Today we look back at a TownHall episode ... Dr Brett Oliver, Chief Medical Information Officer at Baptist Health Kentucky interviews John League, Managing Director, Digital Health Research at Advisory Board on interoperability.

July 25, 2022: Chris Logan, Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Censinet joins Bill for the news. OhioHealth is eliminating 637 jobs with 567 of them in information technology, as part of a plan that is necessary to drive improvements in patient care. Could their biggest layoff ever be their biggest mistake ever? A ransomware attack at Professional Finance Company may have exposed data from patients at 600 healthcare providers. As inflation rises across the globe, CIOs are strategizing ways to navigate rising prices for IT supplies, services, and talent by rethinking IT portfolios, reprioritizing IT spend, and honing business efficiencies. We know it’s difficult for companies to get cybersecurity insurance these days, but just how difficult?

Key Points:

• If you were to ask the CFO of any health system talking about bottom line, it's getting expensive to operate
• Healthcare is always going to have a target painted on its back because of the nature of the data that we have and the willingness of people to pay the ransom
• Inflation is starting to rear its ugly head. Nobody is prepared for it.
• Censinet

Stories:

• OhioHealth to eliminate 637 jobs in its biggest layoff ever - The Columbus Dispatch
• Ransomware attack at payment vendor affects 600 providers - Modern Healthcare
• 10 ways inflation will impact IT - CIO.com

Webinar: How’s Your Front Line? Recruit, Retain and Optimize Your Cybersecurity Team - Thu Aug 11 @ 1pm ET / 10am PT

“Cybersecurity-what’s your emergency?”

“We need help. It’s an attack.”

“Hello? Hello!”

What can we do about the staffing shortage in cybersecurity? With research suggesting that nearly a third of the cybersecurity workforce is planning to leave the industry in the near future, organizations are left in a worrisome position, especially as attack surfaces are growing. So, where do we move forward from here knowing that we are facing low numbers in the field already and it’s likely to get even worse? Register here

Webinar: Don’t Pay The Ransom - Thu Aug 18 @ 1pm ET / 10am PT

Is your health system paying out for attacks on your data? How can we stop the cycle? Rubrik is offering incredible insight into the arising issues in cyber resilience in ransomware attacks, cloud data management with securing Epic in Azure, and unstructured data. In this webinar, we analyze the best practices to initiate in our hospital systems. Register here

Amazon understands that the digital must eventually be supported by the physical. They did it with goods and delivery, now they are doing it with healthcare. Today we explore where they are going with the acquisition of One Medical. Hope you enjoy.

Rock Health's report is out for Digital Health Funding for the first half of the year and it is looking like the roaring 2021 was the anomaly as funding recedes to 2020 levels. More on Today.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/digital-health/market-downturn-dampens-digital-health-funding-ma-2022-here-are-sectors-raked-most

Advisory Board Blog post of getting more value out of your healthcare data.

https://www.advisory.com/blog/2022/06/health-care-data-3

The role of AI in healthcare. Today we explore.

July 18, 2022: Charles Boicey from Clearsense joins Bill for the news today, and wow, do they cover a lot. The Metaverse and virtual reality are gaining a foothold in healthcare and Charles shares his personal experience with investing in the Metavers universe. 86% Of Medical Alert System Users Say The Devices Have Helped Save Them From An Incident. CMS Issues Proposed Rule for Rural Emergency Hospitals. Synaptic Health Alliance provider data blockchain initiative expands. Hospitals see challenges around price transparency, technology and resources. How can RTLS security protect healthcare workers and reduce burnout?

Key Points:

• Are we getting better with satellite communication in regards to latency? 
• If we don’t overcome the rural healthcare challenge, we will see urban centers get overrun
• Blockchain in healthcare is over the hype cycle
• Clearsense

Stories:

• Metaverse and virtual reality are gaining a foothold in healthcare - Healthcare Finance
• 86% Of Medical Alert System Users Say The Devices Have Helped Save Them From An Incident - Forbes
• CMS Issues Proposed Rule for Rural Emergency Hospitals - Healthcare Innovation
• Synaptic Health Alliance provider data blockchain initiative expands - Healthcare Finance
• Hospitals see challenges around price transparency, technology and resources - Healthcare Finance
• How RTLS security can protect healthcare workers and reduce burnout - Healthcare It News

Sometimes you just have to ask people to show you. Don't just interview them, ask them to do the job for an hour.

Ohio Health gave notice to 567 IT workers that their work would be performed by another company come January 3rd of 2023. Here is what they said.

"OhioHealth says the moves aren't meant to save money. Instead, the layoffs are intended to drive improvement in patient care and services, and position the health care system for a future where patients rely more on telemedicine and cell phones to organize their health care."

What do you make of this move and this explanation?

They would like to improve patient care and services and position the health system for the future and they believe a new team rather than the one they had on staff will do this better.

https://www.dispatch.com/story/business/2022/07/07/ohiohealth-announces-biggest-layoff-company-history/7829847001/

Erik Gordon, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan, said the move was surprising.

“It’s a risky appointment,” Gordon said. “It assumes that customers looking for healthcare are looking for the same thing that customers are looking for at a resort. Resort customers are looking for fun, excitement or surprises. Healthcare customers are looking for the opposite.”

Agree? Disagree? Today we discuss.