From Regulations to Practice: Achieving Information Security Compliance in Healthcare

Access to healthcare is not a new issue, but it has been only in the last few years that it has gained significant traction with the federal government passing a number of laws to greatly enhance the exchange of medical information between all relevant parties: patients, providers, and payers. This research focuses specifically on these issues by examining industry compliance to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, electronic health record adoption, and the federal Meaningful Use program; all from the healthcare provider’s perspective. While many plans have been made, guidelines created, and national strategies forged, there are significant gaps in how actual technology will be applied to achieve these goals. The goal of this research is to bridge the gap from regulation to practice in a number of key technological areas of healthcare information security. Using standardized frameworks, this research proposes how accessibility, efficiency, and integrity in healthcare information security can be improved.