by medicaltechont | Nov 8, 2014 | Technology
Smartphones and tablet computers are transforming millions of people’s lives for one major reason – the astonishing growth in cheap, often free, software applications, or apps as they have come to be known. At the beginning of 2013, Apple announced that its customers have downloaded more than 40billion apps, with more than 20bn in 2012 alone. Its developer community has created more than 775,000 apps and this has generated revenues of $7bn.
One market area growing as fast as any is perhaps the most important – healthcare. ABI Research estimates that the market for mobile healthcare apps will be worth $400million by 2016, while the market research company Research2Guidance claims 247m mobile phone users downloaded a health related app in 2012.
– See more at: http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/electronics-technology/do-smartphone-apps-have-a-role-to-play-in-healthcare/51300/
by medicaltechont | Nov 1, 2014 | Technology
Microsoft has launched a new platform dubbed Microsoft Health and a band that’s designed to track your health data and serve out insights. Microsoft Health also comes out of the gate with Android, iOS and Jawbone, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and Runkeeper compatibility, but the real win may be in the cloud.
If Microsoft’s health effort and wearable sounds familiar that’s because the tech titans are all deploying similar efforts. Apple has its HealthKit effort—to be complemented by Apple Watch in early 2015—that has a long list of app and wearable partners sans Fitbit. Google Fit is another effort to aggregate the health data being tracked by a bevy of wearable devices and apps.
Read more online at ZDNET
by medicaltechont | Oct 11, 2014 | Technology
Is a data breach worse if it happens in the cloud? Given that a recent Ponemon Institute report is entitled “Data Breach: The Cloud Multiplier Effect,” it sounds like the answer is yes. But the report hints at another conclusion that’s at least as significant as any dollars-and-cents cost of a security breach: the generally low opinion held by IT folks about cloud security.
The report, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by cloud-app analytics firm Netskope, tries to put numbers — even if self-estimated — on the cost of a data breach in the cloud. It finds that because of the way cloud resources are handled in some organizations, a data breach could be up to three times costlier if it happens in the cloud.
Read more
by medicaltechont | May 24, 2014 | Cloud, EHR, Ontario, Privacy, Software, Technology, The Internet
Is your cloud (online web-based) application vulnerable to hackers? Do you even know if the OpenSSL security flaw and bug affected your important data? Are you paying attention to your investment? Or do you even care?
With many moving full steam ahead with cloud-based solutions, recent developments have casted a slight shadow on the security of patient data and how much risk a medical practitioner is willing to take with personal medical information in the cloud.
When you visit the doctor, nurse practitioner or other health professionals there is a trust developed; whereby your confidentiality is respected and observed. As a patient you assume that all efforts are taken to uphold that trust. You assume that your personal medical data is secure from the prying eyes of others. However do you really know if your personal information is safe? It’s amazing to know that so many regular individuals assume, in Canada, that their personal information, located within a Doctor’s office, is 100% safe and secure. But what happens if they find out that there was a breach in security? What happens if a patient came to view results of something extremely important, only available within your EMR or medical software, and your “Internet” connection is down? What do you tell the patient? Are you certain that your medical information is safe?
Read: Cisco and Heartbleed, A Class Action Lawsuit In The Making (Seeking Alpha)
Although the term “online web based billing software” is the new buzz word, not all solutions have to be cloud-based. Many use terms like “bill from anywhere“, or “use any web-browser“, yet there are alternatives, which still allow you to be in control or your data. Many companies will never tell you how often their networks are down. Fear is used scare individuals into thinking that their equipment is safe with their company. “ 99% up-time“, is the standard default line for most online and cloud providers. However, as a medical professional, you assume the risk to your reputation and medical license. Patients believe that “you” and your medical practice are in trust of their personal medical and critical information. We all know, once trust is broken it is often difficult to repair.
Good luck trying to blame your technical problems on others when your cloud application is down (offline), your web-based provider was hacked (losing personal patient information) or even have disappeared with your data (bankrupted). Some comments from online vendors are shown below.
” Sorry about that folks, someone literally drove over our Internet connection this morning and ripped it from the pole. Everything restored.”
“The six-hour outage of Cerner’s network late last month has raised fresh concerns about cloud hosting of patient records.”
“ Target ignored its own alarms—and turned its customers into victims of an epic hack“(Bloomberg Businessweek)
“EBay initially believed user data safe after cyberattack“(Toronto Sun)
If your medical patient records are in the cloud ask yourself the following questions.
- Who actually has your data?
- Where, on planet Earth literally, is your data located?
- Are their cloud servers in Canada? The U.S.? Overseas? Or in an undesirable location in another country?
- If your patient data is in a foreign country what laws govern access to that information?
- Who is actually looking at your entrusted patient data?
- What is the risk and liability to your medical practice?
When choosing a vendor, for your medical software, never assume that the data within their office. Ask questions, first and never assume. Servers could be anywhere.
“If the cloud that hosts your data has servers in a foreign country, the laws of that foreign country may govern your data when stored in that server.”
Think of a more balanced approach to medical file management and health records. There are options to mobility that will not compromise your medical data. Just because it looks cheap, bleeding edge and downright “cool”, does it make it the best solution for you?
You can survive without your Facebook page, even Microsoft Word online for a while, but what about your medical records, lab reports and more; in relation to your office, or hospital? Under some certifications and requirements today EMR is considered a medical device; which must operate and function in a specific manner. If medical records and software were like a pace-maker, how much risk would you take?
