For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

IT Compliance: From Painful To Pleasant

by Khalid Kark, July 31, 2009

With increasing workforce mobility and the extension of the business supply chain globally, organizations are struggling to keep up with increasing corporate and regulatory compliance requirements. Regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Healthcare Security: Ready Or Not, Here It Comes

Applying Five Cardinal Rules Of Information Security To Healthcare Companies

by Khalid Kark, July 24, 2009

The US Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996. The security and privacy rules took effect in 2003, but none of this really improved the overall state of information security across the healthcare industry. . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

How To Create A Social Application For Life Sciences Without Getting Fired

Social Strategies That Succeed Within A Regulatory Framework

by Josh Bernoff, April 20, 2009

People with health problems naturally form mutually supportive communities and seek out information about drugs and treatments. And yet, because of restrictive FDA regulations, pharmaceutical and other life sciences companies are terrified to take advantage . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Data Security And Regulatory Compliance Drive Healthcare Security Decisions  (402 KB PPT)

by Eric G. Brown, March 27, 2009

Data Security And Regulatory Compliance Drive Healthcare Security Decisions

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Disaster Recovery Solutions Remain High On Healthcare's Agenda  (406 KB PPT)

by Eric G. Brown, March 27, 2009

Disaster recovery solutions have been a critical agenda item for hospital IT organizations, but years of HIPAA regulatory pressure and post-Katrina lessons have brought the sector into relative maturity. However, the tail remains, and there's urgency . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Case Study: TLC Vision Takes A Risk-Based Process Approach To Data Leak Prevention

by Thomas Raschke, March 4, 2008

TLC Vision, a provider of eye-care tools and technologies in North America, faced a dilemma in 2005: how to protect the confidential information of more than 1 million patients and physicians. An erroneous email and regulatory pressures first drove the . . .

HIPAA's Last Stand: The National Provider Identifier

Health Plans Slog Through The NPI Vendor Market Toward Compliance

by Katy Henrickson, May 19, 2006

When the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed 10 years ago, it mandated that providers and health plans begin using common identifiers for providers nationwide. With the national provider identifier (NPI) compliance date . . .

Pharma Faces Privacy Challenges On The Road To RFID Adoption

by Laura Ramos, February 22, 2006

RFID is full of promise in pharma. But the same technology that will let manufacturers and distributors track their products across the supply chain, and support law enforcement in closing the holes where counterfeit or misappropriated drugs slip in and . . .

Regional Health Information Organizations' Modest Start

What's Been Built, What's Driving Progress, And When Will They Flourish?

by Eric G. Brown, February 13, 2006

The US healthcare sector is embarking on a massive effort to implement connectivity among doctors, hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and other healthcare institutions to give healthcare providers a complete view of a patient's medical information. The goal? . . .

New FDA Labeling Rule Will (One Day) Improve Drug Safety

SPL-Ready Firms Have A Leg Up On Compliance

by Laura Ramos, February 3, 2006

Electronic drug label information will streamline the way physicians and patients access important prescribing information over the Internet — and set the groundwork for secure, online prescribing — but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent . . .

Exploiting Unstructured Information In Pharma

Harness Content To Spur Discovery And Mitigate Regulatory And Legal Risks

by Laura Ramos, January 6, 2006

Bowing to regulatory mandate, pharmaceutical manufacturers manage unstructured information — narrative and images typically found outside relational stores — as an obligatory expense. But as the risk of regulatory and legal challenges increase, pharma . . .

10 Steps To Pharma SPL Success

by Laura Ramos, October 24, 2005

Pharma firms should embrace SPL labeling to cut redundant content publishing costs and prepare for the longer-term benefits afforded by a more modular, structured approach to content authoring. However, missing simple steps today — such as mastering the . . .

Pharma Strategies To Meet SPL Deadline

by Laura Ramos, October 24, 2005

With the clock ticking down to the FDA's new drug labeling format requirements, pharma firms must choose between in-house and outsourced strategies to convert existing labels or prepare new submissions. Rather than viewing Structured Product Labeling . . .

Medical Claims' Next Digital Step: Attachments

Physicians' Online HIPAA Claims Submission Is Maturing

by Eric G. Brown, July 8, 2005

A recent survey of US physicians shows that practices have broadly moved to electronic claims submission and see direct payer connections as an important channel. But as the dust settles on construction of the basic administrative HIPAA transactions, . . .

Three Tools For Direct HIPAA Connections

Innovation's Impact On Claims Clearinghouses

by Eric G. Brown, March 24, 2004

Direct connections between healthcare payers and providers promise to cut transaction costs and open up better, real-time communications. Vendors like CorePolicy, Ivertex, and Post-N-Track are offering up technologies to take the direct-connect revolution . . .

Medicare's Law Of Unintended Consequences

by Eric G. Brown, Bradford J. Holmes, Elizabeth Boehm, November 25, 2003

Today's Medicare legislation provides drug benefits for seniors, demands quality metrics from hospitals, and establishes employee-funded medical savings accounts - with some side effects.

Congress Set To Mandate ePrescribing By 2007

by Eric G. Brown, Elizabeth Boehm, June 27, 2003

Both the US House and Senate today passed landmark bills paving the way for a prescription drug plan for Medicare recipients. The ePrescribing mandates included in the bill will mirror HIPAA, igniting electronic prescription writing, pushing data to the . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

A Learning Management System Facilitates Government Regulatory Compliance Like HIPAA

by Claire Schooley, April 29, 2003

It makes sense for organizations that must comply with state or federal regulations and have a workforce in multiple geographic locations to consider an LMS to manage all training and maintain secure records deemed valid by the government.

Health Plan IT Spending In 2003: Beyond HIPAA

by Eric G. Brown, Bradford J. Holmes, Esther H. Yuen, April 21, 2003

Health plans are working diligently to meet this year's HIPAA deadlines, but their IT spending won't end with regulatory compliance. As contracting and enrollment season approaches, insurers are committing IT resources to improve customer services and . . .

HIPAA Privacy Impacts on Customer Contact Centers

by John Ragsdale, April 16, 2003

The call center should become a secure area with ID cards worn at all times and visitors signing in and escorted while in the area. Agents with access to patient health information should use password protected screen savers.

Complying to the Final HIPAA Security Regulations Should Not Be a Problem for Most Organizations

by Michael Rasmussen, March 5, 2003

The final Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security regulations are light in technical requirements and focus on information security governance, architecture and policy.

How Hospitals Can Secure Networks For HIPAA

by Eric G. Brown, Bradford J. Holmes, Sara E. McAulay, February 14, 2003

HIPAA has made IT security a top priority for hospital CIOs, and a focus at this year's HIMSS show. But network security clogs collaboration among doctors, labs, plans, and patients. Neoteris and Vericept offer products to ease the flow.

Don t Delay Addressing Complexity of HIPAA Mandated Transactions

by Ken Vollmer, January 8, 2002

Even though there is a revised deadline, organizations in the health-care sector should not delay working on HIPAA-mandated EDI transactions, as they are much more complicated than standard EDI and will require significant effort.

Move Over, HIPAA; The FTC Wants At Online Health

by Michael J. Barrett, Eric G. Brown, October 23, 2001

Health plans, providers, and clearinghouses must take a HIPAA-plus approach to consumer health information: compliance with HIPAA and state laws, complemented by sensitivity to growing FTC activism around unfair or deceptive health data practices.

Offshore Support for HIPAA Presents a Challenge

by Richard Telesca, April 26, 2001

While the benefits of reduced costs and quality service are attractive, the offshore support model with its long-distance relationships does not fit well with direct end-user engagements.