I spoke last month with Radiology Today on the question of HIPAA compliance, in light of increased, or at least more public, enforcement. HIPAA security compliance audits are underway, and providers need to be aware of what to expect. The best defense is still a good offense, which in this case means conducting an audit and beefing up policies and procedures, as necessary. For further information, see an earlier HealthBlawg post.
David Harlow
The Harlow Group LLC
Health Care Law and Consulting
That is a very interesting topic. Actually, Gartner analysts predict that, by 2009, healthcare investments in IT will increase by more than 50 percent, which could enable clinicians to reduce the level of preventable deaths by 50 percent by 2013. Of course, nowadays most healthcare organizations have already invested in IT outsourcing, for anything from Telco and Wireless, to Application Data Development (i.e. LIMS, SOA), or even Business Process Management.
We’ve put together a detailed white paper on these subjects: http://www.outsourcing-factory.com/en/stay-informed/white-papers/outsourcing-healthcare.html . What is your experience with IT outsourcing in healthcare? Are these figures close to your personal experience or do you think there are certain issues we’ve missed covering? I strongly appreciate your professional opinions.