A hacking group targeted the World Health Organization earlier this month with an apparently unsuccessful spear-phishing campaign designed to harvest credentials as

The growing presence of artificial intelligence during the care delivery process continues to show potential for reduced physician burnout and more personalized treatment.

Progress is coming in many forms, including automated scan analyses, symptom-checking chatbots and extra help with medical coding and billing.

“At the end of the day, if we’re looking at how we can impact care and we want to do so in a way that’s going to be helpful,” said Ed Shaffer, healthcare and life sciences informatics director at Dell EMC, “then I think we’re in a state where we can’t continue to do things the way we’ve done them.”

The shift is underway: 85 percent of Americans commonly use AI in some form, a GE survey finds, and the use of AI could create $150 billion in annual savings for the U.S. healthcare economy by 2026, according to a recent Accenture report.

Still, advancing the movement requires strategy among developers to determine safe and appropriate use cases for AI — as well as staff who must learn to integrate the augmented offerings into their workflows and justify those functions to the public.

That was the key takeaway from a recent panel with Shaffer and other healthcare thought leaders, held virtually due to the cancellation of the HIMSS20 conference, on AI’s evolving capacity to enhance clinical decision-making.

On New Year’s Eve 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was notified of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan province, China. Within days, the outbreak had surpassed 500 people with multiple fatalities. Public health officials in China quickly tracked the index case to a “wet market” in Wuhan and by 10 January the virus was determined to be a novel coronavirus related to both SARS and MERS. Days later, evidence of person-to-person transmission was confirmed.

On New Years Eve, the World Health Organization (WHO) was notified of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan province, China. Within days, the outbreak had surpassed 500 people with multiple fatalities. Public health officials in China quickly tracked the index case to a “wet market” in Wuhan and by 10 January the virus was determined to be a novel coronavirus related to both SARS and MERS. Days later, evidence of person-to-person transmission was confirmed. Case reports and case series from the NEJM have demonstrated a doubling of the outbreak every 4.5 days and each case transmits the infection to 2.2 people.

COVID-19 continues to spread, and governments across the globe have imposed quarantines and travel bans. China locked down its cities, Italy imposed restrictions throughout the country, and the US and Canada have enforced self-quarantine. The US has banned the entry of travellers from China, Iran, and most of Europe, while many other countries have implemented heavy screening protocols. However, despite these quarantine measures and laws, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase.

Quarantines and travel bans are usually the first response when a new infectious disease outbreak occurs. But the question is: with a virus-like COVID-19, is this sufficient? If a disease is highly transmissible, can these measures help? Especially if they are imposed or implemented in a haphazard manner?

Typically, when we say quarantine, it refers to the separation of people or communities who have been explored to an infectious disease while isolation refers to the separation of people who are known to be infected. But in some countries, such as the US, quarantine refers to both types of interventions and also includes travel bans.

Quarantine measures are definitely needed to contain COVID-19, but what else can be done to flatten the curve? Are there any other, more constructive tools that can be used? As far as COVID-19 is concerned, slowing its spread is the priority. ICUs and emergency departments cannot sustain the continuous influx of patients. That is why it is being advised that patients who have mild symptoms should stay home. Workers should telecommute wherever possible. But will social distancing and self-isolation be sufficient to slow down the spread?

What more could be done? This is an important question. This recent outbreak has highlighted the need for better measures, improved laws and new tools that could help us better handle a pandemic like COVID-19.

Nation-state hackers as well as cybercriminals, are now attempting to use phishing emails with themes tied to the global COVID-19 crisis to spread malware, according to recent security reports.

In an effort to help the healthcare community tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, EHR vendor athenahealth announced additional capabilities to its mobile medical reference application epocrates.

WHY IT MATTERS

The app now can deliver real-time Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for medical decision support for clinicians, with the aim of reducing the time needed to comb through all of the information released by the CDC daily.

The functionality was added in the face of the growing reliance the healthcare community has had on these guidelines as the virus spreads and patients require immediate care.

The company noted views of the guidelines have increased 600% over 10 days, receiving seven times more views than any other set of guidelines in the epocrates app.

As the COVID-19 virus wreaks havoc with the healthcare system, telemedicine is stepping up into the spotlight and helping healthcare provider organizations and caregivers better respond to the needs of Americans who have contracted the virus and Americans who need to touch base with their providers on the status of their health.

Telemedicine is making a very positive contribution to healthcare during the pandemic, and is being used in a variety of ways. But telehealth technologies do have certain limitations when it comes to treating patients during a pandemic. Further, there is a chance telemedicine could add to hospitals being overwhelmed, unless it’s used well. But hospitals are learning to adapt to telehealth during a pandemic.

Lebanon’s Berytech Fab Lab is offering up to a $10,000 grant to five heathtech startups working on a solution that can help combat the current coronavirus pandemic.

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting you? From the beginning of this global pandemic, the HIMSS Media information brands – Healthcare IT News, MobiHealthNews, and Healthcare Finance News – have been working hard to bring you the most important information and updates on the situation. But you, our readers – healthcare providers, tech professionals, administrators, insurers, investors, entrepreneurs, and more – are all, in your own ways, living this epidemic and its repercussions in your daily lives.

We want to hear your stories. We want to hear how your hospital is dealing with shortages of tests, masks or ventilators. We want to hear how you’re working to make sure patient experience is still positive despite unprecedented system stress. We want to hear about the challenges you’re facing, and what your peers, patients or government can do to make your work easier or more effective.

If you have a story to share – whether it’s a few sentences or a few paragraphs – send it to yourstories@himss.org. Use your work address if possible, and sign with your name and position. Let us know if you’d prefer your story to be shared without your name attached; if you do, we’ll honor that request.

Healthcare IT News presents a look at the new capabilities popular EHR vendors are adding, along with helpful links to additional tech info and coronavirus resources.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, with 209,000 confirmed cases and close to 9,000 deaths globally, technology giants are stepping up to accelerate research and potential treatments.

Among them, Amazon and Microsoft are rolling out separate initiatives to support COVID-19 diagnostics and research.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced Friday it is setting aside an initial $20 million toward the development of diagnostics, including a more accurate, faster coronavirus test.

AWS is launching the Diagnostic Development Initiative to support customers who are working to bring better, more accurate diagnostic solutions to market faster and to promote better collaboration across organizations.

With the assistance of AWS, customers can accelerate diagnostic research, innovation and development to speed our collective understanding and detection of COVID-19 and other innovate diagnostic solutions to mitigate future infectious disease outbreaks, Teresa Carlson, vice president of worldwide public sector at AWS, wrote in a blog post.

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues, health plans are adapting their response in tandem.

In the early days of the pandemic reaching the U.S., all of the biggest health insurers agreed to waive the costs associated with testing and urged their members to embrace telehealth.

Now, many are taking that further and sweetening the pot for members with free virtual visits, with the goal of keeping them out of the hospital. UnitedHealthcare, for example, announced this week that telehealth visits with any of its partner platforms would be offered at no charge and also offered to waive costs for coronavirus-related virtual visits from any in-network provider.

The nation’s largest commercial insurer is also deploying virtual care tools for its highest-risk members, including a home-based care management tool and expanded access to its digital care management tools.

“We are making every effort to protect the health of our members by keeping them safe in their homes while still enabling them to get the care they need,” said UnitedHealthcare CEO Dirk McMahon in a statement.

A Polish company has developed software that deploys data to identify people at risk of carrying COVID-19.

The firm, DataWalk, taps into data like immigration records, mobile phone data and data about affected individuals to identify potential ‘super carriers’ who resist the disease and are unaware how widely they can infect others.

Super spreaders are those who infect greater numbers than the standard two or three.

According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are a total of 168,019 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide. So far, the virus has caused 6610 deaths and has affected 148 countries. The highest number of cases are in China (81,077), followed by Italy (24,747), Iran (14,991), Republic of Korea (8236), Spain (7753), France (5380), Germany (4838) and Switzerland (2200). Other countries have also been affected, but so far, the number of cases remains under 2000 in most regions (as of March 16th, 2020).

The journal Radiology has published expert recommendations on radiology preparedness during the COVID-19 public health crisis. The article outlines how

COVID-19 is associated with severe disease requiring intensive care in approximately 5% of proven infections. As with similar outbreaks in the past, including SARS, MERS, A(H7N9), and H1N1, critical care continues to be an integral component of the global response to Coronavirus.

Here’s a guide to some of the most talked-about efforts to treat or prevent coronavirus infection, with details on the science and timeline for each. 

As the coronavirus outbreak spreads, groups that represent doctors and nurses are worried about whether adequate steps are being taken to protect healthcare professionals from the virus.

The American College of Physicians (ACP), the largest medical specialty organization in the U.S., went so far as to ask that President Donald Trump declare a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak. The internists’ group laid out a series of steps (PDF) federal, state and local governments as well as other stakeholders should take to address coronavirus.

Hackers tried to breach the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) computer system Sunday night, both Bloomberg and ABC News reported. HHS Spokesperson Caitlin Oakley told FierceHealthcare the department became aware of a significant increase in activity on HHS cyberinfrastructure on Sunday.

The department is “fully operational” as it actively investigates the matter, Oakley said. HHS officials said there was no data breach.

“Early on while preparing and responding to COVID-19, HHS put extra protections in place. We are coordinating with federal law enforcement and remain vigilant and focused on ensuring the integrity of our IT infrastructure,” Oakley said.

An Illinois public health department’s website was hacked by ransomware last week. The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District serves about 200,000 people in central Illinois, and the website provides updated information about the coronavirus outbreak.

“The timing is horrible,” Administrator Julie Pryde told The News-Gazette.

The public health department immediately notified the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and is working with a consulting firm to investigate what happened and restore the website, The News-Gazette reported.

FierceHealthcare’s ongoing coverage of how the coronavirus is impacting the healthcare industry. Specifically, the bill includes:

Funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for nutrition and food assistance programs, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), as well as nutrition programs that assist the elderly.

Provisions that establish a federal emergency paid leave benefits program to provide payments to employees taking unpaid leave due to the coronavirus outbreak. It will also require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees, but establish a payroll credit.

It will establish requirements for providing coronavirus diagnostic testing at no cost to consumers and treat personal respiratory protective devices as covered countermeasures that are eligible for certain liability protections.

It will also temporarily increase the Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) determined for each state by 6.2 percentage points.

It sets aside $30 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for health services consisting of COVID–19 related items and services.

Giving patients access to their health data on their smartphones will open up new business models of healthcare, the head of the Trump administration’s health IT policy arm said this week.

On March 9, the Department of Health and Human Services issued two rules, one each by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), that implement interoperability and patient access provisions of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act.

The ONC’s information blocking rule (PDF) requires that electronic health data be made available to patients at no cost and defines exceptions to data blocking.

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, cybercriminals increasingly are targeting organizations that now have more remote workers and fewer IT and security staff at the ready to mitigate hacker attacks and intrusions, security experts say.

It’s no exaggeration to say that, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we now have the largest-ever global remote workforce. And with it comes an expanded attack surface that requires extra attention. Phil Reitinger of the Global Cyber Alliance shares five tips for securing the remote workforce.

“If there’s one thing we know about cyber adversaries, it’s that they’re adaptive and reactive,” Reitinger says. “What COVID-19 gives the adversaries is an opportunity both to phish - to sort of weaponize the desire for information - and at the same time a new set of [prospective victims] to target.”

Attackers are continuing to use concerns over COVID-19 to distribute ransomware and malware, including for smartphones. The healthcare sector is perhaps at the greatest risk from these attacks because it’s serving as the front-line defense against the disease.