Hospitals, research institutions, laboratories, rehabilitation facilities and medical practices remained prime hacking targets last year, with the number of health records breached rising to 21.3 million in the latter half of 2020, according to a CI Security report. Seventy-five percent of the health records compromised last year were exposed in attacks on health care business associates, such as medical billing and insurance reimbursement firms, according to the report.

Renown Health will pay $75,000 and implement a corrective action plan to settle allegations that the Nevada health care organization failed to provide patient records in compliance with HIPAA Right of Access rules, according to the HHS Office for Civil Rights. The hospital network allegedly failed to respond promptly to a patient's request to send her health information to a third party.

The Chicago Department of Public Health and Rush University Medical Center introduced a central repository for data from 28 city hospitals to track cases and identify COVID-19 trends, and the partners are seeking funding for a vaccine registry. The new resource compiles data mandated by the health department into a central platform, including the results of every COVID-19 test administered in Chicago, clinical data from Epic EHRs and hospital capacity.

Unhealthy sonographers cannot provide top-notch service, and sonographer comfort, functional capacity and health should be considered to maximize patient-centric care, Ohio State University professor Kevin Evans said in a presentation at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine meeting. A framework is needed for addressing large and small ergonomic shortcomings in various ultrasound settings, Evans said.

Roughly a third of National Storage Affiliates' properties are now managed internally by its management team after NSA's acquisition of the Brookfield Asset Management portfolio earlier this year, says Arlen Nordhagen, NSA's chairman and CEO. The increase gives NSA the necessary internal scale to add portfolio and platform tools, he says.