Andrea Fox
Most health systems experienced a cyberattack in the last year, the new Ponemon Institute report shows, with 69% of victims citing poor patient outcomes. Business-email compromise and ransomware were reported to be the biggest culprits in care impacts.
After a federal court ruled that healthcare organizations sharing individual IP addresses with third parties did not constitute a HIPAA breach, legal ambiguity remains, says one privacy expert.
Nursing and IT
Hadassah Backman, RN, is a nurse CEO who says artificial intelligence could do a lot to help RNs with relentless documentation burden, while also helping organizations boost revenue and improve compliance.
Government and industry cyber pros aren't always confident in their organizations' abilities to recover from cyberattacks, two recent surveys suggest. They say underfunded security budgets are causing vulnerabilities in the face of pervasive threats.
While there's been progress across government and industry, the agency said the new technology strategy emphasizes health equity, public health, AI and cybersecurity to better connect the health system with health data "for all health IT users."
It's already happening: CFOs are getting Teams calls from their "CEO" asking for reports on financial transactions, says ChristianaCare CISO Anahi Santiago ahead of her appearance at the 2024 HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum.
An investigation into the incident, now being handled by the Department of Justice, is reportedly trying to determine whether Gov. Tim Walz or Sen. J.D. Vance’s health records were shared as a result of the insider breaches.
It wants the information released so patients, health systems, interoperability advocates and others "can evaluate the facts for themselves."
To prevent healthcare cyberattacks and their damage to the American public, lawmakers propose mandatory cybersecurity requirements and penalties, which include jail time for executives who lie about cyber hygiene.
The commission is expected to codify a rule next month that requires cellular carriers to georoute wireless 988 calls to the closest national service provider, better connecting callers in crisis to local suicide prevention and care services, HHS said.