Building a Medical Data Network
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Digital patient records could become building blocks in a nationwide biomedical computer network for assembling and distributing up-to-the-minute studies of disease.
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Leveraging IP Network Resources to Enable Next-Generation Corporate Communications.
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(InfoWorld) - The communications network used to transmit medical data for the U.S. government's Medicare and Medicaid programs has security vulnerabilities that could expose patients' medical data and other personal information, according to a report released Tuesday. The report, released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), identified 47 weaknesses in the way the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) used a WAN (wide-area network) operated by an unnamed contractor. CMS uses the network to transmit claims data -- including patient names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses and medical information -- to health-care facilities, contractors, financial institutions, and state Medicaid offices. "A security breach in this communication network could lead to interruptions in the processing of medical claims or to unauthorized access to personally identifiable medical data, seriously diminishing the public's trust in CMS's ability to protect the sensitive beneficiary data it is entrusted with," the GAO said in the report. GAO, in its review of CMS security procedures early this year, found that the agency and contractor did not use adequate identification and authentication controls for access to the network, did not restrict user access to only those programs and files workers need, did not close off all access from the private network to the Internet and did not consistently encrypt sensitive data. CMS did not always ensure security policies it has in place, GAO said. "CMS did not always ensure that its contractor effectively implemented controls designed to prevent, limit, and detect electronic access to sensitive computing resources and to devices used to support the communication network," the GAO said. GAO gave CMS an early copy of the report, and Dr. Mark McClellan, CMS administrator, said in a July 10 letter the agency took quick action to fix the problems. CMS, working with its contractor, had fixed 22 of the 47 vulnerabilities identified by the July letter, and an additional 14 were scheduled to be fixed within weeks. The final 11 vulnerabilities were "somewhat more complex" and were scheduled to be fixed by Jan. 7, he wrote. "We are taking further steps to assure that none result in actual security breaches," McClellan added. "We have been proactive in our oversight of the network but are taking further steps to enhance security." GAO does not typically name contractors in its reports because its focus is on agency performance, a GAO spokesman said. A CMS spokesman said he did not know which contractor was involved in the network targeted by the GAO report. CMS uses multiple contractors, he said. The Medicare program is the nation's largest health-insurance program, covering 42 million U.S. citizens.
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When it comes to searching, more is not always better. Data experts are honing topic maps to better classify the information that's out there. By John Gartner.
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Before me lies the patient, a Gateway computer running Windows 98. It is suffering from extremely clogged Internet arteries, unable to reach the Web. As one of The Washington Post's digital doctors, my task is to nurse the machine back to health so my colleague Kathleen Day can access her e-mail and file stories from home.
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The state of West Virginia is developing the first state-sponsored open public Internet grid computing effort. The tool will be used in such fields as biometrics and cancer research.
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John D. Halamka has updated his institution's medical libraries for a Web 2.0 world.
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Baylor Health Care System has completed the first phase of an e-health project -- using integration tools to consolidate registration records at the hospitals in its network.
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By MARTHA McKAY, STAFF WRITER  Ever worry about being so sick that you need a doctor's care while stuck in a strange city, far from your family physician and your medical records?  Now imagine handing the new doctor a tiny data storage device which she then plugs into a PC.
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This scenario is all too familiar to office workers who collaborate electronically on projects: E-mails get passed around with differing versions of documents-in-progress attached. Instant messages whizz by. Web sites are cited, then lost. It's often a jumbled mess, with no central online location for shared data. There must be a better way.
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IBM&#39;s planned purchase of Venetica provides Big Blue with one more piece in its on-demand computing strategy. The challenge will be to seamlessly meld Venetica&#39;s unstructured-data expertise with structured-data management.
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The U.S. defense and veterans affairs agencies have started sharing some medical data with each other. But they still can't fully exchange the electronic health records of patients, despite nine years of IT work.
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(Source: AT&T)  The federal government has awarded more than $139 million to help healthcare providers move medical records more easily within a geographic region. The hope is that Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO) will be the building blocks of a National Health Information Network.
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This article discusses how a virus outbreak will produce a few unique opportunities to examine the health of an organization's network -- and learn ways to further harden the network from future automated attacks.
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A working group made up of members from three organizations plans this month to release guidelines for complying with the data security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
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Nowhere is wireless network reliability, coverage and speed more important than in healthcare applications.  Columnist Craig Mathias says new-generation WLAN systems are up to the task.
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IBM and the University of Florida are working on technology that lets doctors remotely monitor patient health.