Today I realized that in September of this year, I will have been in Healthcare IT for 28 years. During that period of time, I've performed a number of jobs and learned many different things. I've been in both technical and non-technical roles, in staff and leadership positions, and had the pleasure of working with some amazing people in many different states. The greatest lesson I have learned along my journey is that people are the most important aspect of any successful technology project.

On August 14^th at 2:00 p.m. ET, join me for "How the Human Factor Impacts Patient Privacy," an educational webinar where I’ll discuss a number of breaches and show examples of how the human factor was ultimately the root cause. Use the link above to register to attend, and read the rest of this blog post for the background to set the stage.

We all remember in 2005 when Amazon started tracking customer habits, and built sophisticated tools to recommend more purchases and direct your searches toward products it thinks you’re most likely to want. 

That's the use case I think about when the subject of behavioral analysis comes up. The more the software can learn about the person, their demographics, their buying and web-browsing habits, the better Amazon can sell products to them.

It is said that a heart attack is 80% preventable by eating well, exercising regularly, and keeping stress to a minimum*. While there is no official statistic yet, I would say that a cyber-attack is 95% preventable by vetting partners well, exercising caution, and keeping access points to a minimum. 

Today’s hospital leaders face unprecedented challenges when it comes to safeguarding patient privacy—mounting regulations, increased organizational complexity, along with dispersed privacy and security processes—all amid millions of patient data accesses every single day.

Note From Iatric Systems: Thank you very much to Carl Smith, CIO of King's Daughters Medical Center, for sharing his thoughts with us, and our blog readers, about protecting patient privacy.

Brookhaven, Miss., a town with a population of about 12,000 residents, is where I call home. Living in a small town in southwest Mississippi has its advantages. We are a close-knit community where relationships are built and last a lifetime. This culture of community spreads into most facets of life including local business. We look out for one another and want our community to strong, safe, and secure. In the healthcare arena, this has become an ever-evolving challenge with information privacy and security.

Based on an Interview with Seana-Lee Hamilton
Privacy Officer for Fraser Health in British Columbia

Peanut butter and jelly; milk and cookies; Canada and hockey — some things just go together. One more to add to the list — data security and patient privacy. You just can’t have effective and robust patient privacy without security. How secure is data that isn’t private?

Even though Security Audit Manager™ (SAM) had already been named KLAS category leader three years in a row, before KLAS made their announcement earlier this year, we couldn't help but feel hope, excitement, and nervousness, too. We were confident, but we wondered, "Could we, with the help of our customers, do it again for a fourth consecutive year?"

Based on an Interview with Dan Rossi
Director of Health Information, Privacy and Compliance Officer, Harrington Memorial Hospital

When Privacy and Compliance Officer Dan Rossi talks about protecting patient privacy, he preaches vigilance in this age of technological convenience.

Healthcare organizations are finding themselves having to do more with fewer resources, and this resource limitation is most visible in data security and patient privacy. Additionally, the industry as a whole sees more and more data breaches in healthcare facilities of all shapes and sizes. This is putting even further stress on hospitals to protect data from the inside out, as the penalties related to breaches, financial and otherwise, can be severe.