Industry News: More Data, More Demand on the Healthcare IT Infrastructure

According to a recent survey conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), hospitals in the U.S., U.K., Canada, China, France, and Germany are unprepared for the large wave of data that will hit their data centers when new information demands become more pervasive.

Specifically in the U.S., CIOs face heightened enforcement of regulatory compliance. HIPAA and the HITECH Act demand a comprehensive plan for audit and data privacy, with fines up to $1.5 million and media notification required if protected health information is compromised. To comply with patient privacy laws and regulations mandated by the Federal government, the vast quantities of PHI, PII, and other sensitive data must be secured in order for healthcare organizations to drive revenue and continue business with government agencies.

And it’s not only exchanging files with government agencies that healthcare organizations must protect. Information exchanged between hospitals, pharmacies, claims processors, insurance providers, and other healthcare participants must also be secure. Protecting sensitive information throughout the data transfer process ensures that privacy policies and best practices are extended to an unlimited number of business associates.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and digital imaging will also test the storage limits and workload processes of many healthcare data centers. As the electronic health data challenge is now a reality and continues to move forward at a rapid rate, healthcare IT infrastructures must be able to handle today’s workflows and also allow capacity for tomorrow’s influx of EMR demands.

CIOs and data center directors in the healthcare industry are turning to SecureZIP® to address the increasing demands on their data centers. SecureZIP not only protects sensitive information by exceeding compliance requirements, it also reduces required storage space up to 95%.

Check out how SecureZIP helps solves data challenges facing the healthcare industry. And learn how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is using SecureZIP to encrypt billions of health records shared with other organizations.

Read the Case Study: CMS Data-Sharing Project Highlights the Benefits of a Multiplatform Approach