Healthcare: Social Media Risks to Patient Information and PHI

This report addresses the critical issue of social media risks to patient information within the healthcare setting, emphasizing the importance of protecting Protected Health Information (PHI). It begins by defining PHI according to HIPAA and highlights how social media usage can jeopardize patient privacy, potentially leading to liability for healthcare providers. The report underscores the necessity for healthcare professionals, including nurses, to adhere to professional guidelines on social media use, understanding the settings and policies of various media platforms. It explores concepts of privacy, security, and confidentiality, emphasizing the right of patients to control the disclosure of their health information. The involvement of interprofessional healthcare teams is recommended to collaboratively find solutions to mitigate problems related to electronic health information protection. The report also examines evidence regarding social media usage and PHI, including privacy violations and ethical infringements. It highlights the importance of awareness among healthcare professionals regarding social media's impact on patient care and professional reputation, along with the implications of organizational policy. Finally, the report references HIPAA and the HITECH Act, detailing legal and criminal provisions for violations, and guidance from organizations like NCSBN and ANA, to ensure patient safety and uphold professional care practice requirements. It includes references to relevant literature supporting the discussed concepts.

Running head: Social media risks to patient information
Social media risks to patient information
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Social media risks to patient information
What is protected health information (PHI)?
According to Health Insurance portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), protected
health information (PHI) refers to any information regarding heath status, health care or payment
related to health care that are either collected or created by a covered Entity. This is interpreted
as a part of patient’s payment or medical history. Social media usage can perpetuate the
disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) by threatening the liability of healthcare
providers to safeguard PHI. Thus, Healthcare providers and Nursing professionals need to
recognize and practice by adhering to the published professional guidelines on social media use
and understand the settings and policies of any media they use.
What are privacy, security, and confidentiality?
These refers to sensitive information that are kept private. Medical or health privacy
refers to the maintenance of confidentiality or security of patient’s health information or medical
records. It is important to protect patient’s data and keep their information confidential. Every
patients have the right to privacy and they have the right to decide to whom and when their
information can be disclosed. The involvement of Interprofessional healthcare teams is effective
as they function collaboratively to find solution to any health care problems and thus, to mitigate
any problems related to protection of electronic health information, their active involvement is
highly preferred.
What evidence relating to social media usage and PHI do interprofessional
team members need to be aware of?
Patient privacy violations are a serious concern for nurses as they constitute a violation of
professional standards and may contribute to termination or suspension. Privacy concerns as self-

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Social media risks to patient information
regulating health professionals are primarily concerned with nursing. Breach of confidentiality or
failure to report a breach of confidentiality by another nurse is the most frequent ethical
infringement by social media nurses. Research shows that many nurses are ignorant of their
social media profiles ' protection requirements and don't understand or accept the pervasive
nature of social media posts. It is essential to consider how incorrect or improper use of social
media without consideration, can have negative effects on health, such as mental anguish linked
to professional ethical violation (Denecke et al., 2015). Caregivers and nursing staff must be
aware of social media threats and vigorously promote constructive use of social media resources.
The implications of abuse of working places of social media should be clearly defined in an
applicable organizational policy. As the potential for positive and negative consequences is
provided by social networking, caregivers should take account of a number of principles when
working in the virtual world of social media to preserve their own reputation and nursing as one
of the most trusted profession.
HIPAA governs the allowable use and disclosure of information for patients by covered
entities including HCP's and hospitals as amended by the Economic and Clinical Health
Technology (HITECH) Act. The HITECH Act outlines criteria for disclosure of privacy
violations and expands specific provisions to include businesses. The legal and criminal
provisions for offences based on the nature and the damage caused by this breach are included in
Section 13410(d) (George, Rovniak & Kraschnewski, 2013). An individual unknowingly
violating HIPAA is imposed $100 fine per violation with annual maximum of $25,000 for
individual who repeats the violation. Also, there is $50,000 per violation, and an annual
maximum of $1.5 million. For violation caused deliberately, the penalty imposed is $50,000 per

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Social media risks to patient information
violation and an annual maximum of $1,000,000, and $50,000 per violation and $1.5 million as
annual maximum (Edemekong & Haydel, 2019).
NCSBN has developed guidance on the use of social media responsibly for nurses and
nursing students (Bennett & Vercler, 2018). Social media can perpetuate negative attitudes in
society by sharing information. Social media also has a negative impact in the workplace (Surani
et al., 2017). The ANA Social Network and Professional Guidelines include guidelines to
licensed nurses on the use of social networking sites that guarantees the safety and security of
patients and upholds professional care practice requirements. Both registered nurses and nursing
students across all positions and contexts have these fundamental principles. According to ANA,
the ethical and legal role of nurses is a key to the security of patient privacy (McCartney, 2012).

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Social media risks to patient information
References
Bennett, K. G., & Vercler, C. J. (2018). When Is Posting about Patients on Social Media
Unethical “Medutainment”?. AMA journal of ethics, 20(4), 328.
Denecke, K., Bamidis, P., Bond, C., Gabarron, E., Househ, M., Lau, A. Y. S., ... & Hansen, M.
(2015). Ethical issues of social media usage in healthcare. Yearbook of medical
informatics, 24(01), 137-147.
Edemekong, P. F., & Haydel, M. J. (2019). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA). In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
George, D. R., Rovniak, L. S., & Kraschnewski, J. L. (2013). Dangers and opportunities for
social media in medicine. Clinical obstetrics and gynecology, 56(3).
McCartney, P. R. (2012). Social networking principles for nurses. MCN: The American Journal
of Maternal/Child Nursing, 37(2), 131.
Surani, Z., Hirani, R., Elias, A., Quisenberry, L., Varon, J., Surani, S., & Surani, S. (2017).
Social media usage among health care providers. BMC research notes, 10(1), 654.