ID Experts Launches RADAR™ 2.0 to Help Healthcare Organizations Simplify Compliance with Federal HITECH and State Data Breach Laws

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare has become one of the most-breached industries, placing hospitals, clinics and health plans under scrutiny of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and State Attorneys General (AG). To help healthcare organizations navigate the maze of inconsistent federal and 46 states' different patient privacy laws, ID Experts announced RADAR 2.0 today—a patent pending, web-based software tool—to help standardize, centralize and simplify the assessment, documentation and reporting process of privacy or security incidents involving personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI).

A key component of ID Experts data breach preparedness and response services, endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), RADAR 2.0 helps healthcare covered entities achieve compliance with federal and states' privacy and breach notification regulations and provides guidance for notification obligations. With its information repository, users can organize and easily retrieve incident details and all corresponding documentation in the event of an OCR audit or investigation. Information and a video are available at http://www2.idexpertscorp.com/RADAR

"Our patients' health and well-being are of utmost importance to us. So is the security and privacy of their medical information," said Dr. Cris V. Ewell, chief information security officer at Seattle Children's Hospital. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report placed Seattle Children's Hospital among the nation's top children's hospitals list for the 19th consecutive year. "RADAR gives us a consistent, efficient, and affordable incident management solution that scales and can grow with our business needs."

RADAR: Risk Assessment Documentation and Reporting Simplified

Features and benefits of RADAR 2.0:

• Meets federal and state risk assessment and reporting requirements for privacy, security and data breach incidents; provides incident response plan including a HHS report when notification is expected
• Intuitive risk assessment and documentation process with embedded knowledge of federal and states breach notification rules, making reporting consistent and streamlined
• Common repository for all privacy and security incidents and incident-related attachments such as notes, reports, remediation plans and checklists that can be easily retrieved for OCR, state, and internal investigations
• Proprietary risk assessment with flexibility to handle each incident uniquely based on incident context, internal policies, and privacy office and counsel input
• Secure and scalable with role-based access controls to meet the needs of stand-alone and large integrated healthcare systems and health plans; ability for multiple users to collaborate

"We created a highly intuitive tool to help healthcare organizations manage complex regulatory requirements," said Mahmood Sher-Jan, vice president, product management, at ID Experts. "The majority of states have enacted their own breach notification laws, making it challenging for a privacy or compliance officer to keep up with this inconsistent matrix of laws. RADAR unifies all of the federal and states' breach notification guidelines to enable and simplify compliance."

About ID Experts
ID Experts is the leader in comprehensive data breach solutions that deliver the most positive outcomes. The company has managed hundreds of data breach incidents, protecting millions of affected individuals, for leading healthcare organizations, corporations, financial institutions, universities and government agencies. In healthcare, the company contributes to relevant legislation and rules including HITECH and is a corporate member of HIMSS. ID Experts data breach preparedness and response services have been endorsed by the American Hospital Association. ID Experts is active with organizations that advocate for privacy for Americans including ANSI/Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Management Standards Panel and the International Association of Privacy Professionals. For more information, visit http://www2.idexpertscorp.com/; join in the All Things HITECH discussion via LinkedIn at bit.ly/AllThingsHITECH; and follow ID Experts on Twitter @IDExperts.

About the AHA
The American Hospital Association is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes nearly 5,000 hospitals and health care systems, networks, and other providers of care, and 42,000 individuals. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit www.aha.org.

About AHA Solutions
AHA Solutions, Inc. is a resource to hospitals pursuing operational excellence. As an American Hospital Association (AHA) member service, AHA Solutions collaborates with hospital leaders and market consultants to conduct the proprietary AHA Signature Due Diligence Process™ and identify solutions to hospital challenges in the areas of care continuum, cultural transformation, clinical integration and financial sustainability. AHA Solutions provides related marketplace analytics and education to support product decision-making, and convenes hospital executives for knowledge sharing centered on timely information and research. AHA Solutions is proud to reinvest its profits in the AHA mission: creating healthier communities. For more information, contact AHA Solutions at 800.242.4677 or visit www.aha-solutions.org.

Media Contact:
Kelly Stremel                        
MacKenzie Marketing Group for ID Experts                                             
503-225-0725                                                                      
[email protected]

Marie Watteau, Director Media Relations
American Hospital Association:
202.626.2351           
[email protected]

SOURCE ID Experts