Morning Headlines 11/11/13

White House tech expert gets subpoena to testify on HealthCare.gov

Todd Park, the US chief technology officer, has been issued a subpoena by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to testify at a hearing next week about what went wrong with the Healthcare.gov website. The committee says he was not willing to appear voluntarily, while the White House responded that the subpoena was unnecessary and poorly timed because Park is heavily involved in fixing Healthcare.gov and had already volunteered to testify in December.

Region Zealand and the Capital Region points to Epic as a provider of Health Platform

Epic, working with NNIT as a prime contractor, will sign a contract to provide EHR systems for all of eastern Denmark, according to a translated press release. The deal will involve 40,000 users and is valued at $180 million.

University Hospital sees banding together for survival

University Hospital (GA) will likely join Novant Health Inc., a 20-facility network based in Charlotte, NC. University Hospital’s CEO cites ARRA and the ACA as having too significant an impact on the bottom line to keep up as a standalone facility. The hospital spent $50 million on Epic and is looking for an additional $30 million to cover needed upgrades.

Report: CCO diversion program working

In Oregon, a recent report finds that a statewide coordinated care program has managed to reduce overall ER visits by 9 percent from 2011, before the program was launched. Emergency care spending also declined 18 percent from 2011. Outpatient primary care visits have increased by 18 percent and spending for primary care is up 7 percent.