Security
As the Department of Health and Human Services invests $67 million in insurance exchange navigators and $150 million more in enrollment assistance, some attorneys general are raising privacy and fraud concerns, and looking for answers.
Despite the fact that patients are clamoring for it and health organizations see its benefits, electronic communication from primary care physicians won't become commonplace until doctors' workloads are reduced -- or they get paid extra for emails and phone calls.
Most health IT professionals are probably more focused on implementing or maintaining systems than they are tracking larger healthcare trends, such as the pace at which hospitals and practices are being bought and sold. The fact is, however, that IT can be a significant factor in the decision-making of healthcare administrators.
CommonWell Health Alliance announced this week that Mobile, Ala.-based CPSI and Tucson, Ariz.-based Sunquest Information Systems are the two latest vendors to sign on to the interoperability organization.
In the biggest HIPAA privacy breach of 2013 -- and among the largest to date -- Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth is notifying some 277,000 patients that their protected health information has been compromised after several hospital microfilms, which were supposed to be destroyed, were found in various public locations.
Whether Americans see Edward Snowden as a hero or a traitor, the ongoing story of his deliberate leak of classified security information has caused some to sit up and take stock of all matters related to information technology, data and privacy.
Officials at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are notifying nearly 13,000 patients that their protected health information has been compromised following the theft of a hospital laptop.
As the Department of Defense looks for a new EHR system and aims to improve information sharing for veterans with lifetime digital health records, there are also several key patient privacy questions to consider.
The protected health information of 1,350 patients at the California-based Sonoma Valley Hospital was compromised after an employee accidentally uploaded patient information to the hospital website.
Improving patient safety is a challenge for everyone. In fact this was the slogan for the 23rd Global GS1 Conference, which was held April 23-25 at the Marriott Plaza Hotel.