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If you want to know how well a health system is protecting against cybercrime, you would have better luck talking to the criminals…IT executives…in the healthcare industry – aren't doing a good job keeping the enterprise up to date on cyber threats, and that those looking to steal and make a profit from health information are much more informed… five tips for fighting cybercrime:

1. Network segmentation: Make sure only those who need to see sensitive information have access privileges
2. Dedicated incident response team: Set up a chain of command in the event of a breach, with roles clearly defined. In short, expect a breach, and plan accordingly
3. Teach with breaches: Show staff what happens when a breach occurs, reviewing how other breaches have occurred and how they could have been avoided, so they're dealing with concrete examples rather than invented scenarios
4. Drill your breach response: Practice often, so staff instinctively know what to do if/when something happens
5. Include partners: With reports indicating as many as one-third of all healthcare data breaches are caused by vendors, it's wise to invite them and all others to the party

Pharmacies can more easily manage their patients on medication synchronization...PrescribeWellness …launched StarWellness+, an add-on service to PrescribeWellness’ popular Med Sync software, StarWellness…empowers pharmacies…to streamline their workflow for patients enrolled in medication synchronization….the pharmacist can push synced medications into the workflow queue of virtually any pharmacy management system… will help them expand their med sync offering and improve adherence with hundreds of their patients…

A Facebook page can be a useful tool for cultivating patient loyalty, promoting pharmacy services, and educating patients. Pharmacists who want to increase engagement on their pharmacy’s Facebook page should follow these tips:

1. Maintain a Steady Flow of Content
2. Use Photos and Call to Actions
3. Respond to Questions or Comments
4. Track Your Facebook Analytics
5. Target Your Content
6. Pay for More Eyeballs
7. Refrain from Posting Negative Content

Apple stirred a long-simmering controversy into a raging debate:… ad blocking in its newest operating system…ad blocking technology is not new, Apple's considerable mainstream influence had publishers scrambling and advertisers worried… Pharma companies are affected mechanically in much the same way all advertisers are…ad blockers could have some specific effects for pharma. Some pharma companies,… rely more heavily on digital advertising than other media placements, especially for marketing smaller-reach specialized drugs...

ICD-10 go live date came and went...with many organizations reporting small, if any, hiccups. One of those...was Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center…with CIO John Halamka,.. reporting on his team's first few days…other than a few small refinements, the impact has been unnoticeable…financial system is able to process both ICD-9 and ICD-10 to support patients who were admitted on 9/30 and discharged on 10/1…scorecard listed only five minor issues...which our local teams…were able to…quickly close…thanks to all involved in this extremely smooth go live…Our next steps will be monitoring the coding of the initial inpatient cases and payer submissions along with watching reimbursements over the next 60 days.

It's October 1, 2015, the ICD-10 diagnostic code set is live at last, and medical professionals now have nearly 70,000 codes to choose from when filing patient claims…Healthcare IT News and sister site Healthcare Finance will be reporting on the changeover throughout the day, using the live blog below to highlight the latest news, real-time reactions and frequent updates from our cadre of volunteer ICD-10 correspondents, a group of healthcare insiders who have agreed to keep us posted on what they're seeing post-switchover.

Medical practices across the U.S. are now spending a lot more on technology this year, up nearly 34 percent from four years ago,…"As technology continues to evolve, medical practices must likewise also evolve,…"The way patients ask for and receive care is changing. The increased use of technology can improve the quality of patient care by improving records management, optimizing workflow and meeting HIPAA compliancy requirements."

Government Accountability Office details five barriers to interoperability, while at the same time raising criticism by a former ONC official, who calls the GAO report "incomplete."..GAO delved into interoperability at the request of Congressional leaders who asked the watchdog to report on the status of efforts by entities other than the federal government to develop infrastructure that could lead to nationwide interoperability of health information…most of these initiatives remain works in progress…GAO identified five stubborn barriers to interoperability..

1. Insufficiencies in health data standards
2. Variation in state privacy rules
3. Difficulty in accurately matching all the right records to the right patient
4. The costs involved in achieving the goals
5. The need for governance and trust among entities to facilitate sharing health information

Independent pharmacies will want to consider updating their credit card processing terminals to accept EMV chip cards this fall…Named after their original developers (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa), EMV cards have a small, metallic square on the front of the card that serves as a microprocessor to store data securely, making the cards nearly impossible to counterfeit…starting October 1...the liability for credit card fraud will shift from banks to stores that are not EMV compliant…liability will shift to "whichever party is the least EMV-complaint in certain fraudulent transactions...

If you're looking for trends in cyber-crime, it's best to follow the money…Healthcare information is being exposed in more places every day, creating new risks for patients, providers, payers, and other organizations…medical devices…are already being hacked, a trend that is alarming hospitals and other healthcare organizations…these devices are being hacked to unlock portals into larger medical systems and steal protected health information… economics of cyber-crime,..stolen medical identities can bring in many times the price of a stolen credit card number.