Blog Listing

The HIMSS Virtual Conference occurred this week, covering myriad of topics ranging from Electronic Health Records (EHRs), impact of the HITECH Act, workflow optimization as well as privacy and security in the cloud for healthcare systems. One presentation that readers of this blog may find useful was that from Box Butte General Hospital on Nov. 4 at 9:00am CT (you can register on the site for access; HIMSS members can already access it online). Here’s a brief synopsis from the session description highlighting what was covered in the presentation...…

Late last year, California enacted a new state law to help notify patients of potential breaches of their personally identifiable health information, requiring healthcare organizations to report suspected incidents of data breaches. The initial results are in, and it’s not pretty. According to the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association, California officials have received more than 800 reports of potential health data breaches in the first five months since the laws went into effect on January 1st. Of the 122 cases that have been investigated, 116 have been confirmed assecurity breaches. Officials expect the numbers to grow as more organizations put in the processes to report potential breaches.…

While the concept of cloud computing (accessing applications online) has been around for close to a decade, talks on the subject have intensified significantly in recent months. The catalysts to these discussions range from the sharp decline in hardware and network infrastructure costs to the desire for a business to 'go green' to the need for accessibly by an increasingly distributed workforce. Whatever the reason, big business has taken notice and as this interest turns into action, these companies must be prepared to look at all of the key issues around this move before taking action.…

There's a lot of news and opinions on the web as the blogosphere continues to grow. As a result, the web can be overwhelming on one hand and full of wonder on the other as you sort and click through the rabbit hole of conversations on the other side. In light of this, I thought I would provide a short list of great blogs and resources that I follow from the identity management circles that are worth checking out and engaging with:…

A couple of weeks ago I moderated a Healthcare IT News webinar session that examined how hospitals today make patient data easily and securely accessible throughout the clinical workflow. I was joined by Dr. Zafar Chaudry, CIO of Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust & Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation trust and Dr. Lawrence Losey, Pediatrician, Chief of Pediatrics and Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) for Parkview Adventist Medical Center. The session addressed the clinical workflow, process and technology behind providing fast, secure access to patient data, touching on all the areas within a hospital where a workstation sits and from anywhere a clinician may need access.…

This week, I took part in Network World’s annual real-life scary security stories podcast, a panel hosted by Keith Shaw that looks at some of the most frightful security incidents over the past year. This year, I focused on some of the data security incidents that are becoming all too common in the healthcare industry.…

Back in January, I shared some of my observations on 2009 Priorities for identity management in the new economic reality people are faced with - productivity, security and manageable IT projects. This year’s economics have forced people to do more with less, manage tighter budgets and maintain enterprise security while dealing with re-orgs and layoffs. While 2008 was the worst year to date for data breaches, 2009 hasn’t been much better if you look at this chronology of data breaches, including the recently disclosed incident at Goldman Sachs. The Identity Theft Resource Center keeps tabs as well, and has a nice snapshot of high-profile data breaches. Many of these are the result of unauthorized access, some combined with placing malicious code on servers or laptops to siphon off data. It’s amazing the methods that are being used to access systems, steal data, sometimes extort money and always damage reputations. Potential impact of the Goldman Sachs’s unauthorized upload of proprietary software is still under investigation, but information on how easy it was to pull off makes for scary reading. Given the potential impact of data breaches, there has been significant progress made to tighten access to systems, so let’s review some of the relevant things that are happening in identity management. Following are three areas, I believe, we need to watch for in the latter half of 2009...…

Strong authentication can come in a variety of forms, each with it's own unique strengths and weaknesses. Before selecting a type of strong authentication, think about the following:…

Insider threat is among the biggest challenges security folks face in 2008. The perimeter is dissolving with increased reliance on distributed computing and the mobile workforce, making it more difficult than ever to put up definitive walls around the enterprise. It's a simple reality that we all have to deal with. Check out last month's 2008 Global Information Security Workforce Study conducted by Frost & Sullivan for ISC(2) and SearchSecurity.com's coverage. Two-factor authentication using biometrics as well as physical-logical convergence will gain speed in dealing with the insider threat.…

Many agencies that I’ve spoken to are not aware of the Advanced Authentication requirements of the FBI CJIS Security Policy 5.6.2.2 and are therefore not aware that they may be in breach of this requirement. This video will quickly enable you to find out whether you may be in breach and how Imprivata can put you back in compliance.…

Last month, Kristi Roose from Mahaska Health Partnership joined me for a live webinar that discussed deploying SSO and Strong Authentication, and the steps you can take to get to Meaningful Use faster. If you missed the webinar, you won't want to miss this -- we've gone ahead and transcribed our answers from the Q&A session. Question 1: How long did it take to roll a unit out to all the departments and how long did it take to see acceptance to the change? Answer: We approached these rollouts one unit at a time, and the time frame depended on the number of users. Usually it took about 1-2 weeks per unit to make sure that everyone was comfortable with the product. Once the unit was rolled out acceptance was immediate; customers were grateful for the product and relieved to be able to access data more easily. It was a relief for their workflow. …

Day 2 is now in full swing at VMworld 2011. We had a very busy Day 1 yesterday. While the show attendance was clearly impacted by Irene, it sure feels like there are 15,000+ VMworld attendees here in sunny Vegas.…

I’m extremely excited about our participation in this year’s show particularly the opportunity to demonstrate the results of our collaboration and integration with some of our partners. Imprivata is working in conjunction with VMware, Teradici, Dell, and VCE to showcase our joint solutions, which showcase VMware View serving up virtual desktops,…

Professional Services are not something that should only be considered during the initial implementation of Imprivata OneSign. As our customer base has grown through the years, we’ve seen their personnel come and go, departments change, infrastructure develop and new technology appear. What doesn’t change is the need to provide simple secure access even though regulations get more rigorous and security threats become greater.…

Head over to the Imprivata booth #1070 to take a look at the tech preview of the joint development between Teradici and Imprivata. And just in case it’s too busy to get close, you can also see it at the VMware, Teradici, Dell and VCE stands. Yes, it’s that cool. While you’re there, ask Michelle for some sonic rocks – I hear they’re kind of fun...…

The Siemens show has been fantastic. What a great group of people, from Siemens and their customers, as well as all the other great Siemens partners that are participating. What are we hearing? Signing on to desktops and applications is extremely painful! Remembering all the different passwords, trying to type them in while a patient is waiting for you, the time it takes for the applications to load… We need to simplify access to EMR and hospital IT systems for our clinicians! For those that know Imprivata, and for those that have been introduced to us this week, the response has been consistent; We can simplify access saving clinicians 15 minutes per day and help drive EMR adoption.…

The Meaningful Use Analysis presented at the recent HIT Policy Committee Meeting indicates that 2,246 Eligible Professionals and 100 Hospitals have attested successfully. That’s a good start to EHR Adoption; with Stage 2 potentially delayed for these earlier adopters it will be interesting to see how many more attest to Meaningful Use in 2011.…

Data breaches in healthcare are certainly not new. Most data breaches today occur when electronic patient information (known as "protected health information" or PHI in the HIPAA regulation) is stored unencrypted on a device that is lost or stolen. All of the data breach laws in effect today state that as long as the data or device are encrypted, there is no data breach and therefore no liability or legal remedy. So if it's that easy, why do the number of breaches in healthcare continue to grow at alarming rates? …

As leaders in technology adoption, Radiologists are starting to look to biometrics to help provide No Click Access to the various systems and places they nee…

On November 30, 2011 HHS announced that they approve of the proposed push of Stage 2 Meaningful Use from 2013 to 2014 that has been talked about since July of this year. But who does this decision really impact?…