On June 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed important legislation that would “require e-prescribing for coverage under part D of the Medicare program of prescription drugs” by January 1, 2020. Requiring electronic prescription of controlled substances (EPCS) would establish a milestone for the role of information technology in combatting prescription drug abuse, particularly the opioid crisis that has gripped our country.

Tasked with managing an exploding volume of patient, provider, and employee data, hospitals and health systems are increasingly making IT security a top priority. This focus comes just in time, as the healthcare industry has emerged as a major target for cyber-attacks, accounting for 41 percent of all breaches last year (Beazley Breach Briefing – 2019, March 21, 2019.) Clearly, the healthcare industry must take all necessary steps to enhance systems and data protection without impacting the users—providers and healthcare workers across the board—of the systems.