Barracuda Consulting, LLC

Written By: Kelly Buckman As we’ve seen time and again, many of the latest trends in Healthcare technology today come from the business sector, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data, to name just a few. So, it comes as no surprise that one of the newest up and coming advances in Healthcare IT involves a way of structuring data that has its roots in the digital currency market. Best known for being the public ledger for all transactions in the Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) network, blockchain is a “distributed and a write-once-read only record of digital events in a chronological order that is shared in a peer-to-peer network”. [Bitcoin or cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security, making it difficult to counterfeit. It is not issued by any central authority and is immune to government interference or manipulation.] Because it is a data structure that can be time-stamped and signed using a private key ...

Written By: Kelly Buckman By now, we’re all familiar with fitness trackers and their value in helping us meet our goals of getting and staying healthy. In fact, the number of connected wearable devices is expected to climb from an estimated 325 million in 2016 to over 830 million in 2020. That’s an increase of nearly 40% for a device that is primarily used to help people get and stay healthy. * It stands to reason that this technology would be adopted by hospitals and healthcare providers to improve the quality of care, although the ramifications of such usage are far reaching. One example of beneficial use of wearable technology is tracking bracelets worn by doctors, nurses, and patients that can help capture data on the amount of time a patient spent in the waiting room, or the time a doctor spent in front of a computer. The data collected can then be used to improve patient workflows or reduce wait time, which can lead to a direct cost reduction per payment. Sharp Chula Vista Medica...

Written by: Kelly Buckman Most of us are familiar with this common scenario: An individual or a company employee is working in an application on their pc when a menacing message appears advising them that their computer has been locked and that they will have to pay a fee to regain access. It’s called ‘ransomware’, a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until an amount of money or ‘ransom’ is paid. Ransomware attacks are carried out through a technique known as crypto viral extortion, in which the victim’s files are encrypted, making them inaccessible until a ransom is paid to decrypt them. Since 2012, the prevalence of ransomware scams has grown globally. One example of ransomware, crypto locker was especially successful, extorting an estimated $3 million before it was removed by authorities. Another, Crypto Wall, was estimated by the FBI to have accrued over $18 million by June of 2015 (per Wikipedia). Pretty scary stuff for both the individual co...