Privacy & Security
Creating policy recommendations for HIE data query and response that reduces "real or perceived barriers," without being overly prescriptive, is the privacy and security "Tiger Team" subcommittee's task at hand in the coming months.
After McKesson, Cerner, Allscripts, Greenway and athenahealth made news at HIMSS13 with the launch of the CommonWell Health Alliance, Healthcare IT News spoke with McKesson CEO John Hammergren about the road ahead. Joining Hammergren in the discussion were David McCallie and Arien Malec.
Chief information officers, chief privacy officers, chief compliance officers and all those assorted other assorted C-level titles charged with locking down health information security have a lot on their plates nowadays. Now they’ve got something else to think about.
Already this year, healthcare providers have launched 106 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) that will reach as many as four million beneficiaries, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Jan. 10.
2013 has already proved to be a big year for patient privacy. HHS released the long-awaited HIPAA final rule. Legislation that would regulate how mHealth app developers collect data was drafted. And the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) started the year off with stricter enforcement relating to privacy breaches.
Despite the potential of mobile healthcare, experts say they worry about the added risks of security breaches, privacy violations and other concerns that come with the increasing use of mobile technology.
The idea of unique patient identifiers is more than a mere concept extracted from the next dystopian novel. They could very well be reality in the not-so-distant future. The question remaining, however, is whether or not the benefits of such technology outweigh constitutional privacy and patient trust concerns. Naturally, depending on whom you ask, the answer varies considerably.
The omnibus HIPAA Privacy and Security final rule released by HHS on Jan. 17 answered some questions, provided necessary guidance in certain areas -- but some of the thorniest issues, data breach notification among those, are still cryptic enough that lawyers and privacy officers will still face difficult judgment calls every time a laptop is lost or stolen.
The enhanced set of protections finalized in the omnibus HIPAA privacy and security rule released Jan.17 now becomes the new baseline for anyone who handles health information. It doesn't change meaningful use requirements, but combined, the two may drive more providers to protect patient data, according to privacy and security experts.
The most eagerly awaited -- if not anxiety-laden -- set of regulations in the healthcare spectrum arrived January 17: HHS issued modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement and Breach Notification Rules. The man charged with enforcing the rules said they represent "sweeping changes."