Information Security Principles for Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Systems

A growing number of healthcare organizations are replacing their traditional record keeping methods with the electronic medical record (EMR) systems as part of an on-going effort toward the digitization of healthcare. With the growing use of this digital information system, concerns about the state of security for the EMR systems have also increased. In recent years, a large number of academic and non-academic research activities are directed toward the use and implementation of EMR, however, very few of these studies are focused on the issue of security within the EMR systems. This paper explores the basics of computer security and proposes security principles that should be considered as guidelines at the time of EMR systems implementations. Our analysis of the literature and theory provides new insight for researchers and assists healthcare practitioners with increased security for EMR adoption.