Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FBI Finds That Ransomware Hackers Hit Health Sector Most In 2022
Bank Info Security: Healthcare Most Hit By Ransomware Last Year, FBI Finds
Healthcare and public health bore the brunt of ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure sectors launched during the last year, says the FBI. The FBI's Internet Complaint Center last year received 870 complaints that "indicated organizations belonging to a critical infrastructure sector were victims of a ransomware attack," said David Scott, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, speaking at the Futurescot conference Monday in Glasgow, Scotland. Critical manufacturing and the government, including schools, followed healthcare as the most-attacked sectors, IC3 data shows. (Schwartz, 2/27)
In other health care industry updates —
Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic’s 2022 Profits Plummet By More Than 50%
Rising wage and supply costs, in addition to poor performance in the financial markets, sent Mayo Clinic's profit plummeting by more than half in 2022. The Rochester, Minnesota-based nonprofit reported $2.2 billion in net income for 2022, a 58.4% drop from $5.3 billion in 2021. Operating income dropped 50.9% to $595 million, the system said Monday. (Hudson, 2/28)
Modern Healthcare: GoodRx Revenue Fell In 2022's 4th Quarter
GoodRx’s fourth-quarter earnings reflected the consumer digital health company’s financial challenges. Quarterly revenue decreased 14% to $184 million, and the company said its issue with Kroger, a national grocery chain, cost it $40 to $50 million in lost revenue. Kroger temporarily stopped accepting GoodRx’s discounts at the point of sale in May. The matter was resolved in August but GoodRx said at the time the financial effect of the dispute was going to linger for the remainder of the year. (Perna, 2/28)
Modern Healthcare: Privia Health Becomes Profitable In 2022's 4th Quarter
Privia Health turned a profit in 2022's final quarter. The Arlington, Virginia-based physician enablement company on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $17.8 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $12 million, or 11 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Fourth-quarter revenue increased 32.4%, to $364.4 million. (Turner, 2/28)
Indianapolis Star: CVS Health Spends $10 Million In Affordable Housing Project
In an effort to address homelessness, CVS Health announced Tuesday that it is spending $10 million to build a 48-unit affordable supportive housing apartment community on the west side. "At CVS, we know the first step to improving health and wellbeing is access to safe, clean, affordable housing," Lena Barkley of CVS Health Workforce Initiatives said at the announcement. (Lyn Cheang, 2/28)
Crain's Chicago Business: Outcome Health Fraud Trial: Rishi Shah Attorney Grills Ashik Desai
Rishi Shah’s defense attorney is painting the government’s star witness, Ashik Desai, as someone whose inexperience and ambition led him to commit fraud and sell out his former Outcome Health bosses to save his own skin. (Pletz, 2/28)
Also —
WUFT: A Specialized Ambulance For Stroke Patients Is On The Way At UF Health
Every 40 seconds, someone has a stroke in the U.S. Every three and a half minutes, someone dies from a stroke. Strokes are leading causes of long-term disability. These statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are exactly why officials at UF Health Shands Hospital are forming specialized stroke ambulances. (Barrera and Weinstein, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal: How Doctors Use AI To Help Diagnose Patients
Artificial intelligence is slowly changing the care that you get at the doctor’s office and in hospitals. At Mayo Clinic’s cardiology department, doctors use an artificial-intelligence program to help detect new heart problems. Elsewhere, a group of primary-care doctors is using it to help identify an eye condition that can lead to blindness. A number of hospitals are using it to catch patients at risk for sepsis. (Reddy, 2/28)
USA Today: Community Health Centers Can Fill America's Primary Care Gap: Report
Nearly a third of Americans lack access to primary care, according to a new report. More than 100 million people in the United States don't have a primary care provider, and about a quarter of those are children, according to the report, "Closing the Primary Care Gap," released Monday by the National Association of Community Health Centers. (Hassanein, 2/28)
KHN and CBS News: This Dental Device Was Sold To Fix Patients’ Jaws. Lawsuits Claim It Wrecked Their Teeth.
Boja Kragulj, an accomplished clarinetist who once performed with orchestras in New York, Philadelphia, and Jacksonville, Florida, has already lost four teeth. And she expects to lose at least a dozen more. Five years ago, seeking to correct her bite and improve her breathing, Kragulj tried a dental device that she was told would put pressure on her upper palate, lengthening her jawbone to fix her issues without surgery, according to an ongoing lawsuit she has filed in federal court. Kragulj said she discovered the device through Facebook, and it sounded “miraculous.” (Kelman and Werner, 3/1)
