Becker's Hospital Review

46 CIO / HEALTH IT Class action targets Scripps over data breach that exposed 147,000+ patients' info By Jackie Drees S cripps Health is being accused of fail- ing to properly secure and protect pa- tients' health information stored with- in the San Diego-based system's network, which a malware attack compromised April 29, according to court documents. Seven things to know: 1. Scripps began notifying more than 147,000 individuals in early June that their protected health information was exposed during the malware attack. 2. For certain patients, exposed informa- tion included names, addresses, birthdates, health insurance data, medical record num- bers, patient account numbers and treatment details. Less than 2.5 percent of individuals' Social Security numbers and/or driver's li- cense numbers were involved, according to the health system. 3. e exposed data "can be sold on the dark web," the lawsuit stated, adding that "[h]ack- ers can access and then offer for sale the un- encrypted, unredacted [data] to criminals." As a result, the class members "face a lifetime risk of identity the," according to the suit. 4. e class action is on behalf of all individ- uals whose personally identifiable informa- tion and protected health information were compromised because of Scripps' alleged failure to protect the data and effectively se- cure hardware that stored the information, according to the lawsuit. e plaintiffs allege that Scripps' conduct was negligent and in violation of federal and state statutes. 5. e plaintiffs are seeking monetary dam- ages and also ask that Scripps be required to implement and maintain effective security protocols going forward. 6. Scripps CEO Chris Van Gorder penned an op-ed in e San Diego Union-Tribune on June 11 detailing the cyberattack's events and calling for greater collaboration between the government and hospitals to thwart attacks. "Just as protecting the public's health during a once-in-a-century pandemic takes a vil- lage, so will protecting our hospital systems, critical infrastructure, schools, businesses and government entities from criminals who exist in the shadows," he wrote. 7. Scripps declined Becker's Hospital Review's request for comment, citing its policy against commenting on pending litigation. n Why CIOs think patients could warm up to clinical AI By Katie Adams H ospitals are increasingly adopting artificial intel- ligence-powered tools to streamline workflows and support clinical decision making, but not all patients are sold on the technology. Researchers from University Park, Pa.-based Penn State and the University of California, Santa Barbara designed five chatbots for a study with 295 participants and paired them with either a human physician, AI chatbot, or AI- assisted physician. The study's results, released in May, showed that when AI chatbots used the first name of patients and referred to their medical history, study participants were more likely to find the bot intrusive and less likely to take the bot's medical advice. "Many patients feel that AI doesn't take into account their distinctive characteristics and circumstances," Zafar Chaudry, MD, senior vice president and CIO at Seattle Children's, told Becker's. "However, AI-powered medical tools are primarily for decision support and have been shown to perform with expert-level accuracy." Dr. Chaudry pointed out that the tools could bring sig- nificant benefits to patients, including better healthcare accessibility, early disease detection and healthcare cost reductions. Still, many patients feel there is no way they can trust tech- nology the same way they trust their physician, who went through years of schooling and training to be qualified to treat patients. Replicating clinicians' thought processes results in com- plex neural networks that need vast amounts of data for training and years of pilot studies, according to Myra Davis, the chief information innovation officer at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "Rest assured, the creation of these complex neural networks, which drive the AI-powered medical tools in question, are created by the clinicians themselves," Ms. Davis said. She also pointed out that AI-powered healthcare tools take great advantage of data. If they're properly trained on enough EHR data, they can generate diagnoses with high accuracy and recommend treatments. Patients should also feel more confident about clinical AI tools knowing they go through various quality assurance and FDA approval processes, according to Ms. Davis. "AI in healthcare is a budding and exciting field, which will result in better informed decisions that will, if applied properly, improve population health," she said. n

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