As part of the Obama administration's economic recovery package, $19B will be spent to help accelerate the implemention electronic medical records in physician offices. The goal is to curb costs and provide better care through the efficiency of electronic medical records.
A recent New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/business/01unbox.html?_r=1) cites a study in the New England Journal of Medicine indicating that currently only 17% of all medical practices use computerized medical records. In larger practices, use of electronic medical records is widespread, but over 75% of physicians practice in small offices with 10 or fewer providers. The new funds are good news for the smaller practices who may be eligible for up to $40,000 in funding to help implement electronic records.
For more information regarding the economic recovery program, go to http://www.recovery.gov/.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
MA Data Protection Law Extended AGAIN!
The deadline for compliance to the new Massachusetts Data Privacy legislation has been extended AGAIN to January 1, 2010. The original deadline was January 1, 2009. Last November, the deadline was extended to May 1, 2009, and just recently the deadline was extended again to January 1, 2010: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocapressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eoca&b=pressrelease&f=20090212_idtheft&csid=Eoca
There are no specific penalties for non compliance, but the door is opened for legal action by the state's attorney general. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021209-mass-data-privacy.html?page=1
We are advising our clients that if they are running an up to date computer infrastructure they are probably already in compliance for most items, and regardless of what the State does, these are good business practices to follow. In many cases only a few relatively small and inexpensive changes will needed for compliance. Its a bit frustrating that the news keeps changing from the State government, but protecting your critical business information makes business sense right now. What would you do if your laptop were stolen and someone had access to all your information? Encrypt your portable devices NOW and don't get caught up with all the political changes!
There are no specific penalties for non compliance, but the door is opened for legal action by the state's attorney general. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021209-mass-data-privacy.html?page=1
We are advising our clients that if they are running an up to date computer infrastructure they are probably already in compliance for most items, and regardless of what the State does, these are good business practices to follow. In many cases only a few relatively small and inexpensive changes will needed for compliance. Its a bit frustrating that the news keeps changing from the State government, but protecting your critical business information makes business sense right now. What would you do if your laptop were stolen and someone had access to all your information? Encrypt your portable devices NOW and don't get caught up with all the political changes!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP
Do you ever need work on your PC in two different windows and its a pain to switch back and forth? For example, you may have an instructional document in Microsoft Word, and you need to follow the instructions to do some work in a browser window or another application. Switching back and forth is easy if you know the keyboard shortcut: ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items). For a full list of keyboard shortcuts that will save you time, go to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301583. Take a few minutes to identify the shortcuts that will help you and memorize the ones that will save you time. You'll be glad you did!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
New Internet Worm Infects over 9 million PCs!
It took a while for hackers to get their attack ready, but now a new Internet Worm has infected an estimated 9 million PCs! Downadup -- which also goes by the name "Conficker" -- exploits a bug in the Windows Server service used by all the common Microsoft operating systems: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008. Although Microsoft fixed the flaw with one of its rare "out of cycle" patch releases on October 23, 2008, an estimated 1/3 of all PCs have not yet been patched, according to Qualys, an Internet security company.
The Microsoft patch is available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx.
Symantec has a removal tool posted on their web site: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-011316-0247-99
The Microsoft patch is available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx.
Symantec has a removal tool posted on their web site: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-011316-0247-99
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Computer Slow? - Defragment Your Disk Drive
Is your computer slow? One thing to you can do yourself that's free and easy is to degragment the hard drive.
After a while, the hard drive on your computer starts to get full and cluttered. Without even being aware of it, we are constantly adding things to our systems - eMail keeps coming in, we install new programs, we try trial-versions of programs, and we keep creating documents and drafts. When the storage space on your system starts to get full, your drive will actually be quite cluttered. Sure, there is free space, but its in bits and pieces and very inefficient.
To degragment your drive (in Windows XP):
1. Go to "Start" and select "My Computer"
2. Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
3. On the Tools tab, click "Defragment Now"
If you haven't done this in a long time, it will take hours, so choose a time when you don't need your system. When the process is complete, you'll see a graphical display of how much space was re-organized. This will really help your system work more efficiently, and its free!
After a while, the hard drive on your computer starts to get full and cluttered. Without even being aware of it, we are constantly adding things to our systems - eMail keeps coming in, we install new programs, we try trial-versions of programs, and we keep creating documents and drafts. When the storage space on your system starts to get full, your drive will actually be quite cluttered. Sure, there is free space, but its in bits and pieces and very inefficient.
To degragment your drive (in Windows XP):
1. Go to "Start" and select "My Computer"
2. Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
3. On the Tools tab, click "Defragment Now"
If you haven't done this in a long time, it will take hours, so choose a time when you don't need your system. When the process is complete, you'll see a graphical display of how much space was re-organized. This will really help your system work more efficiently, and its free!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
MA Data Protection Law - Deadline Extended to May 1, 2009
The new law will affect just about all businesses in Massachusetts: 201 CMR 17.00: Standards for The Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth. The good news is that the General Compliance Deadline has been extended from January 1, 2009 to May 1, 2009.
The regulation states that "Every person that owns, licenses, stores or maintains personal information about a resident of the Commonwealth shall develop, implement, maintain and monitor a comprehensive, written information security program applicable to any records containing such personal information. Such comprehensive information security program shall be reasonably consistent with industry standards, and shall contain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of such records".
"Personal information" is defined as: "(a) Social Security number; (b) driver's license number or state-issued identification card number; or (c) financial account number, or credit or debit card number."
"Person," is defined as: "a natural person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity, other than an agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the Commonwealth, or any of its branches, or any political subdivision thereof."
Basically, this regulation applies to every business in Massachusetts.
In November, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation issued a
press release announcing an extension of the deadline:- The general compliance deadline has been extended from January 1, 2009 to May 1, 2009
- The deadline for requiring written certification from third-party providers will be further extended to January 1, 2010
- The deadline for ensuring encryption of portable devices (other than laptops) has been further extended to January 1, 2010.
This gives all businesses some more time to comply.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
New Protection of Information Law goes into effect January 1, 2009
New Protection of Information Law goes into effect January 1, 2009:
A new law is going into effect January 1, 2009 that will affect just about all businesses in Massachusetts.: 201 CMR 17.00: Standards for The Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocamodulechunk&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=idtheft_201cmr17&csid=Eoca
Basically, every business with employees and every business that accepts credit card payments will be effected (this essentially includes ALL businesses). The regulation states that “Every person that owns, licenses, stores or maintains personal information about a resident of the Commonwealth shall develop, implement, maintain and monitor a comprehensive, written information security program applicable to any records containing such personal information. Such comprehensive information security program shall be reasonably consistent with industry standards, and shall contain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of such records”. We’ll be working with clients over the next two months to help as needed. For technology, the general things businesses need is to have a network firewall, encryption of wireless networks, strong password protection of networks and systems, and encryption of personal identifiable information.
A new law is going into effect January 1, 2009 that will affect just about all businesses in Massachusetts.: 201 CMR 17.00: Standards for The Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocamodulechunk&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=idtheft_201cmr17&csid=Eoca
Basically, every business with employees and every business that accepts credit card payments will be effected (this essentially includes ALL businesses). The regulation states that “Every person that owns, licenses, stores or maintains personal information about a resident of the Commonwealth shall develop, implement, maintain and monitor a comprehensive, written information security program applicable to any records containing such personal information. Such comprehensive information security program shall be reasonably consistent with industry standards, and shall contain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of such records”. We’ll be working with clients over the next two months to help as needed. For technology, the general things businesses need is to have a network firewall, encryption of wireless networks, strong password protection of networks and systems, and encryption of personal identifiable information.
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