Healthcare Information Technology Exam Guide for CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician and HIT Pro Certifications

User Identity

User identity is fundamental to controlling access, both for security and for privacy. The user’s identity, known to the software, controls that user’s access to an electronic health record (EHR).^1-9 It is this identity that is related to the certain data elements that the user is authorized to access. In addition, it is this identity that is recorded in security audit logs¹⁰ for tracking what was done and by whom. The user identity is not specific to health professionals, though, because patients can also be users when they interact with their personal health records (PHRs). The user identity is also critical to system administration and maintenance. The user identity is leveraged by privacy to enable or disable access and provide ...