eizzo@adirondackdailyenterprise.com The workload facing local hospitals and county health departments is on track to becoming unsustainable. Health care officials are imploring residents to take precautions to curb the spread before that happens. In a virtual press conference on Friday, multiple doctors from University of Vermont Health Network hospitals and public health directors from around Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties warned that the local COVID-19 caseload was beginning to stress the operations of both hospitals and county health departments. This comes at a time when rural hospitals have already faced significant financial challenges. Before the pandemic, some North Country hospitals were merging and downsizing. Last spring, those financial challenges were compounded when hospitals were directed to cancel elective surgeries for several weeks, cutting off a vital revenue-generator for rural health care facilities that care for a relatively large number of patients
Related Company:
More Than 3,100 People Volunteer For Vaccine Study
Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center and the Vaccine Testing Center at the University of Vermont s Larner College of Medicine have successfully reached and surpassed the targeted number of enrollees for an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The goal of 250 enrolled and dosed volunteers was met in just four weeks – with more than 3,100 people registering to take part. The local vaccine trial was able to enroll nearly 65 percent of volunteers who are over the age of 65 – a critically important demographic for testing efficacy and safety and a unique, local contribution to the nation-wide study. Additionally, more than 12 percent of participants identify as black, indigenous or persons of color.
A cyber-attack on a Vermont healthcare provider has delayed the rollout of an electronic health record (EHR) system and cost millions of dollars in lost revenue.
The University of Vermont Health Network, which is based in Burlington, was hit by ransomware in October 2020, and is yet to make a full recovery. Most computer systems have been brought back online; however, some applications are still down, causing delays in various departments, including radiology.
The network serves much of Vermont and parts of upstate New York. When attackers struck at six of the network s hospitals, Vermont s governor, Phil Scott, deemed the situation serious enough to merit the deployment of the Vermont Army National Guard’s Combined Cyber Response Team 1 to aid in the recovery effort.
HealthcareInfoSecurity
March 25, 2021
HealthInfoSec) • January 6, 2021 Get Permission
An EHR rollout at the University of Vermont Medical Center is being delayed due to a recent ransomware incident.
The lingering aftershocks of an October ransomware attack and ongoing COVID-19 response challenges are forcing the University of Vermont Health Network to delay the next phases of an enterprisewide electronic health record rollout.
The Burlington, Vermont-based healthcare system, which includes six hospitals and other care facilities, says it will revise planned implementation of next phases of its EHR system from Epic Systems Corp, “amid the ongoing effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and restore normal operations following a recent cyberattack.”