New Healthcare IT Landscape and Related Security Needs

In 2005, the European Commission embarked on a new policy framework that embraced all aspects of the “information society.” This framework, called i2010 - A European information society for growth and employment, provides the broad policy guidelines for the information, communication, and audiovisual sectors in the years up to 2010.
One of the priorities of the EU's i2010 program is to focus on E-Health to boost innovation and jobs. The aim is to provide user-friendly and interoperable information systems for patients and health professionals across Europe. E-Health provides many benefits, such as making it easier for doctors to access patients’ medical records, gain immediate access to test results from the laboratory, and deliver prescriptions directly to pharmacists.
The electronic health record (EHR) is a fundamental element of e-Health systems. EHR is digitally stored healthcare information containing an individual's lifetime of records, with the purpose of supporting continuity of care, education, and research.
Since the amount of data has been growing at an incredible rate, organizations should look for the right trade-off between innovation needs and security issues. In fact, there are two factors in contrast: the healthcare information digitization and the medical infrastructure interoperability are fundamental, and it is impossible to ignore security issues.
E-Health evolution requires the following:
•    An increase in the availability of electronic services (e.g., Web-based services).
•    The endeavor for a better quality of (continue reading...)