HIMSSCast

Top Stories for 12/18

December 21, 2020
HIMSSCast
Top Stories for 12/18
Show Notes Transcript

In today's Top Stories with Jeff Lagasse: Hackers use the SolarWinds platform to target the National Institutes of Health in a large data breach; Vaccine preparedness gets a boost from the federal government. Plus: Apple is rolling out a new low VO2 Max feature on its Apple Watch wearable.

Links to this week's stories:

NIH among agencies targeted by Russian 'Cozy Bear' hackers, says WaPo

What healthcare orgs should be doing in response to the SolarWinds breach

CDC is giving $227 million for COVID-19 vaccine preparedness and tracking

New low VO2 Max feature comes to Apple Watch

Hackers are at it again, this time targeting the National Institutes of Health among other federal agencies. I’m Jeff Lagasse, and we’ll take a closer look in this week’s Top Stories.

The NIH is just one of a handful of federal agencies that has been victimized by Russian hackers. In HealthcareITNews, (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/nih-among-agencies-targeted-russian-cozy-bear-hackers-says-wapo) we see that the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Commerce were also targets, with hackers known as “APT29” or “Cozy Bear” possible linked to Russian intelligence services. To breach these organizations, the hackers reportedly used updates for network management software from the SolarWinds Company, which also lists as its customers the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Blue Cross Blue Shield. A separate story in HITN (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/what-healthcare-orgs-should-be-doing-response-solarwinds-breach) details the steps healthcare organizations should take in response to this breach. 

Vaccines have of course been on everyone’s minds these past few weeks, and efforts to inoculate the public against COVID-19 are now underway in the U.S. and U.K., with front line healthcare workers given top priority. This week, Healthcare Finance News reports (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/cdc-giving-227-million-covid-19-vaccine-preparedness-and-tracking) that the CDC will award $140 million for COVID-19 vaccine preparedness and about $87 million for tracking and testing to 64 jurisdictions. CARES Act funding will provide infrastructure support to the Immunizations and Vaccines for Children cooperative agreement, and along with a previous $200 million in September, these funds will help to prepare for vaccine distribution. 

Finally this week, Apple is rolling out a new low VO2 Max feature on its Apple Watches. According to MobiHealthNews, (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/new-low-vo2-max-feature-comes-apple-watch) instead of doing an intense run or workout to capture the measurement, users can take a walk or stroll to find out their VO2 Max, which is considered a measure of overall fitness. After an onboarding process that collects demographic data and other info, the feature uses data from multiple sensors and general health information to give users a fitness level relative to their age group. It’s the first feature where users don’t have to participate in a high-intensity workout to get the measurement.

I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.