LockBit Ransomware Targets Croatia's Largest Hospital
2024 03 Jul
In a significant cybercrime incident, the LockBit ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Croatia’s largest hospital, the University Hospital Centre (KBC) in Zagreb. This breach disrupted the hospital's IT systems, impacting patient care and internal operations. The attack, part of a broader surge in cyberattacks in Croatia,...Read more
Protecting Rural Hospitals: Microsoft's Cybersecurity Initiative
2024 02 Jul
Rural hospitals are indispensable pillars of healthcare in the United States, providing essential services to communities often underserved by larger healthcare networks. However, these vital institutions face mounting challenges, with cyberattacks emerging as a significant threat. Recognizing this critical issue, Microsoft has launched the Microsoft...Read more
Evolution of Hospital in the Home (HiTH) Model and Connectivity Solutions
2024 24 May
The Hospitals in the Home (HiTH) care model, established since the 1950s in France and adopted in various countries including Australia, the UK, Canada, Israel, Spain, and the US, aims to alleviate capacity issues in healthcare, enhance efficiencies, cut costs, and improve patient experience by transitioning care from hospitals to homes. In Australia...Read more
Navigating Connectivity Challenges in Hospital-at-Home Settings
2024 11 Apr
Connectivity issues are the bane of the modern workplace, but in a Hospital-at-Home (H@H) setting, the stakes are raised higher, as it could lead to a critical lapse in patient care. For years, the telecommunications industry has grappled with the concept of the “last mile,” the final stretch of connectivity to a home or business. This bottleneck...Read more
Ransomware Puts 100 Romanian Hospitals Offline
2024 14 Feb
In a significant cybersecurity incident, Romanian officials have reported a ransomware attack on the Hippocrate platform, essential for the operation of IT infrastructure across multiple healthcare facilities, leading to disruption in over 100 hospitals. The cyberattack, occurring on the evening of February 11, compromised production servers,...Read more
Effective AI Tool Detects Distress in Hospital Workers
2023 02 Nov
A group of researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine led a study to demonstrate how AI successfully identified indications of mental stress in healthcare professionals. This research offers promising prospects for the future of AI-driven mental health screening initiatives. The research involved a case-control study including 820 healthcare...Read more
Artificial Intelligence to Support NHS by Reducing Missed Hospital Appointments
2023 15 Mar
The NHS aims to maximise resources by cutting the number of missed hospital appointments using artificial intelligence to predict the likely missed appointments and offer back-up bookings. Almost eight million hospital appointments are missed each year which leads to annual cost of 1.2 billion pounds to the NHS. NHS chief executive...Read more
TeleHealth Use After Leaving Hospitals Expands While Outpatient Visits Remain Unchanged
2021 15 Nov
University of Pennsylvania researchers saw telehealth use after hospital discharges increases while outpatient visit frequency remained unchanged. The research team examined FAIR Health claims data from January 2019 to December 2020. Of 70 million commercially insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees, they identified 1.6 million hospital discharges...Read more
Impact of Telehealth Expansion on Hospital’s CDS System
2021 29 Jan
A new study analysed how the pandemic-driven increase in telehealth technologies affected the ambulatory CDS programme at a large medical institution. The results showed clinically significant CDS malfunctions that highlight the importance of reassessing ambulatory CDS performance after the telemedicine expansion. You might also like:...Read more
Virtual Hospital for COVID-19 Care
2020 23 Nov
The COVID-19 pandemic puts much strain on healthcare resources. One way to expand hospital bed capacity is through the use of telemedicine. Atrium Health's "hospital at home" (AH-HaH) is a good example of how telemedicine programmes can be ramped up to provide acute hospital-level care for patients in their own home. You might also like:...Read more
Simulation Predicts COVID-19 Hospital Capacity
2020 16 Apr
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to put pressure on hospital decision-makers to make critical clinical and resource allocation decisions that are time-sensitive. Predictive Healthcare at Penn Medicine has developed an Impact Model for Epidemics to assist hospitals and public health officials with hospital capacity planning. You...Read more
UAE to Pioneer the Region’s First Virtual Hospital
2020 12 Mar
A major telecommunications provider is in talks with the UAE government to provide virtual hospital services in the region. Du, which provides commercial Internet and entertainment services to customers across the UAE, revealed the proposed collaboration following the Arab Health conference in January, where both parties signed a memorandum...Read more
Robotic Surgery Reduces Hospital Stay Length
2020 25 Feb
Meet "Versius", a new robot that performs minimal access surgery (MAS), helping to reduce complications and pain in patients. The new technology debuted in Europe when Western General Hospital in Edinburgh started using the robot to carry out keyhole surgical procedures. Since then, Versius has been performing a range of colorectal surgeries, including...Read more
Israeli Hospital Prepares Telemedicine for COVID-19
2020 12 Feb
WHO renamed COVID-19 on February 11 in a bid to avoid inaccuracies or de-stigmatisation stemming from the name of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the respiratory virus has opened doors to technological applications that range from telemedicine to AI integration. You might also like: Novel Coronavirus: New Name, New...Read more
Swiss Hospitals Successfully Trial Blockchain Medical Device Tracking
2020 16 Jan
Swiss hospitals have announced successful processing on a trial of medical device orders via the Blockchain. The Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, the Cantonal Hospital Baden, the University Children's Hospital Zurich and the Spitalregion Fürstenland Toggenburg along with two medical device suppliers Anandic System Medical and ITRIS Medical undertook...Read more
Virtual hospital app becomes reality
2019 19 Mar
With the launch of Samitivej "Virtual Hospital" app, Thai patients will have a convenient way to consult with specialist doctors – anywhere they are and anytime they want to. In addition to teleconsultation services, the online hospital also offers home delivery of medication or home visits to take blood samples (Test@Home). You might also...Read more
More than 50% EU hospitals underfund IT
2017 24 Nov
Hospitals across Europe in general consider IT as an enabler to improve patient safety and care. And even though deployment of big-ticket technologies – notably EHRs and eHealth tools – is on the rise, many provider organisations continue to make do with tight IT budgets. As Robert Brauer, HIMSS Analytics Research and Quality Assurance Coordinator...Read more
European Hospital Conference – MEDICA: EU eHealth 2020 plan takeaway insights
2017 18 Nov
This week the international healthcare trade fair, MEDICA, was held in Düsseldorf, Germany. eHealth was a key topic with an important session taking place under the umbrella of the 4th European Hospital Conference Entitled "Chances and Challenges of E-Health", the focus was on how eHealth is being put into place across the bloc at a Commission...Read more
What will the hospital of the future look like?
2017 10 Oct
What will the hospital of the future be like? According to experts, the digitalised hospital of the future will have a clinical command centre as a key feature. The command centre functions like an air traffic control system for patients by collecting real-time data using wearable sensors to identify patients at risk for complications and help clinicians...Read more
Hospital Fined $387,000 for HIPAA Violation
2017 29 May
Unlawful disclosure of protected health information (PHI) has cost a New York City hospital a $387,000 settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Spencer Cox Center for Health, now the Institute for Advanced Medicine run by St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City, was penalised following a complaint received...Read more
ECRI Institute Issues Free Public Resource to Protect Hospitals from Ransomware Attacks
2017 25 May
New guidance gives do’s and don’ts for protecting medical devices from becoming compromised Ransomware is a form of computer malware that holds systems hostage with a ransom demand. Medical systems are vulnerable to such attacks, which can damage hospital operations and compromise patient care by barring users from accessing critical functions...Read more
Latest on Mobile Use in Hospitals
2016 10 Oct
More healthcare facilities are implementing a protocol for mobile device use as hacking threatens data security and pressure on internal Wi-Fi networks rises. According to communications firm Spok, in order to address these issues the majority of hospitals are devising and implementing regulations on use of mobile devices within their four...Read more
CMS Hospital EHR Payment Adjustments; Where do you Fit In?
2016 06 Sep
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospitals (CMS) have announced that hospitals which are failing to implement meaningful use of certified electronic health record technology will have to undergo a payment adjustment as of October 1, 2016. The payment change will come in the form of a ‘reduced applicable increase’ to a facility’s...Read more
4 in 5 U.S. Hospitals Adopt Basic EHR, But Face Limitations
2016 07 Jun
Electronic health record (EHR) adoption reached 84 percent of hospitals in the U.S., and nearly as many were able to exchange key information with outside providers, new federal data has shown, according to the Healthcare Financial Management Association ( HFMA ). The share of acute care hospitals adopting basic EHR has grown from 9.4 percent...Read more
Hackers Back for More Ransom at Kansas Heart Hospital
2016 24 May
Hackers demanded a second ransom from Kansas Heart Hospital following a hacking incident last week that saw the organisation paying for restoration of access to its systems. Hospital president, Greg Duick, M.D., told local media that the facility had paid "a small" amount to cyber-attackers to regain access to its systems. The hackers, however, refused...Read more
Ransomware Attacks Hit Three Quarters of Hospitals - Without Them Knowing
2016 11 Apr
Research has shown that as many as 75 percent of hospitals in the U.S. could have been victims of a ransomware attack over the last year with a significant number unaware of the cyber intrusion. The data was gathered in the study Healthcare IT News and HIMSS Analytics Quick HIT Survey: Ransomware . About 25 percent could not confirm if...Read more
U.S., Canada issue joint alert on 'ransomware' after hospital attacks
2016 04 Apr
The United States and Canada warned against ransomware following a wave of incidents in both countries where healthcare facilities have been forced to pay hackers to unlock encrypted data. The warning was issued in a rare joint cyber alert as several security firms said they expected the number of incidents to rise as hackers become more...Read more
Hospital Ransomware Infects Visitor Computers?
2016 28 Mar
Following news of ransomware attacks on two Southern California hospitals, a Canadian facility was targeted by cyber hacks and the infection may have had a knock-on effect to visitor and staff computers Norfolk General Hospital in Simcoe, Ontario, said last week it had fallen victim to a ransomware attack. In a CBC News report Security firm Malwarebytes...Read more
Ransomware Hack on Ottawa Hospital Fail
2016 21 Mar
Ottawa’s Hospital network was the target of a ransomware attack after hackers broke into IT systems and encrypted four computers. The hospital said that no patient data was compromised and the IT department cleaned the infected systems and restored data through back-up material. The remaining 9, 800 computers were not affected by the hacking....Read more
Cyber-Attack Protocols A Must As German Hospital Shut Down By Malware
2016 16 Feb
German Hospital shut down by Malware; Reporting Protocols a MUST! A cyber-attack that brought an almost fully paperless hospital in Germany to a standstill, has raised serious concerns about the lack of pan-European reporting protocols when dealing with such malicious viruses. This has prompted the European Association of Healthcare IT Managers...Read more
