The Privacy of YOUR Health Information
![](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image_large/public/lifespan-files/images/blog-images/Gillerman%20-%20My%20Lifespan%202.jpg?h=f639aea9&itok=YpxCFNVI)
January 28 is National Data Privacy Day. Here at Lifespan, we value the privacy of your protected health information (PHI). Whether safeguarding it from within or keeping external “prying eyes” out, the importance of keeping your health information safe is paramount to us.
Your information is closely guarded each and every step of the way. We focus on securing the documentation tools that doctors use when charting, whether a hospital stay or outpatient visit, or your access to your own medical history through our patient portal, MyChart.
Why is it so important and what do we do about it?
- It’s only YOUR business. Ethically, no one should know your health details or information associated with those details that could identify you unless you choose to tell them. The obvious areas of importance are specifics about your physical and mental health. However, other information, such as whether you smoke or how much you drink is equally important. Even identifying information such as your date of birth or address must be protected.
- Your PHI contains identifying information. In addition to your basic health information, your medical record also includes specific identifying information that must be protected: social security number, insurance information, and credit card particulars, to name a few items. Increasingly, there are reports of computer hackers who target hospitals in search of this information. In this case, issues of privacy overlap with confidentiality and security of your information.
- It’s the law. The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that your personal health information be viewed only for certain reasons, and that only the minimal amount necessary for the job be accessed. Now that we are in the digital age, there are other related laws which dictate the use, storage, and transfer of your electronic health information. All of these laws were enacted to protect you the patient, and we follow them to the letter.
- We conduct ongoing training. Every Lifespan doctor, nurse, or staff member who has access to your PHI undergoes yearly training on the importance of the privacy, confidentiality, and security of your health information.
You can now see that Lifespan takes protection of your PHI very seriously. We employ many mechanisms to ensure the safety of your PHI: some of them very high tech, others just plain old common sense.
If you are interested in obtaining more information on the issue of patient privacy, confidentiality, and security, you can check out this link on the web.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/provider_headshot/public/lifespan-files/images/blog-author-images/Gillerman%20Richard%202.jpg?h=479b0602&itok=RWr-egmA)
About the Author:
Richard G Gillerman M.D., Ph.D.
Richard G Gillerman M.D., Ph.D., is the Chief Medical Information Officer for Brown University Health. Dr. Gillerman is also a practicing physician in the Department of Anesthesiology.
Be Well Newsletter
Find a Doctor
![](/sites/default/files/styles/media_card/public/lifespan-files/images/header-images/lifespan-appointment-1200x630.jpg?h=e5e06361&itok=4A8SNzr8)
The right provider is in our network
Search more than 1,200 providers in our network.