Data breaches are becoming an all too common occurrence in today's society. That could be quite an understatement for the healthcare industry, according to one report. An Internet Security Threat Report conducted by Symantec found that 39 percent of all data breaches in 2015 were within the healthcare industry.

Ransomware is becoming more common and the healthcare industry has recently been a favorite target of hackers. With five ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations in the last month, healthcare organizations need to pay more attention to combatting ransomware.

We’d like to apologize for an advertisement that ran in the print April issue of Glaucoma Today. This advertisement erroneously claimed that we were rated the #1 EMR for Glaucoma Specialists by Black Book in 2016. As clarification, Black Book does not have a category for Glaucoma Specialists and the 2016 Ambulatory EMR rankings have not yet been announced. What this advertisement should have stated is that Nextech was rated the #1 Ophthalmology Vendor in Black Book’s 2015 Ophthalmology Survey.

This has been a crazy month for ransomware attacks and, unfortunately, the vast majority of them have been focused on healthcare facilities and providers. In fact, no less than five healthcare organizations have been hit in just the last 30 days (and those are just the ones we know about because they were actually reported). On March 30, King’s Daughters Health in Madison, Ind. had to shut down their EMR after finding a user file infected with a well-known form of ransomware dubbed “Locky.” Then, on April 4, operations at MedStar Health were brought to a screeching halt by a ransomware attack that locked their EMR and demanded a payment of roughly $19,000 worth of Bitcoin to release the data. MedStar chose not to pay the ransom, instead taking the time to restore their system via backups. However, I would bet dollars to donuts that doing so ended up costing them far more than $19,000 when all was said and done.

CMS reimbursement cuts to ophthalmology have some industry experts predicting big changes to practice patterns, from fewer residents entering the specialty to fewer surgeons entering the operating room. To survive, specialists are going to need a game plan for increasing revenue.

In a study conducted by REACH Health, nearly 400 healthcare executives, physicians, nurses and other professionals gave their feedback regarding the impact of telemedicine in their own practices. The REACH Health 2016 U.S. Telemedicine Industry Benchmark Survey found that 62 percent of practices currently utilizing telemedicine believed it was highly successful in improving patient convenience. An additional 36 percent regarded it as "moderately successful."

The Physician Quality Reporting System is gaining momentum as we move forward into 2016. With new acronyms (MIPS, MACRA, PQRS, MU, VBM, etc.) making an appearance on what feels like a monthly basis, it’s important to know where the program is headed and what your game plan will be for avoiding penalties.

Advancements in healthcare technology have fostered an environment more encouraging for greater patient engagement between patients and providers.