Running a hospital presents a variety of unique challenges. It is like many other businesses as it requires effective leadership and communication to run smoothly, but the extra factor is the importance of timeliness. All businesses require quick employee response, but this could not be truer for a healthcare facility. Patients and their health can be unpredictable. There should be a method of reaching healthcare professionals promptly while still protecting the sensitive information being transmitted.

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The number of breaches of unsecured protected health information (PHI) on record in the United States is staggering and continually increasing. Significantly, these records only cover breaches affecting 500 or more individuals. One can only wonder how many more breaches have occurred on a smaller scale. The types of breaches range from theft and hacking, to improper disposal and unauthorized access as a result of negligence. According to the HIPAA Journal, between 2009 and 2019 there were 3,054 healthcare data breaches involving more than 500 records. Those breaches have resulted in the loss, theft, exposure, or impermissible disclosure of 230,954,151 healthcare records. That equates to more than 69.78% of the population of the United States.

Such incidents can be avoided if covered entities (companies involved in healthcare) ensure that all of their business associates are secured. There are many reasons why it is important to have secure business associates. Being aware of these reasons may prompt covered entities to take the necessary measures to protect their clientele's information:

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A recent report from the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office offered some sobering news about the safety of information in the healthcare industry. According to the HHS, there was a staggering increase in large data breaches in 2020. There were 642 healthcare data breaches of 500 or more records in the past year, resulting in a 25% increase from the year prior, according to HIPAA Journal.

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Data encryption is available on many of the applications and devices we use daily. In most cases, it is quite easy to toggle "on" as well. It would also seem as if many internet users are beginning to realize the importance of encrypting their data online. A recent article by Chad Skipper of VMware notes "the percentage of encrypted web traffic on the Internet has steadily increased, from around 50% in 2014 to between 80% and 90% today..."

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Technology, such as cloud computing, is becoming increasingly attractive in the healthcare management industry. Hospital Chief Information Officers (CIOs), however, now face the difficult task of optimizing new technology while still maintaining the healthcare industry's ethical standards. Here are the top four challenges faced by Hospital CIOs in implementing new technology:

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Although it has been a long time coming, results of HIPAA audits conducted in 2016 and 2017 were finally released to the public in December of 2020.

The Scope

In 2016 and 2017, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) performed audits of 166 covered entities and 41 business associates to check on compliance with selected provisions of the HIPAA Rules.

In the report, the Department of Health & Human Services outlines some of its findings, both good and bad, related to policy. This snapshot will look at some of the key findings from the report. Whether positive or negative, neither section is a reflection on all organizations audited.

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Working from home has become the norm for many around the world. According to Katherine Guyot and Isabel V. Sawhill at Brookings, up to half of American workers are currently working from home, more than double the fraction who worked from home (at least occasionally) in 2017-18.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a massive telecommuting economy. Every role will have its challenges in adapting to this new normal. However, those in IT faced the greatest initial challenge, and continue to encounter new scenarios regularly. They were in charge of quickly adapting to a new work-from-home arrangement for organization employees. If that wasn't challenging enough, they are now tasked with tackling new issues that arise when multiple people are working in a variety of locations using more than one piece of technology. Are there some tools that can make this situation easier for IT professionals? Absolutely. We will have a look at a few of them in this post

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According to the NY Times, many public and private healthcare organizations are overwhelmed by faxes and paper workflows for Covid-19 testing and tracking and are looking for digital solutions to rapidly scale to meet the exponential growth in demand for their services.

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Over the past decade, the impact of cloud computing on healthcare has made transitioning to it necessary for healthcare providers. In this technological era, things have become fast-paced, and an on-premises healthcare system will undoubtedly cause the industry to lag. According to an HIMSS Analytics Cloud Survey, 8 out of 10 healthcare stakeholders consider cloud a strategic priority for the coming year and beyond. Its uses range from data backups and recovery to business functions such as organizational finance and human resources.

However, there can be problems with cloud computing, preventing it from being foolproof. Like many modern technologies, certain drawbacks should be considered before implementation. Once you are aware of these scenarios, share them with your IT leaders, to ensure you are best prepared for any situation when it comes time to switch from old physical equipment to a new healthcare cloud architecture.

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