The upcoming HIMSS 2017 Health IT Conference and Exhibition will take place from Feb. 19 to 23 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. For readers who have never attended, the HIMSS Conference is the industry’s largest health IT educational program and exhibition center.

Each year, thousands of health IT professionals from around the world gather to network, discover and showcase cutting-edge technologies and services. The high level of energy on the exhibitor floor and plethora of speaking events to choose from make HIMSS one of the most anticipated conferences the industry has to offer.

HIMSS Conference Event Details

This year’s keynote speakers include:

• Ginni Rometty, chairwoman and CEO of IBM;
• John Boehner, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives;
• Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania;
• Robert Herjavec, cybersecurity expert, entrepreneur and regular panel member on ABC’s “Shark Tank;” and
• Kevin O’Leary, investor and regular panel member on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”

IBM Security will have a large presence at HIMSS17, with three separate booth locations:

1. IBM Main Booth (Ped No. 17): Advance Your Privacy & Security Immune System;
2. IBM Cybersecurity Kiosk: Booth No. 367, Kiosk No. 41; and
3. Connected Health Kiosk: Booth No. 721, Kiosk No. 7.

Attendees are encouraged to stop by to see how IBM is transforming health care and helping organizations address security initiatives in 2017.

The Mobility Transformation in Health Care

The rapid growth of mobile technology has largely contributed to the transformation of health care in recent years. Prior to the adoption of smartphones and tablets, health care facilities were limited to bulky and expensive workstations, followed by laptops. Although laptops provided a more efficient experience, they are now being replaced with smaller, more affordable devices.

According to the IBM white paper “Mobility in Healthcare: Upholding Regulatory Compliance With HIPAA, HITECH and More,” access to patient data at anytime and from anywhere is becoming the norm within the fast-paced industry. Many doctors prefer to bring their own devices (BYOD) and maintain the same level of access to patient data as they would on a corporate-issued device or within their place of work.

These growing demands and expectations have led health care companies of all sizes to adopt a more agile mobile strategy. Doing so provides a vast number of benefits, such as reduced operational and asset costs, more effective patient care, decreased margin of error and increased staff productivity.

Industry Standards and Regulations

While the case for mobility in health care is solid for the reasons listed above, it does face some tough challenges in this highly regulated industry. The growing number of mobile devices and widespread BYOD culture is creating new security vulnerabilities.

According to the “2016 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey,” just “56.3 percent of acute care providers and 35.5 percent of non-acute care providers are deploying mobile device management. Assuming that the remainder populations are using mobile devices within their organizations, the lack of MDM presents a significant risk to organizations.”

With industry standards and regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), it is imperative that IT departments develop mobile policies for their employees. Failure to implement the necessary tools and safeguards, such as encryption, passcode protection and remote wiping capabilities, could result in very expensive infractions related to compromised electronic protected health information (ePHI).

Many of the top 10 most common HIPAA violations can be avoided by leveraging an enterprise mobility management (EMM) platform.

IBM Delivers on Mobility With MaaS360

IBM MaaS360 is an industry-leading EMM platform that allows organizations to secure ePHI on all devices connecting to their networks, comply with industry regulations and reduce the cost of managing mobile devices. Health care IT professionals can use the platform to:

• Push policies and Wi-Fi, email and VPN profiles over the air.
• Quarantine new devices automatically until authorized to access your network.
• Remotely wipe sensitive data from lost or stolen devices.
• Blacklist applications and block device access.
• Enforce passcode protection, encryption and security updates on all mobile devices.

MaaS360 can also integrate with third-party electronic medical record (EMR) and secure messaging applications, providing additional encryption.

If you plan to attend this year’s HIMSS Conference and Exhibition, be sure to make your way over to Booth No. 721, Kiosk No. 7 to learn more about MaaS360 and to schedule a portal demonstration tailored to your mobile environment. We are looking forward to showing you why thousands of customers trust MaaS360 as their EMM platform of choice.

Sign up for a free 30-day trial of IBM MaaS360