Privacy & Security

The Department of Health and Human Services has launched two programs aimed at improving healthcare and reducing costs. Both rely heavily on healthcare IT.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, with more than 1,400 CIO members, is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to rethink the government’s rulemaking proposals on accountable care organizations. At issue is a provision that would give individuals the option to restrict access to data.

Foursquare, a location-based mobile platform, is the place to be for medical practices looking to "gain an online social edge" says one social media expert. Without it, he says, you won't be found.

A new personal health record platform set to launch this summer aims to give parents anytime, anywhere access to a comprehensive view of their children's health records.

Data breaches have become the new healthcare "epidemic," says one expert.

While it is "critical that doctors, who have the best healthcare information to share, be part of the online healthcare conversation," says one expert, "there are definite precautions that should be taken to lessen the risk of social media missteps."

As more employees use their personal mobile devices at work, it is vital that healthcare organizations have a "policy in place to keep their employees productive and their data safe," says one expert.

Consumers are tracking their own health data online, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation.

The Department of Veterans Affairs went national May 5 with a genomics research program that officials call a "game-changer." The initiative, which relies heavily on databases, is underpinned by the use of healthcare information technology.

– "I see healthcare as in many ways the torture test for networking," said Kiren Sekar, director of marketing at San Francisco-based wireless firm Meraki.