According to the National Vulnerability Database, 18,353 vulnerabilities were reported in 2020. That’s nearly three times the volume of vulnerabilities reported five years ago, and higher than any year in the previous two decades. Given the rise in connected devices, this increase is not entirely unexpected. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be seeing more vulnerability disclosures related to medical devices?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
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Health IT | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Frontline Workers Need New Approaches to Treat COVID-19-Related Mental Health Issues
We’ve long known that the coronavirus pandemic would dramatically impact the mental health of health care professionals and the general population. But just how many of us have been impacted is stunning.
Fully 41% of Americans reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition associated with Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Essential workers had the highest reported rates of adverse mental health outcomes compared to all other
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Cedar Acquires OODA Health for $425M to Power Healthcare Financial Tech Platform
What You Should Know:
- Cedar, a healthcare financial technology platform, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OODA Health, a healthcare technology company focused on improving the healthcare administrative experience with payers and providers, for $425M.
- By bringing together providers and payers onto one healthcare financial technology platform, Cedar will be the only complete solution to address the full set of challenges consumers face when paying for
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Why Healthcare Data Won’t Magically Create Value-Based Care
The conversation about transitioning the American healthcare system from fee for service (FFS) to value-based care (aka, pay for performance) has been going on for more than 15 years. Still, it felt like time travel to come across a Health Affairs book review from 2006 by the late Princeton Professor Uwe Reinhardt that could have been written last month.
In evaluating what he describes as the “utopian vision” laid out in Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg’s Redefining Health
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EHR Adoption is Essential for Outpatient Surgery to Remain Relevant in Managed Care
In 2009, hospitals and doctors were given financial incentives to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) were not eligible for these funds, and were therefore not incentivized like the rest of the healthcare system to implement the technology. The consequence of that differentiation is that the majority of ASCs are still charting on paper, even while the rest of the health
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Patient Experience 2.0: A Shift in Priorities Defined by A Year of the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the healthcare continuum within the past year, creating many roadblocks in the path towards high-quality care delivery. Amid these challenges, we have witnessed a significant shift in patient wants and needs, in addition to heightened demand for accessible, convenient clinical care. Notably, the desire for more care processes to be performed digitally has emerged as a priority among patients. According to a recent survey by Accenture about patient behaviors, 60%
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Aetion Closes $100M to Expand RWE Analytics Platform
What You Should Know:
- Healthcare technology company Aetion announced today a $110M Series C fundraise, led by Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth equity firm, with additional investments from B Capital and Foresite Capital. Aetion’s existing backers New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Flare Capital Partners also joined the round. Aetion has raised a total of $212M to date.
- The company will use the new funds to extend the capabilities of its Aetion Evidence Platform, expand its
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M&A: Medicus IT Acquires Managed Services Provider HITCare
What You Should Know:
- Medicus IT (MIT), the leading healthcare-focused managed services provider (MSP) based in Alpharetta, Georgia, today announced the acquisition of Health Information Technology Care (HITCare), California's premier healthcare managed IT services provider. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
- The uniting of these leading companies further elevates Medicus IT as one of the largest healthcare focused MSPs in the country and will deliver
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How Next-Generation Care Will Be More Patient-Focused
Hospital operating margins were hovering in the 2% range before the global pandemic wreaked havoc on providers and payers in March 2020. Even with two “normal” months in 2020, operating margins plummeted 55.6% compared to 2019. Even with CARES funding, margins remained down nearly 17%.
At the same time, demand for healthcare professionals continues to grow, depending on medical specialty and geography. The shortage is especially acute in rural areas. Reasons include an aging and sicker
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MedTech Breakthrough Announces 2021 MedTech Breakthrough Award Winners
MedTech Breakthrough, an independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global health and medical technology market, today announced the winners of the organization's fifth annual awards program, showcasing technologies and companies that drive innovation and exemplify the best in digital health and medical technology solutions across the globe.
Background & Approach
All nominations were evaluated by an independent
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