As October 1 Draws Closer, Experts Worry about Exchange Data Security

Most experts who have analyzed these websites, portals and their underlying technology feel that the information collecting system and database might require attention with regard to its security.

The elementary concept behind this information available on health insurance portals is a central pooling of information available across all the main information processing units of federal government, such as Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security and the IRS. When all this information is pooled together, it will be put in a federal data hub that would be pivotal for the operation of healthcare portals and health care software solution. Although there is a security system in place to protect the federal data hub, it has failed certification attempts twice and the next attempt is not planned until the data hub goes live. 

Top internet security experts around the country are unanimously voicing their concern over this inability of the data hub to implement impenetrable security. There is an unmitigated scope for data abuse and theft, and this should be a prime focus of the government in the coming weeks. Since the data hub is critical for the operation of the health exchanges, one can only imagine the chaos that could arise if the data hub was rendered useless due to hacker attacks.

In light of these concerns, several security authorities are putting their intelligence together. They are planning to implement some measures that cannot be circumvented and can be used to curtail hacker activity. While that happens, insurance payers can take some important steps at their end to add another measure of internet security. 
• Use Healthcare Software Solution with added security: If you are participating in the health insurance exchanges, you will require a healthcare software solution for meeting your integration needs. When you are selecting a vendor for this solution or building one in house, make sure that you look for an additional layer of security. This additional layer will keep your system safe and, should the federal data hub be compromised, protect you from the repercussions of the hacker attack.

• Integrate with Insurance Exchanges Securely: If you are working with federal authorities and not using your own health exchange, you will still have to integrate with the federally facilitated marketplace. Make sure that you choose a healthcare software sales solution that integrates with the system over secure channels and meets the internet security standards.

These strategies are going to serve as a base level security measure for your organization. However, the central federal data hub would still require implementation of security measure that meet certification standards and render security to the sensitive data in the hub. We can only wait and watch as internet security experts and federal authorities engage in a tussle to tackle the challenge before October 1st.