Privacy & Security
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.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, discusses interoperability, meaningful use, and ACOs as he highlights the benefits of the "clinical operating system" from NantHealth.
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.
HIPAA "has seen a lot of action lately," said Susan McAndrew, deputy director for health information privacy at the Department for Health and Human Services' Office For Civil Rights, at HIMSS14 on Monday.
Protecting your hospital's data is no longer just about managing the systems inside your enterprise. Changes being considered in federal privacy regulations are prompting the legal counsel at many hospitals to begin looking at the security policies of contractors and even sub-contractors.