Ascension Says It’s Expanding Test Of Controversial Google Tool

Modern Healthcare: Ascension To Expand Pilot Of Google EHR Search Tool
St. Louis-based Ascension on Tuesday said it's expanding a pilot of an electronic health record tool from Google, a next step in the controversial partnership it struck with the tech giant in 2018. The pilot of Google's tool, an interface on which clinicians will be able to search for patient records and details within a record, began with a "small group of clinicians" in Nashville, Tenn., and Jacksonville, Fla., according to a blog post from Eduardo Conrado, Ascension's executive vice president of strategy and innovations. The pilot, which tests an early release of the software, is expanding to roughly 200 clinicians. (Kim Cohen, 2/23)

Stat: Google Expands Controversial Pilot Project Using Patient Data
More than a year after facing widespread criticism over its patient data-sharing arrangement with hospital chain Ascension, Google on Tuesday unveiled new details and a name for a core product of the partnership. (Brodwin, 2/23)

In other health care industry news —

Roll Call: Health Care Bore Brunt Of Cyberattacks In 2020, Study Says 
The global health care and pharmaceutical industries bore the brunt of cyberattacks in 2020 as nation-state hackers and criminals targeted companies looking for information on COVID-19 as well as vaccine development, cybersecurity research firm CrowdStrike said in a report made public Monday. (Ratnam, 2/23)

Georgia Health News: Medicare Penalizing 18 Georgia Hospitals Under Often-Criticized Patient Safety Program 
Medicare is lowering payments to 18 Georgia hospitals due to their high rates of infections and other patient injuries. The hospitals getting penalized include large urban facilities and some serving midsized cities. They will lose 1 percent of the Medicare payments over 12 months. (Miller, 2/23)

FierceHealthcare: CVS Invested $114M In Affordable Housing Last Year. Here's Where Those Funds Went 
CVS Health invested more than $114 million in affordable housing last year. The healthcare giant said those investments will lead to the construction or rehabilitation of over 2,800 affordable housing units in 30 cities and 12 states. That includes more than 460 permanent supportive housing units for the homeless, which are in construction. In addition, 560 units are set aside for seniors, CVS said, and more than 100 units are reserved for veterans and their families. (Minemyer, 2/23)

Stat: OpenBiome To Wind Down Stool Bank Operations 
OpenBiome, the nation’s first public stool bank, will soon end its program for collecting, screening, and shipping material for fecal microbiota transplants, or FMT, the company announced Tuesday. (Sheridan, 2/23)

Crain's Detroit Business: State Of Confusion: Michigan's Mental Health System Has Many Layers For Those In Need To Navigate
Michigan's $3 billion public system for treating individuals with severe mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities and addictions is heralded by advocates as being free of the financial pressures the commercial marketplace faces to squeeze out a profit. Those same advocates also acknowledge the system is sometimes inefficient, bulky and unable to meet a growing need for behavioral health care amid escalating financial pressures for the state's overall Medicaid insurance program for low-income residents. (Livengood, 2/23)

KHN: ‘It Doesn’t Feel Worth It’: Covid Is Pushing New York’s EMTs To The Brink
In his 17 years as an emergency medical provider, Anthony Almojera thought he had seen it all. “Shootings, stabbings, people on fire, you name it,” he said. Then came covid-19.Before the pandemic, Almojera said it was normal to respond to one or two cardiac arrests calls a week; now he’s grown used to several each shift. One day last spring, responders took more than 6,500 calls — more than any day in his department’s history, including 9/11. (Pskowski, 2/24)