http://healthitsecurity.com/2014/07/30/mitigating-cyber-risk-as-healthcare-data-sharing-accelerates/
By Greg Michaels
HealthITSecurity.com
July 30, 2014
When it comes to protecting their data, healthcare organizations are
increasingly finding themselves caught between the proverbial rock and a
hard place.
On the one hand, healthcare reform has not only led to organizations
generating vast amounts of electronic data, but has also driven the
exchange and integration of this information among providers and payers on
an unprecedented scale. All of this creation and sharing of electronic
health information is aimed at improving patient care, realizing greater
efficiencies and lowering overall costs.
On the other hand, the million-dollar question—or make that the $5.6
billion question according to the Ponemon Institute’s fourth annual
Patient Privacy & Data Security Study—is what happens when a healthcare
organization discovers its data has been compromised, whether it be
protected health information (PHI), payment card details or personal
employee information?
Protecting data within the organization and along the supply chain is a
major challenge for healthcare entities. Most are already stretched by
pressures unique to their industry—i.e., the move from paper to electronic
records; the implementation for the ICD-10 code set; Meaningful Use
requirements; and the HIPAA Omnibus Rule on privacy protections released
last year. Add in issues commonly experienced by most businesses
today—e.g., lean staffing, financial stresses—and it’s easy to see how
healthcare organizations can find it difficult to dedicate the time to
develop an effective information security program and proactively assess
and mitigate risks.
[...]
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