Doctors' staff leaking patients' data in remote health chats: Report

Nearly 30 per cent of healthcare providers have experienced cases where their employees compromised customers' personal information during remote consultations, a new report revealed on Thursday.

In addition to this, almost half of providers believe that their clinicians don't clearly understand how patients' data is protected.

However, 67 per cent of them believe it is important for the healthcare sector to collect even more personal information to further industry development, according to researchers from cyber-security firm Kaspersky.

Since the recent mass transition to digital health further increased the burden of responsibility on medical providers, the researchers surveyed healthcare decision makers around the globe to gain insights into current security-related telehealth issues and find ways to tackle them.

The findings showed that only 17 per cent of healthcare providers are sure that most of their clinicians that conduct remote sessions have clear insight into how their patients' data is protected.

"This is despite the fact that 70 per cent of medical organisations have dedicated IT security awareness training," said the researchers.

According to Professor Chengyi Lin, Affiliate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD and a leading expert on digital transformation, to accelerate the evolution of digital health, we have to carefully curate, manage and govern sensitive health data.

"This information is also valuable to individuals and the healthcare system to improve outcomes and reduce costs. We have already seen encouraging results from using big data for better clinical trial design and reducing both time and costs," Chengyi said.

Nearly 54 per cent of respondents admit that some of their clinicians conduct remote sessions using apps not specifically designed for telehealth, such as FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Zoom, and others.

"The more complex and critical technology is, the more awareness it requires from people who work with it. This is particularly important for the healthcare industry entering the new digital stage and increasingly facing issues connected to privacy and security," commented Denis Barinov, Head of Kaspersky Academy.

Physicians believe that data collection is one of the most important aspects of medical technology development, despite the existing difficulties with data safety.

Almost seven in 10 (67 per cent) respondents agree that the industry needs to collect more personal information than they currently hold, to train AI and ensure a reliable diagnosis.