HJBR Nov/Dec 2023

46 NOV / DEC 2023  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   Healthcare Briefs huge step forward in our effort to protect children and families in California from dangerous and toxic chemicals in our food supply,” said Assem- blymember Gabriel. “It’s unacceptable that the U.S. is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety. This bill will not ban any foods or products — it simply will require food companies to make minor modifications to their recipes and switch to the safer alternative ingredi- ents that they already use in Europe and so many other places around the globe.” Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Gonzales Installs New Radiation Treatment Technology Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Gonzales has announced its investment in the new Elekta Infinity, a highly sophisticated radiation treatment system for cancer that substantially reduces the time required for radiotherapy while giving clini- cians the ability to treat targets more aggressively. The cancer center began treating patients using this technology in mid-September. “By bringing this state-of-the-art technology to our Gonzales center, we are providing our medical staff with even more options to ensure patients receive the most precise and beneficial treatment plans,” said Konstantin “Kos” Kovtun, MD, radiation oncologist, Mary Bird Perkins Can- cer Center. “As we continue to keep pace with the rapidly expanding area of precision medicine, our patients stand to benefit from expedited and tailored radiation therapies such as the Infinity.” Elekta Infinity incorporates Volumetric Mod- ulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), an innovative way to deliver radiation treatments that are a sig- nificant improvement over more conventional approaches. With Elekta’s VMAT technology, the target area is continuously irradiated while the source of the beam rotates around the patient. To minimize unnecessary radiation exposure, Elekta Infinity incorporates ultra-low dose capa- bilities through active leakage reduction to ensure minimal dose to critical structures, and Elekta Infinity incorporates real-time assurance that the intended dose is delivered as precisely as planned. Clinicians using Elekta Infinity can create a dose that conforms very tightly to the target area in significantly less time than with traditional techniques. Elekta VMAT achieves this with sophisticated computer programming that simul- taneously controls five different system compo- nents (gantry position, gantry speed, leaves of the multi-leaf collimator, collimator angle and dose rate). “Because the Elekta Infinity can target tumors aggressively without damaging healthy tissue, we are doing everything we can to minimize any additional impacts cancer treatment can have on our patient,” said Ryan Houston, cancer program administrator, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Gonzales. “Lessening the burden of cancer is a focal point of our mission and the Infinity, com- bined with our physicians and team members’ expertise, helps make that a reality.” The Elekta Infinity is the latest new technology added to the cancer center’s growing arsenal of cancer treatment capabilities. Earlier this summer, the organization announced the availability of a new radiation treatment option, PLUVICTO, for patients with an advanced prostate cancer diag- nosis — prostate-specific membrane antigen- positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (PSMA-positive mCRPC). The cancer cen- ter’s Gonzales location is the first provider in the region to offer this radiation treatment. The cancer center in Gonzales also recently introduced infusion therapy, allowing patients to access infusion in a comfortable and convenient location close to home. Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Gonzales is located at 1104 Louisiana 30 W. Our Lady of the Lake Physician GroupWelcomes Tucker Madden, MD Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group wel- comed Tucker Madden, MD, to its team of med- ical professionals serving the Northshore. Madden is currently seeing patients ages two and above at the Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group Money Hill Walk-In Clinic at 79630 Hwy 21 in Bush, Monday through Wednesday, and the Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group Internal Medicine - Lakeview Court located at 350 Lakev- iew Court, Suite B in Covington on Thursdays and Fridays, where he joins Lauren McManus, MD. Madden received an associate degree in nurs- ing from Louisiana Tech University. He earned a medical degree from Louisiana State University Health Science Center – New Orleans and com- pleted a family medicine residency at LSUHSC – Lake Charles. Critical Insight Releases Analysis on Healthcare Data Cyber Breach Critical Insight’s 2023 Healthcare Data Cyber Breach Report offered the following key findings: • Total breaches dropped 15% in the first six months of 2023 (1H 2023) compared to the second half of 2022 (2H 2022). • Individual records compromised in data breaches surged by 31% in 1H 2023 com- pared to 2H 2022. • The number of individuals affected increased from 31M in 2H 2022 to 40M in 1H 2023. • Hacking/IT incidents were the primary cause of data breaches, accounting for 73% of breaches in 1H 2023. Unauthorized access/disclosure was the second-most prevalent type in 1H 2023. • Network server breaches are responsi- ble for 97% of individual records affected, while only 2% can be attributed to email breaches. • Of the 40 million exposed records, 48% were linked to business associates, while 43% were associated with healthcare pro- viders. In the first half of 2023, 50% of indi- viduals impacted by a breach had a busi- ness associate present. Source: Critical Insight Releases H1 2023 Report, August 2023 n Tucker Madden, MD