The Meaningful Use Incentive clock is a ticking and more and more doctors are looking into vendors and solutions more than ever before. But not everyone is so into the idea of going digital. Recent studies show that patients are becoming very weary of where their information is going and who it’s going to. Americans may trust their doctors but they sure don’t trust the security of their doctors’ Electronic Medical Record system.
According to a recent study done by O’Keeffe & Company and CDW Healthcare, 35 percent of patients say they are worried their health information will end up in the wrong hands, widely available on the internet. Oddly enough, of those surveyed 24 percent say they don’t even trust themselves with their own records.
They may not trust their doctor’s systems, let alone themselves. They do however trust their doctor, a strong indicator that their mistrust can be resolved with a little reassurance from their physician. According to the study, 77 percent of the respondents say they trust their physicians with their personal information over insurance companies, the federal government and even their own employers. An interesting statistic when the federal government is standing over physicians and EHR vendors shoulders to regulate features of each system.
The fear of privacy is a common concern in most industries and it’s no wonder why patients are becoming more and more concerned as all their information starts to slowly migrate to either the cloud or a server. CDW Healthcare surveyed 200 physicians for their “Physician Practice EHR Price Tag” study. Of those surveyed 30 percent do not have basic anti-virus software protection, 34 percent do not use firewalls and only 28 encrypt their wireless or hard-wired networks. Practice Fusion EHR may live in the cloud (web-based) with such security most could not afford, but doctors still need to take all precautions in order to protect such private information.
A few tips on how you can protect yourself and your patient’s data:
-Get Virus Protection: If you’re using a PC, your computer is much more susceptible to threats or viruses than a Mac. Anti-virus software is easy to install and is pretty reasonable. Here at practice Fusion, we use Symantec.
-Set Access Levels in your EHR: Our EHR enables the administrator of the account to designate where each user can go. Protect your patients from staff who should not have access to their charts.
- Relieve your patient’s anxiety: Get them to feel comfortable about their EHR systems, introduce them to our Personal Health Record, empower them and show them how safe it is to have control of your own health record.
-Don’t let the Computer become the 3rd wheel: Too often doctors are so focused on the system they lose sight of the fact that the patient is in the room waiting. This can make them feel even more uncomfortable with the idea of EHRs.
Shea Steinberg
Jr. Social Media Specialist
Practice Fusion EHR
