Franken takes hard look at health data thefts

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said Wednesday that a lot of needed protections "have yet to be implemented."

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Congress Examines Health Data Thefts
In the wake of high-profile health-care data breaches in Minnesota this year, Sen. Al Franken on Wednesday examined how sensitive data can be better protected as more of it moves to the "wild, wild West" of the Internet. Thefts of laptops containing patient data from Fairview and North Memorial hospitals earlier this year were just a small slice of health data thefts in the United States. In a 15-month span, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that more than 50 laptops were stolen from hospitals, clinics and medical centers (Herb, 11/9).

CQ HealthBeat: Franken: Health Data Privacy Rules Needed And Overdue
Regulations governing contractor handling of protected health information should be finalized as soon as possible to fill continuing holes in data privacy policies, Sen. Al Franken said Wednesday. While Congress strengthened 1999 privacy protections as part of stimulus legislation in 2009, Franken said that "a lot of the crucial protections . . . have yet to be implemented," including the "business associate rule" pertaining to entities that contract with doctors and hospitals (Bristol, 11/9).

Meanwhile, Kansas continues progress on its electronic health record exchange -

Kansas Health Institute News: KHIE Board Finalizes Policies Needed To Begin Electronic Health Record Exchange
Two networks currently operating in Kansas will apply for approval immediately. The remaining nine of 10 policies considered necessary to ensure patient privacy and network security were approved today by the board responsible for overseeing health information exchange in Kansas (Cauthon, 11/9).

And in other news -

Health Policy Solutions (A Colorado news service): Health IT Incentives 'Rocket Fuel' For Innovation
The success of health care reform depends on technological innovation. Otherwise, if health care costs continue to rise at the rate they have in the last few years, "we will buy nothing but health care in this country," said Phil Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado Law School, at a conference Wednesday on health information technology. Aneesh Chopra, the White House Chief Technology Officer, told a the audience of lawyers, health care practitioners and business leaders at the event sponsored by the Law School and the School of Public Affairs that an array of incentives are available to encourage technological innovation, that there's money to be made for successful entrepreneurs and that Colorado is well positioned to exploit those opportunities (Carman, 11/9).

Marketplace: Health Care Providers Having Trouble With New Technology
Health care providers have relied on paper charts and handwritten notations for years. Nonetheless, there's been an ongoing transition to a more digitized system for some time in order to provide more accurate records that could be stored, transmitted and retrieved with greater efficiency. But a new report issued by the Institute of Medicine, a wing of the National Academy of Sciences, says that the transition has not been a smooth one. People are getting treated poorly or inadequately and some are dying (Moe, 11/10).