Healthcare Information Systems Privacy and Security in KSA

Running head: HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY IN KSA
HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS PRIVACY AND SECURITY IN KSA
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1HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY IN KSA
Introduction
The role of the electronic health system or the digitalization of the health information is
to gain good health outcomes, healthier people, facilitate smarter spending, and healthier
spending. If the patient lacked trust in the electronic health information system, then the patient
might not disclose health information to the health care professionals. Withholding the health
information can have adverse and life threatening conditions (Tipton, Forkey& Choi, 2016).
Again when the breach of the health information occurs, that can have serious consequences on
the reputation of the healthcare organization. In order to ensure the privacy of the information,
certain safe guards have been created, that are the protections which are either administrative,
physical or technical. This paper will describe the security requirements for electronic protected
health information (ePHI) by evaluating the HIPAA security administrative, physical, and
technical safeguards.
Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security
Privacy and the security of the electronic health information is the main component to
build trust among the patient. This is also required by the patient, to understand the potential
usefulness of the electronic health system exchange. Each of the health care organization have
their own privacy and the safety rules, except that it is ensured that they comply with the HIPAA
rules (Tipton, Forkey& Choi, 2016).
The health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and
Security Rules helps to protect the security and he privacy of the individual identifiable health
information (Tipton, Forkey& Choi, 2016). The HIPAA rules establishes the National standards

2HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY IN KSA
for the use and the disclosure of the identifiable health information by the covered entities. It
also set standards for providing the individuals with the privacy rights and helping out the
individuals to understand and control how the health information is being used.
HIPAA Security Model
The HIPAA rules had set up some standards for protecting the Electronic protected health
information or for protecting any health information that is being held or transferred in electronic
form. The security rules helps to operationalize the process of protections present in the privacy
rule. This is done by strengthening the technical and other non-technical safeguards that a health
care organizations refers as “covered entities” that should put in place to secure people’s
electronic protected health information” (e-PHI) (Coughlan & Matthews, 2017).
The major goal of the Security rule is to safeguard the privacy of the individual patient
information, while permitting the covered entities for the adoption of new technologies for
improving the quality and the efficiency of the patient care (Ministry of Health, KSA, 2018).
The security rule is applicable to the health plans, the health care clearing houses and the
health service providers that communicates health information in the electronic form. The
security rule helps in highlighting and protecting against the anticipated threats to the security
and the integrity of the information (Ebad, Jaha& Al-Qadhi, 2016). It gives protection against the
reasonably anticipated and the impermissible use or disclosures.
The HIPAA policies should be re-evaluated for ensuring that they are adequate and
appropriate for the HIPAA agreement. This is necessary for bringing change in the general
security climate as well as modifications in the covered entity’s use of the electronic protected
health information. It is always necessary to perform a technical and non –technical evaluation,