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Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare? – Ep 101 

 April 28, 2017

By  Donna Grindle

Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare? A business partner put that question out to us recently. We have already been looking at several angles to discuss the patient part in all of this breach and ransomware news. This question seems like the perfect way to approach it. In this episode we look at that question to see what we think – Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare?

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In this episode:

 crisis of trust in healthcareHIPAA Boot Camp [1:20]

Speaking Events [3:50]

  • GA MGMA Annual Conference – May 2, 2017, Hilton Head Island, SC
  • Help Me With HIPAA Compliance Officer Boot Camp – May 11/12, Tucker, GA
  • South GA MGMA – June 21, 2017, Valdosta, GA
  • The Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators – July 19, 2017, Atlanta, GA
  • North Metro MGMA – Oct 17, 2017, Kennesaw, GA
  • Georgia Association of Orthopedic Executives, Nov 2017

David in Washington, DC at the Un-conference Conference in September

How to win a $100 Amazon gift card [5:46]

Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare? [8:40]

Read Full Transcript

Ways to win $100

Ways to get an entry in the $100 Amazon card drawing  [41:10]

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  • Get 2 entries in the drawing when you:
    • Complete our listener survey and add in the notes – Give me $100!  You must include your email in the notes too.
    • Send an email that we joked about sending at the end of one of our episodes about David – this is a trivia question to get extra entries for our regular listeners
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Crisis of trust in healthcare

Now, on to our topic for today.  Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare?  The constant barrage of data breaches and privacy violations are starting to have an effect on patient populations.  There are studies that show it but areas where large breaches have occurred may be closer to a potential crisis than areas where it hasn’t happened…. yet.

According to Healthcare IT News

  • 50% of consumers say they would find another healthcare provider if they were concerned about the security of their medical records. [13:10]
  • Health data breaches in March surpassed January and February combined, study finds
  • It’s not about compliance, it’s about patient care [14:24]

SoftwareAdvice.com 2015 study Key Findings:

  1. [15:15] Forty-five percent of patients are “moderately” or “very concerned” about a security breach involving their personal health information.
  2. Nearly one-quarter of patients (21 percent) withhold personal health information from their doctors due to data security concerns.
  3. Only 8 percent of patients “always” read doctors’ privacy and security policies before signing them, and just 10 percent are “very confident” they understand them.
  4. A majority of patients (54 percent) are “moderately” or “very likely” to change doctors as a result of a patient data breach.
  5. Patients are most likely to change doctors if their medical staff caused a data security breach, and least likely to change doctors if hackers were responsible.

HITECHAnswers.net blog

  1. Transparency:
  2. Dialogue
  3. Security Technology

Training and Policy

  1. System Backup and Recovery
  2. Familiarity and Comfort

Why no paper

When Patients Fear EHR – [26:10]

When someone views a paper record, no one knows who saw it, for how long they saw it, or when they saw it; we do not even know if they were authorized to view the record.

  • We cannot scramble or encrypt the data.
  • We are unable to retain backup copies in multiple locations to ensure protection in cases of fire or water damage.
  • Multiple physicians or other providers cannot easily see their complete medical records in order to make a life-saving decision for them.
  • Information is often hard to decipher because of variations in handwriting.
  • With electronic records, people have the power to determine how their information can be used and shared. They have the right and ability to view their information as well as correct any inaccuracies in their records. Custodians of their information are obligated by law to adequately protect their information or face severe fines and penalties.

Even though all of that, you still see this headline


Based on things that we have researched, there is certainly an argument that concern is building with patients (consumers of healthcare) about their data privacy.  Clearly, we do not want to ever be in a real crisis of trust in healthcare between patients and their healthcare providers. It is time to step up now and get in front of this before we do find ourselves in a crisis.  If you believe a key element for effective care is the trust in the doctor –  patient confidentiality standard, then the last thing we need is a crisis of trust in healthcare.

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Remember, HIPAA is not about compliance, it’s about patient care.

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