It is literally impossible to be a woman. Definitely impossible to get awards for it. Admission: I may be a little upset that neither Margot Robbie nor Greta Gerwig were nominated for an Oscar for the feminist fever dream that is the Barbie movie. America Ferrara’s monologue (for which she was nominated) about how it is literally impossible to be a woman would not have been possible without Margot and Greta throwing the ball up for her to crush it over the net. (Yes, I just used a sports analogy to discuss the Barbie movie – had to do something for the men out there). Plus, when else have we been able to enjoy the Indigo Girls so unabashedly? Not going to lie – this has little to do with health information policy. Just thought it needed to be said. I will try to figure out a way to tie this into the One Thoughtful Paragraph below, but no guarantees.
Other news that has nothing to do with the Barbie movie:
- In its first move as part of a strategic plan to enhance healthcare cybersecurity, HHS published new voluntary cybersecurity goals, like revoking credentials for departing workforce members.
- New word to learn: “spearphishing” means you get emails that look like they are from someone you know when really it is a hacker just trying to get your information. HHS was the target of one spearphishing incident that resulted in the loss of $7.5 million in grant money.
- Thirty hospital systems filed an amicus brief in support of the American Hospital Association’s lawsuit challenging an HHS data-tracking guidance document that warns hospitals to restrict the use of third-party tracking technologies because they may be in violation of HIPAA privacy rules. Interesting tidbit: the lawyers argue that the hospital websites that use these tracking devices are a primary way to communicate and inform patients and the public at large about health information exactly when “one of the greatest challenges facing the country’s public health system is the prevalence of false or misleading health information.”
The biggest health information news of the week is that we have reached an all-time high of healthcare data breaches. According to the HHS Office of Civil Rights breach portal, almost 133 million Americans had their healthcare data stolen or exposed to the outside world. Seems like a lot. It even seems like almost half the population. So how does that relate to the Barbie movie? I may be reaching here… but the Barbie movie was about handling your insecurities and overcoming them, instigated by an existential crisis. If we can agree on that, then it seems like we can show that there is a parallel crisis going on with the insecurity of health data – and we need to get in a pink convertible, turn up the tunes, and get some security up in here to deal with these data breaches. We are cognizant that Congress (overwhelmingly male) is struggling with its own existential crisis, so federal agencies are struggling to get necessary funding. This means that the HHS Office of Civil Rights’ request for $78 million to fund its work and $515 million for the HHS Office of Inspector General to address cybersecurity issues may go unheeded. If Ken from the Barbie movie knew about the important funding the male leaders of Congress are holding back, he might say: “You guys are not doing patriarchy very well.”
