Securing the transmission and storage of medical information.

The widespread use of computer-based patient records and the increased implementation of telecommunications has brought to the forefront the concern of patient confidentiality. Without adequate security measures, a patient's medical information may be intercepted, accessed, modified, or deleted by an unauthorized individual. Although no internal control is absolute, the use of encryption is a powerful tool to protect data. The authors describe how encryption works and its role in the web of internal controls that protect medical information systems in general and computer-based patient records in particular.