Gus Venditto

Hal Wolf believes an aging population will require a new approach from healthcare IT leaders.

Shop carefully. While cloud computing offers many advantages, it’s a big step and adequate planning is essential to ensure success.

New cost reductions make cloud options more compelling than ever but, in a twist, experts say cloud platforms can be more secure than managed data centers.

The ride-sharing service is charged with defaming a woman and obtaining her records without authorization.

Memories of the May WannaCry attacks have started to fade but the threat to healthcare systems is not going away. In fact, while the risk has been seen mostly in IT administrative systems and EHRs, many believe that the threat to medical devices is even greater. The growth of IoT systems throughout the healthcare landscape is one reason for this change in the landscape. Security is not always built into medical devices. A recent TrendMicro report found more than 36,000 healthcare devices were easily discoverable using Shodan, the public able search engine available for discovering Internet-connected devices. A strong defense will require more than simply maintaining a firewall and keeping software security patches up to date. [Also: Webinar: Preventing and dealing with ransomware attacks] Kevin Johnson, a noted ethical hacker and president of Secure Ideas, says “it is critical that organizations understand how these attacks work.” Johnson will be speaking on Thursday, June 15 in the HIMSS Learning Center, explaining how hackers are approaching their targets in order to give healthcare IT managers more ammunition in their defensive strategies. [Also: Unsecured medical devices: Healthcare's new warning call] “Once the [hacker view] is understood, “ Johnson said, “then the detection and prevention becomes part of the normal operations. “ In his presentation, "Preventing and Dealing with Ransomware Attacks: How to Keep Your Data Safe," Johnson will describe how common attacks are developed and demonstrate the issues they create. The session will be recorded and will be available for listening on demand at the HIMSS Learning Center.

An ambitious project aims to provide insight on “the most diverse collection of people in human history.”

A directive to HHS calls for a national standard on how patients are matched with their health records.

In an HX360 fireside chat with Steve Lieber, the veteran journalist sees signs of the press returning to its role as a watchdog.

A new HIMSS initiative is working to showcase interoperability at the 2020 games.

Deborah Dahl, vice president of patient care innovation, at Banner Health and David Weingard, a Microsoft veteran who founded Fit4D, will be presented with the Kate Grainger Compassionate Care Award at Tuesday night’s HIMSS Gala. The award is named in honor of Kate Granger, an English doctor who dedicated her life to raising awareness around compassion in healthcare. Carla Smith, HIMSS North America executive vice president, said the recipients “leverage people, process and technology to improve patient outcomes and ensure that patients receive high-touch care.” Dahl is a leader at Banner Health who has brought together diverse teams to select and implement innovative clinical strategies, such as telehealth services, safe surgery and one of the largest simulation medical centers in the world. Jason Bickford, president-elect of the Arizona Chapter of HIMSS and Director of IT Infrastructure at Banner Health, said “Deborah is a respected health IT patient care innovation leader that consistently delivers advanced level of care to patients that need it most.” Weingard was working at Microsoft when, at the age of 36, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He decided to leave Microsoft and commit his life to providing positive change to the diabetes community. He founded Fit4D and began fundraising on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Fit4D aims to improve adherence and health outcomes for pharmaceutical, payer and provider organizations by scaling clinician reach. Helping people with diabetes is his passion. HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center. This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference. Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn