< + > It is Time for the Healthcare Industry to Reexamine Cybersecurity Preparedness in the Face of Unprecedented Risk

The following is a guest article by Jamie Singer, Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, and Rebecca Ayer Pitt, Managing Director at FTI Consulting

The Healthcare Industry is Facing a Cybersecurity Crisis

Flashback to early 2020…

The healthcare industry enjoyed a brief respite from certain cybersecurity threat actors who vowed not to target healthcare organizations providing life-saving services amidst a global pandemic. 

Fast forward to 2024…

The healthcare sector today is facing a cybersecurity crisis. Threat actors are disrupting care for vulnerable patients at children’s hospitals, interrupting critical blood supplies, and halting payments to providers. 

The numbers are staggering:

• The healthcare sector reported 249 ransomware attacks to the FBI last year, more than any other sector
• In the last six months alone, U.S. healthcare providers have faced a staggering 121 ransomware attacks from 10 distinct groups
• Since 2019, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has reported a 278% increase in ransomware attacks on healthcare providers, clearinghouses, and insurance companies

The Impacts of Extended Downtime Can be Severe

The real-world consequences of cyberattacks for healthcare organizations can be devastating. Ransomware attacks can bring prolonged operational disruption, as it often takes weeks, sometimes months, to recover. For healthcare providers, a ransomware attack often leads the organization to disconnect from vendor systems – or vice versa – resulting in an inability to access electronic health records systems and other critical systems, forcing hospitals into downtime procedures. And while hospital personnel are trained in using these procedures for short periods of time, that training often does not include extended use of downtime procedures over weeks, let alone months. 

Extended downtime creates additional pressure on healthcare workers who feel increasingly beleaguered from the pandemic and ongoing staffing shortages. The collective force of these impacts can even mean the difference between life and death. According to one study from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, roughly three in 100 hospitalized Medicare patients will die in the hospital under normal conditions, but during a ransomware attack, that number increases to four out of 100 because of the strain on hospital resources. 

Hospital Leaders Recognize the Reputational, Financial, and Legal Risks of Cyberattacks

In addition to the operational impacts, cyberattacks bring significant financial, legal, and reputational risks to healthcare organizations. Research shows cybersecurity events are a top-of-mind issue for executives. According to FTI Consulting’s inaugural Hospital Operations Outlook Survey report, Hospitals In 2024: Rising to Meet Increased Operational Demands, half of hospital executives surveyed pointed to data loss or compromise as their biggest concern stemming from cyberattacks, followed by continuity of care (28%), financial costs (28%), and reputational risk (22%).

But there are Clear Gaps in Preparedness 

Despite these recognized risks, according to the same survey, more than half of respondents (55%) admit they are not very prepared for a cyberattack. 

When it comes to cybersecurity preparedness, baseline efforts today include implementing best-practice technical controls such as multi-factor authentication and having a technical incident response plan in place. But for healthcare organizations operating in this heightened risk environment and facing potentially devastating consequences in the wake of a cyberattack, they need to take their preparedness to the next level. 

Recommended Action Items

Enhance Downtime Procedure Education and Training

Given the healthcare sector’s increasing reliance on electronic systems including electronic health records, the next generation of clinical leaders likely has received minimal, if any, training in paper charting. However, it is imperative that hospital staff understand and are trained to use downtime procedures for extended periods of time while maintaining continuity of care. Healthcare organizations should consider enhancing and extending downtime procedure training for staff to simulate the realities of working in a healthcare setting during a ransomware attack.

Identify Offline/Backup Communications Vehicles

It is often the case that preferred communications modes are not available while an organization is actively responding to a cyberattack – from email to corporate websites to online patient portals. Healthcare organizations should identify a range of backup communications vehicles that deliver urgent communications and updates to key stakeholders, including patients and employees. Text-based emergency notification systems may be an option, but those require robust and up-to-date contact lists. For external-facing updates, healthcare organizations may also consider setting up an alternative webpage in advance of an incident, which can be “turned on” in the event of a cybersecurity crisis.

Establish Relationships with Third-Party Experts Before a Crisis

In a cybersecurity event, no organization can go it alone. An effective and efficient response requires coordinated action of partners, including external cyber counsel, forensics firms, and crisis communications experts, to name a few. Searching for partners in the midst of a crisis is not ideal. It is important for healthcare organizations to establish relationships with such experts in advance of a cybersecurity event.

Develop and Test Cybersecurity Crisis Communications Protocols

Communications decision-making is heightened and accelerated during cybersecurity events. A well-tested communications plan can meaningfully impact reconnection with vendors, maintenance of stakeholder trust, and mitigation of long-term reputational harm.  Such plans should consider the composition of the cybersecurity crisis communications response team; a streamlined communications review and approval process; and a communications protocol for collecting, tracking, and responding to inquiries from customers, partners, patients, employees, media, regulators, and more.

Ensure Effective Communications Flow Amongst CISOs, C-Suite, and Boards

Cybersecurity attacks against healthcare organizations are whole-of-business issues. It is imperative that executive leadership and Boards are well-educated on response protocols, including executive- and Board-level decision-making, ahead of an incident. Similarly, chief information security officers need to be equipped to communicate with their C-suites and Boards throughout a cybersecurity crisis. According to FTI Consulting’s CISO Redefined Survey, CISOs aren’t fully prepared to communicate with leadership and 98% of executives support more funding for CISO communications and presentation training.  

While healthcare organizations cannot control if or when a cybersecurity event may occur, they can control their preparedness mindset and investments before the crisis hits. Regaining patient and community trust in the aftermath of a cybersecurity crisis is not a given. Thoughtful advanced planning can help mitigate many operational and reputational risks.

About Jamie Singer

Jamie Singer co-leads FTI Consulting’s Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Communications practice and has provided counsel on half of the top 10 largest healthcare data breaches in 2023. She also co-leads the development of FTI Consulting’s annual CISO Redefined survey.

 

About Rebecca Ayer Pitt

Rebecca Ayer Pitt, Managing Director, leads FTI Consulting Strategic Communications’ hospitals and health systems advisory solutions and co-leads the firm’s annual U.S. Hospital Operations Outlook Survey.

< + > Pieces Technologies Raises $25M Growth Round to Expand Leading Suite of Generative AI Solutions

Strategic Capital to Fuel Growth and New Product Offerings as Pieces Surpasses 5.4 Million Inpatient Clinical Summaries Across Major Health Systems

Pieces Technologies, Inc. (Pieces or the Company), a leading clinical generative AI solution that supports inpatient care teams, announced today that it has completed a $25 million growth financing round consisting of new equity and the conversion of notes. The round garnered significant participation from Children’s Health, healthcare investment firm Concord Health Partners, renowned health systems including OSF HealthCare, and specialized health tech venture investor Rittenhouse Ventures.

Pieces optimizes clinical workflows and reduces provider burden for health systems by producing autonomous, AI-generated clinical documentation for multi-disciplinary care teams. As of September 10, 2024, the Company has generated more than 5.4 million inpatient clinical summaries across multiple health system clients.

“We are honored to receive support from major health systems and leading healthcare investors at such an exciting inflection point,” said Ruben Amarasingham, M.D., Chief Executive Officer at Pieces. “Our mission is to help those who help others. We are grateful that our investing partners recognize our work to help doctors, nurses, and care managers free up valuable time so they can stay focused on care delivery at the bedside.”

“At Children’s Health, we understand the importance of providing high-quality care in the most innovative ways possible,” said Robert Fries, Chief Financial Officer at Children’s Health. “Congratulations to Pieces on their continued growth and work with health systems across the nation.”

Alongside its suite of solutions that produce clinical working summaries, working progress notes, patient briefings, and discharge planning, Pieces is a trailblazer in AI quality oversight. The Company developed a patent-pending platform called Pieces SafeRead that employs highly-tuned adversarial AI alongside board-certified clinician oversight to minimize errors and advance the machine learning process.

“Pieces has been at the forefront of introducing AI-powered processes into the continuum of care ecosystem and has been the first to pioneer AI solutions across a number of different areas in the inpatient setting,” said Taylor Whitman, Partner at Concord Health Partners. “Our mission is to identify key technologies that can reduce costs while increasing access and improving quality of care across health systems, and through our partnership have seen how the Pieces platform can help accomplish each of those pillars. We are excited about the Company’s prospects as they continue to expand and deliver their innovative offerings to a wider range of leading health systems across the country.”

About Pieces Technologies

Pieces Technologies, Inc. is a healthcare AI research and development firm that applies ensemble AI methods to support the work of healthcare teams. Pieces is cloud-based and specialized in applied clinical generative AI, adversarial and collaborative AI, predictive modeling, and physician-supervised machine learning to streamline clinician workflows and improve patient, financial, and operational outcomes. For more information or to request a demo, visit piecestech.com.

Originally announced September 10th, 2024

< + > CIO Podcast – Episode 81: MEDITECH Expanse with Nolan Hennessee

The 81st episode of the CIO podcast hosted by Healthcare IT Today was recorded at the MEDITECH Live conference! We were joined by Nolan Hennessee, CIO and Vice President at St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System to talk about the use of MEDITECH Expanse in his organization. Hennessee has been a strong advocate for MEDITECH as his primary health system vendor, so we kick this episode off by taking a deeper look into what he looks for and values in a partner. Next, we talk about his work in fast-tracking an Expanse Ambulatory rollout to approximately 100 providers. And while we’re on the topic of Expanse, we also take a deeper look into his rollout of Expanse Oncology in their cancer center and infusion clinics. Then Hennessee shares some of the ways his organization is staying ahead with all of the advancements that have been made in Oncology, especially in areas like precision medicine.

We then move on to talk about how St. Joseph’s/Candler’s patient population has been growing and their services have been expanding. Hennessee shares how they have been engaging their patients and what tools they have been using to boost their satisfaction. Next, we take a look at St. Joseph’s/Candler’s diverse population to discuss the ways they are currently engaged with the patients in their community and how they’re meeting their population health needs. Lastly, we wrap this episode up with Hennessee sharing what St. Joseph’s/Candler has in store for the future and a little career advice from Hennessee.

Here’s a look at the questions and topics we discuss in this episode:

• We are here at MEDITECH LIVE, where you have the opportunity to be part of this much larger MEDITECH community, so let’s talk partnerships. I understand you are a strong advocate for MEDITECH as your primary health system vendor. Can you tell me a little bit about what you look for and what you value in a partner?
• I read that you fast-tracked an Expanse Ambulatory rollout to approximately 100 providers. Can you talk a little more about that and share more about your expansion strategy?
• Along with ambulatory, you are also rolling out Expanse Oncology in your cancer center and infusion clinics. Can you tell me a little bit more about your Expanse Oncology rollout?
• As we talk about Oncology and the advancements that have been made in this field, especially around areas like precision medicine, what are some of the ways you see St. Joseph’s/Candler staying ahead?
• With your patient population growing and services expanding, how are you engaging patients and what tools are you using to boost their satisfaction?
• You are part of a panel at MEDITECH LIVE on Perfecting Care for Patients. With such a diverse population, from rural to urban to resort destinations like Hiltonhead, what are some of the ways you are currently engaging with patients in your community and meeting their population health needs?
• What’s next for St. Joseph’s/Candler?
• What advice would you give an aspiring CIO?

Now, without further ado, we’re excited to share with you the next episode of the CIO Podcast by Healthcare IT Today.

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< + > Now is the Time to Prioritize IoT Medical Device Security

The following is a guest article by Alex Rybak, Senior Director of Product Management at Revenera

Pacemakers, insulin pumps, CT systems, wearables; these and many more medical devices are increasingly common parts of contemporary healthcare treatments. 

The increased digitization of the medical field, created by the growing number of medical internet of things (IoT) devices that are integrated into IT networks, means that the cybersecurity risk is also increasing. Medical providers, supported by device manufacturers, must take comprehensive approaches to ensure the safety of these devices, including the embedded software that’s essential to their functioning.

Efficient IoT Medical Device Cybersecurity is a Must

As reliance on IoT medical devices grows, it represents a shift within the field. The focus on value-based healthcare is intended to improve clinical outcomes while lowering overall costs. Incorporation of technology in the diagnostic and post-procedural phase is aimed to improve value across the continuum of care. Reliance on technology services and insights helps deliver operational efficiencies and better patient care management. And usage of real-time insights can help deliver personalized patient care. 

With medical IoT devices now playing a significant role, these devices must be secured as part of the software supply chain. Undocumented open-source code is in virtually all software; unique precautions apply in healthcare in order to prevent against the risks of the vulnerabilities potentially contained in open source software (OSS) and third-party code. For example, HIPAA requires device manufacturers to minimize the risk of shipping products to customers with unpatched vulnerabilities. 

Specific needs in this field have often meant that complex devices require compatibility or dependency checks before a software update, that technicians manually verify hardware compatibilities before starting updates, or that there was no visibility or insight into software or firmware versions on devices. Improved, automated updates can now replace time-consuming manual processes. Healthcare providers who use these devices should be aware of these best practices and ensure that suppliers or device manufacturers are performing all necessary updates. 

Regulatory Mandates are Growing

The patients who use IoT medical devices count on the devices to help improve their physical health. The providers who offer these IoT medical devices must have confidence that the manufacturers can guarantee the safety of the devices. This requires awareness of the legislative guidelines and regulatory frameworks, along with monitoring and reporting criteria that are growing (nationally and internationally) to ensure this level of safety.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Medical Device Safety Action Plan issues specific cybersecurity requirements. Goals include the reduction of attack surfaces, controlling access to data and software, and the maintenance of updated software and firmware. The FDA’s cyber regulations are primarily focused on medical devices with cybersecurity risks (networked, containing software, etc.). 

Healthcare providers using medical devices should understand and demand comprehensive security procedures from device manufacturers that conform with industry best practices. Per the FDA guidelines, medical device manufacturers must build the capability to patch device security into a product’s design; they must provide appropriate data regarding this capability to the FDA as part of the device’s pre-market submission to demonstrate reasonable assurance cybersecurity procedures and testing, including software bills of materials (SBOMs). Once devices are made available, manufacturers must adhere to post-market requirements. These include the need to monitor, identify, and address cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exploits. 

Additionally, publicly traded companies must comply with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s guidelines that mandate disclosure of material cybersecurity incidents within four business days via an 8-K form, as well as cybersecurity disclosures along with all of the company financials in the annual 10-K form.  

Similarly, the European Union Medical Device Regulation (MDR) applies to manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers, or distributors of medical devices in the EU. These parties must identify vulnerabilities and potential exploits in their devices, design, develop, and maintain medical devices with robust cybersecurity features, and provide timely software updates and security patches.

All of the aforementioned regulations require a complete and up-to-date SBOM to serve as a source of truth to the contents of your portfolio of applications. A comprehensive open-source management program, including software composition analysis (SCA) tools, allows you to integrate the construction and management of SBOMs into your existing software management process. This allows organizations to identify compliance issues as early as possible as well as perform impact analysis as newly discovered security vulnerabilities are reported outside the organization.

Security Documentation is Essential

As a general rule, manufacturers are responsible for the security of the software in their products. They must analyze the security of applications systematically and continuously throughout the software lifecycle. This includes after a release of an application, along with ongoing monitoring for new security vulnerabilities.

Security documentation starts at the code level and requires a high degree of automation. Commercial applications today are made up of thousands of components from different sources—proprietary code, code from partners and third-party providers, and freely accessible open-source repositories from various repositories.

By delivering an SBOM to the medical organizations that use the devices, device manufacturers can assure users of the safety of the devices. SBOMs are a kind of inventory list that contains top-level components, sub-components, and dependencies, both direct and transitive, along with the associated licenses and security vulnerabilities. IT and healthcare information management teams, developers, security, and compliance managers can use this information to gain a comprehensive insight into the composition of the software and devices their organization is using—and the potential impact on patients. SBOMs help document the components in the software applications, legal and/or security compliance issues, exposure to specific vulnerabilities, how current the components are, where risks exist, and how to mitigate them.

Today’s medical interventions are leaps and bounds beyond what was imaginable only a few years ago. The availability of diverse types of IoT medical devices has brought great advances to patient care. Making sure those devices—and the patients who use them—are protected against cybersecurity threats is the next essential step in ensuring the health of patients and protecting the liability of the providers who deliver them.

About Alex Rybak

Alex Rybak is a Senior Director of Product Management at Revenera, focusing on their Software Composition Analysis (SCA) solutions. He also heads up Revenera’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and is a member of the internal cybersecurity and incident response team.

< + > Scriptology Acquires RxLive to Enhance Medication Management Solutions and Expand Telehealth Capabilities

Acquisition will Accelerate Scriptology’s Market Presence and Integration of Advanced Technology while Delivering Superior Healthcare Solutions

Scriptology, a leader in tech-enabled comprehensive medication management, today announced it has acquired RxLive, a telehealth clinical pharmacy services company. This strategic acquisition will enhance Scriptology’s technology portfolio and extend its market reach, augmenting its capabilities to offer personalized medication management at scale to deliver superior healthcare solutions.

RxLive’s technology will seamlessly integrate into Scriptology’s platform, enabling better data-driven decision-making, comprehensive patient support, and a more efficient medication management process. By integrating RxLive’s technology and resources, Scriptology will save millions in development costs and accelerate productivity and profitability across existing partnerships.

“This acquisition marks a significant milestone in Scriptology’s journey to redefine medication management,” said Erin Hendrick, CEO at Scriptology. “By bringing RxLive’s technology and expertise into our ecosystem, we’re adding advanced analytics and medication management capabilities that will help our clients succeed in value-based care models.”

Scriptology publicly launched in March 2024 to transform the approach to medication management by combining an extended clinical pharmacy team with an innovative tech platform. In today’s healthcare landscape, the challenges of medication management are growing increasingly complex, contributing to poor patient outcomes and rising healthcare costs. With approximately 50% of patients struggling with medication adherence, there is a critical need for more effective, patient-centered solutions that bridge the gaps between pharmacists, providers, and payers.

RxLive, founded in 2017, offers a suite of telehealth services and SaaS solutions through its My.RxLive platform. Using sophisticated machine-learning algorithms and AI analytics, the company specializes in comprehensive medication management and virtual care programs, including transitions of care, MIPS, and HEDIS, and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. 

“The combination of Scriptology and RxLive brings together two innovative companies that are well-positioned to address the growing challenges in medication management,” said Mark Engelen, Co-Founder of RxLive and Board Member at Scriptology. “This acquisition is poised to make a significant impact on the healthcare industry, improving patient care and lowering costs.”

With this acquisition, Scriptology is poised to lead the next wave of innovation in comprehensive medication management. By leveraging RxLive’s advanced technology and data-driven strategies, Scriptology will continue to enhance its platform, offering more personalized care, improving patient engagement, and driving better health outcomes at scale. This strategic move further solidifies Scriptology’s commitment to delivering high-quality, accessible healthcare solutions that meet the evolving needs of patients, providers, and payors.

For more information about Scriptology, visit scriptologyhealth.com.

About Scriptology

Scriptology is revolutionizing Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM) by combining an extended clinical pharmacist team with an innovative technology platform. Scriptology seamlessly integrates clinical pharmacists into existing care teams, providing patients with personalized medication management and ongoing support. This approach not only enhances patient care but also offers providers and payers critical insights to drive sustained quality outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Scriptology’s platform delivers personalized medication plans, regular communication and coaching, and seamless integration with care teams, ensuring that patients receive holistic, effective care. The platform’s comprehensive data insights and powerful analytics enable targeted interventions, risk stratification, and proven outcomes, including significant cost reductions and improved medication adherence. For more information, visit scriptologyhealth.com.

Originally announced September 12th, 2024

< + > Bonus Features – October 6, 2024 – Only 25% of health systems trust ROI claims from digital health vendors, behavioral health makes up 72% of telehealth volume, plus 20 more stories

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

Studies

• Market intelligence vendor Panda Health released The Digital Health ROI Report. Among its many interesting findings: Only 25% of respondents trust a vendor’s ROI claims, 59% reported that vendor ROI promises fall short more than half the time, but only 46% have a process for evaluating ROI claims.
• A Trilliant Health report, 2024 Trends Shaping the Health Economy, indicated behavioral health represents more than 72% of telehealth volume, while cardiology is the specialty with the greatest use of clinical AI.
• A report from Claroty found 78% of healthcare organizations hit with a ransomware attack paid at least $500,000 in ransom.
• According to a Harmony Healthcare IT survey, 72% of Americans are worried about healthcare costs in 2025, and two-thirds expect to pay more next year.
• The latest studies from Epic Research indicated gallbladder removal decreases the likelihood of ulcerative colitis but increases the likelihood of irritable bowel syndrome, while the prevalence of common infections in adults isn’t higher than it was prior to the pandemic.

Partnerships

• Data platform Arcadia welcomed J2 Interactive and Socially Determined to its marketplace.
• C3HIE will be the technology foundation for TORCH CIN, the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals Clinically Integrated Network.
• Consumer-facing care coordination vendor Quantum Health has partnered with Embold Health, a provider of quality data.
• Interoperability vendor Connective Health is partnering with Availity, a real-time information network, to create precise care summaries for primary care and virtual specialty care providers.

Products

• Avo launched Ask Avo, an AI tool for clinical consults that integrates with EHR systems.
• Pager Health launched ReallyWell, an AI tool for analyzing patient/member data sets and providing wellbeing recommendations.
• Consumer-facing imaging records management vendor PocketHealth launched several breast health support tools.
• Infinx announced its Intelligent Revenue Cycle Automation Platform to help health systems address staff shortages, claim denials, and payment delays.
• TrustCommerce’s Cloud Payments is now certified on all major payment processing platforms, including Apple Pay and Google Pay digital wallets.

Sales

• Florida-based Moffitt Cancer Center chose Reimagine Care to provide 24/7, proactive, on-demand cancer care services.
• Clinically integrated network Southern New England Healthcare chose ​​​​​​athenaOne for EHR, RCM, and patient engagement.
• Virginia-based Mary Washington Healthcare chose Ensemble for RCM.

Company News

• Overjet received FDA clearance for AI-powered dental image enhancement.
• Research from Imperial College London showed AI tools from Eko Health can identify patients with significantly higher risk of experiencing major adverse cardiac events.

People

• Pivot Point Consulting hired Taylor Davis as Executive Partner for Client Success.
• Patient engagement and workflow automation vendor Yosi Health made two appointments: Lori Ryan as Director of Customer Success and Patrick McInnis as Vice President of Partnerships.
• Motion analysis technology provider OneStep welcomed Holly Bossert as Vice President of Sales.

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo. Note that submissions received after the close of business on Thursday may not be included in Bonus Features until the following week.

< + > Weekly Roundup – October 5, 2024

Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.

Seema Verma on Merging Cerner into Oracle Health and What’s Next. John Lynn sat down with the former HHS Secretary and current Oracle Health executive to learn what longtime Cerner users should know about what’s happening at Oracle Health. They also discussed Verma’s favorite AI project at Oracle Health tight now. Read more…

Telemynd + CharmHealth + Salesforce = Innovative Care Delivery. Colin Hung chatted with Roger Murray at Telemynd and Venky Chellappa at CharmHealth about building the right APIs to enable bidirectional integration between EHR and CRM software to support mental health. Read more…

Marrying Ambient Clinical Voice and Clinical Automation. Fern Cowan at DeepCura AI talked to John about applying lessons from hospitality to healthcare AI, as well as the benefits of deep EHR integration for clinical documentation. Read more…

Mental Health Screenings Ensure Healthy Children and Parents. John spoke with Dr. Shannon Fox-Levine and Kimberly Brennan at Palm Beach Pediatrics to learn how digital screenings offered by Yosi Health help the practice improve the patient experience. Read more…

Insights, Learnings and Perspectives From MEDITECH Live. John attended the vendor’s user conference and was struck by MEDITECH’s commitment to helping its customers stay independent, along with numerous discussions about AI’s role in medicine. Read more…

Healthcare IT Today Podcast: Big Deal, Little Deal, No Deal. John and Colin debated whether three recent headlines are major stories – Epic hitting 5 billion MyChart logins a year, 46% of healthcare orgs hosting data in the cloud, and an uptick in faxing for prior auth. Read more…

Harness Ambient Listening to Revolutionize Documentation. Ben Scharfe at Altera Digital Health outlined why organizations must address the challenge of integrating semi-structured data from ambient listening tools into EHR, analytics, and RCM systems. Read more…

Ethical Boundaries, Big Payouts: The Lure of Hacking Healthcare. Technology adoption has only increased the number of entry points that attackers can exploit. Roei Sherman at Mitiga said the answer is improving visibility, training, threat detection, and incident response. Read more…

The Future of AI Is Empowerment, Not Replacement. Three in four patients don’t trust AI in healthcare. According to Frank McGillin, CEO at The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic, that means organizations need to focus on building trust in AI, using it in the right place, and making sure data is high quality. Read more…

Leverage Your Content Management System to Safeguard Your Most Important Assets. Jeff Lusby and Keith Johnson at Quest Diagnostics outlined three benefits of a robust content retention policy and discussed how to ensure policies effectively evolve over time. Read more…

Why Vulnerability Assessment Matters for Healthcare Cloud Security. Journalist Boris Dzhingarov described five types of vulnerability scans that help organizations proactively find security gaps. Read more…

This Week’s Health IT Jobs for October 2, 2024: Some generalist roles in healthcare technology management and health IT strategy. Read more…

Bonus Features for September 29, 2024: 50% of health systems say data quality hinders care quality improvement efforts; meanwhile, 60% of patients would be comfortable with AI supporting their doctor in a cancer diagnosis. Read more…

Funding and M&A Activity:

• Netsmart acquired HealthPivots, a market intelligence company for post-acute care.
• Imaging data provider Segmed secured $10.4 million in Series A funding.
• Interpreter service provider Equiti Health received an investment from Heritage Group.
• Cloud-based data archiving and interoperability vendor MediQuant received a growth investment from Revelstoke Capital Partners.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our latest Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundups.