Inpatient Facility Coding & Compliance Alert

Tip: Delete info as soon as it’s no longer needed.

Many physicians and facilities have adapted to using mobile electronic devices to help maintain patient records, such as tablets, laptops, and smartphones — but the downside is that the new technology could be putting your protected health information (PHI) stays private at risk.

Help:  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) aims to help you secure that information with the release of a new initiative called “Mobile Devices: Know the Risks. Take the Steps. Protect and Secure Health Information.”

“The use of mobile health technology holds great promise in improving health and health care, but the loss of health information can have a devastating impact on the trust that patients have in their providers,” Joy Pritts, HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) chief privacy officer said in a published statement.

“It’s important that these tools are used correctly,” Pritts added. “Health care providers, administrators and their staffs must create a culture of privacy and security across their organizations to ensure the privacy and security of their patients’ protected health information.”

What to do: According to the new publication, facilities can take steps such as encryption, passwords, firewalls, and other methods to confirm that your patients’ PHI remains private. In addition, the agency suggests that providers keep mobile devices with them at all times and delete any information they won’t need any longer.

Note: Ensure that staff knows the difference between “deleting” and “erasing” information. Particularly when PHI is concerned, it’s best to electronically “shred” the information – that is, erase it. Deleting an item from an individual computer or other electronic device generally does not remove the information until it is also deleted from a server or overwritten by some other data.

Learn more: To read all of HHS’s resources on this topic, visit www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/your-mobile-device-and-health-information-privacy-and-security.