Data Management

Harness Your Clinical & Administrative Data

Data Sheet: Industry Perspectives Healthcare
Regulatory changes and technological advancements are transforming the delivery of healthcare, for the benefit of all. More and more healthcare providers are now relying on electronic health records (EHRs) to support care delivery, enabling them to easily share patient information between healthcare organizations, physicians, insurance companies, and others. Driven by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, EHRs make access to data immediate, thereby enhancing patient care and making treatment more accurate, timely, and efficient. Pro Protecting tecting Data However, the move to EHRs is also creating massive amounts of informationdata that must be effectively managed, stored, and protected. As more and more data is stored and transmitted electronically, concerns about that data being compromised are growing. Breachesaccidental or otherwiseof electronic health records are a costly affair, both literally and figuratively. They can cost an organization millions of dollars in fines and legal costs, and the damage to public perception can be profound. Practitioners need a secure way to transfer and access sensitive information such as patient records. Data centers must have the architectures in place to meet the need for confidentiality and integrity, while also assuring business continuity and disaster recovery. Leveraging Inf Information ormation In addition to meeting security and storage needs, providers are thinking about how to leverage their data to support and improve healthcare delivery, particularly since hospital reimbursements are increasingly being tied to quality metrics and patient outcomes under the Accountable Care Act. Providers can gain value and insight and also improve financial outcomes if they can use clinical, financial, and other data to create efficiencies in their operational workflow. However, with hospitals already potentially grappling with petabytes of spinning disk storage and massive amounts of disparate data stores, effectively harnessing this data is a daunting challengeone that will only increase as the amount of patient data continues to grow. And grow it will. According to a recent report from digital health consultancy DrBonnie360, there is currently an estimated 50 petabytes of data in the healthcare realm. That number is predicted to increase, by a factor of 50, to a whopping 25,000 petabytes by 2020 . Data Management Bes Best t Practices Healthcare organizations must design, build, and maintain complex infrastructures to manage, and leverage, the avalanche of data that is coming. To tackle this formidable task and stay in control of databases, applications, and storage, IT teams need comprehensive data management, including: Contingenc Contingency y Planning A comprehensive business continuity contingency plan is imperative. Yours should include a data backup plan, a disaster recovery plan, an emergency mode operation plan, testing and revision procedures, and applications and data criticality analysis. In addition, healthcare organizations facing complex IT risk and compliance challenges need a solid framework on which to build an IT governance, risk, and compliance program. To improve overall security and compliance, providers must communicate IT risk in business-relevant terms, prioritize remediation and recovery efforts based on a composite view of risk, and automate assessment processes. Device and Media Controls As a best practice, hospitals and providers may wish to consider maintaining accountability for all hardware and electronic media, including monitoring device usage and file
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Data Sheet: Industry Perspectives Healthcare Data Management

transfer activity; controlling access to ports, devices, and wireless networks; and restricting users ability to copy protected information to removable media. They must also implement methods for final disposal of ePHI (electronic protected health information) and procedures for reuse of electronic media. Access Control Its critical to control network, datacenter, and information access. For network access, youll want to monitor which hardware devices are permitted to access your network resources. Implementing automated network protection controls improves threat monitoring and reduces the administrative burden of protecting endpoints against unauthorized devices. In addition, data center access must be managed. Youll want to standardize and automate data center management across distributed infrastructures, including establishing an emergency access procedure. Finally, information access can be handled via and encryption and decryption technologies. Transmission Securit Security y Protecting laptops, desktops, endpoints, email, mobile, and data in the cloud is essential. Encryption solutions enable providers to protect data in virtual, physical and cloud environments with 24/7 monitoring and unmatched backup and disaster recovery across platforms and locations including implement encryption. Look for standards-based technology, centralized policy management, compliancebased reporting, and universal management. Data Archiving and eDiscover eDiscovery y Providers need a way to store, manage, and discover unstructured information across the organization. Integrated content archiving enables users to do just this. A good solution can optimize storage utilization across platforms and operating systems and maximize storage efficiency, availability, and performance across operating systems while minimizing cost. Further, eDiscovery allows providers to establish policies to classify and retain electronically stored information and search that information to efficiently identify relevant content in response to litigation or an investigation. Symantec Data Management Solutions Patient data has the potential to improve quality of care and service, support patient growth, and enhance business agility. The right technology partner can make a vital difference between whether your data represents a valuable opportunity, or an Achilles heel. Symantec can help you harness your clinical and administrative data and ensure it is managed, protected, and stored efficiently and effectively. Let us help you securely manage your patient and business data, share it enterprise-wide, and gain efficiencies through cloud solutions and virtualization. More Information Visit our website www.symantec.com/healthcare To speak with a Product Specialist in the U.S. Call toll-free 1 (800) 745 6054 About Symantec Symantecs healthcare software solutions provide security, data loss prevention, HIPAA compliance automation, business continuity, storage and infrastructure management designed to assist healthcare organizations in protecting their businesscritical systems and sensitive data. The worlds leader in security helps prevent loss of healthcare data without impacting clinical workflows, while maintaining secure 24x7 operation of critical IT systems and protecting against malware. Symantec World Headquarters 350 Ellis St. | Mountain View, CA 94043 USA +1 (650) 527 8000 | 1 (800) 721 3934 | www.symantec.com

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