July 21, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
The number of patient care organizations across the U.S. in which physician mobility is moving forward is growing daily. Among that throng is the 15-physician Vanguard Medical Group in northeastern New Jersey. In the case of Vanguard, participation in a statewide patient-centered medical home program, and creating its own visiting nurse program, spurred development of a mobile computing strategy.
July 15, 2013 Reece Hirsch
article
On January 25, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services published new regulations that dramatically extend the reach of federal healthcare privacy and security law to a vast array of companies that do business with the healthcare industry, including many HIT companies. The long-awaited final omnibus regulations (the “Final Rule”) amend the privacy, security, enforcement, and breach notification rules under the HIPAA law and the HITECH Act.
July 12, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, a 726-bed full-service medical center, has notified patients of a privacy breach in which portions of their protected health information has been compromised and found in a park as well as other public locations.
July 9, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
article
Through the mobile care orchestration platform, one medical center has improved patient safety, care team awareness, and coordination across its clinical departments
June 27, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The U.S. health information technology market is expected to reach $22.6 billion by 2017, as compared to $15.9 billion in 2012, according to a report from R&R Market Research.
June 27, 2013 David Raths
blog
The privacy requirements for business associates are changing. The HIPAA Omnibus Rule that became effective March 26 started the clock running on the transition. Starting in September, business associates and their subcontractors must follow the privacy provisions of a business associate agreement and the HIPAA Security Rule, and they face legal obligations and enforcement risk if they do not.
May 24, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
Idaho State University (ISU) has agreed to pay $400,000 to the Department of Health Human Services (HHS) to settle alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule. The settlement involves the breach of unsecured electronic protected health information (ePHI) of approximately 17,500 patients at ISU’s Pocatello Family Medicine Clinic.
May 23, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
article
Healthcare organizations trying to reduce the rate of medical errors often overlook a common but important factor within their systems—communication between physicians, nurses, and clinical care staff. To help fix this issue that could end up being very costly—both financially and clinically—New York City-based Mount Sinai Medical Center has adopted an enterprise-grade care-coordination mobile app designed to improve communication between clinicians.
May 9, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The New York-based Mount Sinai Medical Center has adopted an enterprise-grade mobile care-coordination mobile app which employs a special HIPAA-secure group text messaging system that improves communication between team members who coordinate care of patients with complex medical conditions.
April 10, 2013 John DeGaspari
news
In response to heightened awareness and concerns about cyber threats, attacks and incidents, the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) announced today new guidance for healthcare organizations wanting to assess the state of their cybersecurity preparedness. The guidance identifies an appropriate subset of controls within the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) that are most directly related to detecting and thwarting cyber-related breaches and allows organizations to assess against the cyber-specific controls and receive a snapshot of their cyber capabilities and readiness.
March 4, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
article
Three core healthcare IT issues—meaningful use, interoperability, and consumer exchange—dominated discussions during the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) Town Hall on March 4 at HIMSS 13 in New Orleans.
February 26, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
In this Healthcare Informatics podcast, Associate Editor Gabriel Perna speaks with Rob Faix, a principal at the Naperville, Ill.-based consulting firm, Impact Advisors. Faix discusses the healthcare data breach problem, and why this issue is increasingly coming to light.
