Several federal government agencies have released an updated "trail guide" that aims to help health app developers understand which privacy laws and regulations apply to their technology.
The Mobile Health Apps Tool was produced by the Federal Trade Commission as well as the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the Food and Drug Administration and the Office for...
Scores of startups, health systems and even governments have scrambled to address COVID-19 by creating new digital tools for patients. However, these tools may have some gaps when it comes to securing users' privacy data, according to a report by newly formed group the International Digital Accountability Council (IDAC).
The organization, which is made up of lawyers, technologists and privacy...
A large portion of COVID-19 apps available in the Google Play Store ask users for advanced access permissions, but very few indicate to users that collected data will be made anonymous and secured, according to an analysis of 50 such apps published recently in Nature Medicine.
The investigation – conducted by two researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Illinois...
Even before the current crisis, connected technology and the Internet of Health Things were growing in prominence and adoption. Now, spurred on by people’s efforts to stay at home as much as possible, this technology is even more important.
But as health information and health data move into the homes and into consumers’ personal devices, concerns about privacy and security are giving pause...
When health tech companies turn to distributed ledger technology, security is one of the key reasons they do it. But to say that blockchain is inherently more secure than other technologies would be a dangerous oversimplification.
In reality, blockchain is a novel technology for solving certain security problems. But to be truly useful in healthcare, it will need to be approached smartly and...
As healthcare shifts towards consumerization, a related shift is happening in healthcare information security. The change is from a perimeter model to an identity model and from an emphasis on compliance to one on maturity, Karl West, chief information security officer at Intermountain Healthcare, said in a talk last week at the HIMSS Privacy and Security Forum.
“At Intermountain, 80 percent of...
The pace of innovation in healthcare today is a “gold rush” for apps. Innovators large and small are speeding apps through development and bringing them to market as quickly as possible, which all-too-frequently means security is among the last considerations. That means healthcare organizations must be extra diligent when considering new apps.
“There are a million different apps out there – the...
02:05 pm
August 17, 2016
On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved a final order with EHR vendor Practice Fusion that will consent to a 20-year privacy practice order, stemming from its highly-publicized privacy scandal.
The settlement was first announced in June, and after a 30-day comment period, the final order was unanimously approved, 3-0.
Practice Fusion was charged with soliciting reviews from...
Just last week, the Consumer Electronics Association released guidelines about privacy policies for health and fitness devices. At the Partners Healthcare Connected Health Symposium in Boston last week, a panel of experts also had some ideas about maintaining privacy and security in the world of health and fitness devices -- a world where HIPAA often doesn't apply.
Right now, the biggest...
"Do-it-yourself healthcare", including mobile apps and consumer medical devices, is set to be the top healthcare trend of 2015, according to research and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC announced its top 10 predicted healthcare trends of 2015 in a webinar promoting their new report, and their top three are mobile health-related trends, with mobile and digital playing a role in several...
