Array ( [name] => Texla Health Care News: [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/ [icon] => https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/famfamfam-silk@1.0.0/dist/png/folder_feed.png [donationUri] => [items] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/baptist-health-taps-3-vendors-build-pop-health-system-works [title] => Baptist Health taps 3 vendors to build a pop health system that works [timestamp] => 1722027784 [author] => Bill Siwicki [content] => With help from Oracle, Innovaccer and Salesforce, the South Florida provider is scoring big population health wins, including a 7% increase in coding gap closure rate and a 17% increase in annual wellness visit completion rates. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/072624%20Baptist%20Health%20Innovaccer%20Milady%201200.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/baptist-health-taps-3-vendors-build-pop-health-system-works [description] => With help from Oracle, Innovaccer and Salesforce, the South Florida provider is scoring big population health wins, including a 7% increase in coding gap closure rate and a 17% increase in annual wellness visit completion rates. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554948 [pubDate] => Fri, 26 Jul 2024 17:03:04 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Collection] => Success Stories & ROI [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":["Global","Regions"],"topic":[],"tag":["Success Stories & ROI"]} [Text] => Baptist Health South Florida operates a network of 11 hospitals covering four counties. It also includes numerous ambulatory facilities, urgent care centers and emergency departments to provide comprehensive healthcare services across the region. And its Population Health Service  Organization focuses on improving the health outcomes of a specific population by coordinating and integrating healthcare services across the continuum. One of the entities the PHSO employs to accomplish value-based care is Baptist Health Quality Network. BHQN is a clinically integrated network affiliated with Baptist Health South Florida, the region's largest healthcare organization. Bringing together primary care physicians, specialists and hospitals, BHQN is dedicated to high-quality, patient-centered care. THE PROBLEM As a clinically integrated network and accountable care organization, Baptist faced significant challenges in managing the health of its patient population effectively before implementing population health management technology. "One of our primary issues was the fragmented nature of patient data across multiple provider organizations and electronic health record systems," said Milady Cervera, vice president, population health and physician integrated networks, at Baptist Health South Florida. "This lack of interoperability made it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of our patients' health status, care history and ongoing needs. "Without a unified data platform, we struggled to identify high-risk patients, track care gaps, and coordinate care effectively across our network of providers," she continued. "Additionally, we grappled with the complexity of risk stratification and predictive analytics. Our manual processes were inadequate for accurately identifying patients at risk of deteriorating health or high utilization." This limitation hampered the organization's ability to implement targeted interventions and preventive care strategies, which are crucial for improving outcomes and controlling costs in value-based care models. "Another significant challenge was the lack of real-time insights and actionable data," Cervera noted. "Our providers often made decisions based on outdated or incomplete information, leading to inefficiencies, duplicated services and missed opportunities for early intervention. The absence of a robust analytics platform also hindered our ability to measure and report on quality metrics, which is essential for contract performance and shared savings programs. "Furthermore, we struggled with patient engagement and care coordination," she added. "Without advanced communication tools and a centralized care management system, it was challenging to keep patients actively involved in their care plans, ensure smooth transitions between care settings, and facilitate collaboration among our multidisciplinary care teams." With a goal to engage patients beyond the traditional hospital setting, staff believed they needed a technology that would span the continuum of care and interact with and engage patients in all care settings. This included but was not limited to wearables, post-acute management, remote patient monitoring to track patient outcomes post discharge, and more. "These issues collectively impacted our ability to meet the Triple Aim of improving patient experience, enhancing population health and reducing per capita healthcare costs," Cervera explained. "We recognized that overcoming these challenges would require a sophisticated population health management technology capable of integrating data, providing actionable insights, and supporting our care teams in delivering high-quality, coordinated care across our network." PROPOSAL First, the proposed population health management technology provided a unified data platform, Cervera said. "The technology offered the ability to integrate patient data from multiple provider organizations and EHR systems, creating a centralized and interoperable platform," she continued. "This would enable a comprehensive view of each patient's health status, care history and ongoing needs, which is essential for effective care coordination and management. "The technology also offered advanced risk stratification and predictive analytics, which use sophisticated algorithms and advanced machine learning designed to accurately identify high-risk patients and predict potential health deteriorations," she added. "This proactive approach would allow for the implementation of targeted interventions and preventative care strategies, resulting in improved patient outcomes while controlling costs." The vendor also provided real-time analytics and dashboards, which offer up-to-date, actionable data for both network leadership and providers. The point-of-care system offered would aid providers and care team members in making informed decisions, reducing inefficiencies, avoiding duplicated services and seizing opportunities for early intervention, Cervera said. "The advanced communication tools and a centralized care management system facilitates enhanced patient engagement and care coordination by involving the patient in their care plans, ensuring smooth transitions between care settings, and promoting collaboration among multidisciplinary care teams," she explained. "This would enhance patient engagement and improve care coordination across the network." MEETING THE CHALLENGE As a clinically integrated network and ACO, Baptist proposed implementing a comprehensive population health management technology comprising: Cerner HealtheIntent (now known as Oracle Health Data Intelligence); InNote, InCare and InGraph from Innovaccer; Salescloud from Salesforce; and a remote patient monitoring system to address the challenges. This integrated system was designed to resolve the data fragmentation issues, enhance analytics capabilities, improve care coordination and significantly boost patient engagement across the entire care continuum. "Cerner's HealtheIntent serves as the foundation of our population health management strategy and supports system-wide population health initiatives," Cervera explained. "HealtheEDW [now part of the Oracle population health platform] aggregates data from our various EHR systems, payer claims data sources and the RPM system into a unified data warehouse. "This centralized platform provides us with a holistic view of our patient population, including data from various care settings and patient-generated health data, enabling more effective care coordination and informed decision making," she said. To complement HealtheIntent, Baptist incorporated Innovaccer's data activation platform and advanced analytics capabilities. "We were excited about its machine learning algorithms that generate actionable insights from our consolidated data," Cervera recalled. "Innovaccer's Best in KLAS point of care solution, InNote, solved one of our largest challenges: delivering actionable insights to the providers at the point of care. "The solution is in place today and being used by physicians and their support staff and has already shown improvements in both risk coding outcomes and quality measure gap closure for the network," she continued. "The vendor's predictive modeling features will help us identify patients at risk of health deterioration across various care settings, suggesting proactive care measures." Salesforce is BHQNs patient outreach and documentation system to manage interactions with Baptist's network physicians including contract management, engagement and productivity. Salesforce manages BHQN's patient interactions and tracks outreach and follow-through efforts. "Even with our robust implementation of Cerner HealtheIntent, Innovaccer and Salesforce, we still face some challenges," Cervera noted. "Data integration across these platforms isn't always seamless, leading to occasional information gaps or delays. We sometimes struggle with alert fatigue among our care teams due to the high volume of data and notifications generated by our systems. "Additionally, patient adoption and consistent engagement with our RPM tools remain ongoing challenges, particularly among certain demographic groups," she continued. "Lastly, while our analytics capabilities have greatly improved, we still grapple with translating all these insights into consistently actionable interventions across our entire patient population." Through this technology stack, Cervera hopes to overcome these challenges. RESULTS With the Innovaccer InNote system deployed to providers across 38 practices, Baptist has experienced a 7% increase in coding gap closure rate. Using all three vendors' systems, Baptist developed the HUB model: a geographical resource deployment for nurses to partner one-to-one with physician offices and better manage the care coordination of their patients. The HUB model leverages the HealtheIntent platform to identify patients post discharge and document care coordination activities, among many other initiatives. "By using HealtheEDW, we've implemented a customizable risk stratification algorithm based on clinical and claims data to proactively identify patients for outreach," Cervera reported. "That outreach is then integrated with Salesforce for any scheduling and follow-up needs the patient may have. Innovaccer informs the nurses and providers as to the most at-risk patients and those to target for interventions including identifying gaps at the point of care, ensuring timely closure. "Through this implementation, we've realized a 17% increase in annual wellness visit completion rates for our Medicare populations, and 9% improvement in commercial," she continued. "As well as a 20% improvement in transitional care management revenue capture and 145% increase in chronic care management revenue capture." Further enhancements are being made to the model to improve upon quality measure performance rates and readmission rates and, ultimately, reduce total cost of care. ADVICE FOR OTHERS "When considering population health management technology, healthcare provider organizations should prioritize several key factors," Cervera advised. "First, there must be a system-wide population health strategy with clear prioritization, aligning it with your organization's overall goals and securing executive buy-in by articulating the value proposition of value-based care. "Engage physician leadership throughout the process, as their buy-in is crucial for successful adoption," she continued. "Also, ensure you have appropriate teams, resources and skill sets to support the advanced technology. Individuals with subject matter expertise in healthcare data and population health specific initiatives – for example, total cost of care models, bundled payments, post-acute data management, etc. – are critical in roles such as data analysts and healthcare informatics specialists." A culture of continuous improvement and movement toward clinical standardization of care is required to effectively leverage population health management tools, she added. This includes developing a comprehensive data governance and change management strategy to ensure stakeholder buy-in and smooth workflow integration, she said. "Assess your organization's readiness for innovation and be open to new approaches in care delivery and patient engagement," she recommended. "When selecting technology, focus on interoperability, scalability and patient engagement features that extend care beyond traditional settings. "Remember, implementing population health management technology is a long-term commitment requiring ongoing optimization and support to fully realize its benefits," she concluded. Follow Bill's HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki Email him: bsiwicki@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication. ) ) [1] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ochin-and-osis-partner-enhance-chc-technology [title] => OCHIN and OSIS partner to enhance CHC technology [timestamp] => 1721996192 [author] => Andrea Fox [content] => By aligning capabilities and working together to develop affordable and tailored technology, the non-profit healthcare technology service organizations aim to improve the sustainability of community health centers nationwide. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/Doctor%20Sees%20Patient%20andresr%20Getty%201200.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ochin-and-osis-partner-enhance-chc-technology [description] => By aligning capabilities and working together to develop affordable and tailored technology, the non-profit healthcare technology service organizations aim to improve the sustainability of community health centers nationwide. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554947 [pubDate] => Fri, 26 Jul 2024 08:16:32 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":["Global","Regions"],"topic":[],"tag":[]} [Text] => A new partnership aims bring sustainability and innovation to providers in systemically underserved communities and safety net organizations. OCHIN, which partners with national provider networks and boasts the largest collection of community health data in the country, and OSIS, which says it represents the nation's largest network of NextGen Health Centers, will collaborate to bring greater choice in electronic health record platforms to providers and improve access reliability to 30% of health center patients in the United States. WHY IT MATTERS Technical staffing shortages and rising operational costs demand efficient digital systems to enable high-quality care across healthcare.  Portland, Oregon-based OCHIN and OSIS in Cincinnati know this all too well and are leaning in.  The organizations said in their partnership announcement Tuesday that they are helping to address workforce shortages by tapping into the available talent and technical expertise across both organizations to fill critical roles. OCHIN and OSIS are standing together to "make an even greater and more enduring impact for the providers, patients and communities we serve," according to a statement from Abby Sears, OCHIN's president and CEO. The two national nonprofit organizations collectively serve more than 39,000 providers and more than 9.3 million patients. While OSIS focuses on NextGen Healthcare EHR, EPM and EDR technology assistance to Community Health Centers around the country, OCHIN provides clinical insights and tailored technologies to expand patient access and improve interoperability in rural and medically underserved communities. The organizations will remain independent, but are partnering to share resources to problem-solve across both networks and drive operational savings through collaborative innovation, they said. "OSIS and OCHIN have simultaneously been working to tackle the same issues that impact our Community Health Center Community," Jeff Lowrance, OSIS CEO, said in a statement. In addition to supporting members' daily operations by reducing technology burdens and better connecting care teams, OCHIN and OSIS said their partnership also aims to elevate health center representation among national health equity research and advocacy. THE LARGER TREND Partnerships through accelerators and organizations are helping to address the ongoing challenge of finding and retaining technical employees with the digital skills to maintain and protect complex healthcare networks and data. Despite an escalating demand for health IT, last year's study by analytics firm GlobalData highlighted the persistence of the tech skills shortage.  Among the survey's respondents, 43% said a lack of specialized skills and talents was the primary obstacle with 40% adding that a lack of insufficient funding and 36% citing organizational silos as additional obstacles. ON THE RECORD "At the heart of the new OCHIN and OSIS partnership is a shared belief that today's healthcare system requires innovative approaches to connecting and transforming access to care," Sears said in a statement. Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News. Email: afox@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication. ) ) [2] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himsscast-improving-patient-safety-and-employee-retention-best-incident-reporting-practices [title] => HIMSSCast: Improving patient safety and employee retention with best incident reporting practices [timestamp] => 1721994990 [author] => Andrea Fox [content] => By modernizing systems and improving leadership and culture to embrace reporting, healthcare organizations can better address the top 10 patient safety concerns for 2024, says Heidi Raines, founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners.  [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/HIMSSCast_1_2_0_6.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himsscast-improving-patient-safety-and-employee-retention-best-incident-reporting-practices [description] => By modernizing systems and improving leadership and culture to embrace reporting, healthcare organizations can better address the top 10 patient safety concerns for 2024, says Heidi Raines, founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners.  [enclosure] => [guid] => 554946 [pubDate] => Fri, 26 Jul 2024 07:56:30 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":[],"topic":[],"tag":[]} [Text] => Ultimately improving the quality of care healthcare systems deliver and preventing harm requires a degree of self-reflection. Along with digital transformation, putting an easy-to-use incident reporting system in place can help healthcare organizations address today's chief patient safety concerns, including medication errors, care delays, workplace violence and preventing patient falls, said Heidi Raines, founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners, on HIMSSCast. "Every close call is an opportunity to see where things might be going wrong," offering hospitals a chance to fix issues before the next patient. While technology is integral for catalyzing better patient outcomes, incident reporting can also cut employee turnover, according to the author of Shared Voices: A Framework for Patient and Employee Safety in Healthcare. When one organization dissected incident reporting data by shift, data visualizations revealed patterns in errors and was able to reduce medication errors by 51%, she said. Raines explained how pragmatic tactics – like leadership rounding – can also help foster a culture of psychological safety for employees. When leaders empower frontline staff to "invest back" and directly impact quality improvements, they also strengthen employee retention.   Like what you hear? Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play! Talking points: Complex interactions and building trust in healthcare Documenting every close call to make care safer Drilling into incident reporting trends and eliminating root causes Modernizing systems and implementing incident reporting programs Culture change and people strategies to enhance error reporting Ending barriers to speaking up and making reporting easy and fast More about this episode: Q&A: Patient safety derives from data-driven leadership A new approach helps Atrium Health reduce falls – and the costs associated with them Team nursing could lead to patient deaths, higher costs, says study Breaking through staff resistance with change management User-unfriendly EHRs pose serious risks to patient safety   ) ) [3] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia/india-lowers-2024-budget-digital-health-and-more-briefs [title] => India lowers 2024 budget for digital health and more briefs [timestamp] => 1721975797 [author] => Adam Ang [content] => Also, the National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore is leveraging data and AI to improve dental care. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/web_xl-GettyImages-872643154_6.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia/india-lowers-2024-budget-digital-health-and-more-briefs [description] => Also, the National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore is leveraging data and AI to improve dental care. [category] => Investing, Telehealth, Clinical decision support, AI, Regulation, EHR, Digital Health, Business, Patient Access, Quality Care, Analytics, Public Policy, Core Technologies, Technology [enclosure] => [guid] => 554945 [pubDate] => Fri, 26 Jul 2024 02:36:37 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":[],"topic":["Investing","Telehealth","Clinical decision support","AI","Regulation","EHR","Digital Health","Business","Patient Access","Quality Care","Analytics","Public Policy","Core Technologies","Technology"],"tag":[]} [Text] => ABDM, tele-mental health budgets reduced Early this week, India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the official Union Budget for 2024-2025.  For healthcare, the government set aside Rs 90,958.63 crore ($10.8 billion), rising by nearly 13% from last year's Rs 80,517.62 crore ($9.6 billion). This includes Rs 200 crore ($24 million) for the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission, which is lower than the Rs 341 crore ($40.7 million) allocation last year. The government scheme is building the foundations of a digitally connected health ecosystem through the creation of electronic health records.  Meanwhile, another digital health initiative, the national tele-mental health programme, also saw its allocation decrease to Rs 90 crore ($10.7 million) from Rs 133.7 crore ($16 million) a year ago.  NUCOHS says imaging data, AI integration underway  The National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore (NUCOHS) has revealed its long-term plan to leverage digital technology in advancing dental care.  The centre, which is under the purview of the National University Health System, said it is building a dental imaging repository that will support the development of new treatment plans and data-driven research. It plans to integrate the database with computer-aided design and manufacturing to enhance the creation of dental restorations, such as dental prostheses, dentures and crowns. The NUCOHS also shared that it is working to integrate AI models with its EMR system to improve the early detection and prediction of dental conditions like tooth decay and gum disease.  "AI will play an increasingly important role in our practice, and by integrating AI and innovative research, we ensure that patients receive the most precise, efficient and appropriate care. Additionally, we hope to use our expansive data to study links and impact of a patient’s systemic condition and the medications they are taking on dental disease progression and the prognosis of treatment," explained Patrick Tseng, associate professor at NUCOHS.  PhilHealth unveils digital platform to streamline service access State health insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the Philippines has started moving its legacy systems into new, secure systems.  It recently launched the ePhilHealth platform which streamlines access to the insurer's various services, including the outpatient benefits programme, eKonsulta. Through PhilHealth's integration with the eGovernment Data Exchange Platform, its members can also access their profiles, contributions, and claims history on the eGovPH super app.  PhilHealth has also integrated its system with the Philippine National ID system.  The move to more secure digital infrastructure came almost a year after the state health insurer was hit by a Medusa ransomware attack, which exposed the data of some 13 million members. ) ) [4] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/data-13-million-australians-stolen-medisecure-hack-and-more-briefs [title] => Data of 13 million Australians stolen in MediSecure hack and more briefs [timestamp] => 1721975553 [author] => Adam Ang [content] => Also, the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department is now providing online consultations to patients with diabetes. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/florian-olivo-4hbJ-eymZ1o-unsplash.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/data-13-million-australians-stolen-medisecure-hack-and-more-briefs [description] => Also, the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department is now providing online consultations to patients with diabetes. [category] => Cybersecurity and Privacy, Pharma, Rural and underserved communities, Telehealth, Digital Health, Data and Information, Life Sciences, Patient Access, Technology [enclosure] => [guid] => 554944 [pubDate] => Fri, 26 Jul 2024 02:32:33 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":[],"topic":["Cybersecurity and Privacy","Pharma","Rural and underserved communities","Telehealth","Digital Health","Data and Information","Life Sciences","Patient Access","Technology"],"tag":[]} [Text] => MediSecure hack exposed data of 13 million Australians Approximately 12.9 million Australians had their health information stolen in the recent MediSecure hack.  This, according to the embattled e-prescription provider, who recently went into administration following a "large-scale" ransomware attack on its system on 16 May.  In an update, MediSecure said affected individuals included those who used its service between March 2019 and November 2023. However, it cannot identify specific individuals given the "complexity of the data set" that was compromised.  Individual healthcare identifiers, Medicare card numbers, and prescription medications and instructions are some types of information that were exposed in the hack, it added.  Diabetes service added to VVED The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED) has introduced a new service catering to people living with diabetes. VVED Diabetes, launched in partnership with the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations, will provide free video consultations to patients dealing with non-life-threatening complications.  Following this launch, Ambulance Victoria paramedics will work with the new clinic to test the ketone levels of individuals with diabetes. Early this year, the VVED announced that it intends to double its capacity to accommodate over 1,000 persons a day, backed by over $150 million fund from the state government.  Magentus introduces e-prescribing on Charm   Magentus has recently added an e-prescribing functionality to its oncology information management system.   Prescribers, according to a media release, can now create e-scripts through the Charm oncology IMS after Magentus met the e-prescribing conformance set by the Australian Digital Health Agency. "We are proud to be Australia’s first and only oncology information management system with approved e-prescribing functionality and conformance," claimed Magentus Charm's product lead Margot Mason in a statement.  Qld pharmacy pilot begins MedAdvisor software training The Australasian College of Pharmacy and MedAdvisor has started training pharmacists involved in the pilot programme expanding their scope of practice in Queensland.  Based on a media release, participants are being trained to use the MedAdvisor platform to manage user accounts, complete patient medication details, message clinicians, use the Queensland Scope of Practice forms when prescribing and set booking availability.  Last year, MedAdvisor won the tender to deliver an enhanced version of its PlusOne pharmacy platform for the Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot. The platform comprises a patient portal, a clinical information system, a prescribing functionality, secure communication and data analytics.  Roper Gulf seniors get access to virtual allied health service The Roper Gulf Regional Council, a local government in the Northern Territory, has started offering round-the-clock access to virtual allied health services in its aged care settings.  The service will be provided through a multidisciplinary allied health team from iAgeHealth by McLean Care.  According to a media release, the service will initially focus on providing at-home occupational therapy services, including modification assessments, physiotherapy assessments, and treatment plans. Dietetic meal planning, assessment, and monitoring will also be provided. Following this, Roper Gulf said it will expand access to more iAgeHealth allied health professionals, such as speech pathologists and exercise physiologists. GoodSAM comes to Tasmania The Tasmanian government has collaborated with the developers of GoodSAM, a free mobile emergency alert and dispatch app from the United Kingdom, to provide support to first responders.  The GoodSAM app alerts responders with registered defibrillators of persons experiencing a cardiac event within a thousand metres.  Tasmania takes after New South Wales in adopting GoodSAM to promote community emergency response. In 2022, NSW Ambulance signed a four-year partnership to integrate the app with its ambulance dispatch and a public registry to map out nearby defibrillators. ) ) [5] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ai-s-ability-see-and-hear-patients-holds-huge-promise [title] => AI’s ability to see and hear patients holds huge promise [timestamp] => 1721926027 [author] => Bill Siwicki [content] => AI-enabled computer vision could be a game-changer, says one CEO, who also discusses the risks of generative AI and the promise of automated transcription, which is already proving itself. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/072524%20QandA%20Narinder%20Singh%201200.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ai-s-ability-see-and-hear-patients-holds-huge-promise [description] => AI-enabled computer vision could be a game-changer, says one CEO, who also discusses the risks of generative AI and the promise of automated transcription, which is already proving itself. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554942 [pubDate] => Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:47:07 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Collection] => AI & ML Intelligence [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":[],"topic":[],"tag":["AI & ML Intelligence"]} [Text] => Artificial intelligence is fast proliferating across healthcare, with various applications large and small finding their way into workflows industry-wide. Whether it's helping clinicians during telemedicine visits, transcribing entire conversations between doctors and patients, writing notes for nurses in response to patient portal questions, helping patients triage their problems via chatbots, or any number of other applications, AI is proving itself useful to many stakeholders in healthcare. Narinder Singh has been working with AI for years. He is CEO and cofounder of LookDeep Health, a virtual sitting, virtual nursing and virtual care company. Past roles include working in Accenture's Center for Strategy Technology, a corporate strategy position in the office of the CEO at SAP, cofounder of Appirio, president of Topcoder, and vice president of engineering at webMethods. Healthcare IT News sat down with Singh to discuss how AI can help increase capacity in telemedicine, the risks posed by generative AI for hospitals and health systems, how provider organizations can overcome these risks, and the role AI is playing in scribe technologies. Q. You note that telemedicine of course removes the burden of distance from healthcare interactions. But you say it does not increase the capacity for them. How do you see AI helping here? A. Let me start with some context for why this is a key question, and perhaps the question for the future of hospital care. Every week we speak with hospitals that note patient acuity is rising or they are staff constrained, and most cite both. The U.S. population over 65 grew five times faster than the total population from 2010 to 2020 – the fastest rate in more than a hundred years. This is part of a longer-term trend and highlights the rising age and associated acuity of the patients hospitals will care for in the future. At the same time, we have seen repeated projections from worrisome to disastrous for nursing and other roles in the hospital – and that is independent of financial pressures that make it nearly impossible to expand staffing levels. We now have had a generation of telemedicine inside the hospital – from eICU to tele-consults and now virtual sitting and virtual nursing. At a project level, there have been many successes, but at a macro level, collectively telemedicine in the hospital has had a very limited impact on care, sans one massive exception – COVID. During the pandemic, we learned that seamless access via telemedicine creates flexibility that enables a system to adapt. Yet, it did not expand our resource capacity. Tele-capabilities can bridge great distances, but do not change the underlying units of work necessary to provide care. Now, AI can mean many things, but let's start with what relates to telemedicine – the ability to expand our observational capacity (rather than how it impacts decision-making). Today, a nurse who covers six patients will be in any given patient's room for one to two hours. Doctors will be in an individual patient's room generally only a few minutes per day. Therefore, the vast majority of the time, a patient is without the watchful eye of a provider. This is despite the fact that so much of what is happening with the patient can only be assessed and understood at the bedside. Are they less active; trying to get out of bed; does their breathing seem more labored; did the alarm go off because the sensor slipped off their finger or the breathing tube slipped out of their neck; etc.? One branch of AI, computer vision, can let us have eyes on every patient all the time. This can help allocate the scarcest resource in the hospital – the clinical attention of nurses and doctors – more appropriately. We have decades of evidence that increasing clinical bandwidth positively impacts patients. Video alone – even in rightly compelling areas like virtual nursing – will simply repeat the disappointments of the past. With AI, we can better leverage the time and expertise of our most significant constraint. Imagine a world where AI acts as a guardian angel for patients and their caregivers. Identifying potential issues and alerting healthcare professionals before a small problem becomes a big one. This isn't just about efficiency; it's about fundamentally changing the way we deliver care. AI can provide that extra layer of support, ensuring that no patient is left unattended, even for a moment. It's not about replacing human touch but augmenting it, making our healthcare system more responsive, resilient, and, ultimately, more human. Q. You caution there are real risks posed by generative AI for hospitals and health systems. What are they? A. Generative AI can streamline prior authorizations, patient coding, and the intricate interactions between insurance and healthcare providers. However, it could also ignite an epic civil war between them. This productivity could lead to a faster but more complicated landscape of disputes, ultimately requiring more human adjudicators to resolve disputes. Instead of cutting down on admin work, it might actually increase it. Generative AI could infinitely scale the most cynical stereotypes of over usage and aggressive denial of claims. AI tools are making strides in reducing the time doctors spend on paperwork, especially outside the hospital. But in a hospital setting, the complexity of care and the lack of defined "visits" mean these tools aren't as effective yet. We have had years to learn how difficult and specific the development and application of machine learning algorithms are in hospitals. The allure of a magic approach to remove that tedious hard work and its integration into clinical workflows is tempting, but naive. "Generative" patterns are relevant to many parts of healthcare operations, but they are not a golden ticket. They do not yet address the need to synthesize defined sets of information and repeatedly draw the same conclusions from them. The predictability of inputs and outputs is crucial to evaluation and certainty in clinical decision making. Q. How can hospitals and health systems overcome these risks posed by generative AI? A. On the first point related to the battles between insurers and providers, I see no immediate resolution. You simply cannot afford to have humans attempting to deal with the volume of AI-generated requests or responses, so participation in this arms race is unavoidable. However, engaging in a way that sets a foundation for evaluating and incorporating generative models into workflows offers leverage for the future. Key steps include securing PHI, ensuring checks and balances on outputs, evaluating models within and outside their scope, and not alienating your workforce with premature claims of replacing their roles for a few dollars an hour. These are just the beginning. Already we are seeing insiders like Sequoia and Goldman questioning the hype and benefit of generative AI. We will go through a valley of despair; yet focusing on the pragmatic and not falling in love with the broad proclamation will keep many an innovation team from the cutting block. Hospitals need two antagonistic mindsets. First, experimentation is essential. Generating non-clinical content (emails, communications), evaluating summarization of EHR context, improving language translation, and transcription – these all are areas where generative AI can be safely tuned and targeted for improvements. These applications can free up valuable time for healthcare professionals to focus on more critical tasks. Second, hospitals must enforce rigorous evaluation and demand repeatability. For clinical scenarios, you should expect proof of any claims of capability. Even better, have an approach for continuous evaluation of AI capabilities within the solution. Concrete claims must ensure that the same set of inputs produces the same results, maintaining consistency and reliability in clinical decision making. In other industries, technologists, as Norman Vincent Peale once quipped, "shoot for the moon and settle for landing in the stars." In healthcare we have seen the disastrous implications of such strategies setting back industries for a decade or more (Theranos for blood testing, Watson for AI for cancer). You can be pragmatic without being slow – the right leaders will drive that balance. Q. You have observed more than a half dozen transcription companies raising more than $30 million in the last few years. Why is this? And what role is AI playing in these scribe technologies? A. There are more than a million doctors in the United States. Their time is incredibly valuable, and a generation of being treated like both experts and entry-level data analysts has driven tremendous burnout. The math is straightforward, and now the technology is more accessible than ever. The narrative that "the time is now" is not a new one, but it may finally be becoming a reality. It's a wonderful use of technological advances. AI is playing a pivotal role in these scribe technologies by drastically improving the accuracy and efficiency of transcriptions. With AI, transcription can be done in real time, with higher accuracy and at a fraction of the cost. The challenge is that in just the last months, AI advances continue their breakneck pace of advancement – redefining the starting point of building such solutions. It is clear that transcription solutions are not foundational AI models themselves; rather, they are solutions built on top of foundational AI models. The cost of developing competitive solutions has likely dropped by 95%. Better integration with clinical workflows, exceptional go-to-market models, and innovative derivative solutions remain massively important differentiators. However, the quality of difference between top solutions in the AI aspects of transcription itself will become essentially zero. As a result, in this future, it is only inertia that will prevent prices from dropping dramatically, which should be great for healthcare providers. Lower costs will make these advanced transcription solutions accessible to more practices, further reducing the administrative burden on doctors and allowing them to focus more on patient care. The surge in investment in transcription companies is a testament to the transformative potential of AI in healthcare – the risks are that the commoditization of the category results in desperate over-promising in order to keep up with investor expectations. Follow Bill's HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki Email him: bsiwicki@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication. ) ) [6] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ai-roundup-new-tools-help-talent-searches-cut-imaging-noise [title] => AI roundup: New tools to help with county patient data, cut imaging noise [timestamp] => 1721923153 [author] => Andrea Fox [content] => Artificial intelligence continues to permeate technologies providers use. This week, it's helping to find relevant talent to improve data usage in care coordination and enhance signal-to-noise ratio in MRIs. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/web_xl-GettyImages-501868949_1.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ai-roundup-new-tools-help-talent-searches-cut-imaging-noise [description] => Artificial intelligence continues to permeate technologies providers use. This week, it's helping to find relevant talent to improve data usage in care coordination and enhance signal-to-noise ratio in MRIs. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554941 [pubDate] => Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:59:13 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":["Global","Regions"],"topic":[],"tag":[]} [Text] => This week has seen new vendor announcements for an array of artificial intelligence use cases: enhanced population health management on the county level and a New York University Langone Health spinoff focused on leveraging physics to improve artificial intelligence-powered imaging technology. Also, with official clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, new first-of-its-kind imaging software can give clinicians access to a powerful denoising algorithm that improved magnetic resonance imaging quality in a recent neurological study by developer Microstructure Imaging.  FDA clears RMT for clinical practice Microstructure Imaging, a Brooklyn, New York-based vendor specializing in MRI software development, announced Wednesday that it received FDA 501 clearance for its breakthrough in signal-to-noise diffusion and functional MRI software. While MRI machines are often loud for patients, the noise presented by the images is a greater concern for their overall care. MRI uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to take detailed images of organs and tissues, but image clarity is subject to an SNR ratio which, is a calculation that indicates the difference between the area of interest and the background at each pixel.  While more can be understood medically from images with higher SNRs, the addition of a random matrix theory algorithm, MICSI said it has leveraged that provides "a multiplicative boost in SNR." Called MICSI-RMT, the software is the first to bring RMT denoising into clinical practice, the company said, making it particularly transformative for neuroimaging applications, such as in stroke management, where precise imaging improves medical decision making. The software can improve MRI image quality without external training data or high-performance GPUs, unlike traditional AI-enhanced imaging, the company said in a statement. That means the AI-enhanced denoising approach does not hallucinate, according to the company's website. MICSI-RMT also processes modules that support weighted linear least squares and Bayesian fitting techniques to facilitate quantitative analysis of diffusion-weighted imaging and noted that DICOM data routing ensures secure integration into medical workflows. In the company's blinded rater study, neuroradiologists assessed MRI images processed by MICSI-RMT and standard-of-care tools and said they preferred RMT imaging for its clarity and reduced artifacts. They also said DTI images processed with MICSI-RMT had sharper visualization of small structures in brain white matter and improved contrast with adjacent tissue types. They also reported more anatomically appropriate activation maps with functional MRI images produced with RMT technology. Researchers found the RMT technology improved diffusion MRI 4.35x and fMRI 1.9x and offered more precise parametric mapping. There was also notable improvement – 56.3% – in dMRI enhancement with the precision of ADC maps. County boosts patient analytics Innovaccer Inc., a healthcare AI platform company, announced Wednesday that San Mateo County Health will use its population health management platform to improve patient care services and manage data for approximately 165,000 lives and 500,000 legacy lives across the county. By compiling data across SMCH systems, and integrating into electronic health records, healthcare providers can search for patients across multiple EHR systems, review longitudinal patient records and transition data back to their main EHRs, the company said. "This partnership is a prime example of teams successfully working together to integrate data seamlessly and improve care delivery, all while bringing back the joy of care," Abhinav Shashank, cofounder and CEO of Innovaccer, said in a statement. The HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum is scheduled to take place September 5-6 in Boston. Learn more and register. Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News. Email: afox@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication. ) ) [7] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/augmedix-acquired-commure-139m [title] => Augmedix acquired by Commure for $139M [timestamp] => 1721916828 [author] => mike.miliard@medtechmedia.com; Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN (Mike Miliard) [content] => The combined companies seek to continue innovating products for easing clinician burden with AI-enabled ambient scribing, advance revenue cycle automation and consolidate on an integrated platform for large language models. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/M%26A-HITN.png ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/augmedix-acquired-commure-139m [description] => The combined companies seek to continue innovating products for easing clinician burden with AI-enabled ambient scribing, advance revenue cycle automation and consolidate on an integrated platform for large language models. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554940 [pubDate] => Thu, 25 Jul 2024 10:13:48 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":["Global","Regions"],"topic":[],"tag":[]} [Text] => San Francisco-based Commure, which develops a suite of software programs designed to help healthcare organizations boost efficiencies, announced recently that it will acquire Augmedix, which makes ambient AI-enabled tools for clinical workflow and documentation. The deal, which is valued at $139 million, will see Augmedix taken private and combined with Commure as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Since its founding in 2012, Augmedix has worked to innovate approaches to automated medical scribing and clinical documentation. Its technologies serve more than 20 major health systems and hundreds of other sites of care. With the acquisition, Augmedix stockholders will receive $2.35 per share in cash upon completion of the proposed transaction. "As part of Commure, we believe Augmedix will be well-positioned to scale ambient documentation solutions to even more clinicians and health systems while simultaneously accelerating efforts to infuse more innovative features, integrations, and AI capabilities into our product suite," said Augmedix CEO Manny Krakaris in a statement. "Commure is strongly aligned with Augmedix’s mission and vision for the future. We believe that the significant resources, deep industry expertise, and broadened technology capabilities we gain through this transaction will strengthen our market position, enable us to take advantage of more opportunities and create a powerful, future-focused company." Augmedix started as a company specializing in developing clinical applications of Google Glass, and was soon scoring big funding from VC firms such as McKesson Ventures and others. More recently, the company has been focused more broadley on AI-enabled tools to help ease clinical documentation burden, embarking on projects with health systems such as HCA on hands-free charting and other initiatives. But earlier this year, Augmedix's stock price dipped. Even though it beat estimates of its revenue growth, with a 40% increase in Q1, its shares dropped 40% after the company noted slowdown in provider purchasing commitments and it downgraded its 2024 full-year revenue outlook by about $8 million. By going private in a deal with Commure, the hope is that both companies can focus on their complementary core technologies and focus on serving their provider customers with improved clinician experience. "Together, we believe we can dramatically boost the productivity of every physician in America using language models that transcribe appointments, autonomously code them, and supercharge back-office operations for billing teams," said Commure CEO Tanay Tandon, who noted that the two companies are on track to enable more than 3 million physician appointments this year with AI-based ambient scribing, and revenue cycle automation this year. "Commure Scribe, and Augmedix Go on average save a physician 2 hours of documentation time a day, reducing documentation time by more than 80%, and help generate billions of dollars in productivity savings for providers across the country," he said. "In the coming months, we hope to announce much more about how the combined company’s product suites will help transform provider operations at all the systems we partner with." Mike Miliard is executive editor of Healthcare IT News Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication. The HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum is scheduled to take place September 5-6 in Boston. Learn more and register. ) ) [8] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hhs-announces-major-new-ai-cybersecurity-and-it-reorganization [title] => HHS announces major new AI, cybersecurity and IT reorganization [timestamp] => 1721915947 [author] => mike.miliard@medtechmedia.com; Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN (Mike Miliard) [content] => Oversight for healthcare technology, data and AI policy and strategy will be grouped under the renamed ASTP/ONC, while the 405(d) cybersecurity program will move to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/HHS-HITN_8.png ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hhs-announces-major-new-ai-cybersecurity-and-it-reorganization [description] => Oversight for healthcare technology, data and AI policy and strategy will be grouped under the renamed ASTP/ONC, while the 405(d) cybersecurity program will move to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554939 [pubDate] => Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:59:07 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":["Global","Regions"],"topic":[],"tag":[]} [Text] => The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is unveiling a new department-wide restructuring that it says will "streamline and bolster" strategy and policymaking for information technology, cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence. WHY IT MATTERS The aim is to capitalize on new opportunities across those fast-evolving technologies, according to HHS, and will redistribute responsibility across three existing agencies: the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the Assistant Secretary for Administration and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. To "clarify and consolidate" HHS' policies around those technology innovations: ONC will be renamed the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, ASTP/ONC  Oversight over technology, data, and AI policy and strategy will move from ASA to ASTP/ONC – including the HHS-wide roles of Chief Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer and Chief AI Officer The 405(d) Program, a public-private cybersecurity effort between the federal government and the healthcare industry, will move from ASA to ASPR. ASTP/ONC will take on a broader portfolio of responsibilities, with current National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi named as Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. In accordance with President Biden's recent Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI, Tripathi has also been tapped to serve as Acting Chief AI Officer. In the meantime, HHS will establish an Office of the Chief Technology Officer – while reinstituting the role of Chief Technology Officer, who will oversee department-level and cross-agency technology, data and AI strategy and policy. It will also build out new offices of the Chief AI Officer and Chief Data Officer. The Chief AI Officer will set AI policy and strategy for the Department; establish internal governance, policies and risk management approaches for uses of AI internal to HHS; coordinate HHS’s AI approach in the health and human services sectors; support the safe and appropriate use of AI technologies and tools across the department; and coordinate AI-related talent and training initiatives. The Chief Data Officer will continue to oversee data governance and policy development; drive data literacy and data talent initiatives; manage the HHS data strategy; support data collaboration and exchange; and manage HHS’s data as a strategic asset for the department. The new ASTP/ONC has launched a search to fill the permanent positions of Chief Technology Officer, Chief AI Officer and Chief Data Officer. HHS will host a webinar about these opportunities on August 1 at noon ET. Register here. ON THE RECORD "ONC already plays a critical role in health IT across our agencies and with industry," said HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm in a statement. "This reorganization builds on those capabilities to advance all our strategic, mission-focused technology, data, and AI policies and activities. These organizational changes will ensure that HHS is best situated to serve the American people during this incredibly dynamic time in the technology space." "Cybersecurity, data, and artificial intelligence are some of the most pressing issues facing the healthcare space today," said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. "As a Department, HHS must be agile, accountable, and strategic to meet the needs of this moment. For decades, HHS has worked across the organization to ensure appropriate and safe use of technology, data, and AI to advance the health and well-being of the American people. This reorganization builds on that success and prepares the Department for the challenges that lie ahead."   Mike Miliard is executive editor of Healthcare IT News Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication. The HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum is scheduled to take place September 5-6 in Boston. Learn more and register. ) ) [9] => Array ( [uri] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cisa-issues-new-pacs-security-advisory [title] => CISA issues new PACs security advisory [timestamp] => 1721832634 [author] => Andrea Fox [content] => The Homeland Security agency points to 13 vulnerabilities with the networked medical imaging and archiving systems that should be patched now. One dark web research firm says the U.S. and Brazil have the most internet-exposed PACs. [enclosures] => Array ( [0] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/PACS-HITN_0.jpg ) [categories] => Array ( ) [uid] => [link] => https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cisa-issues-new-pacs-security-advisory [description] => The Homeland Security agency points to 13 vulnerabilities with the networked medical imaging and archiving systems that should be patched now. One dark web research firm says the U.S. and Brazil have the most internet-exposed PACs. [enclosure] => [guid] => 554933 [pubDate] => Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:50:34 -0400 [source] => News from healthcareitnews.com [dc_dcmitype] => Array ( [Dataset] => {"content":[],"event":[],"language":[],"region":["Global","Regions"],"topic":[],"tag":[]} [Text] => A series of remotely exploitable vulnerabilities are affecting Philips' Vue Picture Archiving and Communication Systems Versions prior to 12.2.8.410, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said this past week. They could allow cybercriminals to view or modify data, gain system access, perform code execution, install unauthorized software or otherwise affect data integrity and system availability. On Tuesday, after examining several of the disclosed vulnerabilities, security researchers from Cyble, which develops artificial-intelligence-enabled threat intelligence tools, said the U.S. and Brazil are the two countries with the most exposure. WHY IT MATTERS CISA said in its advisory that TAS Health, part of New Zealnd's Te Whatu Ora, and a systems administrator from the Dutch firm Verweijen ICT, a cloud services and networking service for small and medium-sized businesses, reported the vulnerabilities. The threats facing Philips Vue PACS are:  Out-of-bounds Write. Deserialization of Untrusted Data. Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. Improper Privilege Management. Use of Default Credentials. Weak Password Requirements. Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor. Philips said in a statement on July 18 it had not received "any reports of patient harm, exploitation of these issues or incidents from clinical use that we have been able to associate with these issues." Meanwhile, Cyble said in its July 23 report, now that the threat of exploitation is widely known, the healthcare sector is in more danger. "The healthcare and public health sector is vastly dependent on [PACs] due to their nature of operations within this environment; at the same time, the operations performed via PACs become a lucrative target." Specifically, the Philips VUE PACs vulnerabilities, combined with an individual system's internet exposure, could be quickly leveraged by threat actors for data breaches compromising patients' privacy, or undermining healthcare institutions and patient safety and care. The company pointed to the U.S. and Brazil as having the highest number of Internet-enabled systems. Philips recommended the following mitigations in its security advisories to customers: For vulnerabilities CVE-2020-36518, CVE-2020-11113, CVE-2020-35728, CVE-2021-20190, CVE-2020-14061, CVE-2020-10673, CVE-2019-12814, CVE-2017-17485, CVE-2023-40223, and CVE-2023-40159, Philips recommends upgrading to the latest Vue PACS version 12.2.8.400* released in August 2023. For CVE-2021-28165, Philips recommends configuring the Vue PACS environment per D000763414 – Vue_PACS_12_Ports_Protocols_Services_Guide available on Incenter. Philips also recommends upgrading to the Vue PACS version 12.2.8.410* released in October 2023. For CVE-2023-40704 and CVE-2023-40539, Philips recommends configuring the Vue PACS environment per 8G7607 – Vue PACS User Guide Rev G available on Incenter. CISA shared this information in its advisory to U.S. healthcare organizations and reminded them to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment before "deploying defensive measures." Philips reached out to Healthcare IT News to add that it collaborates across industries and actively encourages vulnerability discovery and disclosure.   “The majority of these potential issues were corrected by the release of Vue PACS software version 12.2.8.400 in August 2023 and one issue was addressed by Vue PACS version 12.2.8.410 released in October. Also, Philips reported this vulnerability via our publicly accessible, voluntary  Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure program. Philips CVD program, established in 2014, encourages vulnerability testing by security researchers and by customers, and we proactively and voluntarily share the results with CISA for an advisory posting," a Philips spokesperson said by email on Wednesday. THE LARGER TREND Hospitals that manage, store and transmit digital medical images and reports – X-rays, MRIs, CT scans – have been vulnerable to cyber threats before.  Early in 2023, agencies warned U.S. healthcare organizations that Clop ransomware was targeting medical images. Clop actors had been infecting image files, submitting them to facilities and requesting medical appointments hoping the virus-laden file would be opened, according to the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center. ON THE RECORD "Under specific conditions, the potential security vulnerabilities identified by Philips could impact or potentially compromise patient confidentiality, system integrity and/or system availability," Philips said in its advisory. "Regular patching and updating of PACS are essential steps that need to be continuously taken to verify the security and integrity of healthcare operations, protect patient information and maintain the overall resilience of healthcare services," the Cyble researchers said.  This article was updated on July 24, 2024, to include a comment from Philips. Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News. Email: afox@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication. The HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum is scheduled to take place October 31-November 1 in Washington, D.C. Learn more and register. ) ) ) )