CMS has begun sending out new cards for Medicare beneficiaries that don’t include information about the patient’s Social Security number. Most beneficiaries, however, don’t know about the new cards, leaving them vulnerable to scams.

Phoenix’s Banner Health has agreed to pay more than $18 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it overcharged Medicare by admitting patients at hospitals for brief, inpatient services when they could’ve been treated in less expensive outpatient settings.

A machine learning, real-time hand hygiene notification system improved participant adherence to 100 percent, according to a study published April 9 in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

The underlying causes haven’t changed behind the shortage of doctors in the United States: The population aged 65 and over is expected to grow by 50 percent by 2030, increasing demand for healthcare services. The physician population is also aging, with 13.5 percent of the active workforce already aged 65 and over and another 27.2 percent between the ages of 55 and 64.

Accessing personal health records (PHRs) through mobile health apps could improve patient monitoring for chronic diseases, but utilization of mobile PHRs (mPHRs) remains low. Findings were published April 9 in JMIR Health and uHealth.

Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report mirrored what was released last month in its report on breaches involving protected health information (PHI) in prior years. Whereas all other industries profiled—including education, financial and retail—saw the majority of their breaches come from external forces, most of the healthcare industry’s threats came from inside.

The U.S. Coast Guard has announced it will join the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) $4.3 billion rollout of a Cerner electronic health record (EHR) system, giving the health IT giant yet another major customer within the federal government.

The Hashmi Group’s unusual business model of turning away commercial insurance and managed care contractors while accepting only Medicare and Medicaid at rural hospitals has worked, according to its owners. But it has also attracted the attention of state inspectors thanks to very high out-of-network rates, expired licenses for staff and missing infection protocols.