Purpose of Patient Breach Notifications Discussion.
Purpose of Patient Breach Notifications Discussion.
This activity is comprised of two parts. (100 points) (A two-page response is required for the combination of Parts A and B.)
You work in a healthcare technology company that provides software technology to 100 hospitals throughout the United States. As a result, your software stores patient data for about 10 million patients across all of your customers. To better protect data, you’re working on a project to deploy encryption technology across all locations so that all customer data is encrypted.
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The data is segmented and stored in the following ways:
- Five million patient data records in Location A
- Two million patient data records in Location B
- Three million patient data records in Locations C
The encryption project is about 30 percent complete, with Location C being the first to achieve full encryption. Data in this location, even if breached, can’t be viewed or understood by unauthorized individuals. Today, you learned that a breach happened on your network, and hackers were able to gain access to all three locations.
Part A: Discuss the purpose of patient breach notifications and whether patient breach notification is required in this case. If so, how many notifications need to go out, and within what timeframe should they be sent? (50 points)
Resources:
- Page 169 of your textbook
- US Department of Health and Human Services – Health Information Privacy
- US Department of Health and Human Services – Breach Notification
Part B: Select one of the latest breaches reported to HHS in the following link, and draft a breach notification letter to send to those affected. (50 points)
https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf
Activity 1: Classification Activity (100 points)This activity is comprised of two parts. (100 points) (A two-page response is required for the combination of Parts A and B.)Cybersecurity starts with understanding what assets are essential to
protect. Healthcare organizations should have a classification system
based on the value of the information. It’s important to note that this
type of data classification differs from that of computer programming,
which is also called classification, but relates more to labeling the
data to differentiate it into classes and sets. In cybersecurity, data
classification is required to apply a value relative to how sensitive
and critical the information is, as defined by the organization. This
value will determine what level of information protection controls will
be applied to information collected, maintained, retained, used, and
disposed of when no longer needed.Perform data classification analysis on the below list of healthcare
data points and determine how each should be classified. Explain your
thought process and reasoning for each decision. Use the categories of Confidential, Internal Company Use Only, or Open to Public.Part A: Define and describe each of the three categories in your own
terms. Research information security data classification systems and
definitions online. (25 points)Part B: Label each of the data points below the appropriate category and explain your reasoning. (75 points)Patient name, address, and social security numberA hospital blog website with patient health tipsPatient medical history such as medicine and allergy listsPatient laboratory test resultsDoctor name, address, and employee ID numberPatient radiology images (X-ray, MRIs, and so on) and clinical photographs (endoscopy, laparoscopy, and so on)A newsletter for all hospital staffNurse shift schedule for the monthA page on the hospital website that describes how patient data is protectedPrescribed and administered medications for patientsA summary report of a new clinical trial, soon to be published in the public news
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Purpose of Patient Breach Notifications Discussion.
Purpose of Patient Breach Notifications Discussion.