Giving a patient medications in the ER, having them pop positive on a test, and then withholding further medications because…
News 10/16/15
Top News
Personal genome testing vendor 23andMe raises a $115 million Series E on a $1.1 billion valuation. The company nearly shut down in 2013 after the FDA shut down its direct-to-consumer sales and marketing efforts, but has pivoted and now generates its revenue supporting drug discovery. Lt. Dan takes a closer look on HIStalk Connect.
HIStalk Announcements and Requests
This week on HIStalk Connect: Philips partners with Amazon to bring HIPAA-compliant IoT connectivity to its population health platform. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen invests $500 million in artificial intelligence research. Berlin-based reproductive health app Clue raises a $7 million Series A to grow its user base and expand functionality within its app.
This week on HIStalk Practice: MGMA15 updates from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. AdvancedMD launches new interoperability and benchmarking tools. AMA’s new Telehealth Services Group convenes to discuss expanding CPT codes. Heart and Vascular Center of Lake County goes with Allscripts for chronic-care management. AAFP takes ONC to task for its weak interoperability roadmap. Primary care and mental health clinicians discover integrating data can be painful.
Webinars
None in the next few days. Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.
Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock
Glytec’s patent for its mobile diabetes management app, which offers patients real-time insulin-dosing guidance, receives approval from the US Patent and Trademark Office .
DrFirst firms up $25 million in equity financing from Goldman Sachs, bringing its total financing over the last year to $42 million. The company announced last week the integration of its medication management software and secure communications with the Rx30 Pharmacy Management System.
Sunnyvale, CA-based Health Gorilla secures a $2.4 million Series A led by Data Collective. The company has also expanded its diagnostic test automation platform to include electronic ordering and secure messaging.
Theranos fires back after the Wall Street Journal publishes an exposé-like piece by Pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist John Carreyrou highlighting the fact that company uses its proprietary testing equipment on only 15 of the 200-plus tests it performs, and that many of those tests require large samples rather than the “few drops of blood” the company claims. Theranos asserts that, “Stories like this come along when you threaten to change things, seeded by entrenched interests that will do anything to prevent change, but in the end nothing will deter us from making our tests the best and of the highest integrity for the people we serve, and continuing to fight for transformative change in health care.”
Sales
Seattle Children’s Hospital signs a three-year contract with Wellcentive to implement its population health management and value-based care solutions. The hospital will use the tools within its Seattle Children’s Care Network and Pediatric Partners in Care program.
Steward Health Care System (MA) moves forward with Meditech 6.1. Implementation across its nine hospitals is slated to begin next month, with a go-live date set for 2017.
Technology
Philips partners with Nuance to offer Nuance PowerScribe 360 users the ability to import radiology dosimetry data from its DoseWise Portal.
Medhost implements ExtraHop’s wire data analytics platform to gain insight into how providers use and experience its software. It’s also signed up for the Seattle-based company’s HL7 analytics to improve the troubleshooting process when HL7 interface problems crop up.
People
Validic Chief Marketing Officer Chris Edwards wins the CMO Growth Award from The CMO Club.
Pam Stampen (American Family Insurance) joins Nordic as vice president of human resources.
Eric Topol, MD (Scripps) joins the MyoKardio Board of Directors, and becomes chair of its science and technology committee.
Hackensack University Medical Center (NJ) Vice President and CIO Shafiq Rab, MD receives CHIME’s 2015 Innovator of the Year award.
Miles Snowden, MD (TeamHealth) and Linde Wilson (L.E.K. Consulting) join the Oxehealth advisory board.
Announcements and Implementations
LBJ Tropical Medical Center and 17 outpatient clinics in American Samoa go live on Medsphere’s OpenVista EHR. Four more clinics will roll out the technology in the coming months. Providers in the unincorporated US territory are eligible for Meaningful Use, and are in the process of qualifying for Stage 1.
Hospice Buffalo (NY) implements e-prescribing technology and services from Delta Care Rx.
Baystate Health selects Kyruus ProviderMatch software to streamline and standardize referral processes across its integrated network in Springfield, MA.
Holy Family Memorial (WI) rolls out telemedicine services via the Zipnosis platform. The vendor inked a deal with Michigan-based multispecialty provider group IHA earlier this month.
Mayo Clinic (MN) implements the Viewics Health Insighter analytics platform across several divisions within its Dept. of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, including Mayo Medical Laboratories.
Government and Politics
The VA and Indian Health Service receive accreditation from EHNAC and DirectTrust, making them the first federal agencies to gain interoperability via the Direct exchange network.
Privacy and Security
Accenture reports that cyberattacks over the next five years will cost US health systems $305 billion in lifetime revenue. Adding insult to injury is the company’s estimate that one in 13 patients will have personal data stolen from technology systems within that same timeframe, leading 6 million people to become victims of medical identity theft.
Innovation and Research
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater researchers determine that Hawaii, Wisconsin, and Iowa have the most efficient healthcare systems based on a five-year look at patient satisfaction scores and access trends, as well as financial and human resource data. The study, sponsored by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, was designed to give employers more insight into employee healthcare ROI across the country.
Other
The Georgia Partnership for Telehealth collaborates with Appling HealthCare System (GA) and WellCare Health Plans to open two new telemedicine-equipped health centers at schools in Appling County.
Epic’s “triple harvest” solar installation in Verona ranks as one of the largest in the area, with two arrays totaling 2.2 megawatts. The company grows alfalfa underneath its largest array, and has installed a network of 2,500 ground-source heat pumps under the alfalfa to heat and cool the campus. It’s somewhat ironic to compare the company’s attempts to go green with the impact its employment boom is taking on Madison’s public transportation system. Ridership on the city’s two routes to the Verona campus has increased by more than 25 percent annually since 2012. The company kicked in $26,000 to help run an extra route starting last month.
Sponsor Updates
- Intelligent Medical Objects and Navicure will exhibit at the EClinicalWorks 2015 National Conference October 16-19 in Nashville.
- Leidos Health and Obix will exhibit at the Georgia HIMSS annual conference and tradeshow October 23 in Atlanta.
- Liaison Technologies covers 100 percent of health insurance premiums for its US-based employees and their dependents.
- LifeImage highlights the latest in image-sharing solutions at the 2015 Cerner health conference this week.
- Medecision Senior Clinical Content Specialist Lois Morris shares her most memorable case manager story.
- Netsmart will exhibit at the Providers Council Conference October 19 in Boston.
- Xerox will exhibit at the Midwest Fall Technology Conference October 25-26 in Detroit.
Blog Posts
- Horcruxes in Healthcare: Who Owns Your Medical Identity? (ID Experts)
- Endless Health IT Capabilities (Impact Advisors)
- Unless We Care a Whole Awful Lot (MedData)
- Epic MyChart patient engagement strategies: Buy-in, special challenges and Meaningful Use (Nordic)
Contacts
Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates.
Contact us or send news tips online.
Sponsor update: Are you going to run anything on the accusations toward Drew Madden?
Related to the announcement of Nordic Consulting’s new VP of HR, it should be noted that her recently dismissed predecessor is suing Nordic and its
http://www.isthmus.com/news/news/nordic-accused-of-sexual-harassment-retaliation/
Not to be too much of a pedant, but a VP of Marketing is in no way a predecessor to a VP of HR.
Well now Madden seems to be the class of the company. Seems his Epic ego got the best of his brain where ever that may be. Nordic needs a leader and it is not Madden.
Madden was never an Epic employee. He’s ex Cerner. Just jumped into Epic work after leaving Cerner.
Group transportation is very much in line with “going green”. I’m not sure I follow how that is somewhat ironic.
Re: Madden – There are often two sides to each story. Below is an email sent to all Nordic employees yesterday.
Some of you may have seen a report in The Isthmus about legal claims being brought by a former employee against Nordic. The report presents a totally misleading picture of Drew and the Company that we take strong issue with and are determined to not let stand.
Having worked closely with Drew for many years, these harassment allegations do not bear any resemblance to the person we know to be a strong leader with a clear vision, unparalleled dedication to our clients and passion for making Nordic a great place to work.
We can assure you that Nordic’s leadership team and the full Board of Directors stand firmly behind Drew and are extremely proud of his and the entire Nordic team’s impressive track record. In a short period of time, we have built a company that is widely admired in the industry and is recognized for being a great place to work.
Importantly, we are aggressively fighting these allegations and will have the opportunity to defend the company at an EOD hearing in Madison next week. Today’s media report does not tell the full story, takes specific comments out of context and there are many elements that Drew categorically denies. In fact, we believe the charges of harassment are contradicted by many documented instances in which the former employee spoke glowingly about Drew’s integrity and his leadership.
Nordic is committed to building a positive, respectful workplace environment for all employees and does not tolerate harassment of any kind. Since inception, we have had in place clear policies and procedures governing employee conduct, all of which are outlined in the employee handbook.
If you have any questions or concerns about this issue or our policies, please contact someone on the executive team directly. If there are any press inquiries, please do not respond but direct them to Eric.
Interesting email from Nordic leadership, Big Green. I assume we’ll see Drew exonerated and no plea deal or settlement then, right?
Re: Nordic
Wow! I don’t know if the allegations will stand up, but there is not a chance I would let that guy run my company. And if I were paying their consulting fees and I read these texts, I would be none too thrilled with their ho hum attitude about this. I don’t see in what world that’s appropriate CEO behavior.
I will never apply to Nordic after reading that response from Big Green. The charges of harassment are NOT countered by other instances of praise (that’s not how the workplace works), and the “specific comments” used are still inappropriate from a superior to a subordinate.
Nordic is obviously taking a page from a PR playbook here, but in so doing, has completely lost my respect.
I am sure all the buses to/from Epic run on solar…
Hmm…Univ Wisconsin along with the Wisc Hosp Assn find Wisconsin to be in top three of efficient health care systems. What a surprise!
Big Green – I can’t get over the irony of your post. By just reading the article alone, one could simply think that Drew Madden is a sleaze and not think ill of Nordic. Now that we see how Nordic is handling this internally, you’ve exposed the entire company and made us all realize that the problem runs deeper than Drew. I have lost all respect for this company and will not ever work with them in the future.
Mr. HISTalk – are you still going to let a company like this sponsor you? I would think the character of a company has to play into who you allow to sponsor HISTalk, yes?
Re: Nordic
From the perspective of this one-time Epic employee, Natalee had a tendency to associate herself with other highly-placed people at Epic. She got her current surname from her marriage to one of Judy’s primary assistants, and people always found it interesting that she seemed to get promoted to higher positions at Epic at the same time as she was married to the person who was in charge of most job transfers.
After reading through the various texts linked from the story I would say that they were generally in poor taste. What may be a consideration, though, and what is less clear is if there was any consensual relationship between Natalee and Drew. If there was, these texts may be far less inappropriate than they seem if there was no relationship between the two of them (though still clearly demonstrating a disappointing truth with Mr. Madden that money and success are sometimes wasted on people with crude intentions and poor literary merit). Office romances do happen, and even though we’d all like to expect the CEO to especially be wary of them many commenters would have to admit that they’ve had one, too.
Though I was no fan of Natalee, if there was no relationship between her and Drew, and if these were completely unwanted advances, then I’m surprised to find myself entirely in her corner. Nobody deserves that, and if it is the case I hope she is reinstated, that Drew is out, and that the next CEO be one who can demonstrate that success and good moral character can exist in one body.
Get this guy out of the office. Get him away from women employees. Nordic, pull your head out of the sand – you cannot let a pompous, egocentric, frat boy run your company. There is NO excuse for this. There is No reason to text this way with an employee. I hope the victim here is compensated. I hope she feels proud for bringing this to light. I hope he’s fired, quickly.
In reference to “RE: PM_From_Haities”. I have no position on the Nordic situation and it should ultimately be left to the courts.