Weekender 4/12/19

Weekly News Recap

• Cityblock Health raises $65 million just three months after announcing a Series A round of $21 million
• Partners HealthCare (MA) will equip its clinicians and researchers with the tools necessary to develop their own AI algorithms
• Cerner bows to pressure applied by an activist investor by appointing four new board members as nominated by hedge fund operator Starboard Value
• Microsoft announces that it will shut down its HealthVault personal health records service on November 20, 2019
• Google Cloud opens its healthcare API for beta testing
• Urgent care EHR/PM vendor DocuTAP and urgent care solutions vendor Practice Velocity announce plans to merge

Best Reader Comments

I’m assuming that the single-digit margin you refer to is the margin on your institution’s whole operation, and therefore represents money that is left over after the institution pays for all its costs (salaries, equipment, etc.). Your vendor’s 30% margin is, on the other hand, probably the margin on a single product – and the only costs that are covered before that 30% margin are costs that are directly related to that single product. The 30% margin goes on to pay for things like accounting department, promotional efforts including sales team (without which there would be no business), facility, investment in R&D for new products, and so on. It’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison. (Clustered)

If your primary purpose of going to HIMSS as a vendor is to get quantified leads and build sales pipeline, don’t get a booth if you are a small or mid-sized vendor. (Lazlo Hollyfeld)

I really don’t understand why half of Wall St. is just putting blind faith in Apple. This basically amounts to “healthcare is a big industry, Apple is a company that could take advantage of this industry”. Do any of these analysts realize that Apple devices and the App store are already used in healthcare? And that it’s not making an impact on patient outcomes or the company bottom line? (Elizabeth H. H. Holmes)

My understanding is Cerner is making the Soarian Financial customers migrate over to the Millennium financials. However if they are trying to meld the two together to make a super system in concert with the Millennium Clinical system (so actually three together) does anybody who has been in the EHR industry for the last 3-4 decades think that can really work this time? The EHR minefield is littered with craters of vendors who tried to create a synergy between technologies that were created under separate paradigms and methodologies. (Smartfood99)

If you are trying to attract CIOs from non-profits to your event at Pebble Beach, please don’t. Some younger CIOs may not appreciate that this could end their career. Experienced executives will know that events like this or like the one I have turned down three times – attend the Masters and then play at Augusta – are just not worth being fired for over a compliance issue. We may not like the rules, but if we choose to work in this industry successfully, we need to follow them. (Justa CIO)

Watercooler Talk Tidbits

Readers funded the DonorsChoose teacher grant request of Ms. T in California, who asked for lap desks and floor cushions for her kindergarten class. She reports, “Thank you for your generous donation to give our class materials for flexible seating in the classroom. My kindergarten students were so excited to see the new lap desks and cushions. They love being able to move around the classroom more while they are working. The days are long for kindergarten students, and being able to have a more flexible seating arrangement is helping my students to have more fun while they are working. Sitting in a chair all day long is difficult, and gets boring for many students. The lap desks give my students a chance to sit in a different place in the classroom. They also feel special when they are using the flexible seating.”

Boston Children’s Hospital sues a Saudi prince who volunteered to cover the treatment cost of a two-year-old girl with a rare genetic disorder, then ignored the hospital’s bills for $3.5 million. The hospital says they wouldn’t have admitted the child without his promise of financial backing.

Those who have never worked in a hospital can’t imagine what it’s like on the front lines of human misery and emotion and to have horrible images burned forever into your brain. Example: a Texas man whose grandchild was in the PICU after being severely beaten threatens to kill the hospital’s nurses and the grandchild because employees couldn’t give him information about the child’s condition.

Apparently there’s no limit to our demand for Elizabeth Holmes-related entertainment as the Theranos story will get yet another on-screen treatment, with SNL’s Kate McKinnon playing the disgraced CEO in a Hulu limited series. I’m sensing a missed opportunity here – Holmes is tarnished for life, so why not just do her own documentary, drama, or instructional video? I bet plenty of people would pay for personal coaching in how to run a personality-driven scam.

Tesla is reported to have strong-armed the doctor who runs its on-site factory clinic to keep worker injuries off the books to make its workplace injury record look better and to reduce its self-insurance costs. One of the doctors who could be counted on to give company-friendly diagnoses was about to lose his medical license for sexually assaulting two female patients.

New York’s health department investigates Danielle Roberts, DO for branding women with the initials of Keith Raniere and actress Allison Mack as part of their NXIVM sex-slave cult, of which she was a member. You have to wonder what could have convinced her that this was OK. She’s now hawking memberships in a holistic healing group she formed. Now every time I hear Twitterati yapping about their anemic “personal brand” I’ll think of these images.

In Case You Missed It

• News 4/12/19
• EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 4/11/19
• HIStalk Interviews Luis Castillo, CEO, Ensocare
• Vendor Alternatives to Exhibiting at the HIMSS Conference
• News 4/10/19
• Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 4/8/19
• Monday Morning Update 4/8/19

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