Hospitals ‘Freaking Out’ About Constant Cyberattacks; Congress Has No Clear Plan To Address Threat
The targets of attack within health care are practically limitless, but many systems can't afford the technology to protect against them. And Congress seems to be in no mood to cough up the money it would take to fund the security efforts.
Politico Pro:
Cyber Ransom Attacks Panic Hospitals, Alarm Congress
When the Obama administration pushed out a $35 billion incentive program to pay doctors and hospitals to convert to electronic records, the idea was to modernize the health care industry, not serve it up on a platter to cyber criminals. But now, American hospitals face weekly ransom threats. If they don’t pay up, files get frozen, surgeries delayed and patients sent across town. One of these days, someone could die as a result. And no one in government has a clear plan to handle it. (Allen, 5/25)
In other health IT news —
The Washington Post:
Your Fitness Tracker May Be Accurately Tracking Steps, But Miscounting Calories
Your fitness tracker may be accurately counting your steps but not the correct number of calories burned, according to a new report by the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. The study, which will be published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise later this summer, found that FitBit and Jawbone are significantly over- and underestimating calories burned during certain physical activities. The group’s findings come at a particularly inopportune time for Fitbit, as the company is currently facing a class-action lawsuit alleging its product, specifically its heart rate technology, is faulty and inaccurate. (McDonough, 5/24)