Securing Health Information

Healthcare in the digital age is undergoing an IT revolution. In the US, spurred by legislation such as the Health Information Technology and Economics Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, electronic health records (EHR) adoption has dramatically increased. Meanwhile, enabled by mobile devices and ubiquitous networks, patients and physicians interact with health information in novel ways. Given health information's sensitive nature, however, a cautious approach to IT integration is warranted to ensure that patients' sensitive information is protected. Although health information security is of great interest in both academia and practice, relatively little scholarship has examined the security implications of the behavior of those who actually use IT in the healthcare sector. To stimulate this important discussion, the authors briefly describe the changing landscape of an IT-enabled healthcare ecosystem and discuss the emerging issues of mobility and security. This article is part of a special issue on IT security.