Experts say some hospitals’ use of an ad tracking tool may violate a federal law protecting health information

High blood pressure (BP) that is uncontrolled is the major cause of mortality and disability. For the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, reliable blood pressure measurement is critical. If the BP measurement instrument has been validated for clinical accuracy, that is a crucial aspect of correct measurement.

According to a survey from The Pew Charitable Trusts, 81%t of adults surveyed favor improved patient and provider access to health information. More than two-thirds of consumers want their clinicians to share health information that isn't presently required by federal data-sharing policies (Trust, 2021).

A new Senate bill introduced in early April 2022 (including legislation in the House) would require medical device developers to be more accountable for the cybersecurity of their products.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, and Dr. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, have introduced the bipartisan Protecting and Transforming Cyber Health Care Act.

The Office for Civil Rights has identified that hackers have heavily targeted the healthcare industry in 2020 and 2021, hoping to get unauthorized access to sensitive electronic protected health information (ePHI). Between 2019 and 2020, the amount of unprotected ePHI breaches reported to the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that affected 500 or more people due to hacking or IT problems climbed by 45 %! In addition, hacking or IT events accounted for 66% of all breaches impacting 500 or more people reported to OCR in 2020.

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For the majority of my life, I've been physically active and healthy. Even though I've always had a few extra pounds, I strive to eat healthily and work out often. That didn't stop age and some pandemic laxity from catching up with me. My doctor and I were a little concerned about a couple things at my yearly appointment in December. I made a goal of exercise for January and better eating in 2022.

Cyberscoop reports that after examining the Doxy.me platform, privacy researcher Zach Edwards discovered that the company appeared to be sharing IP addresses and unique device identification numbers with Google, Facebook, and the marketing software company HubSpot.

The AHRQ QuestionBuilder app helps patients and caregivers prepare for medical appointments and maximize visit time.

1. Download the mobile app.
2. Select or create questions to ask.
3. Save the questions to a calendar appointment or send them to any email address so that the information is handy during medical visits.*

As medical devices become more networked, they may become vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Patients should preserve their personal information, monitor their device for strange symptoms or behaviors, and receive a device check-up from their health care practitioner or the device maker, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This is based on an article from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA is the Nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future. CISA provides extensive cybersecurity and infrastructure security knowledge which can assist people in applying better personal health information risk management. 

In this article, CISA explains risks associated with mobile device apps and some preventive methods that can be used to better secure your personal information.