New Cost to Paying Ransom on Cyberattacks
In a joint cybersecurity advisory issued in late 2020, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and HHS warned the healthcare and public health sector that they held “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.” The organizations warned healthcare providers to take precautions to protect their networks against malware threats that could lead to ransomware attacks, data theft, and disruption of services.
Coronavirus: 35% of Survey Respondents Say They Are Unlikely to Get Vaccinated
Vaccination is widely viewed as an end-game stage in the coronavirus pandemic. One of the primary goals of vaccination is to achieve herd immunity—a point at which enough of the country’s population will have immunity to the coronavirus that community spread is unlikely.
How to Treat Coronavirus Patients in Post-ICU Care Clinics
Since June 2020, the ICU Survivor Center at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis has treated about 100 COVID-19 patients who survived ICU-level care. The patients are experiencing a range of symptoms, according to Sikandar Khan, DO, medical director at the ICU Survivor Center and a research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 23 – The Challenges of COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
On episode 23 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Kent Locklear, chief medical officer of Lightbeam Health Solutions, talks about the ins and outs of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Experts Urge More Action, Emergency OSHA Standard on COVID-19
Signers of the letter to the White House, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials included David Michaels, former OSHA administrator under President Barack Obama. The letter’s signers contend that current CDC and OSHA guidance does not adequately address the risk of transmission through inhalation of small airborne particles. Much of the federal guidance still refers to exposure to “respiratory droplets.”
Handheld Ultrasound Boosts Doctors’ Pandemic Toolkit
A new generation of handheld ultrasound devices, including the Butterfly iQ, allows faster assessment of pulmonary symptoms of the disease, while minimizing the spread of COVID-19 by reducing the need to move patients and equipment during the treatment process.
How to Support Clinicians Reluctant to Seek Support
In the roughly 10 years since EmPRO began offering emotional support tools, the company has recognized, perhaps paradoxically, that as an insurance company they’re able to provide a unique level of support to clinicians suffering from burnout and chronic stress.
Accreditation Can Drive Business Capacity for Your Healthcare Organization
Now more than ever, healthcare provider organizations can benefit from leveraging the broad value of accreditation. Many people associate accreditation solely with compliance and the survey experience, but with the right partner, accreditation is the source of a business relationship that can help drive performance improvement, operating efficiencies, and risk management—all aspects of a successful business growth strategy—while maintaining regulatory compliance.
How Artificial Intelligence Can Help With Efficiency in Healthcare
The shortage of expertise affects not just cardiology, but the entire spectrum of care—and it extends beyond places traditionally thought of as having limited healthcare options. From the U.S. and Europe to Africa and Asia, the universal need for more highly skilled physicians and other clinicians places these experts, and their time, at a premium.
More and More Hospital Surveys May Be Onsite, Depending on Conditions
In a memo initially issued January 20 to CMS’ state survey agencies (SA) and revised on February 18, the federal overseer of Medicare said it was directing accreditation organizations (AO) to also limit hospital surveys based on certain criteria. However, in many cases hospitals still may be subject to their regular onsite, triennial reaccreditation survey. And they will be unannounced, as usual.