Mike Miliard
In search of innovative new information technology that can help hospitals like them improve care, two of California's biggest health systems have teamed up to create an investment fund to help foster new companies.
More than half of people with chronic conditions say the ability to get their electronic medical records online outweighs the potential privacy risks, according to a new survey by Accenture.
When even the Department of Homeland Security is warning against using Internet Explorer, it's a safe bet its security flaws are serious. But for many healthcare providers -- notably those still running on Windows XP -- IE's recently-exposed vulnerabilities won't be fixed by Microsoft.
Healthcare security is a multifaceted, ever-shifting challenge -- and all it takes is one missed cue for a costly breach to ensue, says Heather Roszkowski, chief information security officer of Fletcher Allen Healthcare. Technology can give a broader view of where data is, and who's doing what with it.
In a letter to National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology Karen DeSalvo, MD, the Electronic Health Record Association argues that ONC's proposed Voluntary 2015 Edition Electronic Health Record Certification Criteria rule will cost too much, will disrupt progress and simply isn't "necessary or workable."
Serving notice that "covered entities and business associates must understand that mobile device security is their obligation," the HHS Office for Civil Rights has settled with two organizations for a combined $1,975,220 penalty after their unencrypted computers were stolen.
Effective use of analytics is "not something you can buy from a vendor; it's an organizational and cultural value that has to grow and mature," said James E. Gaston, speaking Thursday at the Healthcare IT News/HIMSS Media Healthcare Business Intelligence Forum in Washington.
Geisinger Health System, the pioneering integrated care network, is "perfectly designed to do a huge number of experiments in both the provider and payer sides," said its Chief Executive Officer Glenn Steele Jr., MD, on Thursday.
With consumers entranced by fast-evolving technologies and accustomed to price competition, healthcare is set to be transformed by innovations from other sectors of the economy such as retail and telecommunications, according to a new study by PwC's Health Research Institute.
Encouraged by the patient engagement spurred by giants such as Geisinger and the VA who've taken part, Kaiser Permanente Northwest and eight other health systems in the region have signed on to OpenNotes -- the first widespread adoption of the data sharing program.