By D’Arcy Gue – After years of increasingly dangerous data security and privacy breaches across the American healthcare environment, HHS has decided to take preventative action. On July 25, HHS announced it will fund a new resource that will share “the most up-to-date cyber threat information across the health and public health sectors.
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By Mike Semel – The Office for Civil Rights announced that the new permanent audit program has started. On July 11 letters were sent BY E-MAIL (check your junk mail folders!) to 167 health plans, health care providers, and health care clearing houses (all HIPAA Covered Entities) notifying them that they have to send in documentation for a ‘desk audit.’ They will have 10 days to send in the required materials for review.
The HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards, recognizes influential women at all stages of their career progressions. The Awards celebrate those female visionaries harnessing the power of IT to transform health and healthcare, is unique among power lists and award programs; it’s inclusive of all women of influence, no matter where they may be in the health IT field.
By Kate Goodrich MD – When individuals and their families need to make important decisions about health care, they seek a reliable way to understand the best choice for themselves or their loved ones. That’s why over the past decade, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published information about the quality of care across the five different health care settings that most families encounter.
Who doesn’t like a good list? Whether you are on it, know someone on it, or aspire to be on it, you always want to read the list. Here are some interesting lists I think deserve sharing, top #HIT100, best hospitals, Most Wired Hospitals, best value Dual MBA & Health Management Degrees, best places to work, best work perks.
By Bob Grant – HHS Office for Civil Rights has released new guidance about how HIPAA-beholden entities can better equip themselves to deal with ransomware attacks. Ransomware is a targeted kind of malware attack that takes data ‘hostage.’ The attackers responsible then give the organization a countdown to a time at which they expect to receive a ‘ransom’ in exchange for restored access to the withheld data.
By Matt Fisher – After promising to provide guidance and insight for a breaking issue, the OCR came out with ransomware guidance under HIPAA. One major issue for debate was whether a ransomware attack constitutes a HIPAA breach. The guidance provides insight into where OCR is coming from and what it expects the industry to do in response to a ransomware attack.
By D’Arcy Gue – Given the IT revolution within hospitals today, how your Service Desk analysts handle physicians and other users is more critical than ever. Disruptive trends such as sophisticated new EHRs, widespread use of devices and apps, and the growth of cloud-based services should not equate to disrupted customer service.
By Arlene Bierman MD – A hallmark of AHRQ’s work is providing evidence-based information to help clinicians and patients make the best possible treatment decisions. AHRQ’s mission is to increase the use of evidence in practice to improve both outcomes for individuals and population health.