Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives
Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.
Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices
Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.
Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices
This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »April 29, 2008 — CIO —
Doctors can't cure the common cold and health care IT managers apparently can't stop the common data breach.
Twenty-one of the 101 of the breaches tracked so far this year by information security group Attrition.org occurred at health care organizations.
For example, insurer WellPoint said in early April that lax security on two servers run for it by a vendor likely exposed on the Internet some personal and medical data for 128,000 patients.
Also in April, New York Presbyterian Hospital notified 40,000 patients that their personal information, including names, phone numbers and some Social Security numbers, were stolen, possibly by a hospital employee. A federal investigation and internal audit are underway.
Whether on paper, as so many medical records remain, or electronic, health care data must be protected according to state and federal regulations. But just because health care staff say they know the rules doesn't mean that information is safe, concludes a new survey from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), a nonprofit professional group for IT managers. The group, with security consulting firm Kroll, polled 263 chief security officers and managers of IT and of health care information.
For example, 75 percent of respondents gave themselves the highest rank possible when it comes to familiarity with HIPAA: 7, on a scale of 1 to 7. The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, governs whether and how patient data may be seen and by whom.
HIPAA compliance proves difficult in itself for the organizations that must follow those rules. Early this year, the National Institutes of Health had a laptop stolen, containing patient's private information, from an employee's car. In January, Fallon Community Health Plan announced a laptop being used by one of its vendors was stolen and it, too, contained patient data. In reporting those incidents to the public, each said how they "regret" the thefts. While these organizations offered credit monitoring to affected patients, many companies leave identify theft victims to fend for themselves.
Getting employees and contract vendors to follow corporate security policies requires cajoling and sometimes a bit of drama, says John Hummel, chief technology officer at Perot Systems' health care services group. Hummel has also been CIO at Sutter Health> and at the organization that oversees health care in California's state prison system.