This is certainly a disturbing trend: this weeks news brought yet another data breach to the forefront. This time, an unauthorized user gained access to and encrypted the server of a small Midwestern surgical practice and essentially held the information hostage in exchange for the password needed to regain access to the server.

ORLANDO, Fla.In the opening keynote presentation Aug. 14 at the 40th annual meeting of AHRA: the Association for Medical Imaging Management, Brian R. Klepper, PhD, had a warning for the radiology administrators in attendance: Hes coming to take your volumes.

Read on for part 2 of our article on the latest privacy and security information. Linn Foster Freedman, JD, an attorney with Nixon Peabody, presented a wealth of information during a recent program presented by the Rhode Island Quality Institute, about how hospitals need to better protect themselves against potential privacy and security vulnerabilities, such as data breaches.

Three in four patients who present at emergency departments with symptoms of acute MI (AMI) may be safely ruled out or accurately ruled in within an hour using a high sensitivity troponin algorithm, researchers reported online Aug. 13 in Archives of Internal Medicine. But an accompanying editorial cautioned that its implementation in general practice may be stymied by costs, complexity and confounding comorbidities.

The most literal advance on the interoperability front this month is new and revised standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The three standards are intended to help expand the market for medical equipment that has device-to-device communications capabilities.

Providers are extending healthcare to rural patients with financial assistance from the rural healthcare pilot program, a six-year-old initiative that provides funds for telehealth projects. So far, the program has committed an estimated $369 million of the total $415 million set aside, according to an evaluation published Aug. 13 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Three affiliated academic institutions in New York City have enlisted the sponsorship of an industry player in the data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision space to launch a multimillion-dollar research center aimed at advancing wireless healthcare.

ORLANDO, Fla.Real healthcare reform will require robust systems of health information exchange. Practice-focused business decisions have made cooperation among providers challenging in the past, but a number of factors have aligned which could force a change toward more sharing of critical patient information, according to a presentation Aug. 13 at the 40th annual meeting of AHRA: the Association for Medical Imaging Management.