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New Report Calls for Enhanced Security to Safeguard Protected Health Information
With the release of the recent The Financial Impact of Breached Protected Health Information: A Business Case for Enhanced PHI Security, health care organizations now have a new method to evaluate the “at risk” value of protected health information (PHI) that will enable them to make a business case for appropriate investments to better protect PHI. This report was created through the “PHI Project” – a collaboration of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), via its Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel (IDSP), in partnership with The Santa Fe Group/Shared Assessments Program Healthcare Working Group, and the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) – that involved a cross-section of more than 100 health care industry leaders from over 70 organizations. The report is available for free download at webstore.ansi.org/phi.
Health Care System Depends on Patient Trust in Confidentiality and Security The health care delivery system is founded upon trust – a trust that those receiving health information will keep it confidential and secure. This trust is now being tested as the health care industry moves to adopt electronic health records (EHR), access federal incentives, and facilitate better patient care. PHI is now more susceptible than ever to accidental or impermissible disclosure, loss, or theft. Health care organizations (providers, payers, and business associates) are not keeping pace with the growing risks of exposure as a result of EHR adoption, the increasing number of organizations handling PHI, and the growing rewards of PHI theft.
PHI Breaches Increasing with Far-Reaching Repercussions PHI data breaches are growing in frequency and in magnitude with huge financial, legal/regulatory, operational, clinical, and reputational repercussions on the breached organization. The report provides CISOs, CIOs, IT security, privacy, and compliance personnel with information to help them better understand the potential risks and liabilities resulting from data breaches.
The 5-Step Method to Estimate Breach Costs and Needed Investments in PHI Security Health care organizations reading this report can take immediate action using PHIve – the PHI Value Estimator – a 5-step method for assessing security risks and evaluating the “at risk” value of an organization’s PHI. This tool estimates overall potential data breach costs, and provides a methodology for determining an appropriate level of investment needed to strengthen privacy and security programs and reduce the probability of a breach occurrence.
“No organization can afford to ignore the potential consequences of a data breach,” said Rick Kam, president and co-founder of ID Experts, and chair of the PHI Project. “We assembled this working group to drive a meaningful dialogue on appropriate levels of investment to better protect healthcare organizations and PHI.”
“Health care is one of the most-breached industries,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “Health care providers and supporting organizations don’t currently have sufficient security and privacy budgets, including adequate processes and resources, to protect sensitive patient data. This report will help them understand what they need to do to augment their efforts.”
Houston Orthopedics & Spine Hospital Achieves Stage 1 Meaning Use with EHR
Houston Orthopedic & Spine Hospital recently met Stage 1 meaningful use criteria using a certified electronic health record system. The 64-bed specialty orthopedic and neuro-spine facility, formerly known as Foundation Surgical Hospital, achieved meaningful use less than a year after implementation, which rapidly delivered clinical and financial improvements while serving as the facility’s foundation for meeting meaningful use criteria established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“We were already evaluating our clinical and business needs when meaningful use began ramping up,” said George Walker, chief operating officer at Houston Orthopedic & Spine Hospital. “Our implementation achieved project milestones without delays andwe were able to dive head first into our meaningful use plans much sooner than expected.”
Houston Orthopedic & Spine Hospital successfully attested for Stage 1 meaningful use with CMS, and has received payments from EHR incentive programs. In addition, the clinical applications enable physicians to electronically sign orders and remotely access clinical information. The integrated financial applications also drove financial improvements, such as the hospital reducing days-to-bill by 80 percent.
Medical Arts Radiology Gets Maximum Stimulus Act Incentives for EHR Use
14 Radiologists at Medical Arts Radiology (MAR) recently obtained their maximum Stage 1 incentives using an EHR.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have been able to implement EHR, and at the same time, be eligible to receive the Stimulus Act’s incentives as they apply to radiology,” said Susan Cataro, Systems Administrator for MAR. “We successfully met all the requirements for Stage 1 of Meaningful Use for each of our 14 radiologists, receiving the maximum available incentive payments.”
MAR completed its 90 days of Meaningful Use in mid-December 2011. The attestation phase for their radiologists was completed in early January 2012 and their incentives were all received during the last week of February. “It was literally that fast and simple,” said Ms. Cataro.
Pradeep Albert, MD, a prominent musculoskeletal radiologist at the practice, stated, “The implementation of both EHR and Meaningful Use standards are so important for the future of healthcare and medical research. Medical Arts Radiology is very pleased to have taken this important technological step forward in patient care.”
Survey shows hiring spree underway for Health Information Specialists
Health organizations are worried that there aren’t enough people with skills to handle the volume and complexity of health information as use of electronic health records grows, according to information recently released by leaders of the PwC US Health Information Technology practice during the annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
A hiring spree has been underway to employ health informaticists with both clinical and technical skills. According to PwC, health organizations plan to increase informatics staffing levels over the next two years, with particular emphasis on people to help with the technical aspects of EHR implementation, data integration, and interoperability.
Health informatics is an emerging, fast-growing professional field that is expected to become even more important as health outcomes, or pay for performance, become the basis of reimbursement to doctors, hospitals, drug companies, medical devices companies and other healthcare services. Health organizations see the analysis and use of health information as the key to improving patient outcomes, proactively identifying chronic and high-risk patients, managing patient population health and effectively managing their financial performance.
PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI) published a comprehensive report on the state of clinical informatics in the health industry. In developing the report, PwC’s HRI conducted a survey of 600 health organization professionals from hospitals, health systems, health insurers and pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. The PwC survey found:
- Seventy percent of health insurers, 48 percent of hospitals and 39 percent of pharmaceutical / life sciences companies plan to increase hiring of technical informatics professionals over the next two years.
- Four in ten hospital and provider respondents surveyed said that lack of skilled informatics staff is a barrier to developing a comprehensive clinical informatics program.
- Half of hospitals and physician respondents said that misalignment of clinical and technology teams is an organizational barrier, something they will need to address to incorporate sophisticated analytics into clinicians’ everyday work.
Electronic Health Records or EHR is a technology that has not been embraced by many clinicians out there yet. But those who have opted for it are quite satisfied with the performance. Here are 10 great reasons why a practice should adapt EHR.
1. Reduce Errors:
Electronic Health Records (EHR) has proven to reduce the rate of medical errors. It helps in maintaining the records and saves the hassle of getting everything jotted down by hand. Since, it is a sensitive business to actually handle all the records of the patients in one place, EHR efficiently performs this task, thus keeping everything properly tucked under one system.
2. Easy Accessible:
With the help of this software, doctors and clinicians can access the information of the patients from anywhere like including handheld devices like blackberry and iPhone. This retrieval of data helps them to proceed with the treatment of the patient no matter wherever they are, thus leaving a good impact on the patient as well. They can also forward the information to other clinicians for further reference without any delay and making the patient wait.
3. Classified information:
One of the reasons to switch to EHR system is its ability to categorize and specify the information in a well maintained manner. Once the data has been entered, it would be safe there and easily categorized in its respective departments. For instance, the time and date of the patient’s arrival and the treatment suggested and the time of discharge from the hospital, drugs prescribed, all can be entered in their specific columns and can be easily traced out later.
4. Accuracy of information:
Information stored in the software is not prone to human error and it can be accurately retrieved on request of the patient anytime from anywhere through any device. This saves time for both the patients and clinicians. Doctors can also email the information to their colleagues in an instant for further reference with the help of this software.
5. Diagnosis and testing:
With the help of this software, physicians can also prescribe medicines from different pharmacies. The list of pharmacies is integrated into the software to rule out the possibility of any error. This system can also allow the doctors to perform diagnostic tests online and view the results.
6. Reduced cost in long-term:
EHR software is believed to reduce the expenses and is very cost effective. This promotes the standard of care and builds a relation of trust between the physician and the patient.
7. Storage of information:
Information in the software can be stored in many ways. As the information in the software is stored in digital format, it can be in the form of notes, reports, other documentations, facts and figures about the patient’s disease and prescriptions.
8. Updates and notifications:
The best part of this software is the updates section. Whenever a patient’s information has been entered and then later modified, system will automatically update the new information and would send the notification as well. Hence, the doctor would just have to enter the name of the patient in the software and the whole information of that person would come up including the latest updates as well.
9. Privacy:
The main concern of the patients is that their privacy has been respected or not. With the help of this software, one can be completely satisfied as far as the privacy issues are concerned. Since the data that has been stored manually in papers can easily be traced out by anyone, this would not be possible with this software as the information stored in it would be kept completely confidential. Passwords can be applied and information can be limited so that only the doctor can access it.
10. Increased revenue generation:
The software can be very beneficial in boosting up your business. With the help of this software, doctors can promote any new services that they have introduced and thus can reduce the work load and paperwork. It can also lead to effective medical insurance reimbursements.
