Privacy and security of protected health information

The transforming U.S. health care system is producing an immense volume of information, and much rides upon that information’s availability, integrity, and confidentiality.

Implementing new care models, health insurance models, and structures/processes such as insurance exchanges, value-based payment systems, population health management, and personalized therapeutics requires meticulous management of vast quantities of personal information. This information is drawn from many disparate sources and delivered electronically to recipients including clinicians, insurers, and patients, generating attendant risk issues. In addition, mobile health, or mHealth, technologies and permeable boundaries among existing and new entrants in the health ecosystem increase the complexity of managing protected health information (PHI) and compound an already challenging issue for industry stakeholders