Weekender 12/13/19

Weekly News Recap

• Hackensack Meridian Health (NJ) brings its clinical systems back online after a downtime of several days, rumored to be the result of a ransomware attack.
• Former Outcome Health EVP Ashik Desai pleads guilty to wire fraud and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors.
• Emergency medical services technology company ESO acquires trauma registry software vendors Clinical Data Management, Lancet Technology, and Digital Innovation.
• Proteus Digital Health’s previously announced restructuring will include eliminating 292 jobs and closing several facilities by January 18.
• The DoJ will look into Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit for possible antitrust violations.
• Partners HealthCare (MA) will spend $100 million on a five-year digital health initiative focused on developing self-service technologies for patients.
• BJC HealthCare (MO) lays off 200 employees as it outsources some IT services to an unnamed managed service provider.

Watercooler Talk Tidbits

The DoJ charges 10 former NFL players for alleged fraud after they filed nearly $4 million in claims for medical equipment that was never purchased or received through a health reimbursement account plan set up for former athletes. Claims were filed for hyperbaric devices, ultrasound equipment used for imaging on pregnant women, and electromagnetic therapy devices used on horses.

Former debt collection agency employee Shaunna Burns takes to TikTok to share advice on dealing with medical debt collection. In just a few weeks, she has gained over 100,000 followers and over 1 million likes. “The fact that there are people out there thinking debt equals deadbeat … debt doesn’t equal deadbeat,” she says. “I’m not a deadbeat, and I have great credit, and I’m still having to deal with debt collection. I literally spent hours a week fighting with insurance companies over stupid bills that shouldn’t have been charged … having to do all that is annoying and frustrating, and I thought if I could help one person [with the TikToks], it would be worth it.”

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital notifies 1,174 patients of a months-long privacy breach resulting from employees who failed to shred patient-identifying meal tray tickets, instead throwing them away in regular garbage bins.

Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church develops dating app technology designed to pair users based on their DNA. Church says the app could help wipe out inherited diseases.

Advocate Children’s Hospital  (IL) launches the Santa Connection program with help from Burwood Group and Cisco.

In Case You Missed It

• News 12/13/19
• EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 12/12/19
• HIStalk Interviews Michele Perry, CEO, Relatient
• News 12/11/19
• Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 12/9/19
• HIStalk Interviews Doug Cusick, CEO, TransformativeMed
• Monday Morning Update 12/9/19

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