Health IT Roundup—Former Cleveland Clinic CEO heads to Google Cloud; VA extends Watson deal

Cosgrove lands at Google

Former Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, M.D., is joining Google Cloud’s healthcare and life sciences team as an executive adviser.

Cosgrove’s appointment was announced last week by Gregory Moore, M.D., Ph.D., Google Cloud’s vice president of healthcare. Moore highlighted Cosgrove’s focus on the hours of “pajama time” spent by physicians completing administrative tasks each night.

“Technology may have been the cause of some of these challenges, but we believe that it can also be the cure,” Moore wrote. (Blog)

VA adds another year to IBM Watson partnership

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is tacking on another year to its partnership with IBM Watson in a collaboration aimed at improving cancer detection and treatment.

Launched two years ago, the partnership focuses primarily on developing precision treatments for veterans with stage 4 cancer. The extension will run until June 2019. (Release)

Singapore’s health system hit with cyberattack

A coordinated cyberattack against Singapore’s health system has compromised the data of about 1.5 million patients, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The Singapore Ministry of Health said hackers accessed outpatient medicines for about 160,000 patients, but the attack specifically targeted the prime minister’s personal information including outpatient medications.

“Investigations by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and the Integrated Health Information System (IHiS) confirmed that this was a deliberate, targeted and well-planned cyberattack,” the government said in an announcement. “It was not the work of casual hackers or criminal gangs.” (Release)

Banner Health’s EHR rollout rife with errors

Numerous complaints were filed last year about Banner Health’s $45 million switch from Epic to Cerner, according to a report by the Arizona Daily Star.

State records obtained by the newspaper show the switch, which began on Oct. 1, 2017, frustrated staff. “Many of the staff are in tears and frustrated because of the lack of support and empathy to the consequences of patient care,” one complaint said.

Hospital leaders denied there was any impact on patient safety. (Arizona Daily Star)

Click Therapeutics notches $17M round led by Sanofi Ventures

The venture capital arm of drugmaker Sanofi led a $17 million funding round for Click Therapeutics, a digital therapeutics company that targets depression, insomnia and chronic pain.

The company is seeking FDA clearance for the digital prescription apps as Class II medical devices.

“Click’s platform enables the company to target multiple indications efficiently and effectively, and we have invested with the intent of partnering across a variety of therapeutic areas,” Bernard Davitian, senior vice president and managing director of Sanofi Ventures, said in a statement. (Release)