Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FTC Sends Message On Patient Data Protection With $250,000 Settlement
The Federal Trade Commission has sent a clear message that it will come after health information technology vendors that don't provide the data security they promise to their customers. The FTC this week zeroed in on Henry Schein Practice Solutions, the health IT arm of publicly traded Henry Schein, Melville, N.Y., a global supplier of products and services to dental, medical and animal health providers. According to the FTC, the company agreed to pay a $250,000 settlement over allegations that it “falsely advertised the level of encryption it provided to protect patient data” on its Dentrix G5 dental office practice management software. (Conn, 1/7)
Political and business leaders on Thursday launched a partnership to create a digital health care hub in Massachusetts, in the hopes of cornering an estimated $32 billion market. The goal is to create an environment that will foster and attract companies which use information technology to improve health care, from electronic health records to wearable monitoring devices to software that tracks and crunches huge amounts of patient data. (Dayal McCluskey and Fernandes, 1/7)
