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By 2020, a staggering 26 billion IoT-enabled devices will be installed worldwide..When the Federal Bureau of Investigation issues an alert to healthcare organizations and others warning of the serious cyber risks the Internet of Things presents, it's probably best to pay attention…And they're not necessarily all the devices you might think of. They also include things such as HVAC remotes, Wi-Fi camera, insulin dispensers, thermostats and any type of wearable and other medical devices. These devices,...are notorious for having serious security deficiencies… healthcare industry is not as resilient to cyber intrusions compared to the financial and retail sectors, therefore the possibility of increased cyber intrusions is likely,…

Former employee emailed the records of 2,582 patients to a personal account without authorization… included name, date of birth, insurance identification number, date of service and billing code. In two cases a driver's licenses number was accessed and in one case the patient's Social Security number was included…no financial information was leaked… the event occurred in April 2013, and was recently discovered through a review of the former employee's email and computer use…As for 2015, this is third breach for Sutter.

An Obamacare program that aims to improve…health care may have an unintended side effect: penalizing hospitals that serve the sickest and poorest patients….penalizes hospitals that have high readmission rates, where patients come back within 30 days. The aim of that program was to encourage doctors to do the best job possible on the first hospital visit, improving patients' experience and saving money by preventing a second trip. Hospitals that have high readmission rates tend to see patients who are less educated, more disabled, and more likely to suffer from depression — factors the Obamacare program doesn't account for.

Today, I (Adam J. Fein) identify new insights about payments in the 2024 drug market. As the charts below show:

• CMS expects the employer-sponsored insurance market to be slightly more resilient than it had previously projected.
• By 2018, however, Medicare, Medicaid, and other public programs will pay more than employers for drugs.
• CMS still projects that individually-purchased private insurance (via exchanges) will account for a small share of drug spending.

VoicePort International…announced that its suite of adherence solutions, PharmaPhonetics would be launching in Costco Canada pharmacies…. is a service that focuses on automated prescription pickup notifications to ensure patients pick up their medicine and take it in a timely manner… medication synchronization services, patient counseling, written translation and instruction services..

The discount drug program intended for safety-net hospitals and special AIDS clinics has mushroomed even more than earlier reports have suggested, with oncology drugs fueling much of the growth,…Medicare Part B hospital outpatient spending shows that 340B institutions accounted for 58% of all spending on drug payments in 2013, with oncology drugs making up 40% of the Medicare fee-for-service costs. Cancer drugs have become "the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," for 340B hospitals,… it’s too easy for hospitals to qualify for the program, and hospitals have powerful financial incentives to buy up oncology practices, so these financial strategies can proliferative at sites beyond the hospital walls.

Bruce A. Berger, PhD, president of Berger Consulting LLC, discusses how motivational interviewing plays into value-based care. (video)

New report details lax management of contractors, missed deadlines, process in disarray… contracts awarded for the development, implementation and operation of HealthCare.gov, the HHS Office of the Inspector General found the supervision of contractors on the job to be sorely lacking…The report…offers details of the lackaidaisical contract oversight – and often the lack of supervision altogether.

• Contractor delays and performance issues were not always identified,
• A contractor incurred unauthorized costs that increased the cost of the contract
• Contracting officers in all government agencies did not have access to contractor past-performance evaluations when making contract awards
• Critical deliverables and management decisions were not properly documented

Doug Long, vice president of industry relations at IMS Health, talks about the most significant market trend in the pharmaceutical industry so far in 2015. (video)

Employers with onsite pharmacies are seeing a return on investment in the form of increased medication adherence among their health plan members…Onsite pharmacies provide employees with a convenient option for filling discounted prescriptions that is integrated with other employer-sponsored wellness programs. These onsite initiatives aim to contain employers’ health care expenditures while supporting healthy lifestyles and increasing productivity across health plan members.