Connected Health

Healthcare is likely to receive plenty of attention, especially following reports last week that Apple is working on technology that would gather personal health records on the iPhone.

The software enables doctors and family members to track and share data about pediatric patients to inform care decisions.

Incubated at Providence Health and UPMC, both Epic shops, Xealth enables doctors to prescribe more than pills.

Organizations say broader access will support remote-based monitoring and home-based primary care for those with chronic conditions.

Memories of the May WannaCry attacks have started to fade but the threat to healthcare systems is not going away. In fact, while the risk has been seen mostly in IT administrative systems and EHRs, many believe that the threat to medical devices is even greater. The growth of IoT systems throughout the healthcare landscape is one reason for this change in the landscape. Security is not always built into medical devices. A recent TrendMicro report found more than 36,000 healthcare devices were easily discoverable using Shodan, the public able search engine available for discovering Internet-connected devices. A strong defense will require more than simply maintaining a firewall and keeping software security patches up to date. [Also: Webinar: Preventing and dealing with ransomware attacks] Kevin Johnson, a noted ethical hacker and president of Secure Ideas, says “it is critical that organizations understand how these attacks work.” Johnson will be speaking on Thursday, June 15 in the HIMSS Learning Center, explaining how hackers are approaching their targets in order to give healthcare IT managers more ammunition in their defensive strategies. [Also: Unsecured medical devices: Healthcare's new warning call] “Once the [hacker view] is understood, “ Johnson said, “then the detection and prevention becomes part of the normal operations. “ In his presentation, "Preventing and Dealing with Ransomware Attacks: How to Keep Your Data Safe," Johnson will describe how common attacks are developed and demonstrate the issues they create. The session will be recorded and will be available for listening on demand at the HIMSS Learning Center.

Mount Sinai has a “little big data group,” LifeBridge and Thomas Jefferson also foster clinical innovation teams, and they all say experimentation, evidence, rigor and risk are needed to succeed.

Innovative notices help technology developers clearly communicate their policies to consumers.

Healthcare is on the cusp of faster innovation cycles that will improve care delivery.

Not only telehealth, but cloud-based EHRs and remote monitoring connectivity could all be affected by regulation rollbacks, Health Affairs says.

Bootstrapped firms and those companies directly connected to the insurance market are facing the greatest challenges, as funding for these types of startups has fallen the lowest since 2011.