Highmark Health has been working with Google Cloud and Verily to develop a data-driven analytics engine for its Living Health model, which aims to put patients and clinicians first while developing a digital platform that connects everyone on the patient's care team. The analytics system called Living Health Dynamic Platform is designed to offer proactive, simple and personalized recommendations to help improve patients' quality of life, and the recommendations are tailored to each patient based on available data, which can be customized or updated by their clinicians.

Cybercriminals apparently sponsored by the North Korean government are using Maui malware to target US health care systems and public health agencies, according to a warning from the FBI, the Treasury Department and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Maui ransomware has been used to encrypt servers, and the agencies suggest health care organizations take a number of steps, including enforcing multi-layer network segmentation, monitoring internet-connected devices and masking and encrypting permanent account numbers in stored data.

A ransomware attack on The Professional Finance Co. has affected 657 of its health care clients. AttackIQ Chief Technology Officer Stephan Chenette advises health care firms to focus on adversaries likely to impact operations, including "mapping their security controls to specific attack scenarios to measure an organization's cybersecurity readiness for the attacks that are sure to come."

The FDA has cleared new artificial intelligence software from Eko Technologies that is designed to detect and classify adult and pediatric heart murmurs. The technology is integrated into smart stethoscopes, can detect structural and innocent murmurs linked to valvular heart disease, and has the potential to help identify the disease in patients who might otherwise be missed, said Patrick McCarthy, M.D., of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine.

Eighty-five percent of people responding to a CVS Health survey of 1,000 people said personalized care is important, and 83% indicated they want their primary care provider to have access to information about their genetics, family medical history and inherited lifestyle habits that affect their health. In addition, nearly 60% said having access to telehealth and virtual care remains important to them.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has entered into a value-based arrangement with mental health firm Headway to improve mental health care access for children, adolescents and socially vulnerable and underserved communities. The collaboration will allow members to gain quick access to in-network psychiatrists and therapists, and reduce waiting time to no more than 48 hours in some cases.

On average, 2.4% of COVID-19 patients using telehealth and remote patient monitoring in a Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Health Network study required hospitalization, compared to 3.9% of patients who didn't take part in remote patient monitoring. The remote monitoring also correlated with shorter hospital stays and fewer intensive care unit admissions, the 9,378-patient study published in JAMA Network Open found.

A greater percentage of each health care dollar goes to administrative costs in the US than in other countries, and just as EHRs and decision support technology have reduced spending and improved outcomes in the clinic, artificial intelligence can reduce administrative costs and improve efficiency, write Duquesne University professor Joan Kiel and associate professor Faina Linkov. AI also promises to improve research and guide biomedical discoveries, clinical decision-making and disease surveillance, but HIPAA must be updated to protect patient privacy, they write.

The Federal Trade Commission warned tech companies and data brokers not to misuse or misrepresent how they use consumers' data, following up on a White House executive order meant to protect reproductive rights. "The exposure of health information and medical conditions, especially data related to sexual activity or reproductive health, may subject people to discrimination, stigma, mental anguish, or other serious harms," Kristin Cohen, FTC acting associate director in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, wrote in a blog post.

The US government has approved a five-year extension of Minnesota's reinsurance program, which the state says achieved its target of lowering statewide premiums by 15% to 20%, on average, from 2018 to 2022. The Minnesota Premium Security Plan reimburses health insurers for claims worth $50,000 to $250,000, which can stem from cancer care, severe COVID-19 and other high-cost cases.

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