Blog

Risks of ‘Black Box’ Machine Learning in Compliance and Privacy Programs

November 5th, 2018

Recent machine learning advances have the potential to revolutionize patient care through better clinical risk prediction and precision medicine. Rightfully so, the compliance and privacy communities are adapting these machine learning…

Often Forgotten Risk to Patient Data

October 31st, 2018

Academic medical centers and health systems with large research groups present unique challenges for EMR access monitoring programs, according to a recent talk by Dr. Daniel Fabbri, Founder and CEO of Maize Analytics. Dr. Fabbri, also an Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics and Computer Sciences at Vanderbilt University, spoke on balancing the need to provide electronic […]

Passwords Aren’t Protecting EMR Data

October 23rd, 2018

Many healthcare systems rely on user IDs and passwords to control access to electronic medical records (EMR). These safeguards can help protect sensitive patient data. Unfortunately, many healthcare workers share passwords. In one study, 73% of healthcare workers reported obtaining another staff member’s login credentials. Respondents estimated that this security breach occurred 4-5 times. Most […]

Three Essential Elements of the Compliance Toolkit

October 15th, 2018

Compliance officers regularly navigate one of the most complex systems in our country—health care. To protect patient privacy, they are charged with creating (and enforcing!) policies that align with changing regulations, while juggling practical limitations at their own facility. There are many resources available to help compliance teams develop effective programs. The Office of Inspector […]

Thoughtfully Connecting EMRs

October 1st, 2018

One of the largest EMR vendors in the country is expanding its services. Epic Systems recently launched “One Virtual System Worldwide,” an initiative to help connect EMRs across institutions. The multifaceted platform helps customers go beyond simply viewing patient data at …

The Journey to Automated Privacy Auditing

September 21st, 2018

At OHIMA, Maize Analytics and Nationwide Children’s Hospital presented “The Journey to Automated Privacy Auditing”. Interested in viewing the presentation? Contact us and we can send the presentation over to you…

Beyond User Behavior Analytics

September 12th, 2018

What is beyond user behavior analytics? Explanation-Based Auditing: A system that learns why each access event occurs. If no reason is found, it is suspicious and prioritized for review. Learn how healthcare systems are automatically filtering over 99% of the access log. Maize Approach

SIEM to PIEM: Privacy Information and Event Management Systems

September 4th, 2018

Some in the privacy community have looked to their security counterparts to adapt SIEM tools to the challenges of protecting patient data. However, there are stark differences between network monitoring and EMR access auditing.

Is Accuracy a Fair Metric to Evaluate EMR Auditing Systems?

August 29th, 2018

There has been a lot of talk about new EMR access monitoring systems. These systems leverage various types of machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to identify and rank suspicious behavior. However, parsing their claims is often difficult for two primary reasons: (i) there is no shared data set to evaluate these methods, and (ii) […]

Steps for Effectively Monitoring Researchers’ EMR Accesses

August 17th, 2018

Clinical researchers require access to electronic medical records (EMR) for chart review. However, ensuring that researchers do not overstep and access data not associated with a research study is challenging. See the steps at: http://complianceandethics.org/steps-effectively-monitoring-researchers-emr-accesses/

EMR Access Monitoring: Can users circumvent detection by clicking more?

August 6th, 2018

Monitoring and auditing ePHI have long been associated with tedious manual workflows. Privacy monitoring platforms can reduce the time an auditor spends combing through data while increasing their efficacy in catching suspicious…

Empowering Compliance Officers With Technology

July 31st, 2018

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence technology are improving medical data privacy and security every day. New technologies promise increased efficiency, improved accuracy, and better risk management. But to fully realize the…