Morning Headlines 4/6/16

Variation in Quality of Urgent Health Care Provided During Commercial Virtual Visits

A study published in JAMA finds significant clinical variation among care delivered by commercial telehealth vendors. Researchers suggest vendors begin developing industry best practices aimed at standardizing care.

Mass. General launches Epic health records upgrade

Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital all go live on Epic over the weekend as part of Partners Healthcare’s $1.2 billion Epic implementation.

Hackers Broke Into Hospitals Despite Software Flaw Warnings

The Associated Press reports that MedStar Health’s recent ransomware attack was executed by exploiting known vulnerabilities from as far back as 2007. MedStar’s failure to apply security patches in time could leave them legally exposed.

Survey Finds Hospital Executives Increasing Focus on Patient Expectations and Engagement

An Advisory Board Company survey of healthcare CEOs finds that the most common executive action items include minimizing clinical variation, redesigning services for population health, meeting rising consumer expectations, deploying patient engagement strategies, and controlling avoidable utilization.