Becker's Hospital Review

64 CIO / HEALTH IT SamSam strikes Indiana physician practice's computer network By Julie Spitzer S outh Bend, Ind.-based Allied Physicians of Michiana is recovering from a May 17 ransomware attack involving the SamSam variant. According to a news release, Allied discovered its computers were under attack in the afternoon of May 17 and the practice immediately shut down the network. Allied was able to restore its data in a secure format, but an investigation to determine whether patient data was compromised is ongoing. The network down time did not cause a significant disruption to patients, Allied said in the May 21 news release. The practice declined to confirm the amount hackers demanded in ransom and whether it paid the SamSam hackers to restore its data. "The security of our patients' personal and protected health information is fore- most in our mind," Allied CEO Shery Roussarie said in the news release. "While we make every effort to keep ahead of these types of cyberattacks, we have nevertheless taken additional steps to minimize any such future attack of the type [previously] experienced" n Why Google renamed its research division 'Google AI' By Jessica Kim Cohen G oogle rebranded its Google Research division to "Google AI" in a move to reflect the company's growing focus on artificial intelligence research. In a May 7 blog post explaining the change, Google highlighted its recent AI efforts related to computer vision, healthcare and voice assistants. In the healthcare realm, for example, the Google Research team in Febru- ary published research findings on an AI algorithm that may be able to predict a patient's risk of heart attack or stroke using only photographs of the interior lining of the individual's eye. "For the past several years, we've pursued research that reflects our commit- ment to make AI available for everyone," the blog post reads. "To better reflect this commitment, we're unifying our efforts under 'Google AI,' which encom- passes all the state-of-the-art research happening across Google." As part of the transition, Google renamed all of its Google Research channels, including its Google+, Twitter and blog. n Emory Healthcare teams up with Australian hospital on remote ICU By Jessica Kim Cohen A tlanta-based Emory Healthcare will continue to offer its patients remote intensive care unit services as part of a telehealth partnership with Roy- al Perth Hospital in Australia. Under the program, Emory sends ICU pro- viders to Royal Perth Hospital for an eight- to 16-week rotation. During this period, the providers begin work in Perth, Australia, at 7 a.m., but cover the night shi of Em- ory's ICUs using video monitors, micro- phones and specialized cameras designed by Philips, as Perth has a roughly 12-hour time difference from Atlanta. e program builds on a pilot project Emo- ry launched in 2016, which connected Em- ory's ICUs with providers at Sydney, Austra- lia-based Macquarie University, which is 15 hours ahead of Atlanta. For the next stage of the project, Emory will work with Royal Perth Hospital for two to three years to re- fine its teleICU practices. Emory's goal for the program — which was conceived by Timothy Buchman, PhD, MD, founding director of the Emory Critical Care Center, and Cheryl Hiddleson, MSN, RN, director of the Emory eICU Center — is to alleviate two concerns critical care providers tend to have about night shis: a shortage of senior clinicians willing to cov- er these shis, and the toll sleep deprivation takes on caregivers. "e providers worked more efficiently and felt better because they were working during daylight hours in Australia, reducing burn- out and keeping more professionals satis- fied in the critical care medicine field," Dr. Buchman said in a May 9 statement, noting the benefits Emory documented during the 2016 pilot phase of the program. "Pa- tients benefited from the project by having focused, around-the-clock management of care, both during day and night hours." n EpicMD launches new mobile platform By Anuja Vaidya EpicMD introduced Carie, a third-generation mobile telehealth platform. Patients can use the Carie platform to see their physicians or choose from the network of physicians who offer in-office visits. Physicians can connect their practices to Carie, which is cloud-based and device agnostic. Carie also offers advanced reporting, live file sharing and scheduling tools. The new platform will be rolled out to 10,000 physicians and their patients in September. n

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