The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO), recently launched a Privacy & Security Mobile Device project, in conjunction with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The project goal is to develop an effective and practical way to bring awareness and understanding to those in the clinical sector to help them better secure and protect health information while using mobile devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, and smartphones). Building on the existing HHS HIPAA Security Rule – Remote Use Guidance, the project is designed to identify privacy and security good practices for mobile devices. Identified good practices and use cases will be communicated in plain, practical, and easy to understand language for health care providers, professionals, and other entities.

HHS will be looking for input. There will be a public roundtable event in Spring 2012. Information about other HHS mHealth activities is available on the mHealth Initiative web site.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) wants to warn you about an Internet scam that uses the NLM name. The fraud involves scammers claiming to represent the NLM. They are promising employment with MedlinePlus if victims send money to them. The scammers say that the money will be used to purchase software and computer equipment to use in the position. NLM does not require prospective employees to make purchases for any reason. Do not send money to these individuals. NLM job listings are located online at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/jobs/jobs.html and http://www.usajobs.gov/.

If you see a posting online offering work on MedlinePlus, please contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center and file a complaint with the proper government authorities.

Alison Aldrich, Technology Coordinator for the NN/LM Pacific Northwest Region, wrote an interesting blog post called, “(Fire)Wallflowers Invited to Dance?” She presents some evidence that firewall rules against Web 2.0 tools (such as blogs, wikis, etc.) are beginning to relax a bit at hospital libraries. Her blog post is available at: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/dragonfly/2009/01/27/firewallflowers/

Well worth reading! Note also the comment below the blog post.