Survey Says . . . Patient Data Not Protected
According to a new survey of healthcare IT practitioners, healthcare organizations are not adequately protecting confidential patient information. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said that their organizations do not have the resources to fully comply with the federal privacy regulations. The survey results aren't entirely surprising considering the fact that organizations are struggling to comply with HITECH and make the transition to EHR. What is surprising, however, is that 70% of the respondents believe that senior management does not consider patient privacy a priority. The OCR has quite clearly stated that it intends to increase enforcement and not making protection of patient privacy a priority could be a costly decision.
