What should be done with access when a clinician resigns or is fired?

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Multiple Choice

What should be done with access when a clinician resigns or is fired?

When a clinician leaves, limiting access to systems with patient information is essential to protect confidentiality and meet legal obligations. The proper approach is to remove their access and update credentials immediately. This prevents any possibility of viewing, modifying, or exporting PHI after departure, maintains an accurate audit trail, and ensures accountability for actions taken while they were active in the system. To implement this, deactivate or disable the clinician’s account across the EHR and any connected systems, revoke all tokens and remote access, update or rotate passwords if applicable, and remove the user from relevant groups or roles. It’s also important to review recent activity logs and ensure devices are returned or cleared of access, and to follow organizational offboarding procedures. Reassigning access to another clinician isn’t appropriate because it bypasses individual accountability and can obscure who accessed what data. Leaving access active for 90 days creates an unnecessary security risk, and archiving patient records does not address the immediate need to revoke access.

When a clinician leaves, limiting access to systems with patient information is essential to protect confidentiality and meet legal obligations. The proper approach is to remove their access and update credentials immediately. This prevents any possibility of viewing, modifying, or exporting PHI after departure, maintains an accurate audit trail, and ensures accountability for actions taken while they were active in the system.

To implement this, deactivate or disable the clinician’s account across the EHR and any connected systems, revoke all tokens and remote access, update or rotate passwords if applicable, and remove the user from relevant groups or roles. It’s also important to review recent activity logs and ensure devices are returned or cleared of access, and to follow organizational offboarding procedures.

Reassigning access to another clinician isn’t appropriate because it bypasses individual accountability and can obscure who accessed what data. Leaving access active for 90 days creates an unnecessary security risk, and archiving patient records does not address the immediate need to revoke access.

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