Morning Headlines 7/15/13

Practice Fusion raising $60M, sources say

Ambulatory EHR freeware vendor Practice Fusion is rumored to be within days of announcing $60 million in new funding from an undisclosed New York-based investment firm.

Sutter’s New Electronic System Causes Serious Disruptions to Safe Patient Care at E. Bay Hospitals

Nurses with the California Nurses Association working at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center (CA) have gone on strike, citing patient safety concerns with the hospital’s newly implemented Epic system. Alta Bates, a Sutter Health facility, becomes the third health system to fall victim to an EHR-related nursing strike in the past few months after Affinity’s nurses hit the pavement in June over what they called a "hurried" Cerner implementation and Martin General Hospital (CA) nurses went on strike in May to delay a upcoming McKesson implementation. Sutter Health is reportedly spending $1 billion on a system-wide Epic implementation.

Athenahealth soars on Ascension deal

Athenahealth stock rose 20 percent Friday after the company announced a deal with Ascension Health Network worth as much as $42 million. Athena will implement its practice management solution to more than 4,000 Ascension providers.

Do Clinical Trials Work?

An op-ed in the New York Times questions the validity of clinical trials for new medications.The use of Avastin to slow the development of aggressive brain tumors is discussed. Researchers have not been able to link Avastin to improved survival rates through clinical trials despite growing anecdotal evidence that suggests a relationship does exist.