Morning Headlines 1/5/15

Analytics-based U.S. tech firm Inovalon files for IPO

Inovalon Holdings, a data analytics vendor focused on healthcare, files a $500 million IPO.

Blue Cross starts health system payouts for value-based contracts

In Michigan, Blue Cross Blue Shield pays out $25 million to five hospitals that signed value-based reimbursement contracts in 2011 and 2012.

Wilmington doctor waits for NC Tracks payment

Physicians in North Carolina file a law suit against the state’s Department of Health and Human Services over billing issues that they claim led to doctors being paid lower Medicaid rates for services provided to Medicare patients. The payment problem stems from a custom software system developed by CSC at a cost of $484 million. The state DHHS has filed to dismiss the suit and refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem.

Adviser Guides Obama Into the Google Age

The New York Times profiles Megan Smith, the new White House chief technology officer, and her transition from a Google executive to a federal employee, where she now carries a BlackBerry and supports information systems that still partially rely on floppy disks.