News 11/9/18

Top News

Google will hire Geisinger President and CEO David Feinberg, MD, MBA to develop its healthcare strategy across its business units that include search, cloud, AI, Nest home automation, and Google Fit wearables. 

Reader Comments

From Keeping It Real: “Re: NextGen blog post. I guess you get what you pay for in marketing and social advisors since someone was apparently OK with citing a competitor’s opinion piece.” I’m puzzled by the blog post that is attributed to NextGen Healthcare CMIO Robert Murry, MD since it not only cites a blog post of competitor Nextech, the Nextech post is hardly original (a “free” EHR may involve paid add-ons that make it more expensive than a paid system, it basically says). I’m pretty sure this was ghost-written by a NextGen marketing person since Bob has outstanding education and experience (not to mention his esteemed credential as a member of Dann’s HIStalk Fan Club on LinkedIn) and I doubt he’s looking to Nextech for inspiration. I’ll also say that I get puff pieces every day that are supposedly written by vendor C-level executives that clearly were hacked together by a marketing committee who took a quick, “OK, fine, whatever” response from the alleged author as meaning they did great when they clearly did not. 

From Smallie Biggs: “Re: LinkedIn. Is it creepy when people write their entries in the third person or call themselves ‘Mr.’ or ‘Ms.’ in describing how wonderful they are? Absolutely. Stiffly written LinkedIn profiles make me question whether that person has an ounce of creativity or originality in them, and if they applied to work for me, I would be instantly prejudiced into moving on to someone who seems more human.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Listening: a good protest song and video from rapper Kap G (whose music I generally dislike) called “A Day Without a Mexican.” Kap G (real name: George Ramirez) proudly wears his Mexican lineage (literally) despite rather light cred given that he was born and raised in College Park, GA. I’m also really, really liking Spain-based Mägo de Oz (Spanish for “Wizard of Oz” with the mandatory metal umlaut thrown in because they have a sense of humor),  which deftly plays an amalgam of heavy metal, Celtic, and 1980s-style power rock, kind of like Iron Maiden, Asia, and Jethro Tull co-creating a Spanish-language metal opera from “Lords of the Dance.” They’re big in a lot of places that aren’t here.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Bedside patient engagement company GetWellNetwork acquires HealthLoop, a Silicon Valley-based developer of automated messaging for follow-up care. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. HealthLoop, which has raised $22 million since launching in 2009, will work with GetWellNetwork to develop an integrated solution called GetWell Loop in the coming months.

Medication safety technology vendor Tabula Rasa HealthCare acquires Cognify, which offers solutions to support the federal PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) program.

Sales

• ClinicalConnect HIE (PA) selects Fusion, Analyze, and Quality apps from Diameter Health to automate and standardize data exchange.
• Charleston Area Medical Center (WV), Fairview Health Services (MN), and University of Minnesota Physicians select release-of-information services from MRO.
• Pacific Dental Services, which provides back-office services for dental practices, will implement Epic to allow practices to coordinate with other clinicians.

People

Michael Johnson (Community Health Systems) joins Medhost as CISO.

Greenway Health promotes Kimberly O’Loughlin to president.

Chief Health Information Officer Neal Patel, MD, MPH will replace Chief Informatics Officer Kevin Johnson, MD, MS as head of health IT efforts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (TN) as of January 1. Johnson will retain his position as chair of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Informatics. Both men oversaw the hospital’s two-year Epic implementation and optimization efforts.

Anne Hunt (Castlight Health) joins healthcare messaging vendor Medici as VP and head of product following its acquisition of DocbookMD.

PatientKeeper names Barry Gutwillig (Kofax) VP of sales and marketing.

Jeff Miller (The SSI Group) joins AMA-backed Akiri as COO.

Jennifer LeMieux (JRMH Consulting) returns to healthcare consulting and hospital management company HealthTechS3 as COO.

Audacious Inquiry names Keith “Motorcycle Guy” Boone (GE Healthcare) as informatics adept. I had to look that word “adept” up and I like it – it can be used as either an adjective or noun to describe someone who is skilled in a particular area.

HealthStream promotes Trisha Coady to SVP/GM of clinical solutions.

Peter Siavelis (StayWell) joins Waystar as SVP of health systems.

Industry long-timer Brian Graves (Concentra Analytics) joins Hospital IQ as VP.

Announcements and Implementations

Novant Health (NC) goes live on Glytec’s EGlycemic Management System.

Cedar County Memorial Hospital (MO) goes live on Meditech Expanse with consulting help from Engage.

Physicians at Upstate University Hospital (NY) develop a training program using Vocera’s Rounds mobile app to capture data about hospitalist behavior during patient interactions and to provide real-time feedback.

In Maine, the ACO of Northern Light Health (just renamed from Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, which was oddly pluralized, and not to be confused with Northern Lights Regional Healthcare Centre in Alberta, Canada) adopts PatientPing’s real-time admit-discharge-transfer notification services. The name change creates an awkward title for the flagship hospital, “Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center,” which I’m guessing basically nobody will use in favor of the perfectly serviceable old name of Eastern Maine Medical Center or EMMC.

Government and Politics

After a pilot study with Kaiser Permanente, the FDA releases the open-source code behind its new MyStudies app. The app was developed to give patients, providers, and developers an easier way to report and collect health data that can then be used to inform the development of drug and medical devices, and patient safety efforts.

Other

Hawaii Pacific Health VP Melinda Ashton, MD describes the origin and progress of the health system’s “Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff” program, which aims to streamline EHR workflows based on nursing and physician requests. Since launching in October 2017, requests have been submitted and acted on in three main categories – documentation that was never meant to occur, documentation that could be done more effectively, and required documentation that end users didn’t fully understand. Ashton says, “When the campaign was unveiled, it was largely met with surprise and sheepish laughter, then applause. We seem to have struck a nerve. It appears that there is stupid stuff all around us, and although many of the nominations we receive aren’t for big changes, the small wins that come from acknowledging and improving our daily work do matter.”

Mid Atlantic Permanente Medical Group cardiologist and Epic user Ameya Kulkarni, MD posts a thread of tweets reacting to Atul Gawande’s New Yorker piece on the contempt physicians have for their computers, noting more than once that the EHR is not the biggest contributing factor to physician burnout. “To fight burnout,” he says, “we need to think about how our communication systems increase loneliness and reduce agency. These are the key drivers. … And working on loneliness means 1) creating opportunities for real world interaction with colleagues and patients & 2) Simplifying documentation requirements so notes become communication tools again.”

A study of the EHR experience of medical students in Australia finds that they have no problems learning it, using it, or understanding its advantages. They also don’t feel that using the EHR detracts from patient interaction or rapport. They do, however, say that the EHR doesn’t help them learn as much as they expected.

Sponsor Updates

• HCTec staff volunteer at Hope Lodge, an organization in Nashville helping those undergoing cancer treatments.
• AdvancedMD employees pack over 900 weekend pantry packs for students in the Granite School District.
• Agfa Healthcare partners with PACSHealth to implement system-wide radiation dose monitoring at the Veterans Integrated Service Networks 19.
• Apixio will exhibit at RISE: The 12^th Risk Adjustment Forum November 11-13 in Marco Island, FL.
• Aprima publishes a new guide, “How to Switch EHRs.”
• Over 50 Florida hospitals now receive data through state-based HIE services, including Audacious Inquiry’s Encounter Notification Service.
• Bluetree will exhibit at the RCM Leaders Forum November 14-16 in Dallas.
• CenTrak publishes a new customer testimonial featuring Diane Drefcinski from the University of Wisconsin.
• ChartLogic publishes a new white paper, “How to Prepare for MIPS in 2019.”
• CompuGroup Medical will exhibit at the AZ HIMSS Tucson Education Event November 15.
• CoverMyMeds will exhibit at the ECRM pharmacy technology event November 12-14 in Cape Coral, FL.
• Diameter Health will exhibit at the NCQA HL7 Digital Quality Summit November 14-15 in Washington, DC.
• Docent Health is mentioned in a new book on healthcare consumerism, “Choice Matters: How Healthcare Consumers Make Decisions (and Why Clinicians and Managers Should Care).
• DocuTap will accept submissions for its scholarship program through December 2.
• Elsevier will integrate the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology with its Via Oncology clinical decision support tool.
• EClinicalWorks will exhibit at the 2018 NNOHA Annual Conference November 12-13 in New Orleans.
• EPSi will exhibit at the HFMA Region 9 Conference November 11-13 in New Orleans.
• FormFast will exhibit at the GC3 Conference November 14-16 in Mobile, AL.
• Spok notes that it has been ranked #1 by Black Book for secure communications in hospitals.
• Healthwise and Imprivata will exhibit at NextGen UGM 2018 November 11-14 in Nashville.
• Imat Solutions will exhibit at the TAHP 2018 Managed Care Conference and Trade Show November 12-14 in Houston.
• Iatric Systems will exhibit at HCCA Regional November 16 in Nashville.
• Influence Health congratulates four renowned health system customers for their 2018 MarCom Awards.
• Black Book Market Research ranks Spok number one in secure communications for hospital systems.
• Divurgent hires Robert Leahey (Axiom Systems) as principal.
• Piedmont Healthcare (GA) improves clinical documentation and physician productivity with Nuance’s AI-powered solutions.
• Meditech releases a new podcast on EHR value and sustainability.

Blog Posts

• How telehealth improved pregnancy outcomes and patient retention in rural Georgia (Advisory Board)
• Microsoft OneDrive for Business or Google Drive for HIPAA Compliance? (Atlantic.Net)
• Less classroom training time doesn’t have to be frightening (Bluetree)
• Hard Cases: Why we need to be smarter about alarm fatigue (Bernoulli Health)
• Data Driven Healthcare (Datica)
• Preparing for a New Generation of Healthcare Professionals: Tools, Technology, Workflows, and Culture (CarePort Health)
• Implement Patient eSignature in These Two Areas ASAP Part I – Registration (Access)
• Takeaways from the CHIME Fall CIO Forum (Dimensional Insight)
• Three Ways Telemedicine Improves Care for Providers and Patients (EClinicalWorks)
• Are You Making Life Easier for Patients? (Formativ Health)
• New Report Reveals Hospital Variation in Clinical Quality and Outcomes (Healthgrades)
• Effectively Improving Patient Engagement (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• BPCI Advanced brings quality measures into the mix. Patient education helps you meet them. (Healthwise)
• CHIME Honors Next Wave’s William Spooner with Legacy Award (Huntzinger Management Group)
• Do you have a grip on your point-of-care images? (Hyland)
• Black Book Poll: Health Payer Executives Seek Enhanced Data Analytics (Imat Solutions)
• QPP Final Rule for 2019: Overview (Impact Advisors)
• Lead Management Tips to Maximize Your Healthcare CRM Investment (Influence Health)
• Not Lovin’ an Elevator: On Waiting, Transitions, and Value-Based Care (InterSystems)

Contacts

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