Hundreds of McKesson customers converged in Grapevine, Texas this past week to learn what their peers are doing and to get the latest product updates from McKesson. Infrastructure upgrades was a common theme this year for many of the attendees I spoke to, with virtualization in particular continuing to rise in priority. Many hospitals had partially or completely virtualized their data center, and some had even virtualized all their desktops.…

Just a quick post to congratulate OhioHealth's CTO Jim Lowder on being named to …

The HITECH Act, HIPAA, as well as mandates from State regulations (e.g. Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00), are raising the minimal requirements that organizations such as healthcare-covered entities and business associates must implement to prevent unauthorized access. Further, the Connecticut Attorney General’s lawsuit against Health Net of Connecticut for failing to secure approximately 446,000 enrollees’ Protected Health Information (PHI), and to notify State authorities and enrollees of a security breach, is a reminder that breaches are not just a risk to information, but a risk to the organization.…

I read a good article on FierceEMR recently surrounding a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey on electronic medical records (EMRs) that indicated that the secondary use of this information may be an organization’s greatest asset over the next five years. An overwhelming 76 percent of respondents agreed, and pointed to the abilities for mined data to decrease healthcare costs, predict public health trends and improve patient care. EMRs, with vendors such as Allscripts, NextGen and QuadraMed blazing the trail, have been a huge focal point of healthcare payers and providers, pharmaceutical companies and the general public with healthcare reform a primary platform of the Administration.…

Theoretically, as employees go on vacation during the summer months, there will be fewer demands on your IT team. Realistically, we know that’s not true and it seems like there is actually more to do. However, summer can provide the opportunity to step back and evaluate the state of your identity and authentication management infrastructure and policies. Here are five things that are easy to overlook throughout the year that you should consider doing this summer:…

I just came back from the ASIS 2008 Show in Atlanta and boy, do my feet hurt. Over 15,000 attendees, participation in 6 booths including our own, 3 days of constant conversation will do that to a person. This security show is the top venue for those wanting to be educated on the latest in security...from state of the art manhole covers to new IP video and access control systems.…

Having spent last week at the 2008 International MUSE (Medical Users Software Exchange) Conference in Grapevine Texas - the 25th annual gathering of clinical and technical users of Meditech software - I was delighted to see SSO is such a hot topic among this group. There were five customer presentations related to SSO and Strong Authentication, and all of them were filled to capacity.…

The recent Ponemon Institute benchmark study on patient data privacy and security practices sheds some much-needed light on the practice of data protection within our nation’s hospitals. According to the study, today’s hospitals have little confidence in their ability to secure patient records, revealing just how vulnerable they are to data breaches – a concern for all patients. Highlighted are some of the key findings...…

Coming out of HIMSS 2010, it was clear that patient data security was a chief concern, but so was the need for improved clinician workflows. For all the requirements driven by new laws and the stimulus bill, what was overlooked was the impact of security in the real-world hospital environment from a user perspective. Forcing someone to change habits and daily routines is difficult, if not impossible, to do. Therefore, it is integral to the successful adoption of these security endeavors that they be paired with improving workflow. If change makes people’s lives easier, it’s easier for them to embrace. It doesn’t need to be an either/or argument.…

I just left the annual Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City, where clinical and technical users of Cerner software gather to share ideas, best practices and technology solutions that are molding the future of healthcare.…

I was reading about the recent access management related breach at the California Water Services Company, where an auditor resigned, but illegally accessed computer systems to steal more than $9 million before leaving. While the company should be lauded for catching the fraud before the wire transfers could go through and irreparable damage could be done, it should serve as another cautionary tale in what has become a recurring theme on the application security front. This is just one more saga in an every growing litany of tales of breaches that we’ve hearing about.…

I was recently asked to comment on the future of biometrics so I wanted to share my thoughts here after distilling them down into four buckets... What's Next in Adoption, What's Next in the Tech, What's Next in the Enterprise, and What's Next in Consolidation.…

After the recent 2008 HIMSS Conference, we conducted a survey of 171 healthcare IT decision makers to identify some of the trends they face relating to identity management. I wanted to call out a few interesting data points...…

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…