Healthcare industry companies unite to define security standards in 2008
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, December 10, 2007
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In order to create a set of security standards for electronic health records (EHR), nine healthcare companies have joined with the Health Information Trust Alliance (Hitrust), a Frisco, TX-based organization created to oversee the project, according to a December 5 article in The Wall Street Journal.
"In an effort to improve the security of sensitive health information, major organizations from across the healthcare and employer spectrum have united to participate in the development of the first ever common security framework for the protection of health information," according to the December 5 news brief on the Hitrust Web site.
Hitrust hopes to have a total of 155 participants gathered by February, 2008 (more than 40 have already applied), and they hope to complete the project by the end of 2008, according to The Wall Street Journal. The companies have committed to using the standards they develop.
Other healthcare organizations have previously attempted to create security standards, but the standards have not been widely adapted. Members of the executive council of Hitrust and of the companies working with Hitrust, say that they "hope the size and the number of companies involved in the effort will allow their standard to succeed where others haven't," according to The Wall Street Journal.
Companies already involved in the consortium include the following:
- CVS Caremark
- Hospital Corporation of America
- Humana Inc
- Highmark Inc
- Cisco Systems Inc
- Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc
- Philips Healthcare
- Pitney Bowes Inc
PricewaterhouseCoopers, a professional services firm currently engaged in the assessment and implementation of information security infrastructures, is also taking part in the development of the common security, according to the Hitrust Web site.
To read more in the Wall Street Journal, click here.
To read the news release on the Hitrust Web site, click here.
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