Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Friday, July 31, 2026
AnMed: 13 Services Still Closed 4 Days Into Cybersecurity Incident
AnMed, a South Carolina health system, remained partially offline Thursday after a cybersecurity incident first detected July 26 forced closure of 13 services, including outpatient surgery and some imaging. Four days into the attack, physician offices in some locations partially reopened July 28. The health system has engaged an outside cybersecurity firm and is working to restore systems safely, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. Patient care is continuing through workarounds, though the system has not disclosed the nature of the attack, confirmed whether ransomware was involved, or named the cybersecurity firm engaged to investigate and remediate.
Sources: Becker's Hospital Review
Medical Billing Vendor Hack Affects 1.3M Patients Across Seven Practices
MCBS LLC, a Georgia-based medical billing vendor, is notifying approximately 1.3 million patients across seven medical practices of a data breach attributed to the PEAR (Pure Extraction and Ransom) ransomware group. The attack, which occurred in 2025, compromised patient records including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, insurance information and medical records. Cyber insurer At-Bay filed a lawsuit related to the incident, according to GovInfoSecurity. MCBS serves practices in multiple states; affected patients have been urged to monitor accounts for suspicious activity and enroll in offered identity theft protection services.
Sources: GovInfoSecurity
FTC Sues Hims and Hers Over Alleged Health Data Sharing and Deceptive Billing
The Federal Trade Commission and several state attorneys general filed suit against Hims and Hers Health Thursday, alleging the telehealth company illegally shared sensitive patient health information with Meta, Snap and other advertisers through Facebook Pixel and similar tracking tools, and engaged in deceptive billing practices that made it difficult for customers to cancel subscriptions. The FTC said Hims and Hers violated the FTC Act and applicable health data privacy rules. The company, which sells weight loss, hair loss, and mental health services online, has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit, Health Care Dive reported.
Sources: Health Care Dive
Teladoc Cuts 2026 Revenue Forecast as BetterHelp Demand Outpaces Capacity
Teladoc Health cut its 2026 revenue forecast Wednesday to $2.36 billion to $2.45 billion, down roughly 5 percent from earlier guidance, citing weaker-than-expected demand at BetterHelp, its mental health subsidiary. BetterHelp revenue fell 12 percent year-over-year in Q2 2026 to $212.6 million as consumer demand for insurance-covered therapy outpaced available provider capacity. CEO Chuck Divita said during the Q2 earnings call that BetterHelp is now licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia with more than 8,000 credentialed providers, but acknowledged capacity constraints limited growth. Health Care Dive reported the guidance reduction.
Sources: Health Care Dive
MaineHealth to Lay Off More Than 80 IT Staff
MaineHealth, Maine’s largest health system, announced it will lay off more than 80 information technology employees, Healthcare IT News reported July 30. The layoffs affect IT staff across the system, though MaineHealth did not specify which departments or roles are most affected. The health system serves communities across Maine and New Hampshire through a network of hospitals, physician practices and other providers. The reduction follows a broader trend of health system IT workforce restructuring as organizations seek to consolidate functions, reduce costs, and shift certain technology operations to managed service providers or cloud-based platforms.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
UN-Backed Panel: AI Delivers Healthcare Gains but Implementation Context Is Key
A United Nations-backed scientific panel released a preliminary report July 30 finding that artificial intelligence is delivering measurable healthcare benefits but success depends on implementation context rather than technology alone. The Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence found AI has demonstrated value in early disease screening, clinical decision support, administrative documentation and frontline care delivery. Successful deployments, the panel concluded, consistently integrate AI with existing clinical workflows, local language support and adequate infrastructure, citing India’s AI diabetic retinopathy screening, which reached more than 600,000 people. The report also warned against general-purpose chatbots drifting into clinical use, MobiHealthNews reported.
Sources: MobiHealthNews
CMS Health Tech Ecosystem Marks One Year, Launches Eight New Pledge Categories
CMS marked the one-year anniversary of its Health Tech Ecosystem Initiative on July 27 at HHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. The initiative, led by CMS Deputy Administrator Amy Gleason, has grown from 60 to more than 800 industry pledges since its July 2025 launch. CMS announced eight new pledge categories including real-time benefits verification, advanced scheduling via FHIR APIs, electronic prior authorization, medical imaging file transfer, and digital identity validation. Health IT Answers reported officials emphasized that Year 2 will focus on adoption, with 60 percent of Americans now able to access their medical records through an app of their choice.
Sources: Health IT Answers
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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