News roundup: UHG’s cyberattack hit now $2.3B, Senate bill on cyberattacks intro’d, VA’s AI tech sprint awards, AliveCor’s new CPT codes

July 18, 2024 | by

UHG reported earnings, profit reduced by $1 billion due to Change Healthcare cyberattack costs. On Tuesday 16 July UnitedHealth Group reported Q2 (ending 30 June) earnings of $98.9 billion, up $6 billion or 7% versus Q2 last year. Profit though didn’t move the same way, instead taking a hit at $7.9 billion, down from last year’s $8.1 billion. Despite strong performances in the UnitedHealthcare and Optum units, the drag from the Change Healthcare cyberattack is now estimated at an additional $1 billion from last quarter’s guesstimate, now at $2.3 billion. Also affecting the profit bottom line is inflating healthcare costs that are reflected in rising medical loss ratios (MLRs). Change is also obliged to do the patient notification which will start by the end of this month [TTA 21 June], having already started notifications of hospitals, providers, insurers, and other customers. Release, Healthcare Dive

But hey, now the Senate has a bill to coordinate agencies with the purpose of reducing those darn cyberattacks. The Healthcare Cybersecurity Act, sponsored by Senators Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Angus King (I-Me.), would direct the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to collaborate on improving cybersecurity. One important change would be creating an HHS liaison within CISA to coordinate incident response specifically for healthcare entities. An earlier version introduced by Sen. Rosen in 2022, S. 3904 (117th Congress), never made it into committee.  Sen. Jacky Rosen release, Healthcare Finance   But aren’t there other agencies involved in cyberattacks and ransomware like the FBI and the Department of Justice? And international agencies like the NCA and Europol since so many come from the darker parts of Europe and Asia? (The devil’s in the details…)

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking a modest dip into the AI ocean. The award late last week of pilots for an AI-assisted healthcare dictation tool went to Abridge AI and Nuance Communications. The non-competitive, fixed-price contracts are as a result of the two companies winning the first track of the VA’s AI Tech Sprint which launched last October. The tools are designed to generate transcriptions from ambient recordings of patient encounters within specialty care, mental health care, and primary care settings, as well as integrating into the Oracle Cerner EHR. The notice does not specify start or end date. There is also a second sprint around developing an AI system to process documents generated in patient-provider encounters and other complex medical documents for continuity of care and sharing information with VA providers. FedScoop

AliveCor received CPT codes applicable to the company’s Kardia 12L ECG System. The Category III Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes are assigned by the American Medical Association (AMA).  The 12-lead system a few weeks ago gained FDA clearance for the combination of the Kardia 12L ECG System (left), a single cable with five electrodes that acquires 8 high-quality diagnostic bandwidth leads, with their KAI 12L AI-assisted diagnostic technology for clinician use only. The three new codes will be effective 1 January 2025 and will be published in the 2025 CPT Code book. Release

A mHealth refutation of ‘Why Telemedicine is a Bust’

July 13, 2018 | by | 1 Comment

Worth your time over a long coffee is David Doherty’s lengthy analysis of a recent article published on the CNBC website on the ‘failure’ to date of what was supposed to revolutionize healthcare, the telemedicine ‘video visit’. Mr. Doherty counters point-by-point that the concept of telemedicine is already out of date–that the future of healthcare is with mobile devices, such as the EKG-taking KardiaMobile. He points to the distrust of large telemedicine companies such as Doctor on Demand and American Well as being heavily wedded to health insurers (the prevalent business model), selling/trading patient information, and breaking the individual doctor-patient relationship.

Mr. Doherty sees the future of telemedicine enabling individual doctors to better serve their patients on several levels–video consults, monitoring, and via high-quality apps–seamlessly.  But the insurer-employer-practice model is hard to break indeed, as American Well, Teladoc, and Doctor on Demand–all of which started with a DTC model–found out. And reimbursement is improved, but discouraging. mHealth Insight

Health tech for stroke prevention and rehab from Kardia Mobile, Watch BP, Northwestern U (UK/US)

February 23, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Northwestern-stroke-patch.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Is stroke avoidable? We know it is an expensive medical event at $20-23,000 for hospitalization alone (NIH), which does not count rehabilitation or the devastation to individuals and their families, including loss of ability and work. NHS England is testing two devices, the Kardia Mobile and Watch BP, with an eye to preventing stroke in those vulnerable to it. 6,000 devices are being distributed to GP practices in England in a program through 15 NHS and care innovation bodies known as Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). The Alivecor‘s Kardia Mobile is a smartphone add-on clip that captures a medical-grade ECG in 30 seconds, stores, and sends readings to physicians. The application to stroke is primarily in atrial fibrillation (AF) and irregular heart rhythms, which according to statistics, more than 420,000 people across England have. Watch BP is a blood pressure cuff device which is also equipped with an AF detection system. The goal of the project is to identify 130,000 new cases of AF over two years, to prevent at least 3,650 strokes and potentially save 900 lives. Savings to NHS are being estimated at £81 million annually. Digital Health News

Post-stroke rehabilitation treatment is also being boosted by a new device developed at Northwestern University and being tested at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a Chicago research hospital. It is a Band-Aid® like device which can be applied to key areas such as the throat (left above, credit AbilityLab), chest, or limbs to send back information to doctors on how a patient in treatment post-discharge, especially at home, progresses. The sensors and platform measure heart activity, muscle movement, sleep quality, swallowing ability, and patterns of speech. Especially revolutionary is the monitoring of speech communication and swallowing, which are often impaired in stroke patients but hard to track once the patient is out of a facility. The team’s research was presented last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting. New Atlas. Hat tip to Toni Bunting.