Top 10 health IT stories this week: Cyberattacks, partnerships & more

Below are 10 of the most-read health IT stories covered this week by Becker's Hospital Review, listed by date of publication.

1. Healthcare marketers sounded off on common phrases they hear within their field that annoy them or make the cringe.
   
   
2. Valley Health System in Las Vegas turned to paper records as IT issues forced six of its hospitals to go offline. Patient records were not accessed in the incident, and the health system said employee data has not been compromised.
   
   
3. Universal Health Services, a King of Prussia, Pa.-based health system with 26 hospitals and hundreds of other clinical facilities across the U.S. and United Kingdom, was hit by a cyberattack that shut down computers and some phone systems.The incident affected systems used for medical records, laboratories and pharmacies for around 250 UHS locations.
   
   
4. UHS employees shared first-hand accounts of the cyberattack the health system underwent. Clinicians across UHS sites reported high anxiety among staff and care teams, especially as the facilities figure out how to identify if patients have been exposed to COVID-19.
   
   
5. EHR giant Epic made moves to expand its business recently, including announcing it will become the first medical record system to integrate the Microsoft Teams connector, a platform that allows clinicians and patients to launch telehealth visits.
   
   
6. Microsoft reported a disruption to its Azure cloud and Office 365, saying users were unable to log in to Microsoft Teams and Outlook email during the disruption, but those already logged in were able to continue access.
   
   
7. Cerner also recently made moves to further its company, including appointing William Mintz to serve as the company's new chief strategy officer.
   
   
8. Ashtabula (Ohio) County Medical Center remained offline for several days after the hospital suffered a technical disruption that knocked its computers offline.
   
   
9. Healthcare IT executives from across the nation reacted to several cyberattacks on hospitals and health systems that have forced computer systems offline in recent weeks.
   
   
10. Anthem and UnitedHealth Group rolled back some virtual visit coverage, leaving members to pay more out of pocket. The payers made changes to virtual health coverage on select plans and in general will still cover telehealth related to COVID-19 at no extra cost.

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