BOSTON—“I take risks to manage risk more effectively,” said Jim Routh, Aetna’s chief information security officer, speaking at HIMSS’ Privacy and Security Forum on Sept. 8.

The Office of Inspector General has found that the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services overpaid hospitals $3.1 million in Meaningful Use payments.

BOSTON—At the HIMSS’ Privacy and Security Forum on Sept. 9, Office of Civil Rights’ Senior Advisor of Health Information Privacy Linda Sanches declined to elaborate on a timeline for audits, noting that the agency still is entrenched in a technology upgrade that has thrown plans off schedule.

Another joint venture has thrown its hat into the ring in the bid for the Department of Defense's $11 million EHR modernization contract.

BOSTON—Targeted cyberattacks on healthcare organizations have increased 91 percent between 2012 and 2013, according to Nathan Russ, director of healthcare industry vertical for Symantec, who spoke at HIMSS’ Privacy and Security Forum on Sept. 8.

BOSTON--Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) faced a bizarre cyberthreat earlier this year and learned valuable lessons to prepare for future incidents, according to Daniel Nigrin, MD, MS, the organization’s senior vice president of information services and CIO, who shared the experience during a session at HIMSS’ Privacy and Security Forum on Sept. 8.

Cranbury, NJ, August 28, 2014 -- The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and BluePrint Healthcare IT announced the expansion of MARC’s Health Information Exchange Initiative by adding a second group of six safety net organizations in Kansas and Missouri. Working with three hospitals and three Health Information Organizations, the initial group of ten safety net organizations achieved the first goal of digital care coordination, replacing the exchange of paper forms and faxes with secure electronic DIRECT Messaging.

Los Angeles-based AltaMed Health Services has notified nearly 3,000 patients that their personal data are at risk after learning of a former AltaMed employee’s involvement in an identity theft ring.