Ransomware Attack Freezes EHR Data at 112 Nursing Homes Virtual Care Provider Inc., a digital health company that provides cloud hosting and IT services to care facilities across the nations has been hit by a ransomware encryption attack, locking access to patient data at 110 nursing homes. The impacted services include billing systems, email, phone service, EHRs and medication administration data, potentially putting the lives of thousands of patients in risk. The hackers have demanded $14 million in bitcoin for a decryption key. The company estimates that 20% of its servers were impacted by ..read more

Apple Launches New Medical Research Feature Apple has launched a new medical research feature available to iOS users to sign up for one or more of the company’s three ongoing studies. Following the Apple Heart Study completed with Stanford University in 2018, the company’s new app will allow users to sign up and take part in three studies focused on heart health and movement, hearing loss, and women’s health. The study’s will be lengthy and comprehensive, with the women’s health study running for a decade or more. All the studies have been submitted to and approved by institutional review boar ..read more

  Google Patient Data Project Under Federal Investigation Shortly after the Wall Street Journal published an article detailing Google’s acquirement and storage of identifiable medical data U.S. regulators announced plans to investigate the company. The initial Wall Street Journal report uncovered a partnership with the healthcare system, Ascension, that gave Google access to tens of millions of patients’ names, health histories, date of birth, lab results, diagnoses and hospitalization records without the consent of doctors or patients. Project Nightingale, as the secret transfer partnership i ..read more

  Google Patient Data Project Under Federal Investigation Shortly after the Wall Street Journal published an article detailing Google’s acquirement and storage of identifiable medical data U.S. regulators announced plans to investigate the company. The initial Wall Street Journal report uncovered a partnership with the healthcare system, Ascension, that gave Google access to tens of millions of patients’ names, health histories, date of birth, lab results, diagnoses and hospitalization records without the consent of doctors or patients. Project Nightingale, as the secret transfer partnership i ..read more

  $4 Billion in Healthcare Data Breaches for 2019 Findings reported by Healthcare Finance provide a broad and detailed understanding of the financial toll data breaches have caused healthcare organizations. Since Q3 of 2016, more than 93% of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach, with 57% experiencing more than 5 data breaches within that time frame. According to 90% of hospital representatives, IT security budget have remained level since 2016. Further, the organization reported that while cybersecurity spending has increased to about 6% of the total annual IT spend, physici ..read more

  $4 Billion in Healthcare Data Breaches for 2019 Findings reported by Healthcare Finance provide a broad and detailed understanding of the financial toll data breaches have caused healthcare organizations. Since Q3 of 2016, more than 93% of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach, with 57% experiencing more than 5 data breaches within that time frame. According to 90% of hospital representatives, IT security budget have remained level since 2016. Further, the organization reported that while cybersecurity spending has increased to about 6% of the total annual IT spend, physici ..read more

  nUber & Cerner announce a partnership, lawmakers introduce telehealth legislation and more Microsoft Announces AI Research Partnership for Precision Oncology Microsoft has announced a partnership with Jackson Laboratory based in Maine to further develop an artificial intelligence tool capable of analyzing medical documents to inform the development of precision cancer treatments. Previously, Jackson Laboratory had developed a searchable database of genomic information that can be sorted and interpreted to improve health outcomes and share information regarding clinical trials and trea ..read more

  Health Organizations Push Back Against Apple Health Records Leading health organizations are pushing back against new federal rules allowing providers to share medical records to third-party apps. Organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have warned regulators that those who authorize consumer apps to retrieve their medical records could be vulnerable to serious data abuses. Under the new rules, federal privacy protections–which regulate how health providers and insurers utilize and share medical records, will no long ..read more

  Tampa General Hospital Launches Telehealth Diagnosing Stations Tampa General Hospital (TGH) based in Florida, have launched new telehealth diagnosing stations to help hospital staff receive diagnoses for mid-to-minor concerns. Hospital staff at TGH are now able to enter self-contained telemedicine stations located inside the hospital for virtual life-sized consultations with physicians and automated pharmaceutical services. After six years of development with digital health company OnMed, the technology allows for video consultations with healthcare providers and features “built-in automated ..read more

  This partner blog is from The Cardiometabolic Health Congress (CMHC). In collaboration with MedTech, CMHC will host the Cardiometabolic Tech Summit on October 10th to analyze topics including big data and its role in cardiometabolic health, developments in genetic testing, medical devices, patient usage, and more. Rising rates of cardiometabolic risks and disease have led to significant innovations within cardiometabolic health technology. While conventional approaches to care, such as landmark clinical trials and updated clinical practical guidelines, have helped to improve outcomes, growin ..read more