IBM Announces Comprehensive Security Offering for Healthcare
The impact of HIPAA on healthcare information systems and healthcare information management is likely to be as significant and extensive as the impact of DRGs,” — John P. Glaser, PhD., vice president and CIO for Boston-based Partners HealthCa
Washington, D.C (May 11, 1998) – IBM will now offer a comprehensive set of e-business security solutions for the healthcare industry in anticipation of the emerging security standards required by the Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Healthcare organizations will now have a full program of products and services to help them meet the HIPAA standards for maintaining or transmitting individually identifiable electronic health records and to address growing concerns about the use of the Internet.
“IBM government and security experts are actively participating in regulatory and legislative policy processes on security and privacy. As part of this involvement, IBM is taking steps to ensure that its own products and solutions will comply with the final Federal security standards. Security is the means by which the healthcare industry can address the critical issue of health records confidentiality ,” said IBM Global Healthcare Industry general manager, Russell J. Ricci, M.D.
“Most healthcare organizations have not developed comprehensive security programs,” explained Shannah Koss, IBM manager governmental programs and healthcare. “They haven’t addressed critical security questions, such as — Is access to information by third parties controlled?; Is a written security policy available to all employees? Are security responsibilities clearly defined?; or, Are networks and system mechanisms used to prevent and respond to unauthorized access attempts?”
Security is a vital issue for VHA Inc., an organization which serves more than 1,650 health care providers. Last year it launched a nationwide network to connect its members and to give them an opportunity to conduct e-business. VHA selected IBM to help them create VHAseCURE.net because of IBM’s ability to support large scale business applications and to deliver appropriate levels of security.
“The key factor in the success of VHAseCURE.net is our member organizations’ confidence that the security issue is taken care of,” said Rick Ratliff Vice Presiden t of Information Services for VHA Inc. “They recognize that it would be extremely unwise to move healthcare information across a network or between networks without a robust, secure infostructure, so that’s what we have to be vigilent to provide and maintain.”
Source: IBM