News 10/8/21

Top News

Member engagement and wellness app vendor Virgin Pulse will acquire Welltok, which offers analytics-powered multi-channel healthcare communications.

Virgin Pulse, which has made several acquisitions, is owned by Morgan Equity Partners, which was reportedly shopping for a buyer for the company in early 2020 at $2 billion. It acquired the company from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group in mid-2018 and merged it with digital coaching company RedBrick Health.

Welltok has raised $262 million in funding, most recently a Series E round in July 2020.

Reader Comments

From TAA-Da!: “Re: Ascension IT. Another WARN notice, now approaching 1,000 employees since August. Why does it seem like all this outsourcing is invisible to most people?” Most people pay only casual attention to layoffs and/or outsourcing unless they have direct connections to those affected or the companies involved, especially since cheap-seats opinions are unlikely to reverse the course anyway. There’s also limited benefit to recognizing a possible trend unless you, as an employee who might be affected down the road, have options for mitigating your risk. Lastly, the outsourcing pendulum often eventually swings back for at least some jobs because cost savings and quality were overpromised.

From Nordic Viking: “Re: Cerner. Seems like they are losing ground in the Nordics since the City of Jyväskylä just announced that they withdrew from the Central Finland Cerner program. It will for sure have a negative impact on the already troubled and delayed projects in the South of Sweden.”

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor OneMedNet. The Eden Prairie, MN-based company provides innovative solutions that unlock the significant value that is contained within the clinical image archives of healthcare providers. Its OneMedNet iRWD offering securely de-identifies, searches, and curates a data archive locally, bringing a wealth of internal and third-party research opportunities to providers. By leveraging this extensive federated provider network, together with industry leading technology and in-house clinical expertise, OneMedNet successfully meets the most rigorous RWD Life Science requirements. Thanks to OneMedNet for supporting HIStalk.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Carbon Health, which offers telehealth and in-office primary and urgent care from five locations in New York City and Columbus, acquires remote patient monitoring tools vendor Alertive Healthcare.

The private equity owner of advance care planning technology vendor Vital Decisions sells the company to Evolent Health.

Revenue cycle management vendor Aspirion Health Resources acquires Advicare, which resolves clinical denials.

Virtual medical documentation contractor Augmedix launches a $40 million IPO offering.

Sales

• Global imaging platform vendor Arterys chooses OneMedNet to provide de-identified real-world provider data for the development, validation, and regulatory approval of its solutions.

People

Hackensack Meridian Healt hires Kash Patel, MSEE (Penn Medicine) as EVP / chief information and digital engagement officer.

Helia Care, which offers a platform that connects hospitals and medical device companies for ordering, hires Gregg Smith (Sharecare Provider Solutions) as chief commercial officer.

Isabelle Stapf, MS (AppFolio) joins Well Health as SVP of product.

Announcements and Implementations

Cerner launches RevElate as its single go-forward patient accounting system following years of high-profile struggles with Cerner Patient Accounting. The company says it will begin phasing in the product to replace existing Millennium and Soarian systems in 2023. A hospital CIO sent along these notes they took during the announcement:

• RevElate is based on the Soarian Financials platform.
• Former Soarian customers were electing to keep Soarian Financials while migrating to Millennium clinicals.
• Cerner Patient Accounting support will be phased out over the next 5-6 years. New sales will stop immediately.
• Patient access, charge capture, and the charge master will remain in Millennium, while patient accounting, including contract management, will be in RevElate.
• HealtheEDW is the go-forward strategy for reporting and analytics.
• Key development partners BayCare and Charleston Area Medical Center will initially deploy the system .
• Cerner clients that are upgrading to RevElate will undergo a six-month project.
• The product will be available to the full customer base in Q1 2023.
• Demos will be offered during the CHC virtual conference next week.

Data from Premier’s PINC AI predictive modeling shows that hospital clinical labor costs have increased 8% per patient day since the pandemic began, with overtime and agency use adding $17 million in annual costs for the average 500-bed facility.

Health IoT cybesecurity vendor Cynerio launches a small-hospital subscription program to protect against malware, ransomware, and other device security threats.

Abbott’s president and CEO will keynote the CES 2022 technology show in early January, the first time that a healthcare company will take its main stage.

HLTH announces COVID-19 safety precautions for its upcoming in-person meeting in Boston – mandatory proof of vaccination via Clear, PCR testing either within 72 hours before the conference or taken free onsite, and mandatory wearing of masks.

Other

CHIME publishes its list of Digital Health Most Wired for 2021.

In Spain,  the local health service apologizes for a gynecologist who documented “homosexual” as the current illness of a 19-year-old woman. The health service says it was an honest mistake caused by documenting her sexual orientation in the wrong part of the EHR, but the woman says that a hospital employee told her that several of the doctor’s patients had lodged similar complaints.

Sponsor Updates

• Wolters Kluwer Health launches Best Care Everywhere, a mission-driven movement to build and strengthen global health equity.
• Spok will highlight the importance of healthcare communication at its Connect 21 Virtual Conference October 11-12.
• The Nurse Keith Show Podcast features Glytec Clinical Project Lead Lori Weiss, RN “The Promising Future of Cutting-Edge Diabetes Care.”
• KLAS recognizes Halo Health in its latest report, “Clinical Communication Platforms – Improved Efficiency Leading to Concrete Outcomes.”
• PatientBond achieves 15 million touchpoints in August, sending automated email, text messages, and phone calls to 2.5 million unique patients.
• OncoSpark adds interoperability to it oncology prior authorization platform in partnering with Ellkay.
• The HCI Group’s DGTL Voices with Ed Marx Podcast releases a new episode, “CIO and CMO – the Importance of this Relationship,” featuring Cleveland Clinic CMO Paul Matsen and CIO Matt Kull.
• Health Catalyst will exhibit at HLTH 2021 October 17-20.
• KLAS recognizes Impact Advisors for its advisory and implementation services in its latest report, “2021 Healthcare Consulting & Services.”
• CareSignal publishes a white paper titled “Transform Your Population Health Strategy with Scalable Deviceless Remote Patient Monitoring.”
• Imprivata and VMware partner to give clinicians password-free access to any app for smoother, more secure mobile workflows.
• Interbit Data CEO Arthur Young discusses hospital systems downtimes at the HIMSS conference.
• NextGate achieves ISO 27001 Certification for information security management systems.
• NTT Data launches a back-to-work app to support government and business COVID-19 requirements.

Blog Posts

• Integrating Cyber and Physical Security can Better Protect People and Save Enterprises Time and Money (Everbridge)
• FDB Thanks Pharmacy Heroes During American Pharmacists Month (First Databank)
• With cyberattacks on the rise we must all do our part and #BeCyberSmart (Fortified Health Security)
• Rock and Roll Business Inspiration: Key Lessons from the Story of KISS (HCTec)
• Three Ways AI Can Earn Clinicians’ Trust (Health Catalyst)
• How the Right Health Education Can Save Money and Improve Outcomes (Healthwise)
• Cybersecurity Awareness Month (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• Deprescribing in Long-Term and Post-Acute Care Settings (MedAware)
• Easing password pains: How CISOS can implement real, complex passwords and keep clinicians happy (Imprivata)
• IMO resource roundup: Clinical terminology and COVID-19 (Intelligent Medical Objects)
• Patient Engagement Causes Fragmentation – Instead, Think Experience (Lumeon)
• Is Mobile a Practical Solution to Improving Chronic Disease Management? (Medhost)
• Out with the old and in with the new: Lane Regional Medical Center adopts Expanse Patient Care to make ED hand-off safer and simpler (Meditech)
• 8 Ways for PTs to Maintain a Positive Work-Life Balance (MWTherapy)
• Why Public Health Demands Robust Interoperability and Patient Identification (NextGate)

Contacts

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