WASHINGTON — Hospitals nationwide have failed to implement an effective mobile device security policy, according to presenters at the mHealth Summit 2012.
Despite the fact that hospitals are a major target for hackers due to the high value of stolen patient records, administrators have not quite grasped the need for tight security, SearchHealthIT.com reports.
One reason for this is that securing patient data involves many different tasks, particularly for providers that utilize mobile devices and services. It is also difficult to develop systems that grant the right amount of access to the correct people. Additionally, healthcare providers are still in the process of adopting electronic health records (EHRs); thus, they are trying to figure out how to secure new tools to access information.
As “bring your own devices” (BYOD) policies come to the forefront, hospital administrators cannot guarantee the security of patient data because they are unsure how employees are accessing it. One mHealth Summit presenter, Brian Balow, encouraged health care organizations to develop a clearly defined BYOD policy to inform employees of what’s expected of them when it comes to accessing data.
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