An article released on the website HealthITSecurity.com sheds some interesting light on a major name. Amazon continues to expand into other areas, including the healthcare field. However, the way the retailer is approaching the sensitive topic of patient privacy may result in HIPAA compliance issues if it isn’t careful.
For those that use one of its Echo devices, they may be familiar with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. The retailer has put a team together aimed at increasing the voice assistant’s usefulness in the field of healthcare. It also joined forces with two other companies to create a healthcare company in order to offer healthcare to its employees.
Recently, a woman purchased a medical alert bracelet through a third party Amazon seller. The bracelet contained her personal information including her name, medical conditions, and contact information. After finding out pictures of the bracelet with her information were visible on Amazon, the woman contacted Amazon to have the situation investigated but was told the company was not able to reveal the investigation outcome. As the retailer expands into healthcare, it will likely need to take a closer look at how to manage its medical data security policies and how to train its staff to address scenarios like this one.
As for the bracelet situation, the pictures were ultimately taken down. You can read more about it by visiting the source link: https://healthitsecurity.com/news/amazons-healthcare-push-could-run-into-hipaa-compliance-issues.
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