The Trump administration had demanded that PatientsLikeMe—an online service that helps patients find other people who share their health conditions—find a buyer due to growing trade tensions with China, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Mississippi.
- Massachusetts: Community Healthlink, the behavioral health service at UMass Memorial Health Care, has warned 4,598 patients that their data may have been affected by a data breach that occurred April 18. Community Healthlink said the hacker was able to access patients' names, birthdates, ID numbers, treatment information, insurance information, and Social Security numbers. The organization is currently offering affected patients free credit monitoring (Garrity, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/21).
- Minnesota: UnitedHealth Group has purchased PatientsLikeMe, an online service that helps patients find other people with the same health conditions as theirs. The sale comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States raised concerns about the fact that the company's majority owner was based in China, prompting the Trump administration to demand the company find a buyer. The United States has grown increasingly wary of Chinese investments in U.S. tech start-ups due to growing trade tensions between the two countries. (Daily Briefing is published by Advisory Board, a division of Optum, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group) (Farr/Levy, CNBC, 6/24).
- Mississippi: Paula Autry will serve as the new president and CEO of Henry Ford Allegiance Health effective July 15. Autry previously served as CEO of Lutheran Hospital in Indiana. She will succeed Georgia Fojtasek, who is retiring (Vaidya, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/21).