Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Thousands Of Clients' Health Reports Exposed By DNA-Testing Service
Bloomberg: DNA-Testing Service Exposed Thousands Of Customer Records Online
DNA-testing service Vitagene Inc. left thousands of client health reports exposed online for years, the kind of incident that privacy advocates have warned about as gene testing has become increasingly popular. More than 3,000 user files remained accessible to the public on Amazon Web Services cloud-computer servers until July 1, when Vitagene was notified of the issue and shut down external access to the sensitive personal information, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg. The genealogy reports included customers’ full names alongside dates of birth and gene-based health information, such as their likelihood of developing certain medical conditions, a review of the documents showed. (Grant, 7/9)
Stat: 5 Questions About Deploying Voice Recognition Technology In Health Care
Voice assistant technologies like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are increasingly popular — today, nearly 25% of U.S. households own a smart speaker — and health care providers are taking notice. A host of health care companies and researchers are hoping the same technology can help make doctors’ jobs easier and better — particularly when it comes to filling out electronic health records, which was found to take up more than half of a physician’s average 11-hour workday. (Hailu, 7/10)
