Health IT Data Security – An Overview of Privacy, Compliance, and Technology Options

Radical advancements in health IT development and implementation have pushed the issue of health data security to the forefront of the collective healthcare provider mindset as they attempt to strike a balance between patient access to electronic health record protected health information (PHI) and data protection. The fact that so many health IT vendors now have access to and possess protected health information necessitated shift changes in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 which was enacted to establish ground rules for the privacy protection of individually identifiable health information.