This February, my wife and I are expecting our first child. As we have attended the multiple doctor’s appointments that accompany this exciting experience, I have thought a lot about the amount of healthcare data that our child is going to generate over his lifetime.
I mean, the kid isn’t even born yet, and he already has a gigabyte (at least) of information on the tab, including our doctor’s files, the ultrasounds, etc. Another visit, another data load. How many terabytes of healthcare data will he generate? How will this information help him with his health? How will he make sure the data is protected? How will we?
On Dec. 14, the HIMSS community will delve into questions about healthcare data privacy and security at the Virtual Briefing “Privacy and Security: Practical Solutions for a Changing Landscape” (Learn more about the event and register here.)
The industry experts speaking at the Briefing will discuss:
- how to keep healthcare data safe in the cloud;
- the potential for mobile and medical devices to increase the risk to data and how to mitigate those risks; and
- how HIPAA and HITECH policy is interpreted and applied in the real world.
Speakers will also be exploring the process around security and privacy within health information exchanges, and best practices for identity management.
As the discussions on healthcare data privacy and security take place on Dec. 14 and beyond, it will be easy to delve into abstraction, or focus on how privacy and security policies effect work flow, or a particular practice, product, etc. But the questions we ask, and answer, about the security and privacy of this important information, will have profound consequences for my son and his generation as they grow up and continue as healthcare consumers.
Let’s not disappoint him or them.
In my son’s case, he is going to have enough disappointment in life. He is being born into a family of Cubs fans. On both sides.
