Becker's Hospital Review

68 CIO / HEALTH IT Google health exec says focus is on 'global impact,' not revenue By Hannah Mitchell G oogle's vice president of health, David Feinberg, MD, said he doesn't feel the pressure to turn a profit from the tech giant's health ventures, according to a June 9 report by CNBC. Instead, the pressure comes from bringing the health products to a global scale, he said at The Wall Street Journal's health tech conference June 9. "The real pressure is, 'Is this really going to help millions of people?'" he said. "'Is it Google scale?' That's the pressure." He continued: "Yes, there's even more pressure to have global im- pact, and when I say global impact, we're not talking about revenue, we're talking about, 'We have this diabetic retinopathy screening in India and Thailand, and how do we scale that to the rest of the world?' We have the ability through Android phones to help people with pregnancy or gestational age or to read an X-ray." Dr. Feinberg said Google can scale its products by leveraging the tech company's Android base. Even though these ventures are cost- ly, he affirmed revenue is an afterthought. "Some of our areas we're thinking of revenue pressure, but I'd say that would come later in the discussions," he said. Dr. Feinberg said Google's main health focus is on its EHR platform Care Studio, which it created through its partnership with St. Louis-based Ascension. To bring its products to scale, Google needs two things: partner- ships and public trust, Dr. Feinberg said. n Mayo Clinic joins Apple Health Records initiative: 4 things to know By Jackie Drees R ochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is joining Apple's Health Records project, which gives patients access to their medical records directly from their iPhone, according to a June 15 news release. Four things to know: 1. Mayo Clinic patients who have an online patient portal account can now use Apple's Health Records app, which lets users view their health data from multiple providers on a single platform. 2. Use of the Health Records feature in iPhone's Health app is optional and will not affect the user's patient portal account. 3. Mayo Clinic patients with Android devices can use a similar health records app called CommonHealth. 4. Apple is set to roll out new health features for the app this fall, including giving users the option to share certain types of health data such as heart rate and detected falls with their physicians. n Meet the ransomware gang behind 235 attacks on US hospitals: 7 details By Jackie Drees R esponsible for one-third of the 203 million U.S. ransomware attacks in 2020, the Ryuk ransom- ware gang is the most prolific in the world and has targeted at least 235 hospitals, according to a June 10 report from e Wall Street Journal. Seven things to know: 1. With ties to Russian government security services and named aer its signature soware, Ryuk has hit at least 235 general hospitals and inpatient psychiatric facilities in addition to dozens of other healthcare facilities in the U.S. since 2018. 2. Ryuk ransomware collected at least $100 million in paid ransom last year, according to Bitcoin analysis firm Chainalysis. Some of the criminal group's healthcare targets include King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services, which lost $67 million from Ryuk's mal- ware attack last September, and Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based DCH Health System in late 2019. 3. While some ransomware gangs avoid hospitals over fear of disrupting operations that could lead to patient deaths, Ryuk doesn't care, ransomware recovery firm Coveware CEO Bill Siegel told the Journal. "Other groups you can at least have a conversation. You can tell them, 'We're a hospital, someone's going to die.' Ryuk won't even reply to that email." 4. Ryuk uses disposable webmail accounts to negoti- ate with victims and speaks with a "single, consistent voice, terse and to the point, and offering no hint of a personality," consultants who have negotiated with the hackers told the Journal. 5. Tony Cook, head of threat intelligence at Guidepoint Security, told the publication he has dealt with Ryuk in 15 ransomware cases, four of them being hospitals. Every conversation he has had with the hackers hasn't been more than one or two sentences. 6. Ryuk also uses victims' financial documents during some negotiations, Mr. Cook said, adding that in certain instances he tried telling the hackers his clients couldn't afford to pay the ransom, to which Ryuk "respond[ed] back with financial documents in their email and sa[id], 'Yes you can.'" 7. Ryuk counts on its attacks to wreak havoc, said Alex Holden, a security analyst who monitors the Easter Euro- pean underground. Last October, he said he saw a Ryuk organizer discussing plans online to attack 400 hospitals in the U.S. and saying they "expect panic." n

• Cover