I’m gonna keep this short. I have to make oxygen choices. That’s what Ben Stiller’s character says in a movie when a dating app customer representative calls him while he is hiking up the Afghan Himalayas. Maybe you thought that was a quote from Sir Andrew Witty when he testified before Congress about the Change Healthcare cyberattack this week. True, he didn’t say much, but aside from that, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group does not have too much in common with the lead character in the Ben Stiller movie I was referring to: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The 2013 adventure comedy-drama is based on the famous short story about a daydreamer who imagines fantastic adventures while actually leading a dull life. As far as I know, that’s not Sir Andrew Witty’s story. In the One Thoughtful Paragraph, I explain how daydreaming is either what the federal government is doing about cybersecurity defense, or that it would be an improvement.
If you are daydreaming about the news this week, you’ve got to get better dreams:
- The FTC updated an old rule regarding data breach reporting requirements—the Health Breach Notification Rule—which requires companies in possession of personal health information to notify relevant parties when data is breached and clarifies the inclusion of health apps in the application of the law.
- State governments continue to act in the face of federal government inaction on health information-related issues. This week: Utah’s AI Act – the first state-based AI policy that requires regulated professionals (e.g., physicians) to disclose the use of AI in advance – officially went into effect on May 1, 2024. Two weeks ago: Nebraska joined several other states (CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, IA, IN, MD, NH, NJ, KY, OR, TX, and VA) to enact comprehensive data privacy legislation.
- Both UnitedHealth Group and Walmart are shutting down their telehealth business lines. No word from Amazon since it expanded its telehealth services to all 50 states and made it part of its Prime subscription, but STAT is reporting that Congress is unlikely to extend telehealth flexibilities that were popular during the pandemic.
Shirley MacLaine, Kristin Wiig, and Sean Penn are some of the amazing actors who join Ben Stiller in the funny and poignant film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In one scene, Sean Penn, who plays a celebrated photographer, is trying to photograph the elusive snow leopard. They call it a “ghost cat” because it never lets itself be seen. Kind of like the “Blackcat” organization that is behind the cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare. You would think that a major healthcare entity being attacked by a criminal ghost cat would elicit a sympathetic reaction and serious assistance – particularly because of the resulting devastating consequences for the healthcare system. Indeed, an American Medical Association survey conducted between April 19 and April 24 found that 85% of physicians are still facing unpaid claims because of the cyberattack. Instead, Sir Walter Mitty was attacked for failing to have all of the security in place that may have prevented the attack. No one is going to feel too sorry for the world’s largest health insurance / health everything company that boasts nearly $400B in revenue. Still, the plan to require new cybersecurity standards for hospitals and other health care organizations is fine, but puts the emphasis on the wrong syl-LA-ble. As the American Hospital Association said in December 2023 when HHS first put out a cybersecurity concept paper: “[We] cannot support proposals for mandatory cybersecurity requirements being levied on hospitals as if they were at fault for the success of hackers in perpetrating a crime.” Right. Levying fines on healthcare organizations makes about as much as sense as the helicopter pilot getting drunk to calm down before flying Walter Mitty to his next adventure. Walter says: So you’re just going to finish your beer and then fly a machine? And the pilot says: Yeah, I’m kind of nervous about the storm.
Do you need to know about the impact of the 2024 Elections on Health Policy? Join the Maverick team for a webinar hosted by Medecision on May 9. You can register here:
https://medecision.zoom.us/webinar/register/8217135362475/WN_HRqE013oQe6opzuCYjP18A#/registration
