Government & Policy

This week's top stories include malicious actors looking to infect health systems on a large scale, and provider groups pushing back against Trump's claims that doctors are inflating COVID-19 numbers.

Of the 15 cities examined, Cleveland had the highest rate of hospitals that reported the ability to find, send, receive and integrate electronic health information with sources outside their health system, according to a new report from ONC.  

The updated interim final rule, meant to offer providers and developers more flexibility as they respond to COVID-19, also pushes out health IT certification requirements.

Such a regulation would assist providers with implementing medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder in the longer term.

With the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, they describe some of the techniques that may be used by foreign groups that could be targeting hundreds of health systems with ransomware.

New research released by vHealth shows that residents in the Gulf country are embracing telemedicine, with the company reporting a 500% increase in the use of its telehealth app between March and September 2020, compared to the same period last year.

As Black History Month comes to close, will this mean that the achievements and contribution of Black people in the UK and the need to take action will be packed away for another year, asks Dr Shera Chok, co-founder of the Shuri Network.

Even as massive resources have been marshaled to quickly develop new tools, the pandemic still disproportionately affects the populations who may not have access to them.

Newly released documents show that the consultancy will be paid nearly £1m for the work.

"As these machines learn, we feel like there is going to be a change in expectation," said Bakul Patel, director of the FDA's Digital Health Center of Excellence.