December 26, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
At Jefferson Radiology in East Hartford, Connecticut, CIO Michael Quinn has been leading a technology revolution, one that has encompassed the implementation of a variety of new systems, including a vendor-neutral image archive. Having led a complete IT transformation in the past two-and-a-half years, he has important insights to share about what works-and what doesn't-in major IT implementations in the specialty group setting.
December 26, 2012 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Washington, D.C.-based Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) has applauded members of Congress for voicing their concern about the significant cuts that have been made to Medicare reimbursement rates for medical imaging in a letter to House leadership led by Representatives Jim Gerlach (R-PA) and Gene Green (D-TX).
December 21, 2012 Joe Marion
blog
I have been watching with interest the outcome of a recent announcement that the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE USA) (http://iheusa.org/) has contracted with ICSA Labs, a for-profit division of Verizon (https://www.icsalabs.com/) for certification of IHE profiles. On the surface, this sounds like a good thing, but dig deeper and it raises a number of interesting questions with respect to intent and motive.
December 19, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
According to the Frisco,Texas-based Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST), its latest updates to the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF), will allow healthcare organization to more easily perform and manage CSF assessments, through a newly-created web-based tool and other upgrades. HITRUST, a collaboration of various healthcare, security, and risk management leaders, has created the CSF for healthcare organizations to “manage their information protection programs.”
December 19, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
Across the country, IT leaders of hospitals and health systems are recognizing the importance of integration in the new healthcare environment. This means investments into open architecture, HIE, and other technologies that are helping bring disparate systems, and disparate elements of the care continuum, in a unified, seamless environment.
December 17, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
In this Healthcare Informatics podcast, Associate Editor Gabriel Perna talks with Larry Ponemon, M.D., founder and chairman of the Ponemon Institute, about healthcare’s data privacy problem. The Ponemon Institute along with ID Experts recently released their third annual study on patient privacy. In the podcast, Ponemon discusses these starling statistics, attempting to explain why the industry has lagged behind in this area. He also explains just how much a breach costs an organization, and he touches on the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement and its impact on data breaches.
December 14, 2012 John DeGaspari
article
Data breaches are a large and costly threat for healthcare providers, which so far have been unable to cope with existing and new challenges of securing patient data. That’s a key finding of the Third Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy & Data Security, released by the Traverse City, Mich.-based Ponemon Institute and sponsored by ID Experts, Portland, Ore.
December 13, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
A new survey from Wolters Kluwer Health, a Philadelphia-based provider of business intelligence services, has found that 80 percent of Americans feel the trend of people being involved with their healthcare from a consumer standpoint is a good and necessary change. Despite positive feelings on this “consumerization” of healthcare, only 19 percent of those people surveyed said they have a personal health record (PHR), and 86 percent admit they have to take a more proactive role in managing their own healthcare.
December 13, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
According to a new survey from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), even as more healthcare organizations conduct annual security risk analyses to protect patient data, most are still without a data breach response plan. Thanks to incentives provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) meaningful use program, there is increased focus on data protection, say authors of the report, 2012 HIMSS Security Survey.
December 12, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
This week, at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) third annual meeting, held in Washington, D.C., a pair of panelists looked at the various opportunities of patient engagement, while exploring current government and private-led initiatives and technologies.
December 12, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
A recent study conducted by researchers at the Oakland, Calif.-based integrated healthcare organization, Kaiser Permanente, found that users of Kaiser’s personal health record (PHR), My Health Manager, visited their doctor’s office 16 percent than those who weren’t users of it. One of the study’s authors explains why this result shocked him and what it might mean.
December 12, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently launched an education initiative and set of online tools that aim to provide healthcare organizations various tips on how to protect patients’ protected health information (PHI) when using mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The initiative, Mobile Devices: Know the RISKS. Take the STEPS. PROTECT and SECURE Health Information, offers videos, easy-to-download fact sheets, and posters to promote best ways to safeguard patient health information.
