Healthcare IT News For VARs 2-13-15: Anthem Breach Likely Started 9 Months Ago
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
In this week’s news, China is named as the source of Anthem data breach, and the U.S. Senate considers a data encryption mandate. Also, drop-down menus could be a hurdle in realizing the full benefit of the specificity of ICD-10, and healthcare entities are encouraged to include solutions providers in the ICD-10 transition.
Anthem Breach Traced Back To China, 2014
The massive Anthem data breach that is creeping up to more than $100 million in cost has been reported to have likely started back in April of 2014 and to have roots that tie back to China, according to Krebs On Security. An origination date that far back would mean a nine-month gap between initial breach and time of discovery. The servers and tools used in the attack bear the trademark signs of a state-sponsored espionage group out of China, which is known by the names “Deep Panda,” “Axiom,” “Group 72,” and “Shell_Crew.” Read more about the path to discovery here.
Encryption Mandate Considered By Senate In Lieu Of Anthem Breech
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, And Pensions committee announced recently that it is considering changing its voluntary approach to data encryption in the 2009 HITECH Act, and moving to consider an encryption standard in their bipartisan review of healthcare data security. This change in approach is partly due to Anthem’s admission that their data wasn’t encrypted when the company was hacked. Read more at HealthcareDive.
Drop-Down Menus: The Enemy Of ICD-10 Specificity
The nature of drop-down menus is being named as a possible hurdle in realizing the full benefit of the specificity of the ICD-10 coding system. While opponents including legislators and other opponents have condemned, and even joked about some of the levels of specificity offered by 10, menus that are tailored by IT staff and coders are being called out as not friendly to the physician — and even encouragements to doctors choosing imprecise codes. Read more at Fierce Health IT.
Healthcare Entities Encouraged To Include Vendors In ICD-10 Transition
Government Health IT explores the importance of including solutions providers in the transition to ICD-10. It covers the federal government’s advice on the subject, as well as five alternatives for entities that cannot make the October deadline, including:
- purchasing compliant tech
- using online claim filing systems
- using free billing software
- hiring a compliant billing service
- submitting paper claims on an updated CMS-1500 form
Automatic Prescription Refills Increasing Errors, Waste
e-Prescribing systems are under scrutiny in this article from Philly.com. The systems have the known flaw of not communicating discontinued medications to pharmacies, leaving patients and doctors responsible for relaying the information. Autorefill systems reduce pharmacist workload, but still contain many challenges for an industry with an ever growing and changing pharmaceutical system.
Healthcare IT Talking Points
Express Healthcare explores the use of crowdsourcing in addressing emergency medical situations. The concept is especially applicable in developing countries where the there is great room for improvement around efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare systems, and mobile device coverage can be reasonably good. The article proposes a model for using crowdsourcing to address those issues, describes the ecosystem needed, covers the implementation process, and claims benefits including lower cost, scalability, and a shortened development life cycle.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Healthcare IT Resource Center.