The ideas and innovators shaping health care
| | | | |  | | By Daniel Payne, Ruth Reader and Erin Schumaker | | | | | 
ERs were less busy in California after hackers hit them, a study found. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images | Hospitals take fewer patients after a cyberattack, according to a new analysis in JAMA that illuminates how digital threats can strain health systems and potentially reduce access to care. How so? After experiencing a cyberattack, ER and inpatient visits dropped by nearly 8 percent in the first week and more than 16 percent in the second week, relative to levels before the attack. The decline in patients, on average, was sustained for up to eight weeks, according to the analysis, which reviewed data from California hospitals from 2014 to 2020. Researchers identified eight ransomware attacks that affected 15 hospitals during that time. The attacks had an impact on other health systems, which saw an increase in patient volume in the same period affected hospitals saw a decrease in patient visits. Why it matters: Cyberattacks have become a growing concern for health system leaders and policymakers because of the threat they pose to patient care. The analysis from researchers at the William Paterson University Cotsakos College of Business in New Jersey and RAND, a think tank, suggests that cyberattacks have the power to shift where patients get care and substantially increase the load on nearby hospitals. That could have implications for patient outcomes, especially at times when hospitals are already stretched.
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Washington, D.C. | Shawn Zeller | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Yoga and meditation can lead to altered states of consciousness including ecstatic thrills, vivid perceptions and out-of-body experiences, a Harvard psychiatry professor found. For most, those effects were positive, but a small subset reported “substantial suffering.” Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.
| | |  Tedros still wants an agreement on how to handle the next pandemic. | Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP | Diplomats at this week’s World Health Assembly in Geneva will decide whether it’s worth dedicating more time to reaching an agreement on how nations should respond to the next pandemic. How’s that? The World Health Assembly is the annual gathering of members of the World Health Organization, at which the diplomats set WHO policy. The WHO, an arm of the United Nations, has hosted an effort for two years to get nations to commit to certain actions in the event of another pandemic. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged the diplomats to keep trying to reach an agreement in his opening remarks. The U.S. position: It’s against setting a deadline in the near future, warning that could amount to a “mandate for failure,” reports our Rory O’Neill. U.S. Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto suggested negotiations resume over “one to two years.” According to the U.S., another missed deadline would “threaten to damage the reputation of the WHO.” The stakes: Wealthy nations want developing countries to share information about pathogens spreading in their populations. Developing nations want vaccines and drugs in return for their help. As yet, they’ve failed to reach a deal.
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Ryan wants to extend a popular Obamacare provision to servicemembers. | Hans Pennink/AP | One of Obamacare’s most popular provisions allows adult children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26. But that provision doesn’t apply to the children of servicemembers and military retirees on the military’s TRICARE health benefits program. Their kids are kicked off at age 21, or 23 if enrolled in college. A bipartisan duo in the House, Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), want to change that, our David Cohen reports. How so? Waltz and Ryan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” last weekend that they plan to introduce legislation to expand the rule to TRICARE, which covers 9.6 million servicemembers, military retirees and their families. Waltz and Ryan said they are rallying support among fellow veterans in Congress to get it done. Waltz is a former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan. Ryan, a former Army intelligence officer, served two tours in Iraq. “It’s hundreds of thousands of military servicemembers and their families right now in this country that don’t have the same health care coverage as other Americans,” Ryan said. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
