Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1186182
33 CIO / HEALTH IT UCLA receives $28M to study opioid addiction telehealth treatments By Jackie Drees T he National Institutes of Health granted University of California Los Angeles more than $28 million to spearhead two studies on telehealth-based treat- ments for opioid addiction in rural America. The grants will be distributed over five years, and both are part of the NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-term initiative. The first study, which has been awarded $25 million in funding, will take place at more than 40 primary care clinics across the U.S. and will analyze how telemedicine helps solve treatment barriers such as long travel times to clinics in rural areas. The second study will use the remaining $3.3 million from NIH to explore the use of text messages as support for opioid addiction treatment. Researchers will analyze whether using text messages to deliver cognitive behav- ioral therapy will help patients stick to their opioid treat- ment medication regimens. n California clinic to close after ransomware wipes out patient records By Jackie Drees W ood Ranch Medical announced Sept. 18 that it will close in December after a ran- somware attack caused the Simi Valley, Ca- lif.-based medical clinic to lose all access to its patients' medical records. WRM was hit by ransomware Aug. 10, which encrypted patients' health records as well as the clinic's backup hard drives. Unable to restore access to the information, WRM said it will shut down Dec. 17. "The damage to our computer system was such that we are unable to recover the data stored there and, with our backup system encrypted as well, we cannot rebuild our medical records," WRM wrote in a statement on its website. There has been no indication that any patient informa- tion, including names, addresses, dates of birth and medical insurance, were compromised, according to WRM. The clinic mailed letters to notify individuals af- fected by the incident. n Texas health system alerts entire patient database of data breach By Mackenzie Garrity G reenville, Texas-based Hunt Regional Healthcare no- tified additional patients in October of a cyberattack that may have exposed patient information, accord- ing to the Herald-Banner. In July, the health system had mailed letters to a subset of patients about the data breach. After an initial investigation, Hunt Regional Healthcare discovered hackers had gained access to information in its computer networks. However, after further forensic analysis, the health system determined that more patients may have been affected. "Our cybersecurity firm determined the breach was more widespread that we originally believed," said Lisa Hill, direc- tor of foundation development and marketing communica- tions of Hunt Regional Healthcare. Hunt Regional Healthcare decided Oct. 7 to send alerts to its entire patient database, according to Ms. Hill. Patient data that may have been exposed included names, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, race and religious preferences. n Meditech partners with Apple Health Records By Jackie Drees M editech began offering its Expanse and 6.0 EHR clients access to Apple Health Records in October. Meditech customers Grand View Health in Sellers- ville, Pa., Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Ind., and Doylestown (Pa.) Hospital were the EHR vendor's first clients to roll out the feature. Apple's Health Records allows patients with iPhones to view their medical records directly through their phones. The technology giant worked with the healthcare community to develop a consumer-friendly approach to Health Records, building the app off Fast Healthcare Interoperability Re- sources, the standard for transferring EHRs. Meditech plans to extend access to Apple Health Records across all its EHR platforms but is beginning with 6.0 and Expanse. By partnering with Apple, patients who use a Med- itech EHR will be able to access their health data from multi- ple providers from a single platform. "With health information from Meditech now available via Health Records on iPhone, consumers are provided one con- venient, comprehensive record, enabling them to take a more proactive role in managing their own wellness," said Howard Messing, Meditech CEO, in a news release. n