Executive Director’s Message
by Paul Kurtz, CSIA Executive Director
The holidays are upon us, and Congress will be working long hours to tie up loose ends before the year's end. CSIA has focused our efforts this past month on some key items that Congress is currently working through, particularly data breach notification and spyware legislation.
These two issues have been on the Congressional agenda for some time now, and they continue to receive considerable attention from Members, consumers, and the private sector. Industry, consumer advocacy groups and other organizations have shifted into high gear, as we all prepare for last minutes changes and floor votes. Given the rash of data breaches this year, and the heightened awareness of the harms of spyware and identity theft, CSIA anticipates heavy debate on these issues within the next few months, with possible passage of final laws in the first half of 2006.
| On
December 13, |
Another high profile issue that CSIA is tracking closely
is health
information technology and the push for an
electronic health
records system. The President’s initiative
to move to an EHR system is being met with a range of
bills from Congress, many of which
include provisions
to secure personal health information. We
explore the
challenges we face in Health IT and how industry is
working with government to move to a seamless, secure
system.
Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut weighs in on
the issue as
well. As sponsor of S. 1223, the Information
Technology for Health
Care Quality Act, which works to
improve the quality and efficiency
of health care delivery
through improvements in health care
information technology,
Senator Dodd has taken an active interest
advocating for
health IT. He gives us his perspective on the
importance
of a secure health IT system and how we can progress in
the field of healthcare.
And finally, we hear from CSIA member firm Citrix, which has identified some of the problem areas in securing health IT, established a vision of successful and secure access, and offers its own technological solutions.