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Last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued the final rule defining “Meaningful Use” for electronic health records (EHRs). Unfortunately, the definition does little to address concerns about the protection of personal health information and provides no guidance on the requirements to securely access electronic medical records.

Yesterday the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee amended and passed S.3480: Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010. Cyber attacks on our information technology networks and critical infrastructure are one of the greatest threats our country faces, potentially impacting the energy supply, financial services and communication systems.  S.3480 ventures to reduce the risk of such debilitating attacks.

Yesterday the Senate unanimously voted to designate the week of June 14, 2010 as National Health Information Technology Week. During this coming week Congress will endeavor to acknowledge the many benefits that Health IT (HIT) can bring to patients, healthcare providers and our medical system.  As part of National Health Information Technology Week the Secure ID Coalition calls on Health & Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to require identity authentication in order to access electronic medical records, and personal health information.

2010 may be remembered as the year Chip and PIN payment cards came to America. With five days still left in May, two important events happened to change the payment industry in the U.S. forever.

On Wednesday, the Smart Card Alliance announced the winners of the prestigious “Outstanding Smart Card Achievement” Awards (“OSCA”).  At the event, Kelli Emerick, Executive Director of the Secure ID Coalition, was awarded the OSCA for Outstanding Individual Leadership Award in recognition of her dedication to improving privacy and security for Americans.

On Monday, the Smart Card Alliance released a White Paper that outlines the benefits of upgrading Social Security cards to include a biometric identifier.