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Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

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Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#51

Post by EuphoricEmu »

burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

Could not agree more! As someone who works as a contractor for two relatively large RHIOs I was absolutely dumbfounded by how contradictory everything is when I first started. I’m in a unique position where I get to interact with dozens of EMR/EHR vendors. They’re all terrible.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#52

Post by rubatuga »

burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

People need to stop hating on fax. Hospitals still use fax because it is a much more punishable crime to tap phone lines which requires physical access, as opposed to a server that could be infected from a hacker halfway across the world.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#53

Post by EuphoricEmu »

dpflan wrote: post #50
burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

Regarding legacy EMRs, are specifications/standards like HL7's FHIR actually gaining any traction and making data interoperability more feasible?

Not OP but I can tell you that due to the object size limitations of FHIR objects, document exchange is just not feasible. Using FHIR to register a patient is pretty pointless currently as every older and larger hospital sends HL7v2.

RHIOs building gateways for 3rd party apps is very much the future of FHIR. But they’ll still be interacting with that crufty legacy system.

Just my own two cents.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#54

Post by TuringNYC »

rubatuga wrote: post #52
burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

People need to stop hating on fax. Hospitals still use fax because it is a much more punishable crime to tap phone lines which requires physical access, as opposed to a server that could be infected from a hacker halfway across the world.

I see you point in theory, but as a victim of identity theft, from what I can see almost none of these are enforced punishments. From what I experienced and from what I've seen friends experience in the US: - Someone can steal money in your bank account - Sign up for an expensive phone plan and get a $1000 iPhone upfront - Use your healthcare benefits

And you basically file a police report, hardly anyone cares, and you are left with a bunch of paperwork to go fix it yourself. You get the money back eventually with plenty of paperwork.

At which point do thieves committing all sorts of punishable crimes actually get punished? In my case, the person signed up for a line of credit at Lowes, purchased 20k of construction goods, presumable all in a videotaped store and got off scott free.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#55

Post by gesman »

burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

I involved in building 2 systems for healthcare:

Patient privacy monitoring (ensure no one peeks into patient records inappropriately) and medication analytics platform (monitors suspicious and anomalous activity related to drugs and opioids diversion).

This of course deals with multitude of different systems, EMR's, data formats, legacy-everything etc, but the GREAT about this whole thing - is opportunity.

No one really tackled a challenge of visibility across different systems and data formats in Healthcare and it's lots of fun to be part of that.

("Fun" is non-corporate word - but it still fun!)

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#56

Post by AzzieElbab »

rubatuga wrote: post #52
burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

People need to stop hating on fax. Hospitals still use fax because it is a much more punishable crime to tap phone lines which requires physical access, as opposed to a server that could be infected from a hacker halfway across the world.

it has nothing to do with security. Nurses like fax machines because it gets them a break. I've seen them print e-refferals just to fax to each other.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#57

Post by dpflan »

EuphoricEmu wrote: post #53
dpflan wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding legacy EMRs, are specifications/standards like HL7's FHIR actually gaining any traction and making data interoperability more feasible?

Not OP but I can tell you that due to the object size limitations of FHIR objects, document exchange is just not feasible. Using FHIR to register a patient is pretty pointless currently as every older and larger hospital sends HL7v2. RHIOs building gateways for 3rd party apps is very much the future of FHIR. But they’ll still be interacting with that crufty legacy system. Just my own two cents.

Thanks! I was not aware of the object size limitations nor of RHIOs

Are RHIOs using engineers/consultants to wrapped legacy systems then devise methods to make accessing that data easier -- how are RHIOs using FHIR and legacy system to construct the future of medical data interoperability?

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#58

Post by jcims »

burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

Don’t forget the turnkey Siemens PET scanner complete with virus infested control PCs.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#59

Post by dgzl »

burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

Sounds like local and state government.

Re: Hospitals are a weak spot in U.S. cybersecurity

#60

Post by agumonkey »

burnte wrote: post #47

Healthcare CIO here. This is true. Healthcare is still using paper fax. It has a 30 year old data interchange format that no one really supports because it's more profitable to lock in customers to your EMR. Healthcare is HORRIBLE about upgrading anything, at changing processes, and technological progress in general. Healthcare is VERY backwards from a tech standpoint. Another problem is that EVERYTHING is custom, we…

How much end to end efficiency do you think a proper/average IT healthcare system would bring ?
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