Privacy & Security
Laptop theft is the most prevalent cause of the breach of health information affecting more than 500 people, according to the Health & Human Services Department, which last year began tracking data breaches by public and private healthcare organizations.
A new report from the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) offers recommendations for reducing or eliminating "tensions" between healthcare IT vendors and their customers – specifically with regard to indemnity and error management.
Patient Privacy Rights, the health privacy watchdog, has enlisted the help of Zogby International to conduct an online survey of more than 2,000 adults to identify their views on privacy, access to health information, and healthcare IT. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of individual choice and control over personal health information.
Medical practices have work to do when it comes to conducting risk analysis - an objective required for meeting meaningful use - according to the 2010 HIMSS Security Survey.
The Medical Society of Delaware is making web-based tools available to its members to boost doctor-patient communication and is also providing free personal health records to all state residents.
One of the largest recent security breaches of personal health information (PHI), involving 280,000 individuals, is on the surface a "pretty low-risk scenario," says one privacy expert. But, he acknowledges, "these things are like an onion: the more layers you peel back, the stinkier it gets."
It has been almost two years since Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) – an unprecedented piece of legislation lawmakers hoped would catapult the advance of healthcare IT.
The nation's healthcare IT chief, David Blumenthal, MD, acknowledged that achieving meaningful use of health IT would be hard work, and then told his audience of more than 600 health system and hospital CIOs and IT managers there would be even harder work ahead.
The European Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) is a flagship initiative of the EU 2020 strategy, which focuses on sustainable growth through ICT. eHealth is a key part of it, said Flora Girogio of the EC’s ICT for Health unit, speaking at the Global eHealth Forum in Hamburg today. The DAE will develop the necessary infrastructure.
Survey data consistently show the public supports health IT but is very concerned about the risks health IT poses to individual privacy. Contrary to the views expressed by some, privacy is not the obstacle to health IT. In fact, appropriately addressing privacy and security is key to realizing the technologyʼs potential benefits.
Most Read
More Stories
Shore Quality Partners is the ACO arm of Shore Medical Center.
Rep. Doris Matsui (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Karen Martin, DNP, director of pediatrics, conducts a telehealth visit using Tyto Care technology.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
