isn’t yet protected. Additionally, the long-term impact of tracking and sharing one’s health data through social networks isn’t fully understood.

Data breaches in the healthcare field have already proven that people’s medical histories, social security numbers, and addresses are vulnerable. Cloud technology paired with monitoring devices is giving healthcare providers access to real-time data, and a lot of it. This improves the quality of care, but comes with severe breach risks. While legal understanding catches up to the reality of big data, healthcare providers need to go above and beyond legal requirements to protect patient privacy.

Consumer-Generated Data

The risks of consumer-generated data haven’t been fully explored, but what we do know is that sharing health data online is “a digital tattoo.” That data follows users, is unregulated, can be sold to third parties, and used by hackers or identity thieves.

Platforms like Fitbit and Facebook are just the tip of the iceberg for providers. Wearable technology is allowing patients to receive real-time information and communication from professionals and gives providers access to a constant flow of actionable health information. That relationship evolves with each new innovation, but responsibilities concerning its collection and use haven’t been explored.

Breach Risks

In September of 2013, Advocate Medical Group suffered one of the largest data breaches in history. Four million records, including names, addresses, and social security numbers were taken by hackers.

As new services are introduced, and hackers develop new ways to subvert security, it can be difficult to keep employees up-to-date. An improperly trained employee might fall for a phishing email, accidentally use an unsecured app or cloud service with their personal mobile device, or share login information that enables access to private records. In 2016, 60 percent of all patient information breaches were due to hacking, but not all hacks are the direct cyber-attacks we tend to think of. An employee opening the wrong email and clicking the link is a far easier way for a hacker to gain access than, for example, a brute force password crack.

Refusal to Share

Many patients may not realize it, but one threat to their security can occur if a healthcare provider refuses to share their information. Information blocking can come in many forms, such as prohibitive pricing, contracts that block users from accessing their information, and business practices intended to exclude competitors and prevent referrals.

These alleged practices put additional financial burdens on patients and compromise their privacy by restricting access to their own records. Many of America’s biggest vendors and healthcare providers have signed onto a pledge to combat this practice, but it has yet to be put into law.

The advent of rapidly evolving mobile technology is presenting new possibilities in data collection and improving the quality of patient care. On the other hand, the sparks of innovation are vulnerable to attack and mismanagement by unscrupulous business practices. It’s important for healthcare providers to invest in data security and breach recovery contingencies, as well as develop best practices to prevent misuse.

Author bio:

Avery Phillips is a freelance human who loves all things nature (especially humans!). Comment down below or tweet her @a_taylorian with any questions or comments.