Before the arrival of COVID-19, patients in the U.S. were already experiencing rising out-of-pocket costs, putting added pressure on providers to improve collections. Now, with high levels of unemployment and intensifying margin pressure for health systems, transactional interactions between healthcare organizations and patients are poised to become more fraught than ever.

Based on its recent partnerships and moves in the digital health, tech market intelligence platform CB Insights ventured to predict where the tech giant could go next in a new report. 

What will the ICU look like in the future? Likely, there will be virtual components and technology integration that will allow for more remote monitoring and a higher quality of care.

Arizona is accusing Google of violating the state's privacy laws by continuing to collect digital location information from smartphones even after users opted out, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Palmer, Alaska-based Mat-Su Surgical Associates reported a ransomware attack that affected thousands of patients' information. 

Johns Hopkins University, Stony Brook University and Oregon Health & Science University are among a group of 15 institutions participating in the National Institutes of Health's $25 million collaborative to integrate data from hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 patient medical records with disease research. 

The COVID-19 crisis is wreaking havoc on our health system, healthcare workers, and communities.

Oregon Health & Science University is housing a cloud-based database that allows for analysis of COVID-19 patient records from across the U.S., according to a May 27 news release from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Elizabeth D. Bierbower, a former executive at insurer Humana, has joined the advisory board of health IT company Innovaccer.

University of California San Diego engineers developed a remote monitoring platform for COVID-19 patients that automates the care team's daily check-ins to monitor symptoms.

While most hospitals and health systems have already implemented an EHR, many organizations are now exploring new ways to optimize and customize their systems, according to KLAS Research.

ONC granted $1.1 million in funding to health IT interoperability nonprofit the Sequoia Project to continue leading its Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement project for the second year.

A May 27 report found that non-contact technology is the most effective solution for large-scale patient monitoring and plays a critical role in the fight against COVID-19.

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and several other institutions launched a national campaign May 26 urging COVID-19 survivors to donate their plasma, which contains antibodies that can help other patients fight off the disease.

Jim Hinton, CEO of Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, issued a statement that the system is laying off 1,200 employees and enacting executive pay cuts as a result of financial pressure caused by the pandemic, and going forward it will focus on growing digital offerings and direct patient care.

Technology blog Bleeping Computer developed a list of ransomware operators that publish stolen data online if the ransoms aren't paid.

Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University provided guidance for responsible and ethical digital contact tracing with technology that includes smartphone apps in its new report, "Digital Contact Tracing for Pandemic Response."

University Hospitals is working with a technology company on facial recognition technology as part of the effort to return people to work and reopen restaurants and entertainment venues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth began its multimillion-dollar EHR transition from a Cerner system to Epic in March, dedicating a team of 350 full time to the project. 

More than 40 percent of hospitals report local, state and federal public health agencies are unable to electronically receive data, making it the most common barrier to public health reporting for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent article published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.