CyncHealth further projects patient health information with new data security certifications
OMAHA, Neb.—CyncHealth, a health data utility (HDU) and the designated health information exchange (HIE) for Nebraska and Iowa, announced today their commitment to protecting patient health information. As part of this commitment, they completed rigorous cybersecurity certification known as System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type 2 Certification. These internal controls were created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and are designed to assess and prevent risk. Completing this certification better protects health information for the more than 5 million individuals and families across Nebraska and Iowa.
This advancement in CyncHealth’s cloud platform security, comes at an important time as cybersecurity breaches have hit an all-time high—from 2021 to 2022, cybersecurity attacks increased by 69% in the health care sector. Cyberattacks, data breaches and information leaks occurring in healthcare systems nationwide are exposing a record number of patients’ protected health information. This directly impacts the delivery of health care and patient access to health care services as well as the cost or billing of those services. For example, an individual may be billed for services not received, delayed in receiving care for necessary healthcare services or suffer poor health outcomes due to missing information.
“With the advancements of technology, cybersecurity incidents will continue to rise, but so will our technological defenses and collective ability to protect sensitive data,” says Robert Wagner, Chief Information Security Officer of CyncHealth. “SOC 2 certification is a piece of that puzzle and we’re proud to demonstrate to public partners and participants that CyncHealth continues to meet and exceed complex privacy standards for data protection and information security.”
Earlier this year, CyncHealth announced the achievement of their HITRUST Certification—joining an elite group of organizations worldwide that have earned this certification. CyncHealth’s status of being HITRUST certified comes after nearly two years of hard work by staff towards meeting the requirements to better serve the people, healthcare systems and other regional organizations whom CyncHealth is connected to. CyncHealth’s certification portfolio also includes:
- CMS Quasi-Qualified Entity
- CMS Qualified Registry
- CMS Qualified Clinical Data Registry
- NCQA Validated Data Stream
- NCQA Certified Data Partner
- Medicaid Enterprise System (MES) Certification
Jaime Bland, CEO of CyncHealth, says, “By adding SOC 2 to our growing list of data certifications, we’re demonstrating our commitment to safeguard and protect the data Nebraskans and Iowans entrust with us every day. As we continue to evolve and tackle new challenges, we’re prepared and dedicated to providing value for our communities.”
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ABOUT CYNCHEALTH
CyncHealth is a health data utility and is the designated health information exchange for Nebraska and western Iowa, connecting over 5 million lives and 1,135 facilities and counting. These cross-connections are community-wide, consisting of hospitals, specialty hospitals, rural health clinics, specialty clinics, long-term post-acute care facilities, and other entities that have valuable data for monitoring the health of populations. CyncHealth participating clinicians can better care for patients by having instant access to comprehensive and longitudinal health history, including patient encounter-level reports, diagnostic history, allergies, immunizations, and laboratory results from participating facilities. For more information, visit https://cynchealth.org/.
Media Contact
Innsena for CyncHealth
Desiree Lindsay
cynchealth@innsena.com
