Healthcare IT

The downside of EHRs

Electronic Health Records can help doctors access the information they need regardless of whether they have treated you before. Setting up integrated health care systems or systems where EHR networks are interoperable can improve this facility across healthcare organizations. However, this approach is not without risks, as shown by this recent hacking episode at Anthem.

Health insurance giant Anthem Inc. said late Wednesday that hackers had breached its computer system and the personal information of tens of millions of customers and employees was possibly at risk.

The attack on the nation’s second-largest health insurer could be one of the largest data breaches in the healthcare industry.

“Cyber attackers executed a very sophisticated attack to gain unauthorized access” to one of the company’s computer systems and “have obtained personal information relating to consumers and Anthem Blue Cross employees who are currently covered, or who have received coverage in the past,” Indianapolis-based Anthem said in a statement.

While EHR interoperability has gotten most of the focus of policy wonks, the importance of data security should not be ignored.

1 Comment

  1. What data security? You think these health systems that can barely tell where a patient physically is in their system are going to have better data security practices than a major insurer? Unlikely.

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