It is no secret that electronic health records (EHRs) are incredibly valuable. One needs to only look at the number of cyber attacks that target healthcare organizations as proof that those records contain extremely valuable patient information.

The healthcare industry is under siege.

Health data breaches of patient information have become all too common, with both external and insider threats trying to gain access to patients’ electronic health records (EHRs), and it does not appear that the number of attacks will ease up anytime soon. But this begs the question: Why are EHRs so vulnerable to attack? And why do criminals target them in the first place?

Patients most frequently interact with doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, making it easy for them to forget about all of the other people that go into running a hospital. Among the many unseen activities that go on in healthcare, hospitals need teams managing patient data, submitting insurance billing, maintaining legal compliance in clinical trials, and ordering medical supplies, in order to properly operate. Compliance teams can work with patients to help them better understand how the healthcare organizations they visit monitor and protect their electronic protected health information (ePHI).

The Protenus team was deeply honored and humbled when we received the 2016 HPE-IAPP Privacy Innovation Award for Technology. There is no greater privilege than to be recognized by your peers for making real contributions to enhancing patient privacy.

Summer school is still in session! In an effort to help cure vendor fatigue, we’ve decided to put together a Privacy Analytics Primer to demystify all the similar-sounding solutions and phrases out there. We’re focusing on how compliance and security officers can ensure that EHR access is reviewed and patient privacy protected, per 45 CFR 164.308 and 45 CFR 164.312.* Our aim is to help you better determine which type of privacy program is right for your institution.