ICIT Fellow Insights: Why Leadership Should Be the Top Priority

Public and private sector leaders are slowly accepting the reality that the weakest link – and greatest asset – in their cybersecurity strategy is the human element. The question which now must be answered is how to best train, motivate and inspire the next generation of leaders and change agents who can help improve an organization’s cybersecurity hygine. Join ICIT Fellow Dan Waddell (ISC2) and Sr. Fellow Parham Eftekhari as they discuss one of the most important cybersecurity issues of our day.

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ICIT Fellow Insights: Making Your CISO and CFO BFFs

Your CFO can be an invaluable ally in your quest to elevate the strategic value of CyberSecurity within your organization. The key is to establish a trust-based relationship in which you understand how to parlay the positive impact cybersecurity investments can have on the business, turning the CISO function into a strategic business driver vs. a cost center. Join ICIT Fellow Brian Contos (Securonix) and Sr. Fellow Parham Eftekhari as they share strategies and ideas to accomplish this goal.

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Social Media As Gateway To Chronic Disease Care Studied

Social networking technology is being used to deliver mental health services.

The Young Adult and Family Center at the University of California at San Francisco’s Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics is exploring new ground in the treatment of mental health. They have been using private and secured social networking technology to deliver services to adolescents, young adults, and veterans who might not otherwise receive the necessary care.

Dr. Kim Norman, professor of adolescent and young adult health at the University of California San Francisco, heads the program that uses private personal health social networks to create scalable clinical interventions that overcome barriers of distance, stigma, and expense that often prohibit access to healthcare for remote patients.

Clinical programs use cloud-based, medical-grade records and match up patients with families and other non-medical caretakers to provide them with access to relevant data. Norman said healing is social and technology can create collaborative care “and secure social media can serve as a virtual psychotherapy office.” He is applying this concept to integrate mental health services into chronic disease care using personal social networks. For the full article click here 

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Virtual desktops a barrier to ePIP and My Health Record

Healthcare practitioners who use a virtual desktop for remote access to their clinical software while visiting patients report being unable to use the My Health Record on-site because of the kind of public key infrastructure (PKI) dongles supplied by Medicare for authentication.

The inability to access the system on-site means GPs are unlikely to write shared health summaries (SHSs) for patients in residential aged care or community care, despite these patients being the most likely to benefit from better information sharing. It may also affect their eligibility for the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP). For the full article click here 

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Hollywood Hospital’s Ransom Payment Sparks Concern Over Attack Escalations

The move has unleashed a maelstrom of controversy after hospital paid to get its records back.

Ransomware is one of the fastest growing forms of cyberattack and the decision of one of its latest victims to pay to unlock their computer networks has sparked a maelstrom of controversy in the healthcare and cybersecurity circles.

Health IT Outcomes reported Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California was struck by the ransomware on February 5 and was locked out of their computer infrastructure for over a week. The hospital was forced to rely on paper records, faxing, and other “archaic” means of patient care, diverting some emergency patients to other facilities.

According to the hospital, the attack was not malicious and instead, random, leading them to give into ransom demands and pay the $17,000 to return to business. In a statement, CEO Allen Stefanek said, “The malware locks systems by encrypting files and demanding ransom to obtain the decryption key. The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key. In the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this.” For the full article click here 

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Security soars as top spending priority for health IT execs

Threatened with the growing problem of health data breaches, information technology leaders at healthcare organizations are increasing investments this year in their security infrastructures, according to results of a new survey from IT staffing firm TEKsystems.

Security is a growth area in 2016 in terms of healthcare organization IT budgets, respondents indicated. When asked which technology categories will have the biggest impact on their organizations this year, 60 percent of respondents indicated that security was the top priority in their budgets this year, up from 54 percent in 2015.

In the survey, security edged out business intelligence and big data, mentioned by 58 percent of respondents; mobility (55 percent); cloud computing (49 percent); and consumerization of IT/bring your own device (47 percent).

“Security is one of our fastest growing technology areas because nobody wants their company’s name in the paper associated with a data breach,” says Mitch Gardner, northeast regional director for TEKsystems Healthcare Services. “If you look at the other four areas—BI/big data, mobility, cloud computing, and BYOD—they all have a major security component.” For the full article click here 

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HIMSS Launches Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards program

HIMSS, the global voice and thought leader of health transformation through the best use of information technology, has announced the unveiling of its inaugural Annual Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards, a first-of-its-kind awards program recognizing influential women at all stages of their career progressions.

HIMSS’ Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards ceremony – which kicks off Fall 2016 – is part of a new HIMSS initiative dedicated to addressing the gender gap in health IT and the need for more recognition of women sector-wide. Unlike other award programs, the Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards features a judging panel of top female leaders who will define the nomination criteria across several different categories, and select awardees.

“HIMSS is committed to empowering and advancing high-performing professionals in our mission to improve health through the best use of IT. We’ve made it a priority to provide community, resources and recognition to women who have made – and continue to make – significant contributions to the field,” said Carla Smith, Executive Vice President of HIMSS. “Our inaugural Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards, which celebrates those female visionaries harnessing the power of IT to transform health and healthcare, is unique among power lists and award programs; it’s inclusive of all women of influence, no matter where they may be in the health IT field.” For the full article click here 

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