Tag Archives: data

Data breaches on the rise: What you need to know

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Photo by Sai Kiran Anagani via Unsplash

Photo by Sai Kiran Anagani via Unsplash

If it seems as if you’ve been reading more about data breaches of hospitals and health care organizations lately, you’re not imagining it.

Between 2009 and 2020, 3,705 health care data breaches involving 500 or more records have been reported to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, according to an article in HIPAA Journal. Those breaches resulted in the loss, theft, exposure or impermissible disclosure of over 268 million health care records. The average number of breaches per day in 2020 was 1.76. Continue reading →

Karen Blum is AHCJ’s core topic leader on health IT. An independent journalist in the Baltimore area, she has written health IT stories for publications such as Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition.

How the pandemic turned a local reporter into an award-winning data journalist

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Photo: Petra Wessman ia Flickr

Before the pandemic, National Public Radio reporter Alex Smith conducted most of his interviews in person.

But as the pandemic limited his access to people, he turned to other sources for story ideas and research – public health data and social media.

“I turned into this data journalist, which was an eye-opening experience,” said Smith, who was the second-place winner for beat reporting in the 2020 Excellence in Health Journalism Awards. “I enjoyed it more than I expected. I got a new appreciation for data journalism.” Continue reading →

Bara Vaida (@barav) is AHCJ's core topic leader on infectious diseases. An independent journalist, she has written extensively about health policy and infectious diseases. Her work has appeared in the National Journal, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg News, McClatchy News Service, MSNBC, NPR, Politico, The Washington Post and other outlets.

Check here for comprehensive data on FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines

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It can be challenging to keep track of all details associated with the authorization, data and ongoing studies related to COVID-19 vaccines. I’ve written previously about the range of Covid-19 vaccine trackers for all vaccines in development worldwide. But those are less helpful when you need the nitty-gritty data for the vaccines already authorized in the U.S. Continue reading →

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

New data resource lists research on infection prevention from COVID-19 vaccines

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Coronavirus CG Illustration

Photo: Yuri Samoilov via Flickr

Since the COVID-19 vaccines were authorized by the FDA, one of the big questions has been how well they prevent transmission of the COVID-19 even among those who have been vaccinated. The clinical trials used disease — an infection with symptoms — as the endpoint because stopping severe disease and death was the most important priority. In addition, it’s very difficult to develop a vaccine that creates sterilizing immunity, the type of immunity that prevents infection — the virus’s ability to enter cells and begin replicating. Continue reading →

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

New York AG finds COVID-19 nursing home deaths vastly underreported

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Photo: Zeev Barkan via Flickr

Deaths among nursing home residents in New York state have been underreported by as much as 50%, according to a new report from New York State Attorney General Letitia James. James has been investigating nursing homes’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic since March following allegations of patient neglect and other concerning conduct that may have jeopardized the health and safety of residents and facility employees throughout the state.

Among the report’s findings: many more nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than was reflected in data published by the New York State Department of Health (DOH). Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.