Is your electronic health information safe?

Brian Horwitz posted an article on eWeek on September 8, 2011: 

71 Percent of Health Care Companies Suffer Data Breaches in Past Year: Report, see http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/71-Percent-of-Health-Care-Companies-Suffer-Data-Breaches-in-Past-Year-Report-332736/ 

A Saas-based company, Veriphyr analytic and access intelligence reported what most of us already knew - our electronic personal healthcare information may not be safe.  Although most of the breaches were from insiders looking at the medical records of family and friends, this is by no means reassuring.  Nearly 80% of those surveyed are concerned that current processes will not detect a breach when it occurs.

The future sharing of health data is a wonderful thing that will provide the medical and dental teams with access to the right information at the right time, no matter the source (private sector, military or VA).  But this comes with a great responsibility to protect the privacy of that patient's information.  Breaches must be detected and stopped quickly.  Patients must be notified.  The healthcare field needs to look for industry experts to provide this skill set.  

Page McNall