Verizon has unveiled two new capabilities designed to safeguard the growing exchange of electronic patient data between hospitals, clinics, physicians, insurers and patients.
According to Verizon, the first offering, Security Management Program-Health Care (SMP-H), enables health care organisations to assess the strength of security measures and practices. It also helps organisations, through an online dashboard, track security efforts against federal and industry-specific security guidelines, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
The second new offering is a suite of IT consulting services that is expected to help health care providers design and implement safe security practices for sharing information and storing data.
The company said that the new consulting capabilities include assessment, review, validation and certification services based on the Common Security Framework, a set of industry security standards developed by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST).
The capabilities are part of Verizon Connected Healthcare Solutions, a newly formed practice group, to deliver a portfolio of wired and wireless solutions and professional services tailored to the health care sector.
Kerry Bailey, senior vice president of global services at Verizon Business, said: Moving to an electronic-based patient record-keeping system will help health care providers nationwide to improve patient care, control costs and expand access to critical health care information for patients and physicians alike. Verizon Business is now delivering tailored IT solutions to meet the challenges facing the health care sector, especially the need for strong data protection.
