Becker's Hospital Review

36 CIO / HEALTH IT Security Researchers Discover Vulnerability in OpenEMR That Potentially Compromises 90M Health Records By Julie Spitzer R esearchers at Risk Based Security are warning health- care providers using OpenEMR to a vulnerability in its configuration that may expose the system to a complete compromise, the firm wrote in a blog post. OpenEMR is an open-source EHR management application used in thousands of physician offices and small healthcare facilities around the world, and it hosts data on more than 90 million patients. In the U.S., it is estimated there are more than 5,000 installations of OpenEMR in physician offices, serving more than 30 million patients. It is a PHP-based web application that fully integrates with EHRs and practice management, scheduling and electronic billing. According to RBS researchers, many OpenEMR installations contain the original setup script, called setup.php. is poses a big problem because these installer scripts — which are usually deleted aer installation — were not being removed automatically, meaning a third party could instantiate addi- tional sites of the install. "Having access to a setup script typically means that the functionality, which handles the initial configuration of the application, is within reach. Considering initial configura- tion usually requires administrative access, this is immedi- ately a concern," the blog post reads. Official documentation advises users to consider removing or blocking access to the script, instructions RBS deems too vague. "We believe that this phrasing is far too vague to convince a customer to remove the setup scripts," Sven Krewitt, senior vulnerability researcher at RBS, said. "It also fails to properly warn about the risks of not doing so." e researchers found the setup script was accessible in 141 out of 188 searchable installs. "While the sample size is small, we can make a decent assumption that a substantial percentage of the over 20,000 [global] installations of Open- EMR are in a similar state," the researchers wrote. e issue has been reported to OpenEMR developers. e company released a patch in early November, in addition to revising their documentation. n AI Will Force Up to 800M People to Find New Jobs by 2030 By Jessica Kim Cohen A n estimated 400 million to 800 million people across the globe will likely be displaced by automation and forced to find new jobs by 2030, according to a McKinsey Glob- al Institute report. Investigators from McKinsey Global Institute, the business and economics research arm of management consulting firm McK- insey & Co., assessed recent estimates on job losses and gains related to automation and artificial intelligence through 2030. The investigators determined up to 30 percent of hours worked globally might be automated by 2030, depending on the speed of adoption. "It is important to note, however, that even when some tasks are automated, employment in those occupations may not decline but rather workers may perform new tasks," the re- searchers wrote. Here are five things to know about global adoption of auto- mation and AI. 1. Automation and AI will likely lead to "substantial" workplace transformation, according to the researchers. Although less than 5 percent of occupations comprise activities that will be fully au- tomated by 2030, about 60 percent of occupations are made up of activities in which one-third could be automated. 2. However, technical feasibility is not the only important consid- eration for adoption of automation and AI capabilities. "While about half of all work activities globally have the tech- nical potential to be automated by adapting currently demon- strated technologies, the proportion of work actually displaced by 2030 will likely be lower, because of technical, economic and social factors that affect adoption," according to the report. 3. The potential impact of automation and AI on employment varies by occupation and country. Jobs most "susceptible" to automation include physical activities in predictable environ- ments, such as operating machinery, and jobs related to col- lecting and processing data, such as accounting, according to the researchers. 4. Automation and AI capabilities are less likely to affect jobs that relate to "managing people, applying expertise and social inter- actions." Low-wage jobs in unpredictable environments, includ- ing plumbers and childcare providers, are also less susceptible to automation, partially because they are difficult to automate, and partially because existing low wages make automation less attractive to hirers. 5. In spite of growing automation and AI capabilities, employ- ment for care providers — such as physicians, nurses and social workers — is expected to grow 30 percent in the U.S. One driv- er of this demand is aging populations, which tend to spend more on healthcare services. The researchers estimated health- care-related jobs will grow by between 80 million and 130 mil- lion by 2030. n

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