Like any business, healthcare providers are increasingly relying on information technology to streamline operations, reduce operating costs, and increase profits. IT projects deliver value by improving efficiency, allowing administrators to access and manage business-critical data that keeps the operation running smoothly. However, healthcare providers also use IT for critical patient care and applications beyond simply improving efficiency. Unlike other businesses, hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices, and pharmacists have to be concerned about patient security and patient data accuracy. Maintaining efficient, accurate computing can literally be a matter of life or death.
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HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was passed to secure patient records. It applies to health care providers, hospitals, insurance companies, and any organization that has access to protected health information (PHI), especially electronic health records (EHRs). While EHRs have become a real asset for medical practitioners, making it easier to store and share patient data, EHRs also pose a new challenge for IT professionals who have to meet the informational needs of caregivers while still maintaining privacy as outlined under HIPAA. Read More >
Data security is one of the biggest concerns of hospital IT (HIT) managers and CIOs responsible for healthcare providers. The mandatory migration to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) does make it easier to update and share patient records, which has led to an improvement in the quality of care. However, EHRs also present new security challenges as hospitals, pharmacies, doctors’ offices, and insurance companies all strive to make EHRs secure but also shareable. The high-profile data breaches we have seen in recent years continue to uncover the flaws in healthcare data security, and provide lessons for changes in the future. Read More >
The life sciences are extremely dependent on IT technology. Online research, databases and data mining, process management, and collaboration are all key components of medical and biotechnology research and manufacturing. More than many industries, biotechnology benefits from well-architected information technology processes. Read More >
