Molly Merrill
Serious risks to patient data exist in the development and testing of healthcare software, according to survey findings published Tuesday in a new report by the Ponemon Institute. The report calls for data masking - transforming the data so it is not available outside of its authorized environment - in order to mitigate this risk.
There are five common gaps in healthcare data security and privacy, and for many healthcare providers they could be the cause of a major security breach, according to one expert. Raj Chaudhary, partner and national leader of the Security and Privacy Practice in the Risk Consulting Business Unit at Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., says that even though HIPAA rules for security and privacy safeguards were extended by the HITECH Act, gaps in the security and privacy of healthcare data still exist.
Health information is one of the hottest topics online today, with 80 percent of Americans using the Internet to research areas including diseases, procedures, doctors, hospitals, drugs, test results and insurance, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation. The Health Topic survey, authored by Susannah Fox, was conducted Aug. 9-Sept. 13, 2010. It revealed that health information is the third most popular online pursuit among all those tracked by the Pew Internet Project, following email and using a search engine.
UPMC's new Technology Development Center in Pittsburgh has awarded grants worth $550,000 to five health IT research projects at academic partner Carnegie Mellon University. The projects range from developing software for end-stage heart failure patients to improving simulation systems for cerebral aneurysms.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded grants to 44 healthcare organizations to improve access to healthcare in rural areas. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement on Tuesday. The 44 healthcare grantees are part of a $34.7 million grant that was made available to 106 projects in 38 states and one territory to fund educational projects and expand access to healthcare services in rural areas through USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program.
Mobility is a "vital" sign that should be regularly checked in adults over the age of sixty, and according to two health and exercise science professors at Wake Forest University, the iPad is just the tool for the job. Mobility is closely linked to overall health and quality of life, but healthcare professionals have not had an easy and effective way to assess it.
Mobile medical apps are slowly gaining market share as 2010 revenues are expected to more than double compared to 2009, according to a new report by healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information.Kalorama's report, the "Worldwide Market for Mobile Medical Apps," finds that in 2009 the market was worth about $41 million, which translates to about 1.5 percent of the total mobile app market. Kalorama estimates sales for 2010 to come in at $84.1 million.
A panel of healthcare experts representing privacy, trends, technology, regulatory, data breach and governance have identified the top seven trends in healthcare information privacy for 2011.The experts suggest that as health information exchanges take form, millions of patient records - soon to be available as digital files - will lead to potential unauthorized access, violation of new data breach laws and exposure to the threat of medical and financial identity theft.
Kroll's Fraud Solutions division has released its data security forecast for 2011, highlighting the top 10 areas where organizations, particularly those in the healthcare industry, will see the most changes in new data security regulations, breach vulnerabilities and protective measures.
More than 200 million mHealth applications are in use today, and that number is expected to increase threefold by 2012, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. The 44-page report, "Health Check: Key Players in Mobile Healthcare," written by analyst Denise Culver, provides an overview of the emerging mHealth market, focusing on various conventional, hybrid and new technologies that are creating new business models.