If Computer Security Experts are Getting Hacked, Why are Hospitals/Doctors Expected to be Better?

As anyone knows from reading the newspaper recently, major computer security firms like RSA and Verisign have been hacked. Even the pentagon!

If companies that specialize in computer security get hacked, why are hospitals and doctors who do NOT specialize in computer security held to an even higher standard?

Criminal penalties against healthcare professionals and organizations are steep for computer data breaches at $100 per record with criminal penalties that can include fines of $250,000 and 10 years in prison.

Given such steep penalties, the assumption is that hospitals and physicians must be experts in computer and network security... even better than companies that specialize in this subject area... or can purchase one.

So who should healthcare organizations hire to secure their computers to avoid getting hacked as I can certainly tell you, they are most certainly not security experts?

Google? Symantec? RSA? Verisign? The pentagon?

They've all been hacked successfully... As such, how can we trust their security products?

The answer is simple... There is no company that can be contracted to provide bulletproof security.

The only way is to NOT use a computer at all!

So here's the interesting quandary...

The government is mandating hospital and physicians to transition to electronic medical records or start facing penalties for not doing so.

BUT, the electronic medical records must have bulletproof security or else criminal penalties and even jail-time can be had for any breaches.

With these mandates, the only thing doctors and hospitals can hope for is to not get noticed by hackers. Either get punished for not using a computer or get punished for not having a security system even better than the pentagon.

Source:
Why the security industry never actually makes us secure. CNET 3/3/12
HIPAA Violations and Enforcement. AMA

Our Practice Website Completely Renovated (www.FauquierENT.net)

Recently, readers may have noticed that I have not been as prolific with blog articles as I have been in the past. The reason is because I've been in the process of overhauling the our practice's official website (www.FauquierENT.net) to the latest and greatest in webpage coding incorporating HTML5 and CSS3 standards.

Given the official practice website contains over 200 webpages... it just took a very long time and I required the assistance of Chris Ferrell with Pettygrove Full Creative Agency to make it a reality. BTW... I highly recommend him if you need a website or extensive website rework.

The website is best viewed using the most recent version of your browser whether it be Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. Older browser versions will work, but just won't be as pretty and formatting may be slightly off.

Also new to the website is its ability to automatically detect and adjust appearance of the webpages based on whether you are on a regular computer vs tablet vs smartphone. Very cool...

Check it out here!

What is the Perfect Tablet Computer for Healthcare?

Many would argue (as I have) that the Apple iPad is THE perfect tablet computer for healthcare professionals. And for many of the mundane tasks of looking up or inputting information into an electronic medical records, that may be true. (Watch a video using the iPad to access MediTech as well as PACS here.)

However, there is a vast area of healthcare that the iPad just does not work at all.

That area is connecting to surgical equipment. Especially in the ENT world, there is a lot of microscopic and endoscopic work that is done. The software that records imagery from such devices are ALL based on the windows platform. Yes... we can record on to a CD, DVD, USB Memory Drive, etc and transfer the file to the iPad for viewing, but there's a lot of steps involved with that:

1) Record the video/image
2) Transfer to media of choice (CD, DVD, USB memory stick, etc)
3) Transfer file to PC/Mac
4) Move it iTunes/iPhoto
5) Synch with iPad

Geez louise!!!

I am currently aching for a highly portable tablet computer to connect to my JedMed Digicam in order to video-record fiberoptic endoscopy, ear work under the microscope, etc. The software the Digicam works with is only Windows compatible (and from my conversations with JedMed, there's no plans to make it work on any other platform in the foreseeable future).

As such, at this time, the Windows (and not iPad) world is the current way to go to address this deficiency. Not Google Android, iPad, Blackberry, etc.

In my mind, the best tablet for video work in the healthcare setting must have the following properties:

1) Windows 7 operating system for compatibility with surgical hardware
2) USB port
3) 10" Tablet for portability
4) Cheap (comparable to iPad)
5) Fast boot (SSD drive)

And WOW... I was amazed at the plethora of tablets introduced at the 2011 CES Convention Jan 6-9, 2011 in Las Vegas.

There were over 80 tablets that were introduced from big name companies to nobodies. Surely, there will a be a few which fits the bill?

Sadly, there were only a few that may fit my needs.

These include:

1) Samsung Note PC Series 7
2) Motion CL900 Windows Tablet

The Dell Inspiron Duo may possibly work, but the swinging screen just looks way too fragile.

What do others think? I'm pinning my hope on the Samsung model as the Motion tablet price is a bit much. The Samsung tablet is suppose to go on sale in March 2011 with a price tag around $699.

Watch a video the demonstrates the Samsung Note PC: