More Americans are in path of health care data hacks | Studies: ChatGPT can provide accurate information on vaccines, STIs | SCOTUS cases may affect patient protection rules
More than 144 million Americans had their health data stolen or compromised last year, a new record, and this year's most significant breach to date is the one that targeted Change Healthcare, which processes 15 billion health transactions annually. "The bad guys have figured it out. They realized, 'Why hack 1,000 hospitals when I can hack the one common business associate and get all the data?'" said John Riggi, national cybersecurity and risk adviser for the American Hospital Association.
Two studies released ahead of the ESCMID Global Congress suggested ChatGPT may help reduce vaccine hesitancy and provide accurate information on sexually transmitted infections. "Our findings showed that ChatGPT displayed a remarkable ability to accurately respond to a wide breadth of commonly asked questions, encompassing topics such as misconceptions around mRNA vaccination and the importance of testing for STIs," said researcher Matthew Koh.
Two cases jointly considered by the US Supreme Court, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce, could affect regulations related to patient protections in health care. At stake is a legal doctrine called the Chevron deference, which federal courts use to handle litigation related to federal health rules.
The American Privacy Rights Act would create a federal standard for online data collection and use, let users opt out of practices like targeted advertising and allow civil suits when companies don't seek consent to gather data or delete it when asked. Committee heads from both the House and Senate co-sponsored the bill, which remains under discussion.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released a preliminary version of final regulations that require Medicare plan marketers to get clear permission from a consumer before passing that person's information along to other plan marketers. The tighter permissions requirements would affect marketing arrangements in place on Oct. 1 and beyond.
HHS' strategic health IT plan for the federal government is focused on improving the experience and outcomes for people who use health IT, including patients, health care providers, caregivers and public health professionals, alongside R&D, says Dustin Charles, policy specialist at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. The plan also aims to address barriers to data exchange, building on previous plans that encouraged EHR and exchange adoption, Charles adds.
The American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers worked with ad industry representatives on a report to detail current agency-client compensation models, breaking them down into three types based on outputs, inputs and performance. "If you think your compensation model isn't working, this is a tool to evaluate it, and then the definitions and descriptions of the model can help you choose what might work," says Nicole Rizzo, senior vice president of business intelligence and insight at the 4A's.
Pharmaceutical companies spent more than $1 billion last year on advertising campaigns to promote their weight loss and diabetes medications such as Wegovy and Ozempic, an increase of 51% over 2022, according to a report from MediaRadar. Almost $790 million was spent last year on ads for the diabetes drugs, and nearly $264 million for weight loss drug ads.
As the average consumer becomes increasingly aware of AI and its capabilities, distrust has been sown with a study from the University of Waterloo showing 39% of participants could not tell the difference between real and AI-generated humans. Marketing experts and brands should tread carefully when using AI, but it can be done with a light touch when it's used authentically and true-to-brand, and companies should embrace an approach that inspires creativity.
