Weekender 4/9/21

Weekly News Recap

• KKR acquires a majority interest in behavioral health EHR/PM vendor Therapy Brands.
• Firefly Health raises $40 million.
• A magazine article questions the claims and effectiveness of behavioral therapy apps.
• Massachusetts General Hospital will collaborate with drug manufacturer AstraZeneca on digital health solutions for disease management.
• The Indian Health Service seeks help with developing a strategic plan for IT.
• Bright Health acquires Zipnosis.
• The federal government’s information blocking and EHR transparency rules take effect.
• A two-system study of EHR usage finds that ambulatory physicians spend five hours on the EHR for each eight hours of scheduled clinical time.
• Bank of America acquires AxiaMed.

Best Reader Comments

I can’t believe after all these years I am still downloading summaries from patient visits that tell me nothing I didn’t know before walking in the door. I already know my Rx med, patient medical / surgical history, VS, etc. What I WANT is a summary of what the doc and I discussed because I don’t always remember all the details and occasionally have needed to refer to it. This is NOT what was intended when this whole notion of implementing EHRs (not to mention paying docs for doing that!) was first started. (JT)

Standardize and automate. Do as much of this as you can, and no more. (Brian Too)

I don’t understand why these health insurance + digital whatever always go for the low cost market. In the Firefly Health article, they say their cost is so much lower (doubtful). But I imagine the people who would want a digital insurance care plan are not the same people who are looking for bargain basement health insurance. (IANAL)

In primary care at least, so much easier when the horse brought doc to the house where they stayed until the crisis resolved. The physician was not interrupted at all. As a country doc by training, I knew we were going down a slippery slope when consultants started saying that all patients needed to be in gowns before doc would encounter them. And now, it is all about productivity first rather than quality. (Kevin Hepler)

Watercooler Talk Tidbits

Readers provided the New York elementary school class of Ms. F with hands-on math kits, from which she created individualized math toolboxes to accommodate COVID-19 requirements. She says, “Thank you so much for donating to my classroom and supporting us for this year and years to come. We use our materials for math on a day to day basis. It truly has helped us transition to a new type of learning. Thank you so much for all of your help. My students are so grateful as well, they are still talking about the kind person who has helped out and donated to us in a time of need. Thank you so much for everything! We appreciate you.”

The Department of Defense profiles Army Captain Tineisha Nagle, MSN, APRN, who was deployed under a FEMA program to support ICU staff at Yuma Regional Medical Center (AZ). She graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a degree in ocean engineering and then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing, served 12 years in the Marines including deployment to Iraq as a lieutenant, and recommissioned to the Army Reserves, where she is completing her first year as a critical care nurse.

A Minnesota hospital nurse who was fully vaccinated for COVID-19 in January is stuck in quarantine in a Playa del Carmen, Mexico hotel room after testing positive in preparing for her trip back home from vacation. She is restricted to a small room that is guarded around the clock, but at least she bought the hotel’s $30 insurance policy that covers room and meals for 14 days for guests who test positive.

A Michigan baby who is nearly two years old goes home for the first time, having spent her first 694 days hospitalized in the pediatric cardiothoracic ICU with a congenital heart condition that required four open heart surgeries. It’s probably best to focus on the feel-good aspect and not the size of the University of Michigan bill or who ultimately will pay it.

In Case You Missed It

• News 4/9/21
• EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 4/8/21
• Readers Write: Improving Adherence, Affordability, and Experience with Better Point-of-Care Data
• Readers Write: Medication Decision Support Alerts Don’t Need to Go Away, They Need to Get More Specific
• HIStalk Interviews Andrew Smith, President, Impact Advisors
• News 4/7/21
• Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 4/5/21
• HIStalk Interviews Rob Culbert, CEO, Culbert Healthcare Solutions
• Monday Morning Update 4/5/21
• Katie the Intern 4/2/21

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