Monday Morning Update 5/25/15

Top News

Cerner tops its 2013 $3.8 billion new contract sales record with $4.25 billion in new sales in 2014, according to figures released during the company’s annual shareholders meeting. The company expects $1 billion in 2015 revenue to come from its Siemens acquisition. Cerner saw new business growth with state, specialty, regional, and community hospitals, and record contract sales in the physician market. CEO Neal Patterson focused on the need to look beyond EHRs to keep the company’s fiscal success going: "It’s up to us as leaders to continue the growth. You couldn’t find an intersection that has got more potential than what we’re at.”

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Check out Jenn’s weekly wrap up of population health management news.

Last Week’s Most Interesting News

• Allscripts lays off 250 employees across its service, support, solutions management, sales, and G&A departments as part of a wider “rebalancing” effort.
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approves the 21st Century Cures Act, sending the legislation to the House floor for a vote.
• Lahey Health (MA) lays off 130 people due to the unusually brutal winter in New England this year and its $160 million Epic implementation, which together resulted in a $21 million operating loss for the first six months of 2015.
• CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield announces a June 2014 data breach affecting 1.1 million members in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
• The battle of the ICD-10 bills heats up: Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) introduces the ICD-TEN Act, a bill that would introduce an 18-month period during which providers could submit claims in either ICD-9 or ICD-10 format, while the AHA proclaims its support for Rep. Ted Poe’s (R-TX) Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015, which would cancel the migration to ICD-10 completely.

Webinars

May 27 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Introducing Health Catalyst Academy: An Innovative Approach for Accelerating Outcomes Improvement.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenters: Tommy Prewitt, MD, director, Healthcare Delivery Institute at Horne LLP; Bryan Oshiro, MD, SVP and chief medical officer, Health Catalyst.  The presenters, who are graduates of Intermountain’s Advanced Training Program, will introduce the Health Catalyst Academy’s Accelerated Practices program, a unique learning experience that provides the tools and knowledge for participants to improve quality, lower cost, accelerate improvement, and sustain gains.

Announcements and Implementations

The Colorado Dept. of Health Care Policy and Financing selects nonprofit population health management technology company eQHealth Solutions to manage its ColoradoPAR utilization management program for Medicaid patients.

Visage Imaging receives FDA clearance for the use of its Visage Ease Pro app, part of its enterprise imaging platform, for mobile diagnostic interpretation of all imaging studies except mammography.

Government and Politics

Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduce H.R. 2516, the Veterans E-Health and Telemedicine Support Act of 2015. The bipartisan legislation would enable VA health professionals to practice telemedicine across state lines if they are qualified, and practice within the scope of their authorized federal duties. It would also enable veterans to receive telemedicine treatment from anywhere, including their home or a community center, rather than solely at a federally owned facility. 

The Connecticut Senate passes a bill that includes provision for a new state HIE. This would mark the second time the state has attempted to stand up a HIE. The first one, HITE-CT, was shuttered last July after burning through $4.3 millions in four years with no discernible progress made. (Former HITE-CT Board Member Ellen Andrews paints a pretty scathing picture of the ineptitudes that led to the HIE’s failure.) Legislators intend to put out out a RFP to contract with an existing system or come up with an alternative plan.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announces that the USDA is accepting applications for its Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program, which provides increased access to education, training, and healthcare resources in rural areas.

Sales

Auburn Community Hospital (NY) selects revenue cycle software solutions from Mediscribes venture ezDI, including clinical documentation improvement and compliance auditing modules, analytics tools and dashboards, and computer-assisted coding.

Technology

Oculus Health launches a chronic care management and coordination platform with remote monitoring capabilities.

People

Ram Udupa (QIM Analytics) joins Paragon Development Systems (PDS) as vice president of product management.

Saint Francis Medical Center (MO) promotes Gene Magnus to director of IS.

Other

Forbes profiles Gaumard Scientific, a family business that has developed and manufactured robotic patients for over 60 years. Patriarch and founder George Baine, a physician with the British army during World War II, founded the company in 1946 and now counts Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, John Hopkins Hospital, and George Washington University Medical School among the clients that helps it generate more than $60 million in revenue annually.

Vancouver high school student Raymond Wang wins $75,000 in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his design of an air inlet system for planes that can reduce disease transmission by up to 55 times, and improve fresh airflow by almost 200 percent. The system can be installed in a plane in just one night for the price of a single passenger’s airline ticket. Wang is pursuing a patent for his design.

Sponsor Updates

• Navicure asks, “Are You on a ‘Need to Know’ Basis with Value-Based Reimbursement?” in a new blog.
• The Netsmart Technologies men’s volleyball team wins bronze at the Kansas City Corporate Challenge.
• The New York eHealth Collaborative will exhibit at the d.health summit May 29 in New York City.
• Nordic offers the latest edition of its HIT Breakdown video series, focusing on engagement in population health.
• Orion Health offers a new blog entitled, “The IT Inclusion Paradox.”
• PDS offers a new blog entitled, “Software-Defined Data Center: A Long and Winding Road.”
• PMD offers a new blog entitled, “Health Exchange Video: The Art of Narration.”
• Sagacious Consultants offers a new blog entitled, “5 Things that Might not be Working in Your IT Department.
• SCI Solutions offers a new blog entitled, “Five Top Revenue Generation Strategies for CFOs.”
• The SSI Group will exhibit at the South Carolina HFMA Annual Institute 2015 May 26-29 in Myrtle Beach.
• TeleTracking announces that Scott Halford will keynote its user conference October 25-28 in Las Vegas.
• Truven Health Analytics will exhibit at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting May 29 in Chicago.
• Valence Health opens registration for its Further 2015 client conference September 30-October 2 in Chicago.
• Versus Technology offers a new blog recapping client Community Hospital’s presentation at HIMSS15 on technology’s role in containing MERS.
• Voalte offers a new blog entitled, “Off the Cuff.”
• Huron Consulting will sponsor Father of the Year Awards May 27 in Riverside, CA in support of the American Diabetes Association and the Father’s Day Council.
• ZirMed is honored by Louisville Central Community Centers Inc. with its 2014 Corporate Community Service Award.
• Several HIStalk sponsors will exhibit at the 2015 International MUSE Conference May 26-29 in Nashville, including Park Place International, Passport Health, PatientSafe Solutions, PatientKeeper, Sandlot Solutions, Summit Healthcare, Surgical Information Systems, T-System, Winthrop Resources, and Zynx Health.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan.

More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.

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