Mario Aguilar covers technology in health care, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable devices, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. His stories explore how tech is changing the practice of health care and the business and policy challenges to realizing tech’s promise. He’s also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter. You can reach Mario on Signal at mariojoze.13.

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Proving the potential of AI screenings

Artificial intelligence may help radiologists spot disease, but throwing the technology at millions of CT scans or mammograms is not without risks to patients and may drive up costs without showing much benefit. Katie Palmer reports on two efforts to prove out the potential:

  • A large randomized controlled trial will explore the value of AI-aided mammography in screening for breast cancer. The technology is already widely used in the U.S., but the best evidence that it’s useful comes from Europe. The $16 million trial is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Read more on what researchers may find here.
  • Next month, NYU Langone Health will begin checking bone density in CT scans of people over 65 for osteoporosis, a condition that often goes undetected until someone breaks a bone. The health system may expand the work if it’s proven to help. This kind of opportunistic screening, which repurposes otherwise acquired scans, could be used to identify many treatable conditions. Katie’s interview is worth a read.

‘HIPAA compliant’ and other health data myths

A company marketing itself as “HIPAA compliant” may be a good sign it doesn’t know what its talking about, Brittany Trang reports. There’s no government body that certifies that a company’s practices are in line with the 1996 patient data privacy law. The commonly used phrase sends a cold shiver down the back of lawyers who know that any claim of 100% compliance is likely misleading. Brittany also unpacks “de-identified data” and other misunderstood ideas. 

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