Health IT and security worries go hand in hand

By Erin Lawley Posted on January 21, 2010 at 8:58 am

The inevitable issue of privacy and data security was raised several times at yesterday’s health information technology panel. Though IT and personal health records will likely help providers deliver better care, there is concern about stolen information or even, as Perot Systems’ Harry Greenspun pointed out, sharing information with your provider that you might not want them to know.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Nashville’s celebrated guest yesterday, pointed out that people care about privacy in very proscribed ways. People are willing to divulge more information if they think they’ll get better service or, in this case, care. “If you pay me, I’ll let you watch anything I do on the Internet,” he joked.

Glen Tullman of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions noted that, in the end, the focus should be on saving lives and providing better care. Besides, he said, hackers find health care “boring,” with the number of hackers trying to enter health systems roughly 10 percent of the attempts on financial systems.

Though the health care field is challenging in the privacy and compliance regard, Ballmer said he thinks there will be a lot of innovative tools created around how to help people navigate and express the information they want to see and share.

“The time is now because technology lets us do things we couldn’t do,” he said. “There really are advances … that actually will help our platform for enabling some of the innovation that will deal with some of the fundamental industry structure challenges. So I’m optimistic not only because now’s the time, that money is coming, the national debate has been engaged, but now is the time our industry may be able to step up with some enabling factors that could make an even bigger difference.”

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Tags: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, data security, Glen Tullman, Harry Greenspun, information security, information technology: health care, Microsoft Corp., Nashville Health Care Council, Steve Ballmer  

Best of Ballmer in Nashville

By Erin Lawley Posted on January 20, 2010 at 3:04 pm

Unfortunately, not everything Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at his Tech Council and Health Care Council appearances today could fit into one story. But there were some gems worth mentioning, such as this likening of Microsoft search engine Bing to the children’s book The Little Engine that Could:

“I don’t know how many folks have read to their children or read a book called The Little Engine that Could. It’s about a little blue engine that’s chugging up this hill. It’s a huge hill and it’s a little engine. And vroom it just keeps coming and coming and finally, I think I can, it’s on the top of this hill.”

He paused for effect.

“If you haven’t read it, it’s a really dramatic book.”

And Bing is the search engine that thinks it can.
Read more

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Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, information technology, information technology: health care, Microsoft Corp., Nashville Health Care Council, Nashville Technology Council, Steve Ballmer  

Ballmer’s busy day in Nashville

By Erin Lawley Posted on November 19, 2009 at 7:50 am

If you’re not in on the Tech Council’s Jan. 20 membership breakfast featuring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, not to fear. The Nashville Health Care Council is taking advantage of the high-profile visit by scheduling some face time with Ballmer for its own members in the form of a panel discussion on health care IT. Though it will likely be a lunch event, the time and location are still being finalized.

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Tags: information technology, information technology: health care, Microsoft Corp., Nashville Health Care Council, Nashville Technology Council, Steve Ballmer, technology