Full disclosure: I'm just a medium-sized hospital's IT security guy. I've had Imprivata'sESSO appliance (three of them actually, a pair of HA, and a test box) up and running, happily, for about three years. I was invited by Imprivata and Ping Identity to participate in a panel discussion at the SSO Summit held in Keystone, CO, on July 23-25 (http://www.ssosummit.com/). Andre Durand (Ping Identity) and friends put on a very nice event. There was a good blend of topics, from SSO-centric details, to Federation issues, and a mixture of interesting case studies to visionary presenters like John Haggard (independent security consultant and long-time IT mentor) and Gunnar Peterson (Arctec Group). The event was solid throughout, but to hear John and Gunnar speak about the important issues of the past and future of SSO and IT/Web security, made the event a powerful experience not to be missed.

Are you ready for Stage 2 Meaningful Use? The proposed ruling states hospitals must attest to 18 objectives, 16 core and 2 of 4 menu objectives and Stage 2 now begins in FFY 2014 (10/1/2013). By consolidating some objectives, introducing new ones and raising the threshold on some the bar is certainly raised.

Electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) delivers a number of benefits. However, in order to enable EPCS, healthcare providers must meet DEA requirements that can be disruptive and cumbersome to implement.