ID Experts®, the leader in comprehensive data breach solutions that deliver the most positive outcomes, announced the first data breach solution for healthcare organizations that protects affected patients from medical identity theft.
According to HIMSS Analytics, more than 50 percent of large hospitals had at least one data breach event in 2009. The passing of the Healthcare Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) has now raised the data breach notification obligations for healthcare organizations – both HIPAA covered entities like hospitals and insurance companies – and their business associates. In fact, beginning February 18, 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will begin conducting mandatory audits and enforcing monetary penalties of entities to ensure breach accountability. The ID Experts Healthcare Breach Solution addresses these specific data breach and privacy requirements.
"Data breaches in healthcare are growing rapidly due to the expansion of personal health records systems and the difficulty in containing the protected health information (PHI) of patients," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder and president of The Ponemon Institute. "ID Experts is focusing its efforts to ensure that the patients affected by data breaches are protected from medical identity theft."
The ID Experts Healthcare Breach Solution provides a comprehensive approach for healthcare organizations with data breach prevention, preparedness, remediation and compliance. This new solution includes both protection and monitoring designed specifically for patients that are affected by data breach incidents to avoid medical identity theft. It includes and combines:
- CyberScan™, a cybermonitoring capability that searches criminal sites where PHI is bought and sold
- Healthcare Identity Protection Toolkit™, a proprietary checklist, set of tools and resources that assist individuals in detecting health insurance fraud and protecting themselves from medical identity theft
- Credit monitoring to detect financial identity theft issues
- Identity theft reimbursement insurance to cover out-of-pocket expenses
- Fully-managed identity theft restoration services that handle all aspects of recovering a victim's identity from financial and medical fraud.
"As the leader in comprehensive data breach solutions for healthcare, ID Experts is focused on providing customized offerings that ensure patient privacy and peace of mind," said Bob Gregg, CEO of ID Experts. "We have created resources, such as our Healthcare Identity Protection Toolkit that will position us to lead the charge in addressing the long term issues associated with medical identity theft."
About ID Experts
ID Experts is the leader in comprehensive data breach solutions that deliver the most positive outcomes. The company has managed hundreds of data breach incidents, protecting millions of affected individuals, for leading healthcare organizations, corporations, financial institutions, universities and government agencies. In healthcare, the company contributes to relevant legislation and rules including HITECH and is a corporate member of HIMSS. ID Experts is active with organizations that advocate for privacy for Americans including ANSI/Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Management Standards Panel and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
For more information, visit http://www.idexpertscorp.com/ .
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Kelly Stremel
MacKenzie Marketing Group
503-225-0725
kellys@mackenzie-marketing.com