Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nearly 4 Million People Had Data Exposed In July Health Industry Hacks
About 3.9 million patients had data compromised in healthcare data breaches reported to the federal government last month, nearly half of which were attributed to a cyberattack at one payment vendor. An estimated 1.9 million patients had data exposed in a ransomware attack at Professional Finance Company, according to a report the accounts receivable management company submitted to the Health and Human Services Department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights in July. (Kim Cohen, 8/10)
The Justice Department held out a 2021 internal audit of UnitedHealth Group Inc.鈥檚 data practices as evidence that the health-care giant鈥檚 proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare Inc. should be blocked. (Nylen and Tozzi, 8/10)
In other health industry news 鈥
CVS Health Corp. was the mystery bidder that tried to buy primary-care company One Medical before Amazon.com Inc. swooped in to acquire it for $3.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. One Medical was put into play by a company identified in a regulatory filing Wednesday as 鈥淧arty A.鈥 (Davis, 8/10)
Approximately 800 agents and support workers lost their jobs, the company said. GoHealth employed roughly 4,000 people as of June 6, according to a news release. The layoffs come as digital health funding shrinks from the highs of 2021, leading to job cuts at once-celebrated tech startups,聽and as GoHealth faces increased competition.聽(Tepper, 8/10)
Bright Health Group must raise outside capital to sustain its business, executives said Wednesday. The health insurer's聽board of directors formed a special committee to solicit proposals from prospective investors and has received significant interest from new and existing backers, according to company聽leaders. Bright Health Group plans to raise an undisclosed sum in the near-to-intermediate-term, CEO Mike Mikan said during the company鈥檚 second-quarter earnings call.聽(Tepper, 8/10)
There will be 14 students from Historically Black College and University medical schools working for the first time on the staffs of NFL clubs this season. The students are coming from the four HBCU medical schools in the country and will be working with eight different teams. The teams include Atlanta, Cincinnati, the Los Angeles Rams, LA Chargers, New York Giants, San Francisco, Tennessee and Washington. (8/10)
