Here are a few I came across last week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
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Getting cyber security math right is key to preventing ransomware attacks
In his June column for Digital Health, our cyber security columnist, Davey Winder gives his thoughts on the on-going incident happening in the Republic of Ireland.
Davey Winder – 3 June, 2021
The Irish health system is still, more than two weeks on, in recovery mode from the ransomware attack launched by the Conti cybercrime group. While there have been many headlines announcing the criminals had somehow ‘bailed out’ the Health Service Executive (HSE) by handing over the data decryption tool free of charge, I’m not going to join in group hug for the threat actors. Beyond the obvious small matter that these are criminals to be viewed with the greatest contempt, Conti has not let the Irish HSE, or the patients it serves, off the hook. Like most of the current crop of ransomware threat actors, Conti doesn’t just encrypt data to lock down networks: it steals it as well.
That data is still being held to ransom, with Conti demanding the HSE “try to resolve the situation” through paying an unknown amount (the original ransom was in the region of £14 million) and threatening to publish or sell patient data if this doesn’t happen. This, I should add, in addition to the sample that has already been published relating to 520 patients which includes correspondence and what the HSE described as ‘sensitive data.’ The legal injunction that the HSE obtained prevents that, and any other data from the attack, being shared, processed, published or sold. This is, if you’ll excuse my French, akin to ‘p***ing in the wind’ and won’t prevent potentially highly-valuable health data being sold to the highest criminal bidder.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/06/how-gp-data-is-saving-lives/
How GP data is saving lives
With the GP Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) service launching next month, Richard Alcock, director of primary care technology at NHS Digital explores how GP data is helping to save lives.
DHI News Team – 1 June 2021
The health service is rich with data which can provide us with life-saving insights. For years it has been used to help us better understand and develop cures for serious illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Never has this been clearer than during the response to the Covid-19 pandemic where the access to data benefitted millions of us.
NHS data was vital in managing the response, from making policy decisions and ensuring hospitals weren’t overwhelmed, to rolling out vaccines and building the Shielded Patient List to identify and protect those most vulnerable.
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More hospitals letting patients send data to third-party apps: ONC
Published June 3, 2021
Dive Brief:
- In recent years, the majority of hospitals have allowed patients to view and download their health information via their own patient portal. However, hospitals allowing patients to use third-party apps to see their data increased sharply from 2018 to 2019, according to a new report from the federal agency that regulates U.S. health IT.
- The Office of the National Coordinator found that seven in 10 acute care hospitals allowed inpatients to access their health data using a mobile phone or other software applications in 2019, a more than 50% jump from 2018. Similarly, in 2019 three in four hospitals enabled inpatients to view their more detailed clinical notes in their patient portal, an increase of more than 30% from 2018 as federal regulations continued to incentivize data sharing.
- Small, rural, independent and critical access hospitals were less likely than their wealthier and more urban counterparts to give inpatients access to their health data electronically.
Dive Insight:
Patient medical records are now digitized across virtually all U.S. hospitals, and patient access to their own information is guaranteed by legislation and numerous regulations and programs from the federal government, managed by agencies like ONC and CMS.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/pandemic-allows-cios-move-new-speed-cyber-threats-lie-wait
Pandemic allows CIOs to move with new speed, but cyber threats lie in wait
Agility, flexibility and security are the focus of the latest installment in our COVID-19 era lessons learned feature series, which this time showcases four CIOs, including Mayo Clinic's Cris Ross.
By Bill Siwicki
June 04, 2021 12:19 PM
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the U.S. early last year, life slowed down, even ground to a halt in many circumstances. But for health IT, things sped up.
When new technologies were needed to solve fast-moving healthcare challenges, hospitals and health systems could not afford to wait the time it normally took to stand up IT. They needed help fast.
CIOs and their teams came through, learning to produce quality work in record time. But at the same time, bad actors were taking advantage of the pandemic-fueled chaos to strike healthcare provider organizations at their most vulnerable. Despite some early chatter of a hacker pandemic "ceasefire," it quickly became clear that cybercriminals were moving forward.
This is the ninth installment in Healthcare IT News' Health IT Lessons Learned in the COVID-19 Era feature story series. The focus this time is on speed and security, with three CIOs and an IT director chiming in. They include:
- Jason Cherry, director of information systems technology services at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, South Carolina. (@LexMedCtr)
- Fernando Cortez, CIO and information security officer at La Clínica de La Raza, based in Oakland, California, with more than 30 clinics spread across three counties.
- John Jay Kenagy, senior vice president and CIO at Legacy Health, based in Portland, Oregon. (@OurLegacyHealth)
- Christopher J. Ross, CIO at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. (@MayoClinic)
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/doj-will-elevate-ransomware-probes-terrorism-level-priority
DOJ will elevate ransomware probes to terrorism-level priority
Internal guidance shared this week directed U.S. attorney's offices to centrally coordinate ransomware investigations with a task force, Reuters reports.
By Kat Jercich
June 04, 2021 02:36 PM
Amid an ongoing series of expensive and disruptive attacks on U.S. health systems, energy infrastructure and food suppliers, the U.S. Department of Justice says it will elevate its ransomware investigations to a priority level similar to that of terrorism.
As Reuters' Christopher Bing reported this week, the agency sent internal guidance to U.S. attorney's offices around the country directing staff to centrally coordinate ransomware investigations in the field with a Washington task force.
"To ensure we can make necessary connections across national and global cases and investigations, and to allow us to develop a comprehensive picture of the national and economic security threats we face, we must enhance and centralize our internal tracking," said the guidance, according to Reuters.
WHY IT MATTERS
As senior officials told Bing, the DOJ's move to shift ransomware response illustrates how the issue is being prioritized. It will mean that the agency expects U.S. attorney's office investigators to share case details and other information with leaders in Washington.
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MITRE Recommends Bold Steps to Improve National Digital Healthcare
Analysis | By Scott Mace | June 04, 2021
The challenge: How to take advantage of the data while ensuring ethical use, managing security, and protecting individual rights.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· MITRE recommends a national strategy for digital health while assuring equity of new digitally powered services.
· The report is broken into six broad goals, supported by recommended objectives outlining actions to realize each goal.
· "COVID-19 was our wake-up call." So begins a new 46-page report from MITRE, a nonprofit research organization and think tank advising federal and state governments.
The report recommends a national strategy for digital health while assuring equity of new digitally powered services. The report is broken into six broad goals, supported by recommended objectives outlining actions to realize each goal.
- Access, affordability, and
utilization of universal broadband for everyone.
- A sustainable health workforce that
is prepared to use new technologies to deliver person-centered, integrated
quality care.
- Digital technologies empower
individuals to safety and securely manage their health and well-being.
- Data exchange architectures,
application interfaces, and standards that put data, information, and
education into the hands of those who need it, when they need it, reliably
and securely.
- A digital health ecosystem that
delivers timely access to information to inform public health
decision-making and action.
Integrated
governance designed for the challenges of a digital health ecosystem.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/an-ehr-vendor-performance-measure-may-lead-to-ehr-optimization
An EHR Vendor Performance Measure May Lead To EHR Optimization
Experts suggest that healthcare stakeholders develop a measure of EHR vendor performance to encourage EHR optimization and reduce clinician burden.
June 03, 2021 - Healthcare stakeholders should develop a standard, quantitative measure of EHR vendor performance to incentivize EHR optimization, alleviate the burden of clinical documentation, and inform clinical workflow improvements, according to a JAMA Network op-ed.
While the EHR was originally designed to improve care quality through a streamlined workflow, evidence has shown that the EHR imposes significant burdens on clinicians which may worsen clinical care quality, the authors noted.
For instance, a study of EHR use measurements across two vendor products found that ambulatory, non-teaching physicians spent over five hours on the EHR for every eight hours of scheduled clinical time, the op-ed pointed out.
Standard quality measures exist for healthcare organizations to identify gaps in performance and care quality, such as the National Quality Forum’s quality measure; however, such measures do not exist for EHR vendors.
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What Is the Social Vulnerability Index, How Does it Measure SDOH?
The social vulnerability index (SVI) has become a key measure as more healthcare experts consider social determinants of health.
By Sara Heath
June 03, 2021 - By now, most of healthcare is on the same page about the social determinants of health. These factors related to where patients work, live, and play can have a profound impact on their ability to achieve wellness. And in its pursuit of measuring SDOH risk, healthcare has turned to the social vulnerability index (SVI) to meet this moment.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and its subagency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), developed the SVI around 2011 as a means to determine how to allocate resources. The more vulnerable an area, the more likely it will need resources during a crisis.
“Every community must prepare for and respond to hazardous events, whether a natural disaster like a tornado or disease outbreak, or a human-made event such as a harmful chemical spill,” ATSDR and CDC explained in a fact sheet on their website. “A number of factors, including poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing may weaken a community’s ability to prevent human suffering and financial loss in a disaster. These factors are known as social vulnerability.”
Since ATSDR/CDC developed the social vulnerability index for emergency preparedness, the medical industry has adopted it into its own risk stratification and care management efforts. SVI can help organizations determine which counties they serve might need more SDOH and social services referrals or track other risk factors.
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Mute AI not to be trusted to help make imaging-based diagnoses; explainable AI, fire away
Dave Pearson | June 01, 2021 | Diagnostics
Black-box AI should be barred from reading medical images in clinical settings because machine learning, like human thinking, tends to take diagnostic shortcuts—which for basic safety reasons call for an explanation.
A study published May 31 in Nature Machine Intelligence bears this out.
Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle began their investigation by reviewing the literature to assess datasets and AI models used for diagnosing COVID-19 from chest X-rays.
Su-In Lee, PhD, and colleagues paid special attention to studies using AI approaches they deemed at high probability for “worst-case confounding.”
An example of this effect is tending to assume elderly patients are COVID-positive when they have, say, a fever and sore throat but inconclusive findings on chest imaging.
To uncover such shortcutting, Lee and team first trained deep convolutional neural networks on image datasets resembling those used in the published studies.
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Synthetic data boosts accuracy and speed of brain tumor surgery CDS
Michigan Medicine's neurosurgery team increased accuracy rate from 68% to 96% by developing a computer vision model to help improve pathologist decision support.
By Bill Siwicki
June 03, 2021 11:08 AM
Michigan Medicine was working toward a goal: to develop a decision support tool that would improve pathologists' ability to accurately diagnose brain tumors in the operating room, allowing them to both diagnose more quickly and more accurately.
THE PROBLEM
However, this is no small feat. Historically, tumor diagnosis is a challenging task because the images of the brain that pathologists are reading while in surgery are complex, and the time available to read them is limited.
"We wanted to develop a computer vision model that could identify regions that are likely to be diagnostic and provide a tentative diagnosis for the pathologist to consider when making their final interpretation," said Dr. Todd Hollon, neurosurgeon and principal investigator of the machine learning in neurosurgery laboratory at Michigan Medicine.
"By improving across both of these vectors, we believed we could accelerate diagnosis and improve accuracy in a way that still allowed pathologists to be part of the process and make the final diagnostic call."
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Geisinger Launches Platform Leveraging Patient Collected Data To Manage Chronic Care
June 3, 2021
Over the past year, hospitals have been engaged in a titanic struggle to care for the flood of COVID patients overflowing their facilities. For many months, excess numbers of patients died because providers couldn’t keep up with the sheer volume of the task they had at hand.
One approach they took which began to have some success was to intercept the walking well COVID patients and routing them to home monitoring rather than put them in beds needed for sicker patients. Check out Colin’s recent article for a great example of this.
In the months since then vendors are beginning to recognize that they’ve got a good thing going here. By having patients collect their own data at home, mixing it with EHR data and using AI to analyze it, you’re looking at a new and potentially more effective remote monitoring system.
These trends have come together on some commercial platforms which manage care at home on a more comprehensive basis. One recent deal is Geisinger’s adoption of a new platform designed to manage chronic diseases like diabetes, heart failure and hypertension.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/06/03/gao-report-on-telehealth-with-skewed-conclusion/
GAO Report on Telehealth with Skewed Conclusion
June 3, 2021
For a while now I’ve been waiting for the government to do the telehealth studies that are needed to make telehealth reimbursement something that’s going to last long term. I’d heard from my telehealth policy friends in Washington that prior to the pandemic there were many in Washington that were afraid to reimburse telehealth visits because they weren’t sure of the implications of doing so. Would there be overuse? Would there be fraud? etc etc etc.
Thanks to the pandemic, we now should have all the data that’s needed to understand the real impact of doing telehealth. At least that’s what I think should be the case. Although, one thing I hadn’t remembered was that you can make statistics say anything you want to say. It’s going to take a concerted effort to make sure an analysis of telehealth usage is done properly.
A great example of this was in a recent Tweetstorm by Andrey Ostrovsky, MD who is the Former Chief Medical Officer at Medicaid. Check out the tweetstorm below where he breaks down a GAO study on telehealth:
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ATA Chair: Telemedicine Choices in Next Few months Will Shape the Next Decade
Analysis | By Scott Mace | June 02, 2021
'Strong magnetic forces' are pulling care back into brick-and-mortar, in-person settings, said telehealth champion Joseph Kvedar.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Some data show outpatient telehealth use peaked at 30% in 2020 and has now leveled off at around 6%.
· Revision of Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act must occur to ensure telehealth reimbursement, Kvedar said.
· Use of national telehealth providers such as Teladoc and Amwell was less dominant during the pandemic, but use has swung back their way since then.
With pandemic case rates plummeting, telehealth has reached a fork in the road, and one of the industry's leaders is worried about it.
"The choices we make in the next few months, all around the industry, are going to pave the way for the next decade," said Joseph Kvedar, MD, chair of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), who is also a professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School.
"We might not be able to resist that strong magnetic force that draws us back to in-person, brick and mortar," Kvedar said, as his keynote address opened the 25th annual ATA conference, being held virtually throughout June.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/could-the-sase-model-move-the-needle-on-healthcare-cybersecurity
Could The SASE Model Move the Needle on Healthcare Cybersecurity?
The threat landscape is evolving faster than healthcare cybersecurity. AT&T Cybersecurity’s Rupesh Chokshi believes secure access service edge (SASE) might better support providers.
June 02, 2021 - The multiple, massive cybersecurity incidents across the globe have demonstrated the ease in which threat actors can take control over critical infrastructure entities and their valuable data. For healthcare cybersecurity, where patient safety is at risk, it may be time for a new security model.
It’s clear from the current threat landscape that global hacking efforts have turned a dark corner: From the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline that spurred panic in consumers on the East Coast, to the latest attack on meat plants disrupting the supply chain.
In the past month alone, nearly two dozen entities have seen their data posted onto dark web blogs after attackers stole data from their networks.
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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ehrs/onc-gets-80m-for-public-health-informatics-program.html
ONC gets $80M for public health informatics program
– June 2, 2021
The Office of the National Health Coordinator for Health IT received $80 million to initiate or expand training, certification and degree programs in public health informatics and data science at minority-serving institutions, the agency said June 1.
Under the Public Health Informatics & Technology Workforce Development Program, ONC aims to train 4,000 individuals through an interdisciplinary approach in public health informatics and technology to ensure that training, certification and degree programs are sustainable and help increase diversity among public health and technology professionals.
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https://khn.org/news/article/telehealth-visits-doctor-advice-benefits/
Doctors Tell How to Make the Most of Your Telehealth Visits
Julie Appleby June 2, 2021
When the pandemic sidelined in-office visits at his practice, Dr. Dael Waxman “wasn’t exactly thrilled with being at home.” But he quickly shifted gears to video and telephone appointments.
Now, he finds, there are good reasons to keep these options open even as in-office visits have resumed and many parts of the country have sharply loosened coronavirus restrictions.
One is that some patients “have to overcome a lot of obstacles to get to me,” said Waxman, a family physician with Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I have lots of single mothers. They have to leave work, get their kids out of school and then take two buses. Why would they want to do that if they don’t have to?”
Telehealth served as a lifeline for many during the pandemic, ramping up from a minority share of office visits to a majority, at least for a while. Still, it cannot replace hands-on care for some conditions, and for those not blessed with speedy broadband internet service or smart devices it can be difficult or impossible to use.
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https://www.salon.com/2021/06/01/little-known-illnesses-turning-up-in-covid-long-haulers_partner/
Little-known illnesses turning up in COVID long-haulers
A significant percentage of long-haulers are suffering from syndromes that few doctors understand or treat
By Cindy Loose
Published June 1, 2021 7:01PM (EDT)
This article originally appeared on Kaiser Health News.
The day Dr. Elizabeth Dawson was diagnosed with covid-19 in October, she awoke feeling as if she had a bad hangover. Four months later she tested negative for the virus, but her symptoms have only worsened.
Dawson is among what one doctor called "waves and waves" of "long-haul" covid patients who remain sick long after retesting negative for the virus. A significant percentage are suffering from syndromes that few doctors understand or treat. In fact, a yearlong wait to see a specialist for these syndromes was common even before the ranks of patients were swelled by post-covid newcomers. For some, the consequences are life altering.
Before fall, Dawson, 44, a dermatologist from Portland, Oregon, routinely saw 25 to 30 patients a day, cared for her 3-year-old daughter and ran long distances.
Today, her heart races when she tries to stand. She has severe headaches, constant nausea and brain fog so extreme that, she said, it "feels like I have dementia." Her fatigue is severe: "It's as if all the energy has been sucked from my soul and my bones." She can't stand for more than 10 minutes without feeling dizzy.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/apac/waikato-dhb-eyes-digital-services-improvement-next-week
Waikato DHB eyes digital services improvement by next week
The hospital group has been able to restore over half of its servers since the weekend.
June 02, 2021 06:52 AM
Waikato DHB reported today that "significant" progress has been made toward restoring its technical systems which went down following a recent cyberattack.
"Our current plan would see our hospitals' digital capability improved by the end of next week. Although there will still be some way to go, this would be a big step on from the past weeks," Waikato DHB Chief Executive Dr Kevin Snee said in an update.
The hospital group's radiation therapy service, as well as its inpatient management system, will be up and running in the said timeframe. Radiology and laboratory diagnostic services are also expected to go online by next week's end.
Waikato DHB said it has been able to restore over half of its servers in the past four days. According to Dr Snee, the group has worked closely with international specialist services "to systematically test and secure" all items before they are reinstated.
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Privacy fears over NHS plans to share GP medical records with third parties
Patients in England have until 23 June to opt out.
By Tammy Lovell
June 02, 202101:53 AM
Privacy fears have been raised over controversial plans to share NHS medical records from every GP patient in England with third parties.
According to NHS Digital, the medical histories of more than 55 million patients will be made available on a database to "support the planning and commissioning of health and care services, the development of health and care policy, public health monitoring and interventions (including COVID-19) and enable many different areas of research."
People can opt out of the scheme before 23 June by providing an online form to their GPs.
An NHS Digital spokesperson defended the plans, saying the data could not be used “solely for commercial purposes” and researchers wanting access would need approval from the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) and a GP Professional Advisory Group (PAG).
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Leveling the Playing Field in Health Information Sharing: Complying with the 21st Century Cures Act
June 2, 2021
The following is a guest article by Stephanie Jamison, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Greenway Health.
Since its passage in late 2016, the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act has been setting the stage to reform the healthcare sector. Its broad, overarching goals include increasing patient choice and access to healthcare, streamlining development and delivery of innovative drugs and medical devices, accelerating research into serious illnesses, addressing the opioid crisis, improving mental health services, and more. As we move toward the value-based care model, the Cures Act also seeks to improve access to — and the quality of — information that Americans need to make informed healthcare decisions.
To that end, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created rules to remove barriers associated with the use of electronic health record (EHR) systems and health information technology (HIT). By advancing interoperability of these systems and preventing information blocking, electronic health information (EHI) would be easily and seamlessly accessed, exchanged and used by patients and providers alike.
The ONC Final Rule lays out regulations to prevent information blocking practices by healthcare providers, health IT developers, health information exchanges (HIEs) and health information networks. The CMS Final Rule lays out similar expectations for healthcare payers like Medicaid Managed Health Plans and CHIP plans. Before passage of the rules, information blocking had become increasingly problematic as very large industry players operated in data silos, charging others exorbitant fees to access information, and making it difficult to share data across different platforms.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/care-org-co-develops-health-it-for-enhanced-interoperability
Care Org Co-Develops Health IT For Enhanced Interoperability
A health system partnered with a medical device vendor to co-develop a health IT solution for improved patient-generated health data interoperability.
June 01, 2021 - The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) health system has partnered with a medical device vendor to develop health IT that will boost interoperability and improve the patient experience.
UCSF’s partnership with Royal Philips will utilize Philips HealthSuite to leverage artificial intelligence that promotes patient access to personal health information, while supporting UCSF providers through intuitive workflows and clinical decision support. The technology will also allow patients to select providers and access virtual care.
The cloud-based platform is slated to enable greater care coordination across diverse settings as well, which is key as health systems continue to expand their networks and bring care into the community.
“Our goal in partnering with Philips is to serve our patients better,” Aaron Neinstein, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of clinical informatics at UCSF’s Center for Digital Health Innovation, said in a press release.
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Scripps Reports Data Theft, EHR Back Online, but Global Outages Persist
Providers swept up in the latest ransomware wave are in various stages of recovery. Leading this cyber roundup: Scripps Health has brought its EHR back online four weeks after an attack.
June 01, 2021 - Scripps Health has restored the majority of its network and brought its Epic EHR back online, four weeks after falling victim to a ransomware attack, according to a May 27 status update. The health system is seeing an uptick in phone calls and patient requests via its patient portal, as the network is brought back to normal operations.
However, a June 1 update revealed that the investigation has determined the attackers gained access to the network, deployed malware, and exfiltrated copies of data on April 21.
On May 10, officials said they were able to access a small number of documents tied to the incident, some of which were found to be patient information. As the information is ongoing, it's unclear what information is contained in the remaining stolen documents.
For now, the investigation has confirmed that the data varied by patient and could include names, contact details, dates of birth, health insurance information, medical record numbers, patient account numbers, and or clinical information, like provider names, dates of service, and/or treatment information.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Sites Fall Short as US Hits Access Wall
COVID-19 vaccine scheduling websites aren’t entirely accessible, perpetuating a digital divide that could hamper efforts for herd immunity.
By Sara Heath
June 01, 2021 - State COVID-19 vaccine scheduling websites fell short in accessibility, contributing to the digital divide and health equity concerns that have plagued the pandemic, according to a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.
This information comes as public health experts look to close in on the final percentage points needed to come close to herd immunity. Data has shown vaccine enthusiasm is hitting a cliff, with those most eager to get their shots already having done so and more hesitant people still holding off.
In addition to addressing vaccine hesitancy concerns, healthcare leaders assert that making vaccine appointments accessible for traditionally disadvantaged groups—those who do not speak English and those with limited digital health literacy—will be key.
“Effective and equitable vaccine distribution depends, in part, on the accessibility and usability of these websites,” the researchers, led by experts from MedStar Health, wrote. “Different levels of technology experience, reading abilities, and language preferences should not prevent individuals from obtaining needed vaccine information.”
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May 28, 2021
How will PCPs use telehealth after the COVID-19 pandemic?
Thirty-five percent of adults in the United States who were surveyed said they would consider leaving their primary care physician for qualified physicians providing on-demand telehealth services.
This percentage was even higher — 50% — among Generation Z and millennials, according to the data. Older adults also expressed interest in telehealth services, with 48% of respondents aged 65 years and older reporting that they will likely continue to use telehealth after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data are from a series of surveys conducted by The Harris Poll from March 15, 2020, to March 15, 2021. Each survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of about 2,000 U.S. adults.
The results further showed that Hispanic respondents (52%) were most likely to consider using on-demand telehealth as a replacement for their PCP, followed by Black respondents (43%), Asian respondents (40%) and white respondents (32%).
About half of all the respondents said that telehealth appointments are useful for inquiring about medical questions (53%), reviewing test results (48%) and refilling prescriptions (46%). However, only 34% said they use telehealth when they are ill, and just 15% use it when their child is ill.
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Biden's $6T budget includes cybersecurity, broadband infrastructure
It would put $6.5 billion toward the creation of an agency tasked with federal research and development geared toward healthcare innovation, and includes a $25 million raise for ONC.
By Kat Jercich
June 01, 2021 09:55 AM
President Joe Biden proposed a $6 trillion budget on Friday, aimed at expanding economic opportunity, improving education and creating a DARPA-like agency tasked with healthcare innovation, among other investments.
The budget, which expands on congressional allocations authorized under COVID-19 relief bills, focuses on what Biden's administration calls "building back better," a slow pivot from the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
The budget's health IT initiatives include broadband expansion, strengthening public health infrastructure and bolstering cybersecurity.
"For all of the hard-won progress our Nation has made in recent months, we cannot afford to simply return to the way things were before the pandemic and economic downturn, with the old economy’s structural weaknesses and inequities still in place," the budget reads.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/moodys-warns-revenue-risks-healthcare-cyber-attacks-increase
Moody's warns of revenue risks as healthcare cyberattacks increase
The company points to telehealth and virtual care as areas of vulnerability, and sees ransomware attacks as an ongoing threat.
By Kat Jercich
June 01, 2021 09:12 AM
A report this week from Moody's Investors Service found that cyber risk will likely remain high for the healthcare sector, leading to the potential for lost revenue, increased expenses and elevated scrutiny.
"The large amount of sensitive patient data held by the industry will make it a rich target for attacks, particularly in the form of ransomware," researchers predicted.
Still, they said, "for many, credit risk will be mitigated by healthcare systems' strong liquidity and large scale, which often allow for the continuation of critical patient care amid cyber-related disruption."
WHY IT MATTERS
The increased reliance on digital health technology has expanded innovation and access, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, Moody's notes, it leaves the healthcare sector susceptible to attacks.
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Enjoy!
David.
2 comments:
The NHS is behaving exactly the same way as the DoH in Australia by harvesting all the information you share with your doctor via software applications on your GP's computer and passing these on for secondary use. You can opt out in both countries, but it is hard to do this in Aus. You just need to try and opt out of secondary data collection to bear out my point. Even worse, the Australian data harvest contains your MBS and PBS information, which identifies you even though your name is not on the record. I'm so irritated by the lack of respect these governments show their citizens.
The NHS is behaving exactly the same way as the DoH in Australia by harvesting all the information you share with your doctor via software applications on your GP's computer and passing these on for secondary use. You can opt out in both countries, but it is hard to do this in Aus. You just need to try and opt out of secondary data collection to bear out my point. Even worse, the Australian data harvest contains your MBS and PBS information, which identifies you even though your name is not on the record. I'm so irritated by the lack of respect these governments show their citizens.
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