It's a mobile world after all...
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The spastic, high-energy rock group’s 1999 album …And We Washed Our Weapons In the Sea is a product of an era before the ubiquity of mobile devices, but its songs about power, technology and the fine line between responsible use and misuse of that power still resonate.
As I look at the current state of the health IT industry and speak with physicians and thought leaders, I hear the same sense of unease, urgency and anxiety as I hear when Frodus laments the fast-forwarding of technology.
And yet, there is a sense of hopefulness that health IT as a whole is making progress, albeit slowly.
Take, for example, statistics shared by John P. Hoyt, executive vice president of organizational services at the Health Information Management & Systems Society (HIMSS) during a recent webinar: 56 percent of 999 hospitals surveyed are in the group considered least likely to achieve Stage 1 meaningful use measures, he said. Yet Hoyt also noted with excitement that “there is continued movement from stages 0, 1 and 2 [of the HIMSS Analytics' seven-stage EMR Adoption Model] into the higher levels,” meaning more hospitals are adopting greater levels of health IT.
And still the technological waves roll in. The FDA this week down-classified Medical Device Data Systems, making these devices “low-risk” products exempt from pre-market review. Not long after came the first smartphone-based ultrasound and iPad-enabled radiology applications. However, in some medical professionals’ eyes, these disruptive technologies and their medical implications need to be further examined.
Unfortunately, it was also a big week for a decidedly low-tech threat to patient data-device theft. Two incidents resulted in security breach notifications. New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation disclosed the theft of computer backup tapes containing electronic data, including personal health information that potentially affects 1.7 million patients, vendors, employees and others affiliated with Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital and two affiliated health centers during the past 20 years. Days later, the reported theft of a computer in Oklahoma resulted in a potential breach of 84,000 patients' data.
These serve to remind the industry that while technology enables new avenues for information exchange, it also forces on healthcare providers the responsibility to use these opportunities wisely and in a meaningful, safe manner.
Jeff Byers
jbyers@trimedmedia.com
CMIO.net will take a closer look at mobile devices, information exchange, privacy and security, and the other hot topics at HIMSS 2011 in Orlando, Fla., Monday, Feb. 21 to Wednesday, Feb. 23. Check out www.cmio.net for the latest news from the show.