Skip to content
Search to learn about InterSystems products and solutions, career opportunities, and more.

Two-Factor Authentication: A No Brainer to Protect Patient Data

Older woman outside smiling and looking at phone

COMPANY: Healthix

CHALLENGE: Healthcare organizations must take action to ensure the safety and privacy of their patients. Two-factor authentication, which stops 99% of automated cyber attacks, is an effective security mitigation.

OUTCOME: The HIE updated to two-factor authentication built on InterSystems IRIS® to ensure a more seamless and simpler process to meet customers’ mobile needs.

When stolen data can impact patient care and, in the wrong hands, potentially lead to threatening situations, ensuring the security of patient data is critical. Knowing just how high the stakes are, it is especially alarming that healthcare data breaches are on the rise. Healthcare organizations must take action to ensure the safety and privacy of their patients. Two-factor authentication, which stops 99% of automated cyber-attacks, is an effective security mitigation.

For Healthix, the largest public health information exchange (HIE) in the U.S., two-factor authentication has been an integral component of  the company’s security ecosystem. In recent months, the HIE updated to two-factor authentication built on InterSystems IRIS® to ensure a more seamless and simpler process to meet customers’ mobile needs.

With two-factor authentication, Healthix can mitigate and reduce risk by sending an authorization request to a user’s mobile device or email, depending on the organization’s policy, to ensure that whomever logs into  the patient portal is in fact authorized to do so and is authenticated to view that data.

According to Nick VanDuyne, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Healthix, “With the help of InterSystems, Healthix is able to create a greater degree of security assurance for customers and as a result, improve patient privacy while maintaining access to clinical data to improve outcomes.”

While Healthix sees the immense benefits of two-factor authentication, not all healthcare organizations have embraced the technology. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires password security, which can be satisfied through two-factor authentication, but it is still not mandated.

The state of New York is going beyond what is required federally, to ensure patient privacy. It recently announced the requirement of two-factor authentication for all healthcare providers. Additionally, the state’s public HIEs, such as Healthix, are required to meet stringent HITRUST standards. As the threat landscape continues to grow, new regulations, such as the one recently implemented by New York, will hopefully encourage more states to follow suit.

As the pandemic continues to unfold and healthcare organizations are forced to digitally transform and embrace new technologies, they can look to Healthix as an example of how to ensure greater security by implementing two-factor authentication.


This story originally appeared the October 16, 2020 – HealthShare Connections News Flash No.4: COVID-19 Pandemic newsletter

Other Success Stories You Might Like

Aug 14, 2024
Large Health System
A Large Health System built a robust integration platform with InterSystems HealthShare Health Connect in under a year that now supports 1,000 interfaces, 104 million messages per weekday and 136 connected systems.
Jul 26, 2024
eHealth Exchange
eHealth Exchange interconnects tens of thousands of distinct healthcare entities and facilitates over 21 billion secure transactions a year using InterSystems technology.
Feb 02, 2024
UK NHS
Integrate disparate hospital trusts to achieve a comprehensive electronic health record using InterSystems HealthShare® Health Connect Cloud™
Aug 31, 2023
Healthcare Providers
Surprisingly, the top three indicators of life expectancy in the U.S. for a given population are per capita nursing home residency, mental health challenges, and prevalence of tooth loss¹. The income level, access to care, stress, and other social factors behind these indicators have a greater impact on health than genetics or access to healthcare services². However, historically, social determinants of health have not received enough attention in clinical care.
May 02, 2023
Healthfirst
In the greater New York City area, Healthfirst, a not-for-profit, hospital-sponsored health plan and pioneer in value-based care, recognized the need for collaborative data exchange with providers for quality and improved member outcomes.
Dec 20, 2022
ROI and a Healthier Population
The Rhodes Group HCV algorithm and communications using InterSystems HealthShare helps New Mexico managed care organizations avoid millions of dollars in penalties for missing HCV treatment targets

Take The Next Step

We’d love to talk. Fill in some details and we’ll be in touch.
*Required Fields
Highlighted fields are required
*Required Fields
Highlighted fields are required

By submitting your business contact information to InterSystems through this form, you acknowledge and agree that InterSystems may process this information, for the purpose of fulfilling your submission, through a system hosted in the United States, but maintained consistent with any applicable data protection laws.



** By selecting yes, you give consent to be contacted for news, updates and other marketing purposes related to existing and future InterSystems products and events. In addition, you consent to your business contact information being entered into our CRM solution that is hosted in the United States, but maintained consistent with applicable data protection laws.