Industry News tems and new technologies to support cloud and mobile implementations , big data and the Internet of Things increase security vulnerabilities for patient information . Respondents also expressed concern about the impact of employee negligence ( 46 per cent ) and the ineffectiveness of HIPAA-mandated business associate agreements designed to ensure patient information security ( 45 per cent ).
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DDoS attacks have cost organisations on average $ 1.32 million in the past 12 months . Thirty-seven per cent of respondents say their organisation experienced a DDoS attack that caused a disruption to operations and / or system downtime about every four months . These attacks cost an average of $ 1.32 million each , including lost productivity , reputation loss and brand damage .
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Healthcare organisations need a healthy dose of investment in technologies . On average , healthcare organisations represented in this research spend $ 23 million annually on IT ; 12 per cent on average is allocated to information security . Since an average of $ 1.3 million is spent annually for DDoS attacks alone , a business case can be made to increase technology investments to reduce the frequency of successful attacks .
" Based on our field research , healthcare organisations are struggling to deal with a variety of threats , but they are pessimistic about their ability to mitigate risks , vulnerabilities and attacks ," said Larry Ponemon , chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute . " As evidenced by the headline-grabbing data breaches over the past few years at large insurers and healthcare systems , hackers are finding the most lucrative information in patient medical records . As a result , there is more pressure than ever for healthcare organisations to refine their cybersecurity strategies ."
The State of Cybersecurity in Healthcare Organisations in 2016 research surveyed 535 IT and IT security practitioners in small- to medium-sized healthcare organisations in the U . S . Sixty-four per cent of respondents are employed by HIPAA covered entities , 36 per cent by business associates of covered entities . Eighty-eight per cent of organisations represented in this study have 100-500 employees .
You can access the full survey report at : http :// business . eset . com / cybersecurityhealthcare-survey / •
Research Supports Rising Demand for Digital Health Tools
Adoption and utilisation of digital health tools among providers , clinical research organisations , payers and pharmaceutical companies is set to increase this year , according to a recent paper published by Validic .
The research paper , supported by global research from HIMSS Analytics LOGIC™ and healthcare executive surveys , reveals several industry trends that are fuelling the convergence of healthcare and technology and driving healthcare organisations to accelerate their digital health investments and implementations in 2016 .
The paper cites the following trends as some of the key drivers of this technology adoption : »»
Spending in the health IT market , which is shifting from large capital investments in electronic health records ( EHRs ) and associated hardware to software-as-a-service and cloud computing services — including population management and engagement , clinical and business intelligence and telemedicine solutions .
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Healthcare executives ’ rising demand for enhanced clinical and business intelligence tools . While 52 per cent reported having these tools to harness operational and clinical data , many were only moderately satisfied with their investments according to the 2015 HIMSS Analytics Clinical and Business Intelligence Study .
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The increased adoption of telemedicine solutions to support remote patient monitoring , which has grown by more than 20 per cent in the past five years , according to the 2015 HIMSS Analytics Telemedicine study .
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The need for data to support outcomes-based payment models , including population health management . According to HIMSS Analytics ’ 2015 Population Health Study , while most organisations in the US have established population health programs , only 25 per cent have a solution to drive these initiatives , pointing to the potential for greater technology investments in 2016 .
All of these drivers indicate healthcare executives will increasingly turn to digital health tools this year to better collect , analyse and use patient-generated data to enhance care , enhance health outcomes and drive down costs .
“ Our evidence suggests that in 2016 , healthcare organisations will reorganise their IT spend , shifting from investing in EHR systems to achieve Meaningful Use to new platforms to support burgeoning initiatives like population health management and patient engagement ,” said Bryan Fiekers , director of the Advisory Solutions Group for HIMSS Analytics . “ Thus , the research proves our hypothesis that the healthcare market — and providers in particular — will be turning to digital health tools to improve care delivery and management .”
“ There ’ s no way to create a real value-based care system today without a heavy emphasis on technology providing real-time patient data back to various stakeholders ,” Drew Schiller , chief technology officer and co-founder of Validic said . “ Based on the on the industry shifts and trends we ’ re seeing , we think 2016 will be banner year for digital health and health IT investments . Healthcare organisations are investing in earnest in the technology and infrastructure needed to access the right information at the right time so that they can to take the right action in providing affordable and quality care .” •
The Journal of mHealth
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