When shared online, PowerPoint presentations with radiographic images have the potential to reveal the protected health information of patients, according to a study published Oct. 9 in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology.
Researchers from Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan used Google to search the internet for PowerPoint presentations containing medical imaging with the goal of uncovering how patient information is shared online.
Here are six takeaways from the study:
- For the study, protected health information was identified as a patient's full name, medical registration number, a date and a geographic indicator smaller than a state.
- "Magnetic Resonance Imaging filetype:ppt" and "Cardiac CT CAT Scan filetype:ppt" returned 146 search results, with 7.6% containing full protected health information.
- Forty percent of the search results for "Radiology Chest X-ray filetype:ppt" contained some accessible protected health information.
- Twenty-nine percent of the search results for "Post-Operative CT Scan filetype:ppt" contained accessible protected health information.
- Searches for "Radiology Chest X-ray filetype:pptx" and "Post-Operative CT scan filetype:pptx" each returned fewer than five results with full or partial protected health information.
- Search results for "Magnetic Resonance Imaging filetype:pptx" returned no protected health information.