A working group is being formed by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) to further its mission to improve security in the healthcare industry.
The group, called the Health Information Technology and Medical Device Integrity and Security Program, will feature health IT vendors, medical device makers and health information systems users, according to an announcement.
"The benefits in terms of effectiveness and efficiencies to industry from this group will be both short and long term, from better requirements and guidance to timely and consistent vulnerability reporting and disclosure, to name a few," Daniel Nutkis, CEO of HITRUST, said in the announcement.
The group's members will work with people in the industry to enhance communication, address concerns over security and reliability of health IT systems, raise awareness of the users' role, and increase public trust in the industry. In addition, they will develop a framework to help avoid and report vulnerabilities, among other tasks.
There also will be a steering committee to oversee the working group. Some of the members include: Karl Stubelis, vice president of Athenahealth; Pamela Arora, senior VP and CIO at Children's Medical Center in Dallas; Carl Dvorak, president of Epic Systems Corporation; and Nutkis. Announcement