Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/627546
9 SPINE LEADERSHIP Is Your Medical Device Hacked? By Allison Sobczak S cott Erven and Mark Collao, internet security experts, conducted a test to find out how easy it was to hack into medical devices, and presented their findings at the hacker conference Derby- con. Mr. Erven and Mr. Collao bought the smaller devices on eBay, extracted firmware and went to the manufacturers' websites. For larger machines, they scoured the web using a search engine for In- ternet-connected devices called Shodan, which told them what their log-in page would look like and what to do next. No matter the device model, the same default passwords were used repeatedly and in some case the manufacturer warned chang- ing default passwords might void support because service techni- cians needed to know the passwords. Mr. Erven cites two cases of patients in Austria who increased their morphine dosage by hacking into their own pumps. In trying to bring awareness to this problem, the FDA held its second medical device security workshop on Jan. 20 and 21. n Cervical Spine Research Society Elects Dr. Robert Heary President: 6 Key Notes By Megan Wood R obert F. Heary, MD, serves as medical director of the Spine and Pain Center at HackensackUMC Mountainside in Glen Ridge, N.J., according to The Jersey Tomato Press. Here are six key notes: 1. A board-certified neurosurgeon, Dr. Heary is the first New Jersey physician to head the CSRS. 2. In addition to his role as chief of neurosurgery at Hackensack- UMC Mountainside, Dr. Heary also teaches neurosurgery at Rut- gers-New Jersey Medical School in Newark. 3. Dr. Heary is on the editorial boards of Neurosurgery, the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques, World Neurosurgery, Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine and Spinal Deformity. 4. He has published more than 125 articles, 55 book chapters and 100 abstracts. 5. The president-elect of the Lumbar Spine Research Society, Dr. Heary is also a director-at-large on the board of directors for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. 6. After earning his medical degree from the University of Pitts- burgh School of Medicine, Dr. Heary completed a neurological surgery residency at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark. He then completed a spine fellowship at Thomas Jefferson Universi- ty in Philadelphia. n Healthcare Executives Expect M&A to Drive Growth in 2016 By Ayla Ellison H ealthcare executives are optimistic about their organizations' financial performance in the year ahead, according to recent survey by Capital One. More than 250 senior healthcare executives responded to the survey, which asked about their outlooks for their individual organiza- tions and the industry as a whole for 2016. e survey was conducted shortly before the J.P. Morgan 34th Annual Healthcare Conference, which is being held Jan. 11-14 in San Francis- co. Here are six findings from the survey. 1. Forty-one percent of healthcare industry executives expect mergers and acquisitions to be their preferred growth strategy for this year, outpacing organic growth through revitalizing and updating existing offerings. 2. Sixty percent of respondents expect stronger financial performance from their businesses in 2016, while 35 percent anticipate performance that equals last year's results. 3. Only 5 percent of respondents expect weaker financial performance in 2016 than last year. 4. Eighty-nine percent of respondents antic- ipate their capital needs will be the same or higher this year than in 2015. 5. Respondents said implementing the Af- fordable Care Act and regulatory scrutiny are the top two challenges facing the healthcare industry in 2016. 6. irty-six percent of respondents said they expect to benefit from the ACA in 2016, while 38 percent said they anticipate no benefit from the law this year. n