Verizon introduces two new capabilities designed to help safeguard the growing exchange of electronic patient data between hospitals, clinics, physicians, insurers and patients.
The company claims that the first offering, Verizon Security Management Program-Health Care (SMP-H), enables health care organizations to proactively assess the strength of security measures and practices. It also helps organizations through an easy-to-use online dashboard, track security efforts against federal and industry-specific security guidelines (such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
The second offering is a suite of IT consulting services that help health care providers design and implement safe security practices for sharing information and storing data. The new consulting capabilities include assessment, review, validation and certification services based on the Common Security Framework, a set of industry security standards developed by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST). The alliance is a consortium of health care, business, technology and information security organizations created to spur the electronic flow of information throughout the health care system.
Verizon’s two new capabilities are available immediately to domestic health care organizations, as well as global multinational corporations with operations in the US.