House Votes to Declassify COVID-19 Origins, EPA Proposes PFAS Limits
The House of Representatives passed a law that would force the federal government to declassify the origins of COVID-19, and the EPA is proposing legislation to limit PFAS contamination in public water.
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By - In policy news this week, Congress is demanding to reveal the origins of COVID-19 after conflicting reports of the virus’s origins arose. Meanwhile, the EPA plans to set strict limits on certain types of forever chemicals that may damage human health.
VA Team Outlines EHRM Solutions
The EHR Modernization (EHRM) Sprint Project Team released a report last week outlining technical fixes for the patient safety issues plaguing the Oracle Cerner EHR system. Key areas in the report include the unknown queue issue, appointment follow-up and rescheduling, patient referrals, and EHR usability. Several fixes have already been made, and the Department of Veterans Affairs expects to implement the rest of the proposed changes later this year. READ MORE.
LockBit 3.0 Ransomware Threatens Healthcare
A joint cybersecurity advisory issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and others warns the healthcare sector about a new and improved version of LockBit ransomware. LockBit 3.0 has been described as more modular and evasive than previous variants and more likely to attack the healthcare sector.
CISA and FBI authorities claim that the ransomware has already attacked healthcare targets, and they are urging organizations to implement a recovery plan along with stronger password standards. READ MORE.
Report Finds 87% of Office-Based Physicians Used Telehealth
Research from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology found that telehealth use among office-based physicians grew from 15 percent in 2018 to 87 percent in 2021. The report also shared that most physicians planned to continue using telehealth in the future. Despite the high utilization level, most physicians indicated that they were conducting less than 25 percent of their visits via telehealth. READ MORE.
House Unanimously Votes to Declassify COVID-19 Origins
Last Friday, the United States House of Representatives passed a vote of 419 to 0 that would declassify the origins of COVID-19. The unanimous call to uncover the pandemic’s origins came after a report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that the US Department of Energy had determined that the pandemic-causing pathogen had originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and leaked out of the lab. If President Biden signs the act, the Director of National Intelligence must disclose any information about the virus within 90 days. READ MORE.
EPA Proposes First-Ever Standards for PFAS in Drinking Water
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the first-ever legally enforceable limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. According to the proposed regulation, public water treatment facilities will need to limit certain types of PFAS to four parts per trillion and apply treatment to water when this legal limit is exceeded. PFAS are used in several consumer and industrial applications but have been shown to produce toxic effects in humans after prolonged exposure. READ MORE.
