Privacy is a crucial part of healthcare, but confidential patient information is highly vulnerable to breaches if left unguarded — as seen last year in Miami where a smartphone was used to steal patient information from a hospital.
In that case, a volunteer worker at Jackson Memorial Hospital was discovered taking thousands of photos of patient records that included Social Security numbers and other information, according to online healthcare publication FierceHealthcare. The worker admitted he had sold the patient information to others after he was caught filing fake tax returns using the stolen data.
Smartphone technology enables a dishonest user to photograph sensitive paper records and then send the information elsewhere in a matter of moments. Notaries employed in healthcare should always store their journals in a locked, secure area only the Notary can access.