Healthcare IT: Is Your Information At Risk?

Healthcare Information Technology (IT) has made great advances over the past few years and whilethese advances have enable healthcare professionals to provide higher quality healthcare to a largernumber of individuals it also provides the criminal element more opportunities to access sensitiveinformation, such as patient protected health information (PHI) and Personal identification Information(PII). Having an Information Assurance (IA) programallows for the protection of information andinformation systems andensures the organization is in compliance with all requires regulations, laws anddirective is essential. While most organizations have such a policy in place, often it is inadequate toensure the proper protection to prevent security breaches. The increase of data breaches in the last fewyears demonstrates the importance of an effective IA program. To ensure an effective IA policy, thepolicy must manage the operational risk, including identifying risks, assessment and mitigation ofidentified risks and ongoing monitoring to ensure compliance.