Two heavy hitters slug it out over MU’s role in breaches

Meaningful Use may not have launched the hacker express into healthcare, but it surely seems to have greased the rails.

That’s a paraphrase of a May 13 tweet from Brookings fellow Niam Yaraghi, PhD, who took to social media to drive traffic to his new report examining privacy breaches and suggesting ways to prevent them.

The tweet caught the eye of Farzad Mostashari, MD, former national coordinator of health IT for the Department of Health & Human Services, who questioned the point of putting Meaningful Use under the microscope when all it’s done is succeed at expanding EHR adoption.

And the online dustup was on.

Meaningful Use “was like giving a teenager a Ferrari as his first car,” Yaraghi tweeted. “[W]ithout enough experience crash will happen.”

That’s “not supported by evidence,” Mostashari responded. “[The] hacked hospitals are not just the most inexperienced. Move beyond scapegoating.”

Click here to follow the rest of the colorful exchange. 

Dave Pearson

Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.

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