Security
As director of health information technology policy and programs for the National Partnership for Women and Families, Mark Savage keeps a close watch on healthcare information technology, along with all other aspects of patient care.
The Office for Civil Rights, the HHS division responsible for enforcing HIPAA, is slated to get a new director after the official departure of Leon Rodriguez.
When an organization experiences a major data breach and puts out a news release, the point is to comfort people that the news isn't as bad as it sounds. But at the same time, it's critical to be precise with language -- lest that organization be compelled to subsequently issue the dreaded, "What we actually meant to say in Monday's statement…" statement.
In one of the largest HIPAA breaches ever reported, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services is notifying some 1.3 million people after hackers gained unfettered access to an agency server for nearly a year before being discovered.
More than 60 percent of all industries worldwide embrace BYOD, says Mac McMillan, CEO of the information security company CynergisTek and chairman of the HIMSS Privacy and Security Task Force. In healthcare, that number stands at around 85 percent, with 92 percent of that number saying personal mobile devices are in use multiple times every day.
As myriad healthcare organizations have attested, the aftermath of a HIPAA violation generally isn't a pretty sight, especially when it comes to one's bank account. One Indiana-based health system has witnessed this reality after being slapped with an $800,000 settlement for violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has launched a federal probe into HIPAA privacy violations at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, according to an HHS spokesperson.
Data attacks on healthcare organizations have increased a whopping 100 percent from just four years ago, a reality that has chief security and information officers in a dash to stay ahead of the data protection curve.
Some 90 percent of healthcare organizations have reported at least one data breach in the past two years, with more than a third seeing more than five breaches. Gerry Hinkley, partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's healthcare practice, says breach response is where many make major missteps, mistakes that can easily be avoided.
Imagine if almost everyone walking into your hospital -- patients, doctors, visitors, salespeople -- was carrying an active homing beacon, which broadcast, unencrypted, their presence and repeatedly updated exact location to anyone who chose to listen.