Healthcare Tech is Out-Of-Date: Identity Access Management Can Revive The Old-School System

The healthcare sector turned out to be amongst the most stable industries during the COVID-19 pandemic, while other industries have and continue to struggle to survive. The sensitivity of patient data and information is more important than ever now that it's on the verge of being stolen. It continues to give sleepless nights to healthcare professionals and patients. Moreover, cyberattacks continue to get stronger with the latest technologies rolling out every year.

Thus, it is high time to respect the privacy of patients by protecting their records through Identity Access Management. Here are 9 reasons why the healthcare industry needs to leverage Identity Access Management and protect sensitive patient data.

1. Patient Identity Management Matters

Healthcare professionals across several countries are still using paper-based systems in order to track and maintain patient records. It becomes a herculean task for health care providers to maintain records and it is also a threat to patient privacy. Although some healthcare providers use IT systems, many are not capable of processing/transferring massive medical data of patients. This leads to improper care for patients and trouble in identifying or verifying patients. Due to the lack of identification, individuals who seek timely healthcare services fail to get it.

2. Security Challenges in The Healthcare Industry

Healthcare always strives to expand its business or lookout for acquisitions. Although it sounds great for patients, as they can benefit from top-notch healthcare services, we must consider the downside too. Be it the registration process before booking an appointment or receiving diagnostic test results, the sensitive data of a patient is at risk.

Moreover, details related to an insurance policy, history of medical records, or debit card details are often stored in unsecured databases. Thus, it becomes easy prey for any cybercriminal. Massive amounts of patient data can also lead to misdiagnosis, redundant care, or inaccurate medication too. Besides, centralized patient data ends up being a threat to both network security and physical safety of patients.

3. Healthcare Can Make The Best Use of Digital Identity Verification

Patient identification can be helpful to the healthcare industry in providing top-notch and faster healthcare services to patients. Healthcare providers can make the best use of digital identity verification system to share medical records, eliminate scams related to patient data, and ensure insurance claims.

4. Enhanced Insurance Management

Filing insurance claims can be a difficult process for healthcare providers. With automated patient verification systems, hospitals can finally process insurance claims with ease. The traditional system of filing for insurance can lead to double payment and thus creating trouble for healthcare professionals and patients.

5. Ensure Safety For Patient Records

Since patient records are misused by selling on the dark web, it poses a serious threat to privacy. Thus, the responsibility to safeguard the massive medical data of patients rests with healthcare providers. Online identity verification can be helpful to prevent fraud or identity theft.

Anti-virus or anti-malware is no longer as helpful for the safety of patient records. Thus, hospitals need to look out for some robust encryption to keep cybercriminals at bay. While digital document verification helps to identify patients, credentials can be authenticated through an online facial recognition system.

6. Sharing of Data Among Healthcare Institutions

Thanks to verification procedures and automated identification, patient records can be shared or transferred among healthcare institutions with ease. This eliminates duplicate testing and enhances healthcare service too. Since records get updated in real-time, doctors no longer had to wait before getting access to patient records.

7. Access to patient records instantly

Powered by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data, systems can avail automation in different industries. While paper records take a lot of time to get accessed by doctors, digital identity verification can get things done within no time.

Moreover, government ministries and healthcare providers can plan for development initiatives or perform research as per the data collected through identity management.

8. Protecting Patient Records With Compliance Regulations

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ensures that the physical or administrative security of patients is protected by healthcare providers. In other words, it aims to secure privacy and strengthen the safety of patients.

Identity management also helps hospitals to expand their business since several hospitals or physicians use electronic health records. While access management and authentication ensure the safety of patient records, automated forms for HIPAA compliance is good for governance capability.

9. MFA in Healthcare

Multifactor authentication is a boon for the healthcare sector as it is a reliable form for small, medium, and large enterprises. Passwords are easy to guess or hacked by cybercriminals. Thus, MFA creates multiple barriers between patient data and access requests. Barriers include biometrics, hard tokens, or geofencing to monitor access requests.

Is Your Organization Prioritizing Convenience Over Security?

Several healthcare providers prefer Single Sign-On (SSO) coupled with Active Directory management. Although SSO seems to be a good idea, it cannot ensure complete security or address challenges faced by healthcare sectors. Integrated IAM solutions can help ease of use for users and strengthen an organization’s risk mitigation requirement and security.

Conclusion

Identity management is no longer confined to ensure the safety of patient health records but also strives to help healthcare providers serve patients effectively. Medical frauds can be significantly reduced as patient data will be in safe hands through identity management.

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Also published at https://gururajswamy.medium.com/9-ways-identity-access-management-can-be-a-game-changer-for-healthcare-industry-50fb0852d16a