Meta facing some Senate scrutiny on Meta Pixel’s health data collection–and how it’s used

September 20, 2022 | by

A member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has requested that Facebook’s parent, Meta, account for healthcare information that it has collected as a result of the Meta Pixel being used on leading hospitals’ websites as an ad tracker. During a hearing, Meta chief product officer Chris Cox was questioned about Meta’s having and using the data and responded, “Not to my knowledge.” According to this latest report in The Markup, Cox will follow up with a written response to the committee.

The June investigation by The Markup and STAT [TTA 17 June] investigated how these snippets of code, routinely used by developers to track website performance, could be sending to Facebook through online appointment schedulers and patient portals highly sensitive patient information. As we noted then from the article, “None of the hospitals using the Pixel have patient consent forms permitting the transmission of individual patient information, nor business associate agreements (BAAs) that permit this data’s collection.” Facebook’s defense is that it does not use this information in any identifiable way.  

Developments have moved quickly since then. According to The Markup, 28 of the 33 hospitals in the initial report have removed the Meta Pixel from their appointment schedulers or blocked it from sending patient information to Facebook. At least six of the seven health systems had also removed the pixels from their patient portals. In August, Novant Health notified patients of a code misconfiguration of their Meta Pixel tracker that may lead to unauthorized disclosure of their personal health information (PHI) [TTA 19 Aug]. North Carolina’s attorney general may investigate. Five class action lawsuits have been filed by patients, including against Novant and Medstar [TTA 23 June].

It may be that Meta may have a very hard time ‘splainin’ to Sen. Ossoff how the data flow and is used for any given account, based upon their own internal engineers’ assessments in a leaked 2021 privacy memo. But given Meta’s and the founder’s pull in the Federal government, one wonders how far all of this will go. Your Editor is not optimistic. TTA’s articles on Meta Pixel

Week-end news roundup: +Oscar data tech platform pauses, BD buys MedKeeper pharmatech for $93M, Novant’s Meta misconfiguration reveals PHI, Mt Sinai’s Sema4 genomics spinoff releases 250 + founder

August 19, 2022 | by

+Oscar, Oscar Health’s foray into selling value-based health plan management services within a full-stack platform, has taken a minus. They are no longer pursuing relationships until they straighten out the ones they have, which are proving problematic. Their last implementation at Florida-based insurer Health First Health Plans (not to be confused with NY’s HealthFirst) proved to have some problems that prevented them from going live early this year, which were not itemized but were serious enough for Oscar Health to stop acquiring accounts until said difficulties are sorted out.  +Oscar’s platform is designed to deliver medical cost management to payers and value-based care by closing care gaps, improving quality scores, enhancing value, and communicating effectively with patients through its Campaign Builder and Next Best Actions engines (release). How many contracts +Oscar has implemented was not disclosed, although since startup in April 2021, they were claiming a pace of 1-2 annually. Oscar Health has experienced a few bumps since its March 2021 IPO that raised $1.4 billion, what with share prices cruising in the mid-single digits and shareholder class action lawsuits [TTA 19 May]. Healthcare Dive, Q2 results

Medical device giant BD gets into pharmatech with MedKeeper buy for an eye-popping $93 million. The purchase was made from pharmaceutical manufacturer Grifols, SA, a Spanish multinational pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer, as part of their plan to exit non-core businesses. MedKeeper is a photo-based automation system for in-hospital workflows and systems for pharmacy communications, compliance, and productivity.  BD also owns two pharmacy-related companies in their Medication Management Solutions portfolio, Parata for automating vial filling, packaging, and central fill, and Pyxis automated medication dispensers. Count BD as another company that acquires technology from, as this Editor put it earlier, “healthy health tech companies at the right (discounted) price that fill in their tech gaps.” MedTechDive, BD release

North Carolina provider Novant Health has notified patients of a code misconfiguration of their Meta Pixel tracker that may lead to unauthorized disclosure of their personal health information (PHI). The number of patients is not disclosed. In June, The Markup and STAT jointly published a several-part exposé of the Meta Pixel tracker being loaded into patient portals and the online appointment scheduler, capturing sensitive patient information and sending it to Facebook [TTA 17 June]. The letter explains the event as a campaign to connect more patients to their MyChart portal. The pixel was removed in June (after the article published). Novant determined that PHI could have been disclosed, although they have not uncovered any improper use to date. HealthITSecurity, Novant release

Layoffs and restructurings continue this summer with the latest being Sema4, a population health/analytics/ML/AI-assisted disease model spinoff of Mount Sinai. In what the company (Nasdaq: SMFR) has termed “a series of corporate realignments”, the company is discharging 250 staff, about 13%, plus shedding its founder from both the president and director slots effective immediately. Leading the company will be a transformation management office that includes the CEO and the new chief technology & product officer. On their Q2 earnings call, coupled with the first half, Sema4 disclosed layoffs from first half to total 30% of “legacy” staff to reduce to 1,600 employees. With shuttering some of their lab business and moving of operations, they expect to achieve cost savings of $50 million in 2022 and $250 million by end of 2023, to refocus on what they term their ‘health insights business’. Net loss in the second quarter of 2022 was $85.7 million, up over $40 million in Q2 2021. Yahoo Finance, Becker’s.

Tyto Care partners with Avera eCARE for telehealth delivered to medically underserved populations

October 23, 2019 | by

Following on last week’s announcement of Tyto Care‘s partnership with Novant Health, Sioux Falls SD-based telemedicine provider Avera eCARE will be introducing Tyto Care’s professional version, TytoPro, into its telemedicine service using high-definition video for virtual consults. What TytoPro will add is remote diagnostic capability and collection via the TytoVisit platform, using the TytoApp and Clinician dashboard. Avera will use TytoPro’s hand-held device with exam camera, thermometer, otoscope, stethoscope (with volume, bell, and diaphragm filters), and tongue depressor adaptors.

In a test of Avera eCARE plus Tyto Care in an assisted living community, the pairing of the two systems reduced emergency department transfers by 20 percent, with 93% of residents treated in place.

Avera eCARE, a part of Avera Health, provides telemedicine services to medically underserved populations via local healthcare systems, rural hospitals, outpatient clinics, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, schools, and correctional facilities. It has over 400 providers in its comprehensive virtual health network across the US. A ‘white paper’ on the Avera/Tyto Care partnership is here. Release 

News, moves and M&A roundup: Appello acquires RedAssure, Shaw departs NHS Digital, NHS App goes biometric, GP at Hand in Manchester, Verita Singapore’s three startup buys, Novant Health and Tyto Care partner

October 17, 2019 | by

Appello telecare acquires RedAssure Independent Living from Worthing Homes. A 20-year provider of telecare services to about 700 homes in the Worthing area in West Sussex, the acquisition by Appello closed on 1 October. Previously, Appello provided monitoring services for RedAssure since 2010. Terms were not disclosed. Release.

Another NHS Digital departure is Rob Shaw, deputy CEO. He will be leaving to pursue a consulting career advising foreign governments on national health and care infrastructure. He is credited with moving the NHS Spine in-house and establishing NHS Digital’s cybersecurity function. The Digital Health article times it for around Christmas. Mr. Shaw’s departure follows other high-profile executives this year such as former chief digital officer Juliet Bauer who controversially moved to Kry/LIVI after penning a glowing article about them [TTA 24 Jan], Will Smart, Matthew Swindells, and Richard Corbridge.

One initiative that NHS Digital has lately implemented is passwordless, biometric facial or fingerprint-based log in for the NHS App, based on the FIDO (Fast-Identity Online) UAF (Universal Authentication Framework) protocol (whew!). NHS Digital’s most recent related announcement is the release of two pieces of code under open-source that will allow developers to include biometric verification for log in into their products.

Babylon Health’s GP at Hand plans Manchester expansion. The formal notification will likely be this month to commissioners of plans to open a Manchester clinic as a center for GP at Hand’s primarily virtual consults. This follows on their recent expansion into Birmingham via Hammersmith and Fulham CCG which will be notified. How it will work is that patients registering in Manchester would be added initially to a single patient list for GP at Hand located at Hammersmith and Fulham CCG. Babylon is now totalling 60,000 patients through GP at Hand.  GP Online

Singapore’s Verita Healthcare Group has acquired three digital health startups. The two from Singapore are nBuddy and CelliHealth, in addition to Germany’s Hanako. Verita has operations in Singapore, the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe, with 35 alliance partnerships with medical clinics and hospitals across Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe. Mobihealthnews APAC

Novant Health, a 640-location health system in North Carolina, is introducing Tyto Care’s TytoHome integrated telehealth diagnostic and consult device as part of its network service. Webpage, release