Despite concerns about data breaches patients don't read privacy policies

About half of all patients are concerned about security breaches involving their personal health information, yet only about 1 in 10 “always” read their doctor’s security policy, according to a survey by the EHR comparison site Software Advice.

The survey found that 45 percent of patients are “very” or “moderately” concerned about a security breach involving their health information. The major reason given for their concern was fraud or identity theft (47 percent). Going further, 54 percent of the respondents said they would be “very” or “moderately likely” to change providers as a result of a breach involving their personal health information.

Of those 54 percent, 28 percent reported that nothing a provider said about the breach could convince them to stay, while 37 percent said they would remain with their doctor if they were given specific examples of how practice security and privacy policies had improved. In addition, patients were more likely to switch providers after a security breach if it was caused by staff misconduct or carelessness, and less likely if the cause was a cyberattack.

About 1 in 5 respondents also said that security and privacy concerns will lead them to withhold health information to their providers.

Despite these concerns about the security of their health information, patients rarely read privacy and security notices. Eight percent of patients said they ”always” read notices of privacy policies (NPPs), while 13 percent said they “often” do, while a combined 79 percent said they “sometimes,” “rarely or never,” or “never” sign NPPs.

And patients aren’t very confident they even understand those policies. According to the survey, just 10 percent are “very confident they understand their physician’s security policies.

 

 

 

 

Michael Bassett,

Contributor

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