UCLA Health System Hacked, 4.5 Million Affected

UCLA’s Health System, comprised of 4 hospitals, announced that 4.5 million patient’s protected health information and Social Security Numbers were compromised. This is the 4th largest HIPAA breach ever reported. The cyber-attack occurred last September, but patients were not notified until July 17th. This is the 2nd breach that UCLA has faced because a laptop containing patient medical data was stolen from a former employee’s home in 2011.

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Healthcare Obstacles Require Innovation from the Best and Brightest

Wharton management professor John Kimberly is conducting research on innovation in health care with the goal of further refining theories of innovation and discovering practical applications. For example in choosing a chief innovation officer Kimberly examines the question, “Is it better to have a doctor or someone who knows the medical industry or would an outside technologist who can take a broader view of innovation be a better choice?”

Several healthcare organizations have created a new role in their organization called the chief innovation officer, who is tasked with developing and driving innovative solutions through the organization. Kimberly and his team are interviewing those officers and many others in academic medical centers in order to learn what works and does not in facing obstacles in healthcare. Innovation offers new approaches to these obstacles, which means fewer problems and better outcomes.

Many agree that current problems in the healthcare require innovation. That innovation however must be derived from an experienced, intelligent and correctly selected chief innovation officer. Also, it may be easy to hire the right person and get projects started, but truly implementing innovation is proving to be a big challenge. The implications of Kimberly’s research are significant considering how innovation is altering the health care industry and especially as health care professionals continue to seek innovative ways to improve care.

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Alison Killian is a recent graduate of Grove City College who majored in Business Management and minored in Biology Studies. She is a contributor to Medical Groups and passionate about all facets of healthcare. She plans on continuing work in the healthcare field especially in management. She is very interested in healthcare innovation and finding ways to improve the current system. She hopes to go back to school in a few years to earn a degree in medicine.

After Another Security Breach, U.S. Personnel Director Resigns

Katherine Archuleta, director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), resigned after announcing that hackers stole personal information for more than 22 million people. Hackers accessed social security numbers, fingerprints, contact information, and usernames and passwords of federal employees, contractors and their spouses. Archuleta had failed to install appropriate safeguards for the government’s records and did not quickly detect or address one of the largest breaches in history.

President Obama appointed Archuleta in 2013 and accepted her resignation, with his administration promising to increase its cyber security efforts. The acting OPM director is Beth Cobert, the current U.S. chief performance officer and deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget. The Obama administration has been defending Archuleta, crediting her office with identifying the breach during a project to upgrade security on government networks.

According to the Direct of National Intelligence, James Clapper, one of the top suspects in the breach is the Chinese government. In two separate hacks, the perpetrators were able to gain access to government records for almost a year beginning last May. The majority of the records pertain to people who had applied for background checks. OPM said that it would provide free credit monitoring to those people whose data was stolen. 

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Caroline Smith is currently a senior at the University of Notre Dame and is a contributor to Medical Groups. She is majoring in Science-Business and Spanish. After graduation, Caroline plans on entering the field of healthcare consulting. She is most interested in the evolving policy changes in the healthcare industry and enjoys learning about new technologies that are being developed.

Mobile Healthcare Apps Encourage Healthier Outcomes

Clinics and hospitals are focused on reducing preventable readmissions through better patient communication and follow up. A 2014 study from the Mayo Clinic showed that patients who used smartphone apps to record weight and blood pressure – and participated in cardiac rehab – lowered cardiovascular risk factors and 90-day readmissions. According to the study, 20 percent of the app-user patients experienced readmission compared to 60 percent of patients who completed rehab only.

Andrey Ostrovsky, MD, CEO of Boston-based Care at Hand, developer of an app-based care coordination system, says the move toward value-based payments drives efficient use of affordable, accessible technologies, such as mobile apps.

"Our company wouldn't exist if not for Affordable Care Act," he says.

Indeed, the rise in mHealth technologies correlates with ACA's plan to to reduce preventable, excessive readmissions with cuts to the Inpatient Prospective Payment System in 2012. Medicare spends more than $17 billion annually on avoidable readmissions with penalties that total up to 3 percent of inpatient claims for 30-day readmissions.

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Maya Haynes is a dual-degree student Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts with majors in sociology and public health, and a contributor to Medical Groups. She is committed to making sure vulnerable populations in the United States are provided with the knowledge and resources to best plan and care for their families. She regularly volunteers at local preschools and community centers to assess the needs to of the populations she plans on serving.

Lybrate gets $10.2M in Funding to Expand Mobile Healthcare Services in India

Tiger Global, a venture capital firm in India recently raised $10.2 million for Lybrate, a medical service start-up. Lybrate is already breaking down the barriers to care in India by connecting millions of patients with doctors using a web-based platform and app for both Android and iOS. More patients will be able to get diagnoses from credible doctors via Lybrate versus from a pharmacist, which is common in rural areas in India. Users can anonymously post questions to doctors, search for doctors in particular specialties, make appointments, save their patient records, and even send alerts to family members during medical emergencies. Most services are at no charge to the user unless they choose to enter a one-on-one virtual dialogue with a doctor for a small fee.

Lybrate’s CEO, Saurabh Arora says that the goal of Lybrate is to increase access to doctors and quality health care information for India’s billion-plus population. Arora who previously worked for Facebook created the mobile app for users to scroll through health advice based on their specific health needs similar to Facebook’s model but solely for health information. Lybrate provides access to more than 80,000 doctors from numerous disciplines.

The startup plans to spend the $10.2 million on hiring more staff, developing its technology, and reaching more patients. A similar startup, Practo landed $30 million in funding earlier this year to expand its health search portals in Asia already with 120,000 doctors and 4 million searches per month. With 100,000 daily users and half a million app downloads since their January 2015 launch, Lybrate is carving the way towards revolutionizing health care delivery in India and will likely inspire more innovative models of care in the healthcare industry.

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Alison Killian is a recent graduate of Grove City College who majored in Business Management and minored in Biology Studies. She is a contributor to Medical Groups and passionate about all facets of healthcare. She plans on continuing work in the healthcare field especially in management. She is very interested in healthcare innovation and finding ways to improve the current system. She hopes to go back to school in a few years to earn a degree in medicine.