If you blanch at the idea of transferring patient records over unsecured e-mail accounts, sharing passwords or mindlessly disposing of old computers containing health information, you might just be able to score big on the Office of the National Coordinator's latest privacy and security training game, “CyberSecure: Your Medical Practice.”
Set in a virtual medical practice, the game quizzes users on how they would handle scenarios related to data recovery, security and disaster planning. Answer multiple-choice questions such as—“Should laptops containing nonencrypted protected health information leave the premises at any time?”—correctly and you get a brand new TV for your virtual practice's break room! Answer another one right and get a new nurses' station. Toys for the kids' waiting area! A new vending machine!
But get it wrong and you can lose big. Think it's a good idea to write temporary passwords on Post-it notes for all to see? Bam! You just lost an exam room. What about taking shortcuts on encryption for wireless devices? Yes, you say? You just lost a server. According to ONC, the game can help providers to protect patient data and ensure that it's accessible in a disaster.
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