How Are You Keeping Your Patients' Information Safe?

Recently, there has been one question in particular on the mind of every healthcare professional: how can I keep patient data secure? As technology rapidly evolves, this concern becomes intrinsically related to how health tech, such as EMR software, are equipped to handle the tsunami of changes facing the digital healthcare industry, particularly in the area of medical images and dermoscopy.

The State of EMR Software
As the need for effective, streamlined dermoscopy practices continues to rise (largely due to the growing rate of skin cancer cases, dermatologist shortage, and increasing patient wait times) dermatologists are turning to the tool they use everyday to support their practice: their EMR software. In order to serve its purpose, a dermatology EMR software must be:

• Secure
  
• Scaleable
• Affordable
• Interoperable
• Accessible
  
  

Unfortunately, this often fails to be the case. Currently, a large portion of dermatology EMR software are on-premise systems. As a consequence, practices are generally subject to:

• Outdated security: risks of on-site accidents to machinery present real risks to stored big data and aging methods for referring sharing cases to colleagues.  
• Greater costs: installation & upgrade fees, inspections/fixes, limited warranties, migration/integration fees (if applicable)
• Limited capabilities: lack of customization, patient portal, connectivity, & limited interoperability
  
  

Due to these disadvantages, the software rapidly declines in value and becomes outdated within a few years. To better understand these challenges, each of the obstacles listed above will be reviewed in further detail while compared to Cloud-based EMR solutions such as DermEngine.

Security
Data is one of the healthcare industry’s most valuable assets. Essential to the healthcare ecosystem and patient well-being, it is vital that necessary precautions are in place to ensure the protection of this indispensable asset.  
Unfortunately, many medical professionals are beginning to voice their concerns over the outdated security methods of on-premise EMR systems. Primary weaknesses of these systems include risk of data being lost or stolen, corrupted, or ruined (due to on-location issues such as fires, water damage, earthquakes, etc). Additionally, the systems require off-site backups which are equally as prone to the issues stated above.

Cloud EMR Security
In contrast, secure encrypted platforms such as DermEngine provide advanced encryption on mobile devices as well as on the servers, while ensuring that you and your patients’ information remains safely stored in respective servers around the world while following the strictest regulations of those countries.

Compliant with the strictest regulations around the world, including HIPAA, GDPR, and Health Level 7, DermEngine has implemented the latest protocols to protect yours and your patient’s data, including but not limited to daily back ups, ongoing monitoring of the system for data breaches and lock-out mechanisms to prevent brute force password attacks.

Most importantly, Cloud-based EMR systems solve all of the issues presented by on-premise systems: all data is held safely off-site in secure servers to eliminate concerns for data breaches, environmental tampering, or outdated security measures.

Conclusion: Part 1
As the world adapts to the rapidly changing world of technology, healthcare systems are turning to cloud-based EMR software to ensure that private patient data and other vital information is kept private and secure at all times. In part 2, we will be building on these ideas to discuss how these systems are adapting to the needs of their customers in terms of scalability and affordability.

-The MetaOptima Team