Privacy & Security
Security is a nightmare for all companies, but the very nature of healthcare makes it far worse. Are there ways to make security not merely viable, but even profitable?
When it comes to security threat severity, the Heartbleed bug doesn't miss a beat. That's according to Phil Lerner, chief information security officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who, on a scale from 1 to 10, ranks the bug a solid "high priority" at 7.5.
Some 5,100 Kaiser Permanente patients were sent HIPAA breach notification letters after a KP research computer was found to have been infected with malicious software. Officials say the computer was infected with the malware for more than two and a half years before being discovered Feb. 12.
It's not only federal HIPAA privacy and security violations that may end up costing industry groups a pretty penny. There's also state privacy laws to heed. Case in point is what recently transpired at Stanford Hospital and Clinics.
Without question, BYOD, or "bring your own device," offers benefits to both healthcare employees and employers. It also presents security issues. No matter who owns the device, hospitals are responsible for any data breaches that occur.
The 28-hospital Indian Health Service has failed a mock cyberattack conducted by HHS' Office of Inspector General after its computer network was discovered to have "high risk" vulnerabilities.
While the U.S. continues digitizing its healthcare industry, a huge challenge is arising: not only securing those systems but verifying identities. With a steady stream of HIPAA-covered data breaches continuing over the past few years, some argue that current identity security approaches just aren't adequate.
If you're in charge of a healthcare organization's data privacy and security, listen up. You now have a new, valuable resource at your fingertips.
In the first settlement of its kind, Skagit County, Washington will pay the Department of Health and Human Services $215,000 to make up for deficiencies in its HIPAA compliance program.
In a year where "compliance and enforcement is really where the action is going to be," it might help to have some advice on how to keep on the right side of patient privacy law.