Healthcare Security: Ready Or Not, Here It Comes

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. There's been a lot of talk but no action since. However, the passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act earlier this year will change all of that. The HITECH Act not only strengthens HIPAA requirements but also adds additional incentives for companies to switch over to electronic records while ensuring security. While all this may seem like a lot of work, healthcare companies can address the vast majority of the requirements if they implement Forrester's five cardinal rules of information security.