Becker's Hospital Review

65 CIO / HEALTH IT HIPAA Right of Access cases surpass $1M –16 providers that have paid settlements By Jackie Drees S ince issuing its first HIPAA Right of Access case in September 2019, the Office for Civil Rights has settled cases with 16 different pro- viders totaling $1.05 million as of Feb. 15. e rule requires hospitals to provide patients with copies of their health records quickly and without being overcharged. Here are the 16 providers that have settled with OCR for potential violations of the rule as well as the mon- etary fines they agreed to pay. 2019: 1. Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (Fla): $85,000 2. Korunda Medical (Naples, Fla.): $85,000 2020: 3. Beth Israel Lahey Health Behavioral Services (Danvers, Mass.): $70,000 4. Housing Works (New York City): $38,000 5. All Inclusive Medical Services (Carmichael, Ca- lif.): $15,000 6. Wise Psychiatry (Centennial, Colo.): $10,000 7. King MD (Chesapeake, Va.): $3,500 8. Dignity Health (San Francisco): $160,000 9. NY Spine Medicine (New York City): $100,000 10. Riverside (Calif.) Psychiatric Medical Group: $25,000 11. Rajendra Bhayani, MD, who operates a private otolaryngology practice (Regal Park, N.Y.): $15,000 12. University of Cincinnati Medical Center: $65,000 13. Peter Wrobel, MD, doing business as Elite Prima- ry Care (Waycross, Ga.): $36,000 2021: 14. Banner Health (Phoenix): $200,000 15. Renown Health (Reno, Nev.): $75,000 16. Sharp HealthCare (San Diego): $70,000 n How hospitals are using AI to teach physicians to better express empathy By Jackie Drees H ospitals and health systems across Europe and the U.S., including Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, are turning to artificial intelligence-powered "virtual patients" to train physicians on bedside manner, The Washington Post reported Feb. 16. AI startup Virti has been working with hospitals for the past three years, with an uptick in clients since the start of the pandemic. The company offers AI-powered animations that are trained to interact with physicians and test them on practicing empathy and interpersonal skills, according to the report. "What we wanted to do with the virtual patient was create a scalable, da- ta-driven way for people to practice their soft skills and communication," Virti founder Alex Young, MD, said. Virti's software works on either a smartphone or computer, and the com- pany can also give physicians virtual headsets for a more immersive ex- perience. After the training session, physicians are scored based on their speed, the questions they asked the AI and whether they got the virtual patient's diagnosis correct. Cedars-Sinai started out as a customer of Virti's before becoming an in- vestor in 2019; the health system led a $2 million seed round for Virti. The United Kingdom's public health system NHS has also used the software along with the health education center at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, which is using the company's tech to tutor future clinicians on communication and reasoning skills. n Beaumont closes EHR COVID-19 vaccine scheduling after 2,700 unauthorized appointments By Laura Dyrda M ore than 2,000 people in late January were able to register for unauthorized COVID-19 vaccine appointments through a vul- nerability in Beaumont Health's Epic EHR scheduling system be- fore it was shut down. The Southfield, Mich.-based health system said it identified unusual activ- ity related to its online COVID-19 vaccine scheduling tool Jan. 30. An in- dividual had identified and publicly shared a backdoor pathway allowing people to "cut in line" and schedule a vaccine appointment. The health system said it worked with Epic to eliminate the vulnerability and canceled the 2,700 unauthorized appointments. "These appointments violate the ethical distribution framework Beaumont created based on the state of Michigan's mandatory vaccine guidelines," said Hans Keil, senior vice president and CIO of Beaumont, in a news re- lease. "We regret 2,700 people in our community became victims of this unfortunate incident. We remain committed to vaccinating as many people as possible who meet the state's guidelines." The incident did not compromise patient information or hospital records. n

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