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After the worst year for healthcare data breaches, where the number of reported attacks topped 700 for the fourth-straight year and a record 184 million people had their healthcare data compromised, one would be hard-pressed to find a silver lining. John Riggi, national adviser for cybersecurity and risk at the American Hospital Association, sees one. "I have never seen the healthcare sector so engaged in cybersecurity," he said, "from the [C-suite] level all the way down to operational staff." (Broderick, 1/17)

Physicians would get a 3% Medicare fee-for-service pay increase -- with primary care doctors getting a little more and other doctors getting a little less -- and hospitals would also receive a pay bump if Congress adopted two draft recommendations approved Thursday by the Medicare Payment Assessment Commission (MedPAC). (Frieden, 1/17)

Top officials at the nation’s largest health care union are spearheading an historic bid to unseat their longtime leader, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East President George Gresham, setting the stage for the organization’s first competitive election in decades. ... They are arguing that the union needs new leadership to strengthen the organization as it gears up to challenge congressional Republicans over potential Medicaid cuts, among other health and labor policy issues expected to rise to the forefront with Donald Trump back in the White House. (Kaufman, 1/20)

Medicare patients referred to a neurologist had to wait a median of 34 days before being seen, and nearly 1 in 5 patients waited more than 90 days, in 2018 and 2019, according to a study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The researchers studied a sample of Medicare patients — 163,313 people, average age 73.8 years old — who were referred to a neurologist in 2018 and 2019. The median wait time between referral and appointment was 34 days, and 18 percent of patients waited more than 90 days, the study found. (Docter-Loeb, 1/20)

Data analytics firm MultiPlan and several large insurance companies launched their first legal defense against hospitals and the American Medical Association on Thursday, arguing that an antitrust lawsuit filed by providers should be dismissed because a market for out-of-network services among payers does not exist. (Tepper, 1/17)

C.C.R.C.s, or life plan communities, provide levels of increasing care on a single campus, from independent and assisted living to nursing homes and memory care. Unlike most senior living facilities, they’re predominantly nonprofit. More than 1,900 C.C.R.C.s house about 900,000 Americans, according to LeadingAge, which represents nonprofit senior housing providers. ... But when C.C.R.C.s fail, residents and families face not only the physical and psychological ordeal of relocating, but also the possible loss of their life savings. (Span, 1/18)

With today's medical advancements and technologies, innovation in the surgical field is creating possibilities for patients that did not exist a few years ago. I utilize these new techniques to care for my patients with fewer side effects, faster recovery times, and better health outcomes. Though the demand for surgery remains, trusted surgeons -- particularly those in independent practices -- may soon be in short supply. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, our country will be short 15,800 to 30,200 surgeons by 2034. (McNally, 1/18)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Dogs Paired With Providers At Hospitals Help Ease Staff And Patient Stress

Outside HCA HealthONE Rose medical center, the snow is flying. Inside, on the third floor, there’s a flurry of activity within the labor and delivery unit. “There’s a lot of action up here. It can be very stressful at times,” said Kristina Fraser, an OB-GYN in blue scrubs. Nurses wheel a very pregnant mom past. “We’re going to bring a baby into this world safely,” Fraser said, “and off we go.” (Daley, 1/21)