How can EDMS improve patient data security?

Here, our commercial lead, Jamie Hall explores how electronic document management systems (EDMS) can play a pivotal role in enhancing patient data security, addressing the challenges posed by the sensitive nature of medical information and the need to stay compliant with data protection regulations.

Patient medical information is undoubtedly one of the most sensitive types of data available. It contains details about an individual's health, history, treatments, and so much more. The confidentiality and integrity of this information are crucial not only for ethical reasons but also to comply with stringent data protection regulations, like GDPR.

Compliance with these regulations is not only a legal requirement but also a crucial step in building trust with patients. The consequences of data breaches can be severe, both in terms of financial penalties and damage to the institution's reputation. Therefore, healthcare providers must adopt solutions that ensure compliance with these regulations.

Meanwhile, although the digitisation of healthcare records is beginning to make waves in the sector, vast libraries of physical documents still exist. These traditional storage rooms are vulnerable to various risks, including possible loss, damage or unauthorised access. In this digital age, relying on traditional record-keeping methods is no longer sufficient to guarantee the security of patient information.

Strengthening patient data security with EDMS

That’s why electronic document management systems (EDMS) emerge as a robust solution to address the challenges of patient data security. By digitising healthcare records, EDMS ensures that sensitive information is stored securely and is easily accessible when needed by the correct people at the correct time, fully audited and provisioned with the right degree of security.

Our EDMS, MediViewer, goes beyond basic digital storage by providing a comprehensive audit trail for each medical record, this is at not only patient but also document and system level and where we have cross-connected instances can also deliver regional level auditing These features are instrumental in ensuring compliance with the BS10008 standard – a set of guidelines for the legal admissibility and evidential weight of electronic information. By leveraging EDMS, healthcare institutions can maintain the integrity and authenticity of patient records, even in a digital environment.

MediViewer’s batch manager functionality also sets it apart from other EDMS solutions. This feature facilitates back-and-forward scanning, allowing healthcare providers to have end-to-end oversight of all patient documentation when looking at the bigger picture of what has been sent for scanning or produced to support day-forward document capture. This means the complete journey of a medical record, from its creation to its eventual digitisation, can be tracked seamlessly – making it completely auditable. This level of transparency and control is invaluable in safeguarding patient data throughout its lifecycle.

It’s also important to add, that document and patient data security should not be considered for just unstructured content captured into an EDMS, but also provides the ability to centralise the many digital un-audited silos of information that exist, ensuring complete patient data security, but when used for clinical care provides the complete picture of the patient's history. 

Is your patient’s data safe and secure? 

Although Data Privacy Day reminds us to reflect on the significance of protecting patient information, this should be a priority at all times. Patients need to be able to trust clinicians and institutions to keep their sensitive records safe from prying eyes, in one place, and EDMS can help Trusts do exactly that. 

If data security is at the top of your Trust’s priority list, get in touch with our team to discuss how MediViewer ensures the complete security and compliance of your patient information.