Editor's Note North Korean hackers targeted U.S. hospitals and healthcare systems with ransomware to fund a covert information exfiltration campaign against American military and scientific entities, according to a July 25 report from CBS News. The first attack was a May 2021 ransomware infiltration of a hospital in Kansas. The…

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Editor's Note New findings highlight an urgent need to improve preventive measures against animal-borne diseases jumping to humans and potentially causing another global pandemic, US Today reported on July 21. The article details a study from  Harvard Law School and New York University that examined animal-human interactions in 15 countries,…

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Editor's Note A global Microsoft server outage disrupting critical services from airline operations to banking is also having a significant impact on healthcare, according to multiple news reports. On example is a Friday, July 19 report from CBS News reporting that Mass General Brigham, the largest health care system in…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission’s new Workforce Safety and Well-Being Resource Center is designed to support healthcare organizations in addressing challenges with workplace violence, burnout, and exposure to hazards. Workplace violence is a growing issue in healthcare, negatively affecting morale, staff turnover, productivity, and patient care, according to the July…

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Editor's Note Introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators, the Healthcare Cybersecurity Act aims to bolster the cyber-defenses of healthcare entities through the collaboration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). According to a July 16 report in HealthExec,…

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Editor's Note Less than half of physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 2023 reported feeling burned out—the first time the figure has dropped below the 50% mark since 2020. These findings evidence continued decline in burnout from the record-high 62.8% in 2021 and 53% in 2022, according…

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Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified recalls by Hamilton Medical and Megadyne as Class 1 events, the most severe category indicating risk of serious injury or death. According to the agency’s July 11 report, Hamilton Medical is correcting software for its HAMILTON-C6 Medical Ventilator to…

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Editor's Note Electricity outages caused by Hurricane Beryl in Houston and southeast Texas forced healthcare providers to hold discharged patients longer because their homes lacked power, the Texas Tribune reported July 10. Several hospitals had difficulties accommodating new patients, leading to delayed discharges, ambulance shortages, and a backup in 911…

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Editor's Note Healthcare industry groups are calling for the federal government to streamline and ease the recently proposed cybersecurity incident reporting rule by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Fierce Healthcare reported July 8. According to the report, CISA's proposal imposes enhanced reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities, including…

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Editor's Note On June 27, The Justice Department announced the 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action, leading to criminal charges against 193 defendants, including 76 medical professionals across 32 federal districts in the U.S. for their involvement in various health care fraud schemes. These schemes accounted for approximately $2.75…

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