Today’s Top Story
Criminal attacks are now the leading cause of data breaches in health care.
A survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute and ID Experts Corp. finds that cyber attacks on healthcare organizations rose a staggering 125 percent over the last 5 years. The survey finds that criminal attacks are now the leading cause of healthcare data breaches, and more than 90 percent of healthcare entities reported a data breach in the past 2 years, along with 60 percent of claims processors and third-party billers. However, the survey notes that employee negligence is still named as the top security concern, with 70 percent of respondents citing it as a top issue, followed by hackers, cited by 40 percent of respondents. Read more…

Other News

Study: Increased calcium intake linked to reduced risk of fracture.
According to an Australian study published online in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, increased dietary calcium intake may be associated with reduced risk of fracture and all-cause mortality. The research team drew data on 41,514 participants from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. Over a mean 12-year follow-up, they found that patients in the highest quartile of dietary calcium intake were at reduced risk for fracture, non-fatal cardiovascular disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality, compared to those in the lowest quartile. Read the abstract…

Transitioning to a new EHR may look good on paper, but not achieve desired results.
Study data presented at the annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society attempt to quantify what factors may be associated with the decision to switch electronic health records (EHR) systems, and what happens after that transition. The researchers surveyed nearly 17,000 active users of EHRs, and found that about 23 percent of physician practices are frustrated enough to consider switching vendors. Reasons given for transitioning to a new system included:

  • Additional functionality
  • Meaningful use
  • Improved usability
  • Better support and training
  • Consolidation of multiple systems

After changing systems, only 28 percent of respondents stated that the new system had improved productivity, while 49 percent said that productivity had not improved. Read more…
View the presentation (PDF)…

Study: Radiographically determined lunate depth may serve as guide for screws during volar plate fixation of DRF.
Findings published in the May issue of The Journal of Hand Surgery suggest that depth of the lunate as measured via radiograph can be used as a marker for drilling and placement of safe screw lengths during volar plate fixation of distal radius fracture (DRF). The authors reviewed plain radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the wrists of 30 patients. They found that the mean depth of the lunate as measured on plain radiographs and MRI was 17.5 mm and 17.4 mm, respectively. The authors recommend that surgeons use the lunate depth as an estimate for the length of their longest screw when fixing DRFs with volar plate techniques to avoid extensor tendon irritation and rupture. Read more…

Will P4P prove to be too complicated a goal?
A perspective piece published in Bloomberg looks at potential complications in the Medicare transition from fee-for-service payment to a pay-for-performance (P4P) system. Medicare is set to adopt a P4P system starting in 2019. However, the writer notes that rating care is a complex issue that may prove difficult to quantify. “The problem is no one’s agreed on standards for measuring quality or efficiency of patient care,” he writes. “The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality lists 2,167 metrics promoted by more than 100 organizations, including how many people hospitalized for heart attacks get aspirin within 24 hours and how many overweight patients get nutrition counseling.” Read more…

California.
The California Medical Association reports that an appeals court has reinstated a $5.7 million jury verdict plus attorneys fees to a physician who claimed that the chief executive officer (CEO) of the hospital system at which he was employed had engaged in a illegal campaign to discredit him. In 2005, the hospital sued the physician for defamation after he raised concerns about a then-recent merger and the effect it might have on patient care. An appellate court held that the lawsuit violated the physician’s protected speech activity under California’s Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation statute and ordered the hospital to pay the physician’s attorneys fees. Two weeks after the appellate court decision, the physician was arrested for possession of drugs. It was later determined that the chief executive officer of the hospital system had laundered system funds to hire a third party to plant the drugs and a gun on the physician in an effort to discredit him. Read more…

Submit your AAOS 2016 Annual Meeting abstracts now!
Share your knowledge with orthopaedic surgeons from around the world at the 2016 AAOS Annual Meeting, to be held March 1-5, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. Nowhere else will your discoveries reach such a wide-ranging orthopaedic audience! June 1 is the deadline to submit abstracts for paper presentations, poster presentations, and scientific exhibits. The deadline for Orthopaedic Video Theater submissions is July 15. Please note that, prior to abstract submission, presenters and all co-authors must disclose current financial relationships in the AAOS Disclosure Database Program. Submit your abstract…

Call for volunteers: AHRQ National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality.
AAOS seeks to nominate members to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality. The council advises the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the director of AHRQ on improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care. Applicants for this position must be active fellows, candidate members, candidate members osteopathic, candidate member applicants for fellowship, or candidate member applicants for fellowship osteopathic. In addition, all applicants must provide the following: an online AAOS CAP application, a current curriculum vitae, a 100-word biosketch, and a letter of interest highlighting his or her expertise in the subject area and a statement that he or she is able to participate in full capacity. All supporting materials must be submitted to Kyle Shah by Sunday, June 21, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. CT, at shah@aaos.org.
Learn more and submit your application…(member login required)