Medicine in Motion: Dr. Brown's 20-Year Journey, FTC's Noncompete Shake-Up, and the AI-Data Breach Conundrum
Earlier this month, our founder, Dr. N. Adam Brown, celebrated a major milestone: 20 years of being a doctor. From a locums frontline emergency room doctor to healthcare executive to entrepreneur, business owner, and business school professor, his journey has had some amazing twists and turns, and he has shared his reflection and advice with new graduates in a MedPage Today column.
Our favorite piece of wisdom: understand the business of healthcare. “A significant gap in medical education is the lack of emphasis on the business aspects of healthcare,” write Brown. “As physicians, we enter a complex industry (nearly 20% of U.S. GDP) filled with stakeholders, regulations, and financial flows that many of us are unprepared to navigate. Make sure the continuing education you pursue prepares you for these realities.”
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Fight, and the debate, over the FTC’s noncompete ban heats up
Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) and 230 national associations and state and local chambers sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting it stay the effective date of its new regulation banning most noncompete agreements. The USCC and other groups also are suing to overturn the ban.
Meanwhile, the Washington, D.C. based newspaper The Hill recently explored how the ban will affect the healthcare industry. Lynn Rapsilber, co-founder and CEO of the National Nurse Practitioner Entrepreneur Network, a nonprofit that helps nurse practitioners start their own businesses, said the ban is a win for patients. “For the consumer, this is great news because there’s going to be more opportunities for choice in their health care provider if there’s more opportunity for people to open up their own practices and to be able to serve the community,” she told The Hill. “That’s going to enhance competition, which will actually in the long run lower prices and increase quality.”
Our BIG Thought: With nearly 80 percent of physicians employed by large corporate entities, will FTC's decision will restore autonomy to physicians. Check out Dr. Brown’s interview with FOX 5 DC for more, and check out his LinkedIn post too.
Nurses speak out against AI
As reported by MedPage Today, a recent survey of more than 2,300 nurses by National Nurses United (NNU) found three out of five nurses said they do not trust their employer to place patient safety as the most important factor when using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
“Nurses are not against technology,” said Deborah Burger, RN, president of the NNU. “However, we are opposed to this Wild West of unregulated and unchecked gadgetry parading as a panacea for all that ails healthcare. We want the public to hit the pause button on [the] current reckless push by 'Big Tech' and healthcare companies to force AI technologies onto our patients, us, and healthcare workers without our knowledge or consent. We will not allow our patients to be the guinea pigs.”
Our BIG Thought: As Dr. Brown has written multiple times before, to unleash the promise of AI in healthcare, trust, and regulation, must come first.
Change Healthcare just the tip of data breach iceberg
Lots of new data breach news. As KNEB Radio reported, over the Memorial Day weekend, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office issue a Consumer Alert regarding a data breach involving Change Healthcare that warned consumers to take action to prevent potential identity theft. Change Healthcare has not yet notified Nebraska consumers about the data breach. The AG’s office said it “is concerned that a delay in notifying consumers will impact consumers’ ability to be proactive and protect themselves from further harm.”
That is not all: last week, U.S. drug wholesaler Cencora Inc. notified individuals who had had personal and highly sensitive medical information stolen during a cyberattack earlier this year.
According to Health IT Security, more than 540 organizations reported healthcare data breaches in 2023, impacting more than 112 million individuals.
What can be done?
Our BIG Thought: Patients and livelihoods are at risk. As we embrace the immense promise of technology in healthcare, we must also prioritize the protection of the very individuals we aim to serve, and we must have strong regulatory protections, as well as penalties, for breaches. Check out Dr. Brown’s thoughts on how policymakers can help protect patient privacy.
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