Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
MOVEit Data Breach Has Affected At Least 88 Health Providers
Modern Healthcare: MOVEit Data Breach Hit John Hopkins, Other Providers In 2023: Emsisoft
A sweeping series of data breaches involving the file transfer software product MOVEit has affected at least 88 provider organizations. ... “This isn't simply people's logins, passwords or even social security numbers,” said Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emsisoft. “It’s a mix of health records, legal records stolen from law firms, information stolen from government, information stolen from banks, so it really is cross sector and a huge variety of data.” (Turner, 8/29)
Modern Healthcare: Google Widens Access To Generative AI Model Med-PaLM 2
Google Cloud, the big tech’s company’s cloud arm, is adding more organizations to test its large language model for healthcare, the company said Tuesday. The model, named Med-PaLM 2, will be made available as a preview to an unspecified number of additional Google Cloud healthcare and life sciences customers. (Perna, 8/29)
Modern Healthcare: Insurers, Startups See Opportunity In Exchange-Based HRAs
Health insurers with big exchange marketplace operations such as Centene and Oscar Health are partnering with newly formed companies to take a bite out of the lucrative employer health benefits market through a relatively new form of coverage. These exchange carriers are betting big premium increases will push more employers to adopt individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, or ICHRAs, as an alternative to group coverage. (Tepper, 8/29)
Modern Healthcare: AdventHealth Sells Nursing Homes As Finances Recover
AdventHealth is refocusing on its core operations. The system sold 10 skilled nursing facilities this year: one in Texas and one Kansas in March, each to CareTrust REIT, and eight in Florida in June to Infinite Care for a combined $161.17 million, according to financial documents released Monday. (Hudson, 8/29)
The Boston Globe: Brown Medical School Withdraws From U.S. News Rankings
The medical school at Brown University is withdrawing from the U.S. News & World Report education rankings, joining a long list of universities this year that said they would no longer provide data to the publication. Officials at The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown said Tuesday the rankings “do not align” with the university’s values, including Brown’s measures of what constitutes quality preparation for medical students. (Gagosz, 8/29)
Also —
The New York Times: Former Pediatrician Ordered To Pay $22 Million In Sexual Abuse Suit
A Long Island judge has ordered former pediatrician Stuart Copperman to pay $22 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a 42-year-old woman who claimed he had sexually abused her from the time she was a toddler until she turned 18.The ruling was the first to be handed down against Mr. Copperman, who has been accused of abusing scores of patients over decades. More than 100 other civil claims against him by former patients are pending. (Rabin, 8/29)
Stat: The Writer Who Helps Doctors Share Their Stories — And Their Pain
Where Laurel Braitman is sitting is rather apt. Braitman, whose first book, “Animal Madness,” won her fans and TED Talk acclaim, is unmistakable in a fringed, cream-colored jacket and thick, square glasses, perched on a tall chair near the back of Zibby’s Bookshop. It’s a small, airy paperback oasis along a bougie stretch of cafés and day spas. But it used to be a dry cleaners. For the last few years, Braitman has been performing a kind of emotional dry cleaning for health care workers — accepting their dirty laundry without judgment, and then helping wash, press and fold it into something crisp and worthy of being worn out into the world. (Cueto, 8/30)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: A gas station company is the latest retailer looking to cash in on the urgent care boom, and the U.S. pediatric mental health system’s shortcomings are affecting the health of parents and caregivers. (8/29)
