Becker's Hospital Review

67 CIO / HEALTH IT Viewpoint: Google, HCA deal sparks need for update in privacy laws By Jackie Drees G oogle Cloud and HCA Healthcare's collaboration to build health data algorithms has ignited the need for updates to U.S. privacy laws, New York University medical ethics expert Arthur Caplan, PhD, told CNBC. "Now we've got electronic medical records, huge volumes of data, and this is like ask- ing a navigation system from a World War I airplane to navigate us up to the space shuttle," said Dr. Caplan, founding head of the medical ethics division at New York City-based NYU School of Medi- cine. "We've got to update our privacy protection and our informed consent requirements." Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA and Google announced the partnership May 26. Un- der the deal, HCA will use Google Cloud's healthcare data offerings and build a data platform that will improve workflows for its clinicians and nonclinical staff. HCA patient records would be stripped of identifying information before being shared with Google's data scientists, and the health system said it will have control over access to the data, according to The Wall Street Journal. In an emailed statement to CNBC, Google said the deal follows its enterprise priva- cy commitments and that the company does not "process customer data to cre- ate ads profiles or improve Google Ads products." Google also added that it does not sell customer data or service data to third parties. Companies like Google that do a lot of commercial advertising could correlate the information coming out of the health sys- tem and potentially sell it, Dr. Caplan said. "Maybe they don't have your name, but they sure enough can figure out what sub- group, sub-population might do best by getting advertised to you," he said. Google and HCA did not respond to CNBC's request for comment. n US officials: Do these 7 things after a ransomware attack By Hannah Mitchell A s ransomware attacks persist, the federal government is devel- oping recommendations for companies on how to respond to an attack. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommended hospitals follow these seven steps: 1. Determine which systems have been affected and isolate them immediately. 2. If unable to disconnect devices from the network, turn them off to avoid further spread. 3. Triage affected devices for restoration. 4. Document what has occurred, based on initial analysis. 5. Get help from a third-party incident response provider. 6. If mitigation prospects look slim, take a system image and memory capture of a sample of affected devices. Be mindful of preserving evi- dence. Collect relevant logs and samples of malware binaries. 7. Consult federal law enforcement regarding decryptors avail- able as researchers have broken encryption algorithms for some ransomware variants. n Florida's emergency order for telehealth expires By Jackie Drees F lorida Gov. Ron DeSantis' executive order declaring a public health emergen- cy expired June 26, cutting off flexibilities for telehealth across the state, the Sun Sentinel reported. As of June 26, telephones are no longer covered as an acceptable platform to deliver telehealth services to non-Medicare patients in Florida, and physicians cannot use telehealth to prescribe controlled substances to existing patients for treating chronic nonmalignant pain, according to the report. Florida Department of Health Secretary Scott Rivkees waived a state law during the COVID-19 pandemic that requires physicians and nurses to be licensed in Florida to work in the state, which let out-of-state providers come to Florida to help prevent potential staffing shortages. e provision also expired June 26. Effective July 1, the Agency for Health Care Administration also will limit the frequency and duration of Medicaid behavioral health services and will reinstate prior authorization requirements for behavioral health services, effective July 15. e Florida Medical Association, the state's largest physicians organization, told the publication that, in the next legislative session, it will push to reinstate telehealth expansions, including requiring commercial health insurers and managed-care of- ferings to pay the same amounts to providers whether they deliver care in person or via telehealth. n

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