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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has developed a five-pronged plan geared toward reducing data breaches and ensuring accountability among healthcare organizations. The strategy, which will expand on policies CMS Principal Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum shared Sept. 12 at Modern Healthcare's Leadership Symposium, will be introduced and implemented in the coming months, according to federal agency leaders. (Perna, 9/20)

In March 2023, a Pennsylvania woman received a phone call from a health-care executive that left her in disbelief: Hackers had obtained photos of her naked body while she underwent radiation treatments and posted them to a dark corner of the internet. Lehigh Valley Health Network refused to pay a ransom “in excess” of $5 million to recover the photos and other stolen patient information, but it couldn’t sidestep financial damages from the breach. The unidentified woman, who is in her 50s and known as Jane Doe, became the lead plaintiff in a class action suing Lehigh for failing to safeguard highly sensitive patient information, including nude photos of hundreds of cancer patients. On Sept. 12, a law firm announced that Lehigh had agreed to pay $65 million to settle the case. (Gilbert, 9/22)

The best that physicians can hope for to repair the latest proposed cuts to the Medicare fee schedule is a short-term fix, said members of the House Republican Doctors Caucus Friday as they fumed that their private sector colleagues have been left out in the cold by the federal government. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in July proposed a 2.9% cut in the 2025 physician fee schedule, which was widely decried by physician groups. (McAuliff, 9/20)

Private equity firms are struggling to find buyers for physician groups in the wake of increased oversight and financial pressure. Rising interest rates, lower evaluations and tougher regulations have scuttled potential private equity-led physician group deals. Healthcare attorneys say a softening sellers’ market has irked doctors, many of whom were promised a pay boost once private equity-backed management services organizations flipped a physician practice to another buyer. (Kacik, 9/20)

Early one morning in February 2023, before the sun rose over Phoenix, Ravi Coutinho went on a walk and, for a brief moment, thought about hurling his body in front of a moving bus. He had been feeling increasingly alone and depressed; anxious and unlovable; no longer sure if he was built for this world. Several hours later, Ravi swiped open his iPhone and dialed the toll-free number on the back of his Ambetter insurance card. (Blau, 9/22)