Hospitals need to do a better job of encrypting patient data to address the spiraling scale of security breaches, concludes a new report from healthcare IT security company Redspin. The report also notes that healthcare organizations need to bridge the gap between the demand from doctors and nurses using their own devices in the workplace (BYOD) and enacting the necessary security measures to ensure patient information contained on those devices is protected if they are lost or stolen.
A new medication tracking system is hoped to alleviate the gray market that thrives through diverting medications, as some hospitals and clinics (facing recent drug shortages) have turned to middle-men brokers. However, this increases the risk of counterfeit or unsafe drugs being administered to patients, FDA officials say. Counterfeit or altered medications can be diluted, inert or dangerous.
The health sector, in partnership with the federal government, will conduct simulated attacks against health care networksto test their vulnerability to hackers.
The Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report reveals that threats designed to take advantage of users’ trust in systems, applications and personal networks have reached startling levels.
On September 19, 2013, 57-year-old Lynne Spalding was admitted to San Francisco General Hospital for a bladder infection. Last seen in her hospital room on September 21, she was found dead in a stairwell at the hospital on October 8th.
The Wisconsin State Journal will stop publishing birth announcements later this week because Madison’s two birthing hospitals will no longer provide the information to the newspaper.
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