Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospitals Only Have To Report Certain Cyberattacks, Leaving Rivals In The Dark And Vulnerable
The Wall Street Journal: Why Some Of The Worst Cyberattacks In Health Care Go Unreported
A cyberattack last year paralyzed MedStar Health computers, forcing the Maryland operator of 10 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient centers to shut down its entire electronic-record system. Doctors logged patient details with pen and paper. Laboratory staff faced delays delivering test results. “It was three weeks before we got most of everything that was important to us on a daily basis back and operational,” Craig DeAtley, director of the MedStar Institute for Public Health Emergency Readiness, said during a panel organized by federal health officials last year to address cyberthreats. (Evans, 6/18)
In other health IT news —
Stateline: Interactive Medical Drones: No Longer Science Fiction
Drone technology has been around for at least half a century, and for years people in health care have speculated about the medical use of drones, for example to transport medicines, organs for transplants, blood supplies and anti-venom serums. But to date, very few of those possibilities have been realized, in part because of the federal rules governing drones. By law, non-military drones can only be operated within the pilot’s line of sight, during the daytime, and at altitudes no higher than 400 feet. (Ollove, 6/16)
