Podcasts Technology Healthcare Information Security Podcast Dixie Baker: Four Top HITECH Tips

Dixie Baker: Four Top HITECH Tips

Published: Jan. 25, 2010, 9:30 p.m.

b'One of the nation\'s best-known healthcare data security experts who\'s advising federal regulators on policy issues offers advice to organizations preparing to comply with the data breach notification requirements of the HITECH Act.\\n\\n

In an interview, Dixie Baker of SAIC advises hospitals and others to:\\n\\n

Study how the HITECH Act, and the interim final rule on breach notification, precisely define what constitutes a data breach;
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Consider encrypting more information to protect against breaches;
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Implement detailed processes for notifying affected individuals and federal regulators about a breach; and
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Train all staff members about how to avoid a breach, how to recognize one and what do if one should occur.
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Baker is senior vice president and chief technology officer for health and life sciences at Science Applications International Corp., a McLean, Va.-based scientific, engineering and technology applications company. \\n\\n

The consultant has played a key role in the federal government\'s efforts to set policies and standards for healthcare data security. She chairs the privacy and security workgroup of the Health Information Technology Standards Committee. She\'s also a member of the full committee, as well as the privacy and security workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee. \\n\\n

These federal advisory bodies make recommendations to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The recommendations are used to create standards for electronic health records under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payment program, as funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.\\n\\n

Baker, who holds a PhD in education research and methodologies from University of Southern California, has been with SAIC since 1995.'