According to Redspin consulting, as reported in infosecurity, the number of patient record breaches has doubled last year.
Redspin cites the increasing concentration of protected health information (PHI) on unencrypted portable devices and the lack of sufficient oversight of PHI disclosed to hospital’s business associates as the main reasons for the increase.
Here at Biscom, we’re definitely seeing an uptick in demand for our secure file transfer solution from our healthcare customers - there are serious consequences, both in terms of financial liability as well as reputation that are at stake. NIH, Mass General Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Medtronic, and many more healthcare organization trust us to transmit their PHI securely. Contact us if you’re facing similar issues – we can help!
For our healthcare readers out there, be sure to join us for a Webinar on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011, with nationally recognized security leader, Mac McMillan, CEO of CynergisTek. Avoiding data losses and security breaches should be a number one priority for hospitals and business associates dealing with private health information on a regular basis. Mac will provide an overview of:
- Encryption options
- Re-Evaluating Our Enterprise Security Standard
- Making Safe Harbor Meaningfu
Register for the webinar now.
Mark Haas from Massachusetts General Hospital penned an article in the April 2011 edition of the Journal of AHIMA discussing how MGH solved their release of information (ROI) problem using Biscom Delivery Server.
March 25, 2011. Biscom Delivery Server has been invited to participate in a Mass Health Data Consortium and Platform Solutions panel discussion on the topic of Security Controls for Meaningful Use.
Robert Matthews, from Biscom will be providing examples of how healthcare leaders are using secure file transfer to protect personal health information with minimal impact on user behavior and maximum compliance with HIPAA and HITECH guidelines.
The Ponemon Institute just released a study that determined data breaches are costing hospitals $6 billion per year! Some other interesting statistics: each patient that experienced a data breach cost the hospital $107,580, and 71% of healthcare organizations felt they had inadequate resources to protect patient data.
According to Ponemon:
Factors causing data breaches were unintentional employee action, lost or stolen computing devices, and third-party error. Patient billing and medical record keeping were identified as the most susceptible to data loss or theft.
Well, this is pretty much what we’ve known all along – and we continue to try to educate the market, including healthcare organizations, that without the proper tools, it’s not hard to accidentally release confidential information. Well, at least we know that our customers have been proactive in protecting their patient information.
Next week, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is holding their annual conference and exhibit for Health Information Management in Orlando, Florida. It’s a pretty big show, and one reason to attend is to see Mark Haas from Mass General Hospital (MGH) discuss how they’ve solved their release of information (ROI) issue with BDS. With BDS, their medical records department can securely and quickly deliver confidential patient information to patients, insurance companies, attorneys, and medical billing service companies.
Mark’s session, DIY ROI – Do It Yourself Release of Information Is Finally Here, is on Wednesday, September 29th, at 9:15am. Mark has a great story to tell so, if you’re attending, make sure you catch his presentation.
File sharing sites have never been known for their security but now physicians are starting to put their patients’ data up on these peer to peer sites, potentially exposing private and confidential information, and clearly violating HIPAA requirements.
Healthcare IT News is reporting on this study and it’s really quite scary: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/docs-file-sharing-risky-business-patient-data
