NetApp eases health IT privacy concerns for government

Members of Congress and other government officials converged on the nation’s capitol last week to call for the swift passage of legislation that would help facilitate the adoption healthcare IT and to discuss patient privacy concerns for secure healthcare IT.

During a press conference, sponsored by the Health IT Now! Coalition, officials, including U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., discussed the importance of passing health IT legislation in the House and Senate, and the benefits for patients, healthcare consumers and health practitioners.

“Encouraging standards for interoperability is at the core of this legislation so that investments can be made in healthcare IT that are sustainable over time and with some assurance,” said Bill Olson, vice president of NetApp, told Health Imaging News. "By driving interoperable standards in healthcare IT and also requiring the federal government to abide by those standards will help provide certainty and security for our customers and their patients.”

NetApp, a data storage and management company, was on Capitol Hill to participate in a technology exhibition held after the press conference to facilitate the implementation of health IT by addressing privacy and security concerns.

Olson said the company’s goal is to provide a data management platform that has modular scalability, longevity and is open-standards protocol-based, whether there is legislation to support health IT interoperability or not, to ensure fast data access and easy integration with leading medical archive applications, he said.

"Hospitals, government, doctors, and most importantly, patients, need fast, reliable, and secure access to healthcare information," Olson added.  "NetApp has numerous healthcare customers around the world relying on our technology to help manage critical business and patient care needs.  The top challenges they face are exploding data volumes, obsolete proprietary technology, the need to integrate patient data across departments and systems, and compliance with regulatory requirements. "

Olson said that NetApp’s solutions comply with the SEC, HIPAA and EU Directive regulations aimed at protecting patient privacy and preventing specific data from being altered or deleted.

Around the web

Positron, a New York-based nuclear imaging company, will now provide Upbeat Cardiology Solutions with advanced PET/CT systems and services. 

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.