What is data rights management?

Data rights management (DRM) refers to the technologies and processes used to control how digital data is accessed, shared, and used. These processes protect sensitive or proprietary information by restricting unauthorized copying, sharing, or editing of data in organizations where data protection is necessary. 

Understanding data rights management

An IEEE Potentials journal article states, “The term digital rights management (DRM) broadly refers to a set of policies, techniques, and tools that guide the proper use of digital content.” DRM emerged in the 1990s, driven by the need to protect digital media content like music and movies from piracy. It now applies to other industries including healthcare where its basic principles align with the Security Rule requirements for electronic protected health information (ePHI). 

Digital content subject to HIPAA regulations in healthcare settings

Digital content is any information or media stored, accessed, or transmitted in digital format. In a healthcare setting, this includes: 

• Electronic health records (EHRs)
• Medical imaging
• Billing and insurance information
• Digital logs and records of patient appointments 
• Patient correspondence containing PHI
• Laboratory results 
• Prescription information 
• Clinical notes 
• Telehealth records 
• Mobile health apps 

Data rights protection tools and techniques in healthcare 

Many technologies and practices are used within healthcare organizations of all sizes to keep PHI secure. With the use of required implementations, like staff training, set in place by HIPAA’s Security Rule, tools like the following allow for the security of digital content housed by healthcare organizations: 

• Encryption is used to secure EHRs by converting them into unreadable formats that can only be accessed by authorized people. 
• Access control mechanisms like role-based permission allow only specific personnel to view or edit data based on their job responsibilities.  
• Data loss prevention solutions monitor and restrict the sharing of sensitive information. 
• Usage tracking systems create detailed logs of data access and modifications to detect unauthorized activity. 

Related: What is role-based access control?

Applying data rights management in healthcare practices

Contextual access control:

• Access to PHI should be granted based on situational factors like their position, communication requirements, and shift times. 

Role-specific data views: 

• Create role-specific dashboards that show only relevant PHI for specific job functions. 

Data tokenization: 

• Use data tokenization techniques to replace patient information with nonsensitive equivalents that retain necessary data attributes without compromising privacy. 
• Tokenization adds a layer of security and reduces the risk of data exposure during its sharing or analysis. 

Secure mobile access solutions: 

• Implement virtual private networks (VPNs) and secure mobile device management (MDM) tools to ensure that sensitive PHI access through mobile devices remains safe. 
• Ensure the chosen solutions use encryption, and remain capable of remote wiping lost devices and application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized access. 

Behavioral analytics:

• Integrate behavioral analytics tools to monitor user interactions with sensitive data. 
• Early detection of irregularities prevents data breaches by identifying unusual behavior.

Related: HIPAA Compliant Email: The Definitive Guide

FAQs

What are behavioral analytics? 

The process of collecting and analyzing data on user behavior to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies. 

What are the main principles of mobile device management? 

Ensuring device security, controlling access to corporate data, managing applications, and enabling remote monitoring. 

What are VPNs?

Secure connections that allow users to access the internet or private networks over public networks while encrypting their data to protect their privacy and security.