September 19, 2024Ravi LakshmananHealthcare/Malware Microsoft has revealed that financially motivated threat actors have been observed targeting the US healthcare sector for the first time using ransomware dubbed INC. The tech giant’s threat intelligence team is tracking the campaign under the name Vanilla Tempest, formerly known as DEV-0832. “Vanilla Tempest takes handoff from a GootLoader infection by threat actor Storm-0494, and subsequently deploys tools such as the Supper backdoor, the legitimate AnyDesk remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool, and the MEGA data sync tool,” said a series of posts shared on X. In the next step, the attackers perform lateral movement…
Author: admin
The healthcare industry faces major challenges with outdated payment and billing systems that undermine financial stability and patient satisfaction. Despite the potential benefits of digital payments, legacy practices and obstacles have slowed the adoption of these innovations in the healthcare industry. The report, “Pain and Gain: Overcoming Healthcare Payment Challenges,” produced by PYMNTS Intelligence in collaboration with American Express, highlights how the industry must address these inefficiencies and integrate digital solutions into the payment process. Outdated payment systems cause economic damage Inefficiencies in the healthcare payment system are a concern and place a significant burden on organizations. More than half…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released its 2024 health insurance plan ratings and found that of the 1,019 plans evaluated, only five received the highest rating of five stars.The annual list evaluates private, Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans based on patient experience and clinical quality ratings. The 2024 health insurance plan ratings are based on data from the 2023 calendar year, when approximately 227 million people were enrolled in health insurance plans that reported Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) results to NCQA.Of the plans that received five stars, three were private plans and two were…
Georgia State Police troopers, who saved his life, escorted him home. AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bennett Dornelas had his guardian angels with him when he left the burn center at Augusta Doctors Hospital this week. Georgia State Police troopers, who saved his life, escorted him home. Bennett has been in the hospital’s intensive care unit since May, when his father allegedly kidnapped him, poured gasoline on him and set his car on fire, leaving the 3-year-old with severe burns. RELATED: South Carolina father suspected of kidnapping 3-year-old son, leading authorities to track him to Georgia, then setting the car on fire…
Gerardo Santillan, along with seven others, was charged with defrauding the state health care system. LOS ANGELES – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced that a grand jury has indicted Southern California health care provider Gerardo Santillan and seven others for defrauding the state’s Medicare program of approximately $60 million between 2016 and 2022 through their operation of three home health care agencies. Following a grand jury hearing, Gerardo Santillan, Ruth Elizabeth Ely, Marisol Rodriguez, Christopher Gonzalez, Vivian Cono, Maria Consorcia Pagtacan Lim, Vivian Bonotan Pagtacan, and Vartan Akopian were indicted on 23 felony counts, including insurance fraud conspiracy,…
Throughout my life, I have seen, valued and proudly fought for what makes Nevada a great place to live, and as a state legislator, I have come to understand how intertwined many aspects of life in my 22nd District and across the state are. Nevada’s healthcare industry and biopharmaceutical footprint is one of the most prominent examples. I have a personal and professional drive to improve healthcare for all of our state’s residents, and I know my colleagues share that drive. But we must be careful about making major changes that will seriously harm other aspects of our community. According…
InnovationRx is a weekly digest of healthcare news delivered to your inbox. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Getty Images Healthcare AI startups developing products for hospital systems have raised $23.2 billion over the past decade, according to a recent analysis by Flare Capital Partners. The largest amount of funding, $11.5 billion, went to 324 companies working on solutions that will impact clinical care. The flow of venture capital money, the speed of technological advancements, and the resources of major tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple raise the question of who will actually drive the…
The state of Iowa has suspended a $47,500 fine it imposed on a southwestern Iowa nursing home for understaffing and physical and verbal abuse of residents. Garden View Care Center in Shenandoah is short-staffed, but the facility’s director of nursing recently reported that management is pressuring her to make further cuts due to budget constraints, according to state inspectors, adding that she feels doing so is “unrealistic and dangerous.” In recent years, Garden View has been run by an out-of-state real estate investment trust aimed at offering investors returns tied to the profits generated by dozens of nursing homes in…
Controversial nursing home mogul Ben Landa is in the news again, this time for selling a Far Rockaway facility for a big profit.According to Commercial Observer, the chief executive of Sentosa Care has sold the 183-bed facility at 22-41 New Haven Avenue in Queens for $47.3 million, a deal that equates to more than $258,000 per bed.The nursing home’s buyer was a limited liability company with ties to nursing home operators Robert and Norman Rausman, who are partners in other facilities including the Northern Manhattan Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in East Harlem and Manhattanville Healthcare Center in the Bronx.Jeffrey Begg…
Kathleen Holt(Download Image) (Hartford, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced the appointment of Kathleen Unger Holt of Mansfield as Health Care Advocate for the State of Connecticut. Holt most recently served as Associate Director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a national nonprofit legal organization focused on Connecticut, working to advance comprehensive Medicare coverage, health equity, and access to quality health care for seniors and people with disabilities. In this role, which she has held since 2014, she led the organization’s advocacy and outreach efforts in Connecticut and across the nation, worked with lawmakers on developing Medicare-related health care…