Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Monday, October 19, 2026
Conduent Reaches $80 Million Preliminary Settlement Over Hack Affecting 62.2 Million
Back-office support services firm Conduent and plaintiffs representing about 62.2 million affected individuals have reached a preliminary $80 million settlement of proposed class-action litigation over a 2024 hack. The proposed agreement, filed Friday in a New Jersey federal court, includes financial compensation, credit and medical data monitoring, and a commitment by Conduent to strengthen its cybersecurity. Conduent denies any wrongdoing or liability. Plaintiffs alleged the SafePay gang exfiltrated about 8.5 terabytes of data, including Social Security numbers and medical information. All class members would automatically receive one year of credit or medical data monitoring. Plaintiff attorneys are requesting up to 34% of the fund, about $27.2 million.
Sources: GovInfoSecurity
HealthSplash CEO Sentenced to 19 Years for Running DMERx Medicare Fraud Platform
HealthSplash owner and CEO Brett Blackman has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for operating DMERx, a software platform that generated fraudulent doctors’ orders for medically unnecessary orthotic braces and other equipment. The Justice Department says kickback-paying suppliers used the orders to bill federal health programs more than $1 billion and collect over $450 million, including claims involving 346,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Gary Cox founded DMERx as CEO of Power Mobility Doctor Rx, which HealthSplash acquired in 2017. Cox was sentenced in December 2025 to 15 years in prison and was ordered to pay $452 million in restitution.
St Vincent’s Health Australia Convenes Its First National AI Clinical Council
St Vincent’s Health Australia, one of the country’s largest health and aged care providers, has established an AI Clinical Council to guide AI adoption across its hospitals, aged care facilities and home-based services. The council held its first meeting on 16 October. Its 25 founding members come from services in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and span medicine, nursing, allied health, ethics, compliance, digital and governance. It set four priorities: responsible governance, ethical AI adoption, workforce engagement and delivering meaningful value to patients, residents and staff. St Vincent’s said the council will not replace existing clinical, governance or approval processes.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Preserves ICU Data to Lay Groundwork for AI
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, one of Australia’s largest paediatric healthcare services, has launched the Big Data for Small People programme to preserve physiological data continuously generated in its paediatric and neonatal intensive care units and operating theatres. The programme uses Philips’ High-fidelity Data Export enterprise clinical software to capture heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and respiratory activity, alongside waveforms and medical device alarms. Much of this high-fidelity data has traditionally been lost after care is delivered. The network’s immediate focus is a high-quality data foundation for clinical review, research and quality improvement that could eventually support AI-enabled clinical decision support.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Stella Technology Executives Sentenced for Diverting Employee Tax Withholdings
Lalo Valdez, co-founder and CEO of health informatics firm Stella Technology, has been sentenced to three years of supervised probation for diverting employee tax withholding, and CFO Matthew Olson was sentenced to six months in federal prison. Both executives had pleaded guilty to using employee withholdings to pay for country club memberships, luxury travel and sports tickets, resulting in a $1.5 million tax loss to the IRS. Ciitizen acquired Stella Technology in 2021 and was itself acquired by Invitae that year. Ciitizen was later sold to its leadership team and now operates as Citizen Health, developing an AI advocate for families affected by rare diseases.
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency