Email warnings were 95 percent effective in preventing healthcare employees from inappropriately accessing patient health information, according to an April 13 study published in JAMA.
Researchers conducted a nonrandomized controlled trial at a large academic medical center to understand the effectiveness of email warnings on reducing repeated unauthorized access to patient health information. Here's what they found:
- In the intervention group, who had email warnings, 4 out of 219 employees' repeated offenses occurred between 20 and 70 days after the initial unauthorized access.
- In the control group, who didn't have access to email warnings, 90 out of the 225 employees accessed protected health information for a second time, between 20 and 70 days after their initial unauthorized access.
- Email warnings were 95 percent effective for reducing repeated offenses.
- The nonrandomized controlled trial found that when left unchecked, hospital employees repeatedly committed unauthorized access to patient health information.
The study's findings are limited by lack of data on the prevalence of using email warnings to contain unauthorized access among hospitals.
Email warnings may also not be effective for different health systems as the landscape of cybersecurity continues to evolve.