News

National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi said in a keynote for the agency's annual meeting that COVID-19 continues to be the main focus for the near future.

The World Health Organization on Friday issued a warning about counterfeit and stolen COVID-19 vaccines being sold on the dark web.   Fake vaccination certificates are also being sold, as well as fake negative tests, aimed at those traveling abroad.   The WHO is "aware of vaccines being diverted and reintroduced into the supply chain, with no guarantee that [the] cold chain has been maintained," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference.   WHY IT MATTERS   Spiking demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has met inconsistent availability, with scams emerging as a seemingly inevitable result.     The WHO said several ministries of health and regulatory agencies around the world had received suspicious offers to supply vaccines, along with reports of "criminal groups" reusing empty vaccine vials. "We urge the secure disposal or destruction of used and empty vaccine vials to prevent them from being reused by criminal groups," said Ghebreyesus. According to the BBC, doses of AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Sinipharm and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are being offered for prices between $500 and $750 on the dark web.   Researchers at the cybersecurity company Check Point say they've seen a tripling in vaccine advertisements since January, with some sellers offering next-day delivery.   Other forums are advertising fake negative COVID-19 tests and forged vaccination cards for $150.   The WHO on Friday also alerted the public to a falsified vaccine detected in Mexico in February, which had been administered to patients outside of authorized vaccination programs.   "Falsified COVID-19 vaccines pose a serious risk to global public health and place an additional burden on vulnerable populations and health systems. It is important to identify and remove these from circulation," said the agency in a statement.   THE LARGER TREND Experts have warned about the security risks engendered by the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, including issues with the distribution pipeline and increased phishing dangers.   Last month, Invistics founder and CEO Tom Knight told Healthcare IT News that many instances of drug diversion are never detected, with a lack of oversight contributing to ease of potential theft.   "The fragmented controls are definitely a challenge and will lead to more diversion," said Knight.   ON THE RECORD   "We urge all people not to buy vaccines outside government-run vaccination programs," said Ghebreyesus. "Any vaccine outside these programs may be substandard or falsified, with the potential to cause serious harm."   Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News. Twitter: @kjercich Email: kjercich@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.

With virtual care, the rural Texas provider organization is cutting costs and saving patients from having to take days off of work to see a doctor.

Ron Fuschillo comes to Memphis after chief information officer stints at health systems in Reno, Nevada, and Rutland, Vermont.

Dr Tim Ferris has been appointed director of transformation at NHS England and Improvement, while Sarah Wilkinson steps down as CEO of NHS Digital.  

The report focuses on fostering a data-driven, patient-focused approach to clinical research delivery.

In a recent "un-meeting," a wide variety of stakeholders collaborated to discuss potential strategies for centering the virtual care needs of vulnerable communities.

The CISO at vendor FNTS goes in-depth on where cloud technology works best, and talks cybersecurity measures to address the HIPAA Safe Harbor Law.

European leaders have agreed to push ahead with plans for an EU-wide Digital Green Certificate as “a matter of urgency”.  The certificate will provide digital proof that a person has either been vaccinated, received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19.  A statement of members of the European Council, issued after yesterday’s EU summit, says: “Legislative and technical work on COVID-19 interoperable and non-discriminatory digital certificates, based on the Commission proposal should be taken forward as a matter of urgency.” The certificate will be free of charge and made available either via a smartphone app or paper. Both versions will include a QR code containing essential information and a digital seal to make sure the certificate is accurate.   To protect users’ privacy, the certificates will only include a limited set of information that cannot be retained by visited countries. All health data will remain with the member state that issued the certificate.  Each issuing body (e.g. hospitals, test centres and health authorities) would have its own digital signature key stored in a secure database in each country.  The validity and authenticity of the certificate would be checked by verifying who issued and signed it. The digital infrastructure to facilitate authentication of the certificates is planned to be ready by Summer. WHY IT MATTERS The Digital Green Certificate is intended to facilitate free movement in the EU and prove the results of COVID-19 testing, which is often required under public health restrictions. It is not intended to be a pre-condition to free movement, which is a fundamental right in the EU. THE LARGER CONTEXT  Some EU countries including Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, have launched their own vaccine passports and France is trialling a month-long vaccine passport pilot for air travel. Estonia plans to roll out national digital vaccination certificates from April, which citizens can use both for travelling and in everyday life. The country is also working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to create a ‘smart yellow card’ global vaccine certificate. Meanwhile, mainland Europe has been hit by a third wave of COVID-19 and roll out of vaccines in EU states has been sluggish. According to latest figures from Our World in Data, 14.84 doses of vaccine have been administered per 100 people in the EU compared with 46.79 in the UK.  The European Commission has proposed a COVID-19 recovery response programme called EU4Health, which aims to invest €5.1bn to build the resilience of health systems. ON THE RECORD European Council president, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “COVID-19 gives us the opportunity to take stock of this whole idea of a Digital Green Certificate - something we can work on together and take a common stance on. We’re going to be discussing this intensively over the next few weeks. How can we have something which will help people to continue to move more freely?”  

New three-year partnership aims to raise awareness of disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, as well as provide tailored “integrated, diagnostic and therapeutic” solutions through a Sleep Disorders Management service.