NURS FPX 4045 Assessment 2 Protected Health Information

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX4045 Nursing Informatics: Managing Health Information and Technology

Prof. Name

Date

Staff Update: Protecting Patient Privacy on Social Media

Protected Health Information (PHI)

PHI is related to any patient data or personal information that can be used to recognize an individual and relates to their health status, care. Examples include:

• Names, addresses, and birth dates.
• Assessment reports, prescribed drugs, and therapy procedures 
• Payment and health insurance details (Pool et al., 2024)

While offering telehealth services, adequate PHI management is critical for establishing patient confidence, and preserving HIPAA conformity.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

• HIPAA was created to preserve the anonymity and safety of individuals’ PHI in the United States (Lindsey et al., 2025).
• HIPAA forbids the publication of PHI without permission.
• Patients have the authority under this law regarding their PHI, to allow or prevent to share data and inspect their health data.
• HIPAA requires that PHI remain secure and confidential in telehealth services. 

Security Rule: Requires staff or care organizations to ensure the safety of electronic health info

rmation (EHI), safeguarding against potential security hazards and unauthorized use (Lindsey et al., 2025).

Example: Using unsecured platforms for telehealth consultations can expose data to hacking or breaches. 

If caregivers use a non-encrypted platform, cybercriminals could intercept PHI and exploit it.

Privacy Rule: Safeguards PHI by banning the sharing of it without appropriate authorization. 

It also enables patients to have greater control over how their medical data is disclosed (Alder, 2025).

Example: If a practitioner holds a telehealth consultation in a public area, unauthorized people may listen to critical patient information.

Confidentiality Rule: Guarantees that EHI is protected from illicit use during data exchange for patient healthcare.

Example:  During telehealth services, the transfer of PHI using unprotected channels jeopardizes confidentiality. 

Sending patient data via social media may erroneously disclose it to unauthorized individuals.

Importance of Interdisciplinary Collaboration  for Protecting EHI

• An interdisciplinary partnership is essential for preserving EHI during telehealth services and ensuring compliance with privacy and security protocols. Cooperation among clinical staff, administrators, security personnel, and technologists is vital for EHI safety during data exchange using telehealth tools. 
• The distinct expertise of all stakeholders leads to a coordinated strategy that successfully strengthens EHI protection and lowers cyber threats (Pool et al., 2023).
• Clinical workers attend cybersecurity workshops to stay up-to-date on EHI safety methods. They employ techniques such as using secure passwords, encrypting data, and utilizing secure transmission routes to protect EHI during telehealth.
• Administrators implement strong data safety protocols and allocate funding to safety and technical personnel. 
• Safety personnel prevent unauthorized access to EHI during telehealth by conducting audits and assessing data to avoid breaches. 
• Technical staff incorporate tools and robust security systems, such as firewalls and encryption, to secure EHI data transmission during remote care sessions.
• Hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic have adopted a holistic, cross-disciplinary approach to ensuring the privacy and safety of patient data, while implementing healthcare technologies (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). 

Evidence on Social Media Violations

• While using telehealth services to offer remote patient care, medical staff, notably nurses, should be cautious and avoid publishing care-related data and pictures on social media.
• Nurses can face termination, license cancellation, fiscal penalty, and imprisonment (Moore & Frye, 2020).

Violation Cases

• A nurse assistant was dismissed in 2016 for filming an almost bare  Alzheimer’s patient and posting the footage on Snapchat.
• In October 2019, an oral surgeon paid a $10,000 penalty for illegally publishing PHI on a social media review site.
• A staff nurse was sacked and punished to one month jail for uploading a patient’s video to the Internet (Alder, 2025).
• Organizations like Green Ridge Behavioral Healthcare system were fined $40,000 for publishing the PHI of 14,000 individuals.

What Not To Do  On Social Media

• Don’t share patient information, including images or medical details, on social media.
• Don’t send a friend request to patients
• Don’t exchange patient PHI through the social media platform
• Do not discuss work incidents publicly on social media
• Don’t use social media during working hours; always log out of your accounts.
• Always report if you observe any data breach on social media,

Practices to Protect Patient Medical Information

While using a telehealth solution, effective practices to secure EHI include:

Implementing Robust Security Systems: Integrating advanced systems like firewalls, or encryption systems like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) ensures EHI confidentiality. 

• The Mayo Clinic has integrated SSL tools to preserve patient information during data exchange (Mayo Clinic, 2024).

Performing Safety Audits: Conducting regular safety evaluations on telehealth tools and other EHI technologies can help ensure HIPAA compliance. Gathering input from staff and patients helps identify shortcomings and improve the privacy policy. 

• Hospitals like Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) conduct audits (self-audits) to ensure patient information privacy (MGH, n.d.).

Organizing Cyber-security Workshops: Conducting training programs for medical staff equips them with the skills and knowledge of security approaches. They will be able to handle patient EHI better while performing telehealth activities.

Strategies for PHI Privacy Using Social Media

• Regular training to educate staff about HIPAA regulations, the significance of safeguarding PHI, and potential trouble for social media misuse (Alder, 2025).
• Implement strict policies for social Media, such as not accepting patient information or any work-related incident online (Alder, 2025).
• Encouraging the use of encrypted platforms for professional communication to reduce the risk of sensitive information from unauthorized access.
• Establishing a system for reporting breaches to reduce the lapse of time during which the breaches are exposed, leading to rapid response for corrective measures and reduced damage.

References

Alder, S. (2023). HIPAA and social media rules – Updated for 2023. The HIPAA Journal.
https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-social-media/

Alder, S. (2023). HIPAA privacy rule – updated for 2023. The HIPAA Journal.
https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-privacy-rule/#:~:text=The%20HIPAA%20Rules%20are%20the,and%20availability%20of%20healthcare%20covered

NURS FPX 4045 Assessment 2 Protected Health Information

Cleveland Clinic. (2023). Holistic, multidisciplinary approach protects patient data and privacy. Cleveland Clinic.org.
https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/holistic-multidisciplinary-approach-protects-patient-data-and-privacy/

Lindsey, D., Sniker, R., Travers, C., Budhwani, H., Richardson, M., Quisney, R., & Shukla, V. V. (2023). When HIPAA hurts: Legal barriers to texting may reinforce healthcare disparities and disenfranchise vulnerable patients. Journal of Perinatology, 45(2), 278–281.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-024-00805-5

Mayo Clinic. (2024). Privacy policy. Mayo Clinic.org.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/about-this-site/privacy-policy

MGH. (n.d.). Protect our patients’ privacy. Massachusetts General Hospital.org.
https://www.massgeneral.org/assets/MGH/pdf/research/mgh-privacy-presentation.pdf

Moore, W., & Frye, S. (2020). Review of HIPAA, part 2: Infractions, rights, violations, and role for the imaging technologist. Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology, 48(1), 7–13.
https://doi.org/10.2967/jnmt.119.227827

NURS FPX 4045 Assessment 2 Protected Health Information

Pool, J., Akhlaghpour, S., Fatehi, F., & Burton-Jones, A. (2023). A systematic analysis of failures in protecting personal health data: A scoping review. International Journal of Information Management, 74, 102719–102719.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2023.102719