“As the federal government prepares to spend up to $27 billion in stimulus funds to promote electronic medical records, a health technology industry survey suggests that a number of hospitals, health clinics, and insurance firms are violating federal security rules on patient data and putting sensitive health information at risk,” The Center for Public Integrity reports. “The November survey by the health technology trade association Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) found that one in four of the 196 health organizations that responded do not conduct a formal risk analysis to identify security gaps in electronic patient data. … failure to conduct a formal risk analysis is a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which became law in 1996.”
Article
The Medical News, 21 January 2010
