The Hollywood hospital that had its electronic patient records hacked and held hostage chose to pay $17,000 in bitcoin to retrieve the ransomed records. The Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital's network came under attack on Feb. 5 by hackers who used a type of malicious software called ransomware to encrypt patient records and make them inaccessible to hospital staff. Hospital CEO Allen Stefanek explained the decision to pay the ransom, writing in a statement that, "The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key."
The recent breach of a computer system at a hospital in Los Angeles is highlighting the dangers of hackers targeting medical data and devices. The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid nearly $17,000 to hackers after their communications were shut down in a "ransomware" attack earlier this month, hospital officials told ABC News on Wednesday. The hospital paid the fee in 40 bitcoins to get access to their system again, officials said. Bitcoin is an electronic currency often used for online transactions. Hospitals and medical providers can provide a trove of valuable information that hackers are eager to get their hands on, experts said.
IBM is looking to enhance the growth of its Watson Health business with the $2.6 billion purchase of Truven Health Analytics, which has data on the cost and treatment of more than 200 million patients. The planned acquisition of Truven, announced Thursday morning, is the fourth company IBM has purchased since it created the Watson Health unit last April, bringing the total spent to more than $4 billion. Two other acquisitions, Explorys, a spinoff from the Cleveland Clinic, and Phytel, a maker of software to manage patient care based in Dallas, also brought with them significant data assets.
Two South Florida hospitals paid millions in fines this week to settle charges that they filed false claims with Medicare for implanting cardiac devices in patients during a waiting period when doctors are supposed to hold off and see if the patients recover on their own. Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston were among 51 hospitals nationwide to pay more than $23 million in fines, closing a sweeping federal investigation into hundreds of hospitals for improperly billing Medicare for implantable cardioverter defibrillators or ICDs.
Boston's world-renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Lifespan have signed a letter of intent to form a partnership that aims to improve cancer treatment, research and teaching, the two institutions announced on Thursday. The partnership will particularly benefit Lifespan patients with "rare and complex cancers," according to a joint statement, while providing all Lifespan patients access to "a broader array of clinical trials, and to emerging and novel cancer therapies." "It's a good day for Rhode Island," Dr. Timothy Babineau, Lifespan president and CEO, said in an interview. The partnership with Dana-Farber, he said, is exclusive to Lifespan. It is not a merger.
Hospitals have switched from handwritten prescriptions and pills in Dixie cups to computerized order entry and robotic drug dispensing, but one thing hasn't changed over the past two decades: the small but severe risk of injuries and deaths from medication errors. In a new report, Minnesota hospitals disclosed four deaths and 10 serious injuries related to medication errors in the 12-month period ending last Oct. 6. That's the highest total in 12 years of "adverse event" reporting in Minnesota, which remains one of only five states to publicly disclose hospital errors as part of a concerted effort to prevent them.