Practice Question
Which of the following is the most effective practice for protecting client health information in electronic health records EHRY?
Answer Choices:
Correct Answer:
Using password protection and role-based access for sensitive data.
Rationale:
🌟 Password protection ensures that only individuals with authorized credentials can log into the EHR system.
🌟 Role-based access limits what a user can see or do based on their job function (e.g., nurse, physician, billing), enforcing the minimum necessary principle.
🌟 Together, these controls help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and reduce the risk of privacy breaches.
🌟 These measures are consistent with HIPAA Security Rule requirements for administrative and technical safeguards.
🌟 Because this approach balances accessibility with strong protection, it is one of the most effective practices for safeguarding client health information in EHRs.
Implementing a policy of open access for healthcare staff.
🌟 An “open access” policy means any staff member could view any record, which directly conflicts with minimum necessary and need-to-know standards.
🌟 This significantly increases the risk of snooping, curiosity viewing, and inappropriate access to PHI.
🌟 Regulatory bodies expect organizations to restrict access based on role, not to give universal visibility to all records.
🌟 Open access makes it harder to track and justify who accessed what and why, undermining audit and accountability.
🌟 Therefore, this practice would weaken protection of client information rather than enhance it.
Conducting annual cybersecurity training for all employees.
🌟 Annual cybersecurity training is an important supporting safeguard, helping staff recognize threats like phishing and malware.
🌟 However, training alone does not directly control who can access or modify sensitive data in the EHR.
🌟 It must be combined with technical controls like passwords, encryption, access levels, and audit trails to be truly effective.
🌟 While valuable, training is considered supplemental, not the primary mechanism for protecting PHI inside the EHR system.
🌟 Thus, this option is helpful but not the most effective single practice compared with role-based, password-controlled access.
Allowing clients to update their own records without supervision.
🌟 Allowing clients to freely update their records can introduce errors, inconsistencies, or incomplete information into the EHR.
🌟 While client portals are useful, changes to critical health data (e.g., diagnoses, medication lists) should be reviewed and verified by clinicians.
🌟 Unsupervised edits could compromise data integrity, which is a key element of information security and patient safety.
🌟 Best practice is to let clients view and communicate through portals but have providers control formal record entries and updates.
🌟 Therefore, this approach is not considered an effective or safe strategy for protecting client health information in EHRs.
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This question is from Examplify RN Informatics which contains 8 questions.
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Question Details
- Category: RN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: Examplify Exam(s)
- Domain: RN Informatics 🌐
- Answer Choices: 4