Solving the data interoperability problem

In health care, there seemingly is no limit to the amount of data that needs to be collected, understood, analyzed and shared. Some of that data is refined, much of it — primarily medical notes — is not.

And the problem of having data interoperate with other data from other systems has not really been solved yet, though Bob Stanley, senior director for special projects at data quality company Melissa, said some people think it’s not a problem. “I’ll propose that [data interoperability not being a problem] is maybe something accurate, but usually not,” Stanley said. Early in health care’s digital transformation, groups were trying to define standards that would be authoritative, but they weren’t recognizing the changes in the field, he noted. But new standards like Fast Health care Interoperability Resources (FHIR) for data interoperability are coming out and offer promise, but these efforts are ongoing, Stanley said.

That ties back to a notion first shared a few years ago that dirty data is the industry’s dirty secret.

Data quality, as well as data plumbing, harmonization and interoperability, Stanley said, “All of those are our sort of dirty secrets of informatics and data science, or even just trying to have a good customer outreach.”

Stanley thinks data quality issues persist because “if you’re a project manager, or a new CIO, in one of these roles where in theory data quality would be really important, it’s just not something that gets you a feather in your cap. They aren’t coming in to the business and saying, ‘We’re going to need to spend this much money, time and effort’ for data quality. It’s just not exciting. It’s not the end game anyone is seeking.”

But, he pointed out, “It’s like, you’ve got to do the dishes before you can cater the next party. Everybody just wants to party.” But there are a lot of challenges in the space, particularly with data coming from what they call real-world evidence, hospital systems, electronic medical record systems, and things like that, Stanley noted, citing a customer with whom a medication was referenced 190 different ways from within a single EMR system.

Because of this, it’s important to look not only at the reference for what data the person is entering, but also looking at the context of where the person is entering the data. Stanley explained: “If it’s for this patient, I got this little string, and it’s suggesting this drug. I’m gonna say, ‘Yep, this is the drug I’m giving that person.’ But if the drug is contraindicated with other medications that patient is taking, then you can get a little popup that says, ‘Are you sure this is the drug you were thinking about? It shows a conflict with the other drug.’ “

The improvements being made in these systems are on the data entry side, which makes it easy for people downstream to do better work. And there are big ambitions for where this is all going. But, as Stanley pointed out, “there have been big ambitions for 20 years in this space. Ever since the Human Genome Project, we’ve really had high hopes for informatics and data-driven insights in health care and the life science space.” :

< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Office (GAO) reported that the Veterans Health Administration has made progress toward implementing a modernized electronic health record system to gain better and more valuable insights into the medical records.

The biggest advantage of an effective health care security program is that it enables organizations to respond to any data breach in a better way. A good communication system along with outstanding security programs guides the IT staff, security officials, communications team, and other authorized people in the organization to ensure minimal damage and quick recovery.

Keeping this in view, many health care data security organizations are working on their offerings and launching innovative products. For instance, in February 2020, GE Health care introduced a new cyber security solution known as Skeye for hospitals for detecting, analyzing, and responding to security threats in real-time.

Data privacy and protection: A priority of the health care sector

It is imperative for health care organizations to protect sensitive health care data from the growing cyber threats. Designing a unique and efficient framework regarding data security is turning out to be one of the top priorities for the global health care sector. The data security framework should not just focus on safely maintaining the records but also offer protection against cyber attacks.

Cybercriminals have a thorough understanding of how health care organizations are desperately protecting the data from any kind of cyber attack. Therefore, they have started opting for different ways to attack and get control over sensitive data. For instance, in September 2021, Universal Health Services lost $67m to a Ryuk ransomware attack, forcing them to suspend all user access to its IT applications and related operations in the United States.

Given the sensitivity of stored data and the growing need for privacy and protection, the deployment of several security safeguards has been done through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

Under these acts, the implementation of a variety of technologies has been suggested to tackle volumes of health care data. For instance, the frequency of data breaches in the health care sector over the last 2–to 3 years has prompted health care organizations to deploy contactless and radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers. RFID technology is actively helping organizations in meeting their safety and security needs. One of the top industry leaders, ELATEC, addresses the critical cyber security and HIPAA vulnerabilities such as user authentication deficiencies, endpoint data leakage, and excessive user permissions within hospitals and health systems. Furthermore, with health care becoming vulnerable to cyber complexities, only matured and experienced cyber experts can keep the massive health care data safe from cybercriminals.

Conclusion

As we enter into an all-new era of technologically driven health care, the need to comply with norms relating to patient data privacy and transparency are rapidly increasing. New and advanced IT solutions for the health care sector should come with the guarantee to control cyber threats.

It has been rightly said that “Cyber security is much more than a matter of IT.” Mounting complexities associated with cyber frauds prove that it is very important for hospitals to start taking cyber security seriously. The adoption of cutting-edge technology solutions and cyber-hygiene should go together.

Furthermore, health care organizations are required to form protection strategies and solutions to share data, both internally and externally, while keeping the company standards in view. Therefore, data security systems are used to offer protection between the internal and external networks to prevent frauds and data breaches. All in all, data protection has turned out to be one of the top priorities of any health care organization over the past few years and is projected to stay in the limelight for the upcoming years. :