With 2016 coming to a close, it’s time to look to 2017. There are many things that need to be done to prepare for the new year, and selecting the best conferences to attend is an important step to using your time wisely. If you're looking for an opportunity to collaborate with fellow executives at leading healthcare institutions, understand why protecting patient data matters to your organization, and learn about the future of health IT and analytics, the conferences below are are a must. We’ve done our homework and present the top privacy conferences for the C-suite in 2017.

With every passing year it seems like a huge number of new conferences about healthcare privacy and compliance are surfacing, all claiming to be the best in town.  It’s impossible to attend every conference, so how do privacy officers know which ones are the best?  Look no further. We’ve done the research and developed a list of the top conferences for healthcare privacy and compliance professionals to attend in 2017.

This month’s data regarding breaches of protected health information reinforces the need for health data security to be a top priority.  With an average of almost 2 breaches per day, November has seen a record number of breach incidents, the highest of any month in 2016.  What’s even more concerning is that employees (insiders) are responsible for more than half of this month’s breaches to patient data, a notable increase from past months.

With a plethora of studies and articles maintaining that the healthcare industry is behind when it comes to security, many healthcare organizations are re-evaluating the resources being used for patient data security. And, of course, the board of directors is very influential when it comes to decisions associated with the privacy and security of patient data.

Meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) has been an important topic in the healthcare world since the federal government introduced the Meaningful Use (MU) Program to encourage healthcare organizations to adopt EHRs. Organizations have had to ensure that they are using certified EHR technology and that they are meeting all the security requirements outlined by the MU guidelines. Let us take a look at the top 5 things you should know about security, privacy, and the MU Program.