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Written by Kate McDonald on 06 December 2020.

Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of international health IT news for the week ending December 6: Germany's digital transformation, dawn of digital medicine, phishing vaccine cold chain, pyjama time charting, Japanese doctors go digital, consult prep tool for patients, standardising patient addresses, linking vaccination records, Fitbit predicts COVID onset, rapid hospital at home

Want to see the future of digital health tools? Look to Germany.Harvard Business Review ~ Ariel D Stern ~ 02/12/2020

In late 2019, Germanys parliament passed the Digital Healthcare Act (Digitale-Versorgung-Gesetz, or DVG) an ambitious law designed to catalyze the digital transformation of the German health care system.

The dawn of digital medicineThe Economist ~ Staff writer ~ 02/12/2020

The pandemic is ushering in the next trillion-dollar industry.

IBM uncovers global email attack on Covid vaccine supply chainCNBC ~ Noah Higgins-Dunn ~ 03/12/2020

The companys task force dedicated to tracking down Covid-19 cybersecurity threats said it discovered fraudulent emails impersonating a Chinese business executive at a credible cold-chain supply company.

Ambient documentation with Epic helps reduce clinician burnout at Monument HealthHealthcare IT News ~ Bill Siwicki ~ 03/12/2020

The goal of its Nuance deployment is to significantly reduce after-hours pajama time charting while introducing the voice of the patient to the EHR, says its CIO and CMIO.

Google Health and HHS' AHRQ detail new pilot project helping patients prep for their doctor's appointmentMobiHealthNews ~ Dave Muoio ~ 02/12/2020

The tool would help patients develop health questions for their clinician, and reminds them to bring along any necessary test results or other materials.

The pandemic is inducing Japanese doctors to go digitalThe Economist ~ Staff writer ~ 02/12/2020

Telemedicine and electronic record-keeping are at last on the rise.

New ONC initiative aims to standardize patient address formatsMedCity News ~ Anuja Vaidya ~ 02/12/2020

Launching in 2021, the ONC's Project US@ aims to enhance efforts to correctly link patients with their health data a key part of interoperability by standardizing the way patients' mailing addresses are formatted.

Thousands of US lab results and medical records spilled online after a security lapseTechCrunch ~ Zack Whittaker ~ 02/12/2020

NTreatment, a technology company that manages electronic health and patient records for doctors and psychiatrists, left thousands of sensitive health records exposed to the internet because one of its cloud servers wasnt protected with a password.

Electronic flu vaccine notifications service expandedDigital Health News ~ Hannah Crouch ~ 01/12/2020

A service that sends information about flu vaccinations electronically from pharmacies to GP practices has been expanded ahead of winter.

Fitbit study predicts onset of COVID-19 and hospitalization likelihoodMobiHealthNews ~ Mallory Hackett ~ 01/12/2020

Consumer wearable devices can be key tools in predicting the onset of illnesses like COVID-19 by using health metrics like breathing rate, resting heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV), according to findings published in npj Digital Medicine from Fitbit.

Brigham and Womens, Biofourmis launch hospital-at-home solution nationwideMedCity News ~ Anuja Vaidya ~ 01/12/2020

In January, Brigham published a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that showed the efficacy of its home hospital program, which utilized the co-developed solution.

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International health IT week in review: December 6 - Pulse+IT

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After peaking above $270 in 2018, Baidu (BIDU) shares have been stuck in bull market purgatory, spending most of the last 18 months under $140.

That punishment could be ending soon as the company reinvents itself and recovers from government restrictions on its advertising revenues.

Here's what I wrote on June 13 when I profiled BIDU as the Bear of the Day...

Baidu, the $40 billion web search and marketing portal that used to be considered "the Google of China," especially as they forayed into AI technologies and self-driving cars, rallied over 16% since their strong Q1 earnings report on May 18. But guidance was cloudy enough to cause analysts to lower estimates and drive the stock into the cellar of the Zacks Rank.

BIDU shares didn't remain in the cellar of the Zacks Rank for long though as analysts re-worked their models based on company guidance and the conference call. And it gave me the green light to begin a new position. Here's what I wrote in the Buy Alert for my TAZR Trader members on July 6...

It was my plan this weekend to buy BIDU this morning, but little did I know Alibaba (BABA) would wake up like a beast too. Both have gapped higher and should run as BABA will enter a new phase of its bull market and BIDU is the AI-focused player in Chinese big data. Start with a 5% position this week and we'll add on any gap fills back toward $125.

Flash forward to this month's Q3 report, and the now $47 billion BIDU has ascended to a Zacks #1 Rank Strong Buy as analysts raise estimates and view the business transitions as gaining traction.

After a strong earnings beat and raised guidance, the Zacks EPS Consensus for this year jumped 10% to $8.25 in the past two weeks.

Immediately following the company presentation and conference call, Mizuho analyst James Lee raised his firm's price target on Baidu to $185 from $170, noting that the company's core revenue reached positive growth one quarter earlier than expected and was guided up 5% year-over-year for Q4.

Baidu also launched an expansion into "livestreaming," the new platform rage among Chinese youth for shopping and following influencers, by acquiring JOYY (YY) Live's Chinese business for $3.6 billion. Lee likes this move because it diversifies the revenue stream strongly into ecommerce and subscriptions and maintained Baidu as his top pick in China.

Lee also anticipates the AD (Autonomous Driving) segment's asset value could be unlocked through a strategic investment with leading OEMs, which could provide a 20% upside to the stock price.

I have always believed that AI and AD represented the primary growth drivers for Baidu, not internet search and advertising, as many Alphabet (GOOGL) investors must also believe about their beloved.

But for Baidu, I think these growth levers are stronger here because of the strong Chinese government support for advanced technologies. In early 2018, I described the development of the first urban "AI park" outside of Beijing where Baidu would be the primary R&D company to build and test AD technologies.

Since then, an "AI park" sprung up around Shanghai in 2019. And while NVIDIA (NVDA) gets all the attention as the premier builder of AI hardware and software stacks, Baidu's pedigree in AI is beginning to bear fruit.

More coming up on Baidu's evolution into an AI powerhouse in China, right after we take care of some recent negative news.

Muddy Waters shorts JOYY, calls company "almost entirely fraudulent"

Unfortunately, 2 days after Baidu's strong report, I had to share this update with my TAZR members...

Carson Block's Muddy Waters Research said via Twitter, "MW is short $YY bc we conclude it is a near-total fraud. We conclude its businesses, users, and cash are a fraction of what it reports. We estimate that ~90% of YY Live revenue is fraudulent, and ~80% of Bigo rev is fraudulent...When $BIDU diligences $YY Live, the massive scale of fraud will be apparent. Is BIDU so desperate to show growth that it will pay ~7% of its market cap for an almost entirely fraudulent business? Is China Inc that rotten?. Bigo's rot stems from inception & the lie about who founded it. This lie enabled Chmnn Li to defraud at least $156.1 million of real money from $YY shareholders & YY to fraudulently report substantial remeasurement gains."

YY shares dropped over 25% late on Nov 18, from new highs above $105 all the way down to the low $70s. But they have since recovered to $90 as more is learned about the two businesses. And BIDU, who had just made new 18-month highs above $150, fell back to $140.

The short report claims that YY meaningfully misled investor regarding its financials by misrepresenting how revenues flow between itself and talent agencies. Essentially, YY controls talent agencies that manage influencers on the livestreaming platform and paid more than 50% of the total volume of virtual gifts. To support that claim, the Muddy Waters report points to PRCs Credit Bureau, indicating that the five largest MCNs (talent agencies) on YY contributed only 15% of YY Lives reported revenues.

Here was reaction from Mizuho's Lee...

We do not cover YY, but based on our understanding of the Livestreaming industry, a platform typically has an internal talent agency that acquires, trains and manages influencers, so the claim by the report is not unusual, but materiality of revenues is the issue that YY needs to address, in our view.

In light of this report, we have confidence in Baidu management to conduct additional due diligence on issues raised by the report. At the same time, we believe that the acquisition could be delayed if YY hires an independent advisor to conduct its own reviews, very similar to what IQ did when facing an allegation of accounting improprieties a few months ago. Furthermore, a potential SEC inquiry could also slow the process.

If Baidu cannot move forward with the acquisition due to MAC (material adverse change), we believe that the company could either build a livestreaming platform internally, or seek other acquisition candidates.

Lee maintained Baidu as their top China Internet pick with a $185 price target, based on a SOTP (sum of the parts) valuation, noting that the stock trades at only 4X FY22 Baidu core EBITDA, against their estimated CAGR of 16%. He said the buy thesis has not changed as all previously outlined catalysts are still in play.

Baidu's Industrial AI Frontier in China

I've always admired Baidu for its committed role in AI, especially as I learned more about the vision and ethics of former chief scientist Andrew Yan-Tak Ng. As a technologist and investor, Ng co-founded and led Google Brain and was a former Vice President and Chief Scientist at Baidu, building the company's Artificial Intelligence Group into a team of several thousand people.

Ng is now an adjunct professor at Stanford University (formerly associate professor and Director of its AI Lab). Also a pioneer in online education, Ng co-founded Coursera and deeplearning.ai where he has successfully spearheaded many efforts to "democratize deep learning," teaching over 2.5 million students through his online courses.

In July when I bought shares, I highlighted news for TAZR members on Baidu's "new infrastructure" plan for the smart economy (courtesy of company PR excerpts)...

Baidu Unveils Plan to Increase Investments in New Infrastructure to Power the Rise of Industrial AI

Plans to Deploy 5 Million AI Cloud Servers by 2030 and Train 5 Million AI Professionals

Baidu announced that it will increase its investments in cloud computing, AI education, AI platforms, chipsets, and data centers in the coming ten years as part of its efforts to construct "new infrastructure" for the smart economy of the future.

"New infrastructure -- which encompasses emerging technologies like AI, cloud computing, 5G, IoT, and blockchain -- will be the driver for China's economic development in the coming decades," said Baidu Chief Technology Officer Haifeng Wang.

Under the plan, Baidu aims to have 5 million intelligent cloud servers by 2030 and train 5 million AI professionals within 5 years, which will help facilitate the widespread application of AI in transportation, city management, finance, energy, health care, and manufacturing to eventually achieve industrial intelligence.

Deploying 5 million intelligent cloud servers by 2030 is an ambitious target that would create a combined computing capability equal to seven times the total calculable computing power of the world's existing top 500 supercomputers.

Viewing human capital as a core component of the new infrastructure, the Baidu goal to train 5 million AI professionals in the next five years keeps humans at the center of this massive AI R&D. Baidu has been working with more than 200 leading universities in China to develop courses related to AI and deep learning and has already trained more than 1 million AI experts.

It sounds like China might be better paced than the US to migrate college students into jobs of the future.

Baidu has more than 7,000 published AI patent applications in China, the highest in the country. The AI open platform Baidu Brain has made available more than 250 core AI capabilities to over 1.9 million developers, while PaddlePaddle, the largest open-source deep learning platform in China, services 84,000 enterprises.

Baidu's Kunlun and Honghu AI chips are among the highest performing AI chips and are built for a wide range of scenarios. Baidu Cloud is China's leader in public cloud and AI cloud services with more than ten data centers across the country.

This new infrastructure is already allowing Baidu to lead the intelligent transformation of different industries. Baidu's smart finance products serve nearly 200 financial institutions, while Baidu's intelligent healthcare products are deployed at more than 300 hospitals and 1500 grassroots medical institutions.

Baidu Brain for Cities is already in place in Chongqing, Suzhou, and other cities, supporting more intelligent city management. Baidu's new investments will enhance its ability to rollout AI applications in these scenarios, as well as in manufacturing, energy, and transportation.

Bottom line on Baidu: The transformation into an AI powerhouse is real and streaming/social deals won't determine the fortunes of BIDU. I would remain a buyer of pullbacks to $130.

Disclosure: I own shares of BIDU, BABA, and NVDA for the Zacks TAZR Trader portfolio.

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Bull of the Day: Baidu (BIDU) - Yahoo Finance

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The creation of an exclusive, State-driven, contact tracing enhancer for smartphone users in India during Covid times has multiple faults. The primary one is that there is considerable mystery about where the data is being stored and to what extent it is protected. Some code has been released relating to the working of the app, but it has not brought any clarity as it falls short of both completeness and openness, revealsVICKRAM CRISHNA.

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On May 1, 2020, the government notified the release of an app calledAarogya Setu (health bridge) in response to Covid-19. It was touted as an intelligent solution, but it is anything butthat, as per reviews. The technical premise that smartphones are capable of authoritatively detecting risky physical proximity to potentially infected persons is specious.

Apart from the flaky claims about the technical capabilities of the phones themselves, there are troubling lacunae concerning opacity around the creation of the software code. It is the code that determines the routing of extensive data collection from users of the tool. As a result, there is considerable mystery about where the data is actually being stored and to what extent it is protected from any use outside of this particular health crisis.

TheSupreme Court judgmentaffirming the right to privacy, on August 24, 2017, clearly lays down the means by which the fundamental contract between citizen and the State is to be handled, and this applies to data collection also.

The lack of clarity about the writing of the app claimed and denied with equal enthusiasm by the alleged team and the organs of the State allegedly charged with responsibility for it, further confounds the situation.

Apparently, a software businessman put together a team, drawing contributors from companies with which he is associated with or controls, calling them volunteers, although they apparently continued to draw salaries while working on the code.

Neither the team nor any individuals who are claiming credit for the work are actually contracted with the government for this effort, or, at least, no such contract has yet come to light.

If they are indeed volunteers, it may seem laudable at a glance. Except that, sans a contractual relationship, there is complete and total deniability of accountability for breaches of the Constitution implicit in the collection and use of data by the software packages.

Apparently, a software businessman put together a team, drawing contributors from companies with which he is associated with or controls, calling them volunteers, although they apparently continued to draw salaries while working on the code. Neither the team nor any individuals who claim credit for the work are actually contracted with the government for this effort, or, at least, no such contract has yet come to light.

Unfortunately, there is no way, short of full investigative access to both the code and to transactions between the State and private players, to determine whether such breaches have taken place or will do so in future.

The State itself has put out equivocal statements about the possibility that some data might be held for future use.

On the one hand, the entire exercise has been conducted in flagrant breach of long-standing publicly declared government policy on the use of Free Software for public service projects.

To further muddy the waters, the minutes of crucial meetings of an Empowered Group to handle the data, among other responsibilities, have been obtained with considerable difficulty through the Right to Information Act andpublished on December 3, 2020. They reveal that it has all along been the intention to widely disseminate tracking data to various State players. As the authors of the report stress, such an Empowered Group itself does not have any legal status under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The State itself has put out equivocal statements about the possibility that some data might be held for future use. On the one hand, the entire exercise has been conducted in flagrant breach of long-standing publicly declared government policy on the use of Free Software for public service projects.

Free Software means that the code is open to inspection for anybody (and is, therefore, sometimes called Free and Open Source Software), not that anybody pays for it. Software (computer or digital) is one of the most vibrant and accessible forms of technology of the modern world, except when it is done opaquely.

In this case, there are two broad kinds of software tools involved in making this app work. One is a piece of code that runs on the phone (smartphones are wireless telephone instruments that work on inbuilt computer chips), and the second is a code that runs on a server connected to the internet. Smartphones are usually also enabled to connect to the internet by telecom service providers in India.

Some code has been released, over time, relating to the working of the app. Very ominously, the release has not brought clarity, for the simple reason that the code is not clear.

Neither the code originally released forthe appnor forthe serverwas published in a professional manner, as revealed by competent technical analyses.

The minutes of crucial meetings of an Empowered Group reveal that it has all along been the intention to widely disseminate tracking data to various State players. As the authors of the report stress, such an Empowered Group itself does not have any legal status under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Code releases for the smartphone apps began six months ago in May and are being tracked and published regularly as a public service. The backend server code was only released on November 20, and, as with the preliminary releases of app code, falls short of both completeness and openness. There is no explanation for the lengthy delay in releasing what turns out to be some incomplete and obfuscating sections of server code.

It is, therefore, still not possible to state firmly that the data collected is being deleted from both the phone (after 30 days, the phone data is removed) and from the server (claimed to be hosted within Amazon cloud servers located in Mumbai). Somewhat grimy thumbprints on the code fragments, now in the public domain, demonstrate that the coding teams continue to use privately owned servers to route data, not exactly a shining mark of good faith.

Rather, the Indian public is expected to vest confidence in the intentions and abilities of the coders and the State itself regarding tracking data collected from users and whether it will be handled in accordance with the law. These users include those who have been compelled and coerced to install the app by both private and public entities (public coercionwas reluctantly withdrawnafter extended protests).

(Vickram Crishna is a trained engineer and manager. The authors case against the Union of India and Others, opposing the operation of the state-operated technology-based national identification scheme, also resulted in a definitive judgment affirming the fundamental right to personal privacy. The views are personal.)

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The Mystery Behind the Aarogya Setu App - TheLeaflet - The Leaflet

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