Security
The National Institutes of Health has issued a final policy it hopes will promote genomic data sharing as a way to improve health while still protecting the privacy of research participants.
A restrictive new rule change from the Drug Enforcement Administration, making it more difficult for physicians to prescribe opioids, will necessitate some changes to e-prescribing products and practices.
Consider the Assumption of Breach methodology that Seattle Children's Hospital Chief Information Security Officer Cris Ewell will delve into at the HIMSS Media and Healthcare IT News Privacy and Security Forum in Boston Sept. 8-9.
Cedars-Sinai Health System notified its patients of a HIPAA breach, after an unencrypted hospital laptop containing patient medical data and Social Security numbers was stolen from an employee's home.
When it comes to data breaches, hacking and loss or theft of unencrypted devices are far from healthcare security professionals' only concerns. Employee snooping and insider misuse also prove to be among the biggest privacy threats in the healthcare sector today.
In the second biggest HIPAA breach ever reported, one of the nation's largest healthcare systems has notified some 4.5 million of its patients that their personal information has been stolen by cybercriminals.
More than $26 billion has been invested, mostly in incentive payments to hospitals and eligible professionals who meaningfully use electronic health records. Yet just a small percentage of healthcare systems are electronically sharing data.
When asked how big his security team is at the 25-hospital Texas Health Resources, Chief Information Officer Ed Marx responds in a serious manner: "24,000" -- which happens to be the total number of people the health system employs.
To an industry waiting for more information on Apple's healthcare intentions, even a few crumbs here and there are too tasty to pass up. No word from Apple on timing yet, but Reuters has reported that anonymous sources revealed Apple has held HealthKit discussions with Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins, as well as Epic rival Allscripts.
There's been a lot of talk about compliance lately. Federal and state regulations. HIPAA regulations. But, if you're in charge of healthcare security, compliance is far from sufficient, says Jim Routh, chief information security officer for Aetna, one of the nation's leading diversified healthcare benefits companies.