Read for yourself why dental patients will soon prefer paper-based over paperless
[By Kellus Pruitt DDS]
Recently, Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) posted, “Analysis: Are HHS Cybersecurity Recommendations Achievable? Experts Sort Through New Task Force Report.”
McGee:
“A new Department of Health and Human Services report to Congress containing more than 100 recommendations for how healthcare can better address cybersecurity threats is stirring debate over whether smaller organizations will be able to take the recommended actions.”
Cha-ching!
Privacy attorney David Holtzman, vice president of compliance at the consultancy CynergisTek, tells Healthinfosec:
“The majority of information systems that create or maintain personally identifiable health information are owned and managed by small organizations whose capability or access to the people or technology to secure information systems is limited by financial constraints or ability to attract well-trained human resources,” he says. “At first glance, it is difficult to see how these small organizations can translate the recommendations in the report into tangible progress.”
As large, juicy healthcare organizations successfully harden their cyber-defenses, small healthcare entities – like dental offices – will attract identity thieves with smaller, juicy low-hanging fruit.
Or, as suggested in the article, taxpayers can subsidize cyber-protection for dentists and other small healthcare organizations. In my opinion, that simply won’t happen.
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Wary dental patients – many of whom have received breach notifications or have learned about identity theft the hard way – will find it increasingly easy to find a new dentist who does not put their identities on computers. After all, electronic dental records offer dental patients no tangible benefits anyway.
Assessment
If dental patients’ identities are unavailable, they cannot be stolen …. Still too early for de-identification, Doc? Give it time. I’ve got patience.
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Conclusion
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Filed under: Information Technology, Practice Management, Pruitt's Platform | Tagged: ADA, D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, dental electronic records, dental records, eDRs |
Can you think of any reason a dental patient might prefer digital records over paper?
“TheDarkOverlord leaks celebrity patient data from Beverly Hills provider. The notorious hacker has been playing a game called ‘A Business a Day,’ by publicly make extortion attempts on businesses.”
By Jessica Davis for Healthcare IT News
June 21, 2017
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/thedarkoverlord-leaks-celebrity-patient-data-beverly-hills-provider
“So far data has been dumped from two healthcare providers in a game the hacker is calling: ‘A Business a Day.’ The hacker leaked 6,000 patient records on June 8 from Feinstein & Roe MDs in Los Angeles and 6,300 patient records from La Quinta Center for Cosmetic Dentistry on June 9.”
Do electronic dental records offer any tangible benefit to patients which offsets documented risk of their medical identities appearing on the internet?
Anyone?
Darrell Pruitt DDS
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EDRs
Dental HIT is the most dishonest industry in healthcare.
Darrell Pruitt DDS
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EDRs
On Monday, I asked Dr. John O’Keefe, Director, Knowledge Networks, Canadian Dental Association, how electronic dental records compare to paper in cost and danger. He still has not responded. Since then, this article popped up on the internet, Dr. O’Keefe.
“OCR Announces Next Round of HIPAA Audits Will Focus on Enforcements – Office for Civil Rights Director announces intention to use harsher investigative tools to hold bad actors accountable” – SANTA MONICA, CA, UNITED STATES, October 31, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/
https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/466751829/ocr-announces-next-round-of-hipaa-audits-will-focus-on-enforcements
“Bad actors” are what the OCR calls dentists who are not in compliance.
“Enforcement for noncompliant offenders may include subpoenas, legal action, reimbursements to victims, penalties, and more. Additionally, Bloomberg Law recently reported that OCR has been ratcheting up enforcement actions over the past three years, and as random HIPAA audits occur, increased penalties will most likely result.”
Also: “Healthcare Continues To Bear the Brunt of Ransomware Attacks – Healthcare remains the most targeted industry by ransomware attacks, which have spiked in the third quarter of 2018, according to latest data from specialist insurer Beazley.” By Fred Donovan for HealthIT Security, October 31, 2018.
https://healthitsecurity.com/news/healthcare-continues-to-bear-the-brunt-of-ransomware-attacks
“Hackers have also been adding pressure on victims to pay the ransom by conducting reconnaissance on their network and compromising back-ups before deploying the encrypting malware.”
I think dentists should consider the true value of electronic dental records. Don’t you agree, Dr. O’Keefe?
Darrell Pruitt DDS
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Paper Based Dentists
Are we on the verge of transparency? (And a surge of paper-based dentists?)
Darrell Pruitt DDS
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