The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights announced Friday that Excellus Health Plan, also known as Excellus BlueCrossBlueShield, has agreed to pay $5.1 million to settle potential HIPAA violations. The potential violations regarded a breach lasting nearly a year and a half that affected over 9.3 million people, said OCR. “We […]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week published its first action plan for how it intends to spur development and oversight of safe, patient-centric artificial intelligence and machine learning-based software as a medical device. WHY IT MATTERS The AI/ML-Based Software as a Medical Device Action Plan is a project of the Digital Health Center […]
The German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) has joined SNOMED International in order to roll-out national use of SNOMED CT, it has been announced. From 1 January 2021, German users will be able register for a free sub-license to the database from the BfArM. WHY IT MATTERS SNOMED CT – which stands […]
As health systems begin to roll out COVID-19 vaccines, much attention has been paid to the “cold chain,” the organizations and equipment that enable their necessary sub-zero storage and transport. Experts have pointed to the clear logistical and security challenges this unique supply chain presents. But others say that some of these hurdles around vaccine distribution […]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is on track to launch its National Unified Medical Record (NUMR) platform in 2021, the country’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has confirmed. Called Riayati, the NUMR system is set to connect 3,000+ UAE public and private sector healthcare providers, with the aim to be able to efficiently share […]
There’s no question that the COVID-19 crisis ignited unprecedented patient interest in telehealth. But along with the skyrocketing appointment rates and glowing reports about patient and provider satisfaction came concerns about security, accessibility and longevity. Many of those questions are still unanswered as we turn the corner into 2021. But to gain a sense of […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released new hospital COVID-19 capacity data at the facility level. Previously released data about hospital capacity was aggregated at the state level. This new, more granular, data release aggregates daily hospital reports into a “week-at-a-time” picture to protect patient privacy while providing a view of how […]
Digitalisation will help create the collaborative and proactive healthcare service delivery models required to address post-pandemic challenges in the United Arab Emirates and across the Middle East, sector stakeholders have announced. A recent organised by the Dubai Economy department also found that the emirate could help trial these services within a smart healthcare ecosystem if it […]
The speakers were Roger Lim, senior policy officer at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands; Dr Carolina Garcia-Vidal, senior specialist at the Infectious Diseases Department of Hospital Clínic, Barcelona; Sameer Pujari, vice chair of the World Health Organisation (WHO) ITU Focus Group; Dr Miguel Muñoz, head of business development of Mediktor; and Dr Jordi […]
UK charity, the Health Foundation has called for greater transparency around the COVID-19 contact tracing app, which is set to be launched across England and Wales tomorrow. It has raised concerns that the government has not revealed results of recent trials, which took place in the Isle of Wight and the London Borough of Newham. […]
