News Briefs
Telehealth Groups Ask DEA for Remote Controlled Substances Plan
More than 200 telehealth and provider organizations are asking the Trump administration to hammer out regulation governing telehealth prescriptions of controlled substances before pandemic-era flexibilities expire at the end of the year. In a letter sent to Terry Cole, the newly confirmed administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the groups urged the administration to ensure a plan is in place by fall so patients can continue to receive remote prescriptions of controlled substances.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2025-07-24)
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States Passing Legislation to Regulate Collection of Neural Data
More states are passing laws to protect information generated by a person’s brain and nervous system as technology improves the ability to unlock the sensitive details of a person’s health, mental states, emotions, and cognitive functioning. Colorado, California, and Montana are among the states that have recently required safeguarding brain data collected by devices outside of medical settings.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2025-07-23)
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Bills Would Ban Prescription Drug Ads, Address Surprise Billing
Prescription drug advertising and patient financial protection are the heart of two bills that have the support of physicians in Congress. The End Prescription Drug Ads Now Act would impose a nationwide ban on prescription drug advertising in all forms, while other legislation, the No Surprises Enforcement Act, would toughen federal actions to ensure patients do not face unexpected medical bills, as outlined in the 2020 No Surprises Act.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2025-07-25)
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Health Sector Lagging in Risk Management Cybersecurity Efforts
Risk management, maintenance security controls, and supply chain risk management remain weak points in healthcare cybersecurity, even as the sector continues to make progress in other key areas, Fortified Health Security observed in its mid-year report. The cybersecurity company analyzed rolling National Institute of Standards and Technology cybersecurity framework data from 2023 to present, revealing areas of progress as well as critical gaps.
(Source: TechTarget, 2025-07-23)
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Physicians, Nurses Considering Leaving Jobs Over Safety Concerns
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. healthcare workers worry about safety in the workplace, and those concerns are causing some to consider leaving their positions, according to a survey of more than 1,000 healthcare workers by security technology company Verkada and The Harris Poll. The workers reported widespread exposure to aggressive incidents; 79 percent experienced or witnessed aggressive behavior or threats from patients and 61 percent from non-patients.
(Source: Security Management, 2025-07-23)
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Healthcare Sector Awaits Impact of Trump's AI Plan
The Trump administration released an "action plan" on artificial intelligence, part of a push to spur implementation of the emerging technology in the U.S. The plan rarely mentions healthcare, but it serves as one of the administration's first moves to set federal policies for AI development -- which experts say is important to safely roll out the technology in the sector.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2025-07-25)
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As AI Scribes Gain Favor, HIPAA Compliance Questioned
Healthcare executives who are letting their doctors use AI scribes to capture and code patient encounters need to be careful they aren't exposing or misusing protected health information. Ambient AI technology, described as the "digital sidekick of modern healthcare," is quickly gaining favor among health systems, hospitals, and payers looking to reduce the administrative burden on providers and accurately capture the doctor-patient visit. But those tools, which can easily be downloaded onto a smartphone, could be running afoul of HIPAA.
(Source: HealthLeaders Media, 2025-07-23)
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39.3 Percent of Physicians Use AI Tools Daily, Poll Finds
A growing share of primary care physicians are incorporating artificial intelligence into their daily routines, but not without caution, according to a new survey from Elation Health. Elation's "AI in Primary Care" survey polled 291 independent clinicians and determined that 39.3 percent now use AI-powered tools daily, primarily for clinical documentation, but while enthusiasm is building, the report makes clear that adoption is driven, first-and-foremost, by trust.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2025-07-24)
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Pharmaceutical Companies Ahead in AI Adoption, Report Finds
Despite the growing hype around AI in healthcare, a new industry survey suggests a widening adoption gap between sectors. Pharmaceutical companies appear to be pulling ahead, not only in strategic prioritization of AI, but also in building governance structures.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2025-07-25)
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CrowdStrike Outage Impacted 759 Hospitals' Digital Services
Last year's sweeping CrowdStrike outage interrupted at least 759 U.S. hospitals' digital services to some extent, with more than a fifth of observed outages involving patient-facing services, according to a recent JAMA Network Open study. The research outlines a method to quantify mass downtime events among healthcare delivery organizations by probing the open, public-facing network ports of their internet-connected systems and their Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources endpoints at regular intervals.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2025-07-22)
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