Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1353232
70 CIO / HEALTH IT Google, Ascension continue EHR collaboration by launching search tool By Katie Adams G oogle and Ascension are continuing the collabora- tion they began in 2018 by rolling out a tool to help clinicians better organize and search for patient information, the St. Louis-based health system said Feb. 23. In 2018, Google and Ascension created an accessible and searchable interface that shows clinicians a complete clin- ical history for each patient. Recognizing that EHR systems often organize clinical information in fragmented ways, the collaboration sought to present information in a more comprehensive and contextualized manner. Google and Ascension are now piloting an approach that will organize patients' diagnoses, laboratory tests, medica- tions, treatments and progress notes so that clinicians can quickly locate relevant information when they need it. The tool, called Care Studio, allows clinicians to quickly search through information from both inpatient and out- patient Ascension facilities. It also presents the searched- for information alongside other contextually relevant infor- mation so that clinicians do not spend extra time locating those records. The tool is being piloted with a group of about 250 clini- cians at Ascension's locations in Nashville, Tenn., and Jack- sonville, Fla. They will provide feedback Google and As- cension will use to improve the tool's user experience and effectiveness before it is deployed among all the health system's clinicians. In 2019, the collaboration raised data privacy concerns among patients and clinicians, who did not know that certain Google employees had access to patient data for the project. At the time, Ascension said the project is HIPAA-compliant and Google is not permitted to use data for marketing or research purposes. n UHS lost $67M from malware attack: 5 details on financial effects By Jackie Drees K ing of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services lost $67 million from a malware attack in 2020 that forced the organization to send patients elsewhere for care and incur expenses to restore its operating and IT systems, e Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 26. Five things to know: 1. UHS experienced the cyberattack from Sept. 27, 2020, into October 2020; the health system said it was forced to divert patients to com- petitor facilities, saw steep increases in labor expenses to restore its networks, and experienced administrative functions such as coding and billing delayed into December. 2. ese factors had "a negative impact on our operating cash flows during the fourth quarter of 2020," UHS said in financial documents released Feb. 25. 3. UHS said the breach had an unfavorable pretax effect of $67 million, with $55 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 and $12 million in the third quarter of 2020. 4. UHS didn't pay a ransom, and a health system spokesperson told the Journal that UHS believed it would be entitled to recoup costs through insurance. 5. During the cyberattack, UHS shut down computer systems for medical records, labs and pharmacies across 250 U.S. facilities. is caused disruptions including ambulance diversions and sending patients to different surgeons for care, UHS CFO Steve Filton told investors in January, according to the report. "I think, intellectually, you know that we're very reliant on our infor- mation technology," Mr. Filton said, "but you don't really realize how much you are until something disrupts that." n