Florida patients must be told if their records were part of the BlackCat hack | Editorial

Medical cyberattack. We still don’t know the scope or impact from the Feb. 21 cyberattack against a key middleman in America’s health care industry. The attack has drawn the scrutiny of federal authorities and has led to three class-action lawsuits against UnitedHealth Group, the country’s largest health insurer, and a subsidiary, Change Healthcare, which many hospitals and doctor’s offices use to process medical claims. A group known as BlackCat or ALPHV has taken responsibility for attacking Change Healthcare, claiming it extracted data including millions of medical and dental records, phone numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers, emails and active U.S. military personnel information, according to one of the class-action lawsuits. But what we do know is that patients and providers in the Tampa Bay area and beyond need to know the details — and they need to know soon to protect themselves as much as possible from potential identity theft. Regulators and area hospitals need to work together in coordinating this response; many patients are served by multiple providers, and they deserve the confidence to know that their personal security is not slipping through the cracks.

Deny, deny, deny. The health care legislation that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law this week will improve access to care for insured Floridians and expand services to the disabled and other special-needs patients. But the package, called Live Healthy, does little for the state’s uninsured, and it represents the Republican-led Legislature’s latest rebuke of calls to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Florida is among only 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA, also known as Obamacare, where income restrictions leave a combined 1.5 million people — 19% of them in Florida — ineligible for both Medicaid and ACA insurance subsidies. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, who championed Live Healthy, dismissed the idea of Medicaid expansion earlier this year, claiming: “Medicaid expansion doesn’t work.” She later dismissed experts who highlighted the benefits, declaring: “There are a lot of experts all over the place.” Actually, they’re not. Hundreds of studies on Medicaid expansion since the coverage provisions of the ACA went into effect in 2014 have demonstrated that expansion has improved patient access to care, made it more affordable, saved states money and generated economic growth. Expansion states have reaped tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies while saving money in other areas, such as state costs for substance abuse treatment and traditional Medicaid. Hospitals and clinics in expansion states have also lost less in uncompensated care. If you want to argue the merits of expansion — fine. But accept the facts instead of distorting them.

USF launches AI. The University of South Florida looks to be taking a thoughtful approach with its foray into artificial intelligence. USF announced plans Thursday to launch the first college of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity in the state, citing a rising demand for professionals in these fields. As envisioned, the college would offer undergraduate and graduate programs in addition to certifications and continuing education options. USF President Rhea Law said the purpose was “to better understand how to utilize powerful new technologies in ways that improve our society.” A faculty task force is exploring how to move ahead with the goal of launching the college by fall 2025. We’ll see where this leads, but USF has sent encouraging signals by acknowledging the broad range of issues that AI poses. It plans to address, for example, ethical and privacy questions raised by artificial intelligence, while exploring how technology and datasets could be used in both beneficial and harmful ways. By stepping out into this unknown world, USF is doing what universities are supposed to do in shining a light on society’s future.

Editorials are the institutional voice of the Tampa Bay Times. The members of the Editorial Board are Editor of Editorials Graham Brink, Sherri Day, Sebastian Dortch, John Hill, Jim Verhulst and Chairman and CEO Conan Gallaty. Follow @TBTimes_Opinion on Twitter for more opinion news.