Monday Morning Update 2/7/22

Top News

Premier reports Q2 results: revenue down 10%, adjusted EPS $0.73 versus $0.65, beating Wall Street expectations for both.

The pandemic caused an 18% drop in supply chain revenue, while the company’s Performance Services segment – which includes analytics software – saw a 15% revenue increase. PINC shares are up 7% in the past 12 months versus the Nasdaq’s 2% gain, valuing the company at $4.5 billion.

From the earnings call:

• The company’s analysis of its PINC AI data finds that health system clinical employees are working 50% more hours than they did pre-pandemic.
• Premier is addressing purchasing inefficiencies by scaling its e-invoicing and e-payables technologies with its Remitra supply chain-focused digital payments solution.
• The company is partnering with life sciences companies on prospective research.
• Premier will offer Qventus’s patient flow solution and develop new AI-based solutions with the company.
• The company sees opportunities in clinical decision support, prior authorization automation, and HCC coding.

Reader Comments

From Bob Pshaw: “Re: the HIMSS BrandHIT Marketing Summit. I just realized that this HIMSS conference, which launched in 2017 to help vendors sell stuff, seems to have died quickly and quietly. Heard anything?” The conference, which was presented by HIMSS Media in a startling display of not even pretending to be journalistically objective, seems to have lasted two iterations, one in Las Vegas and the other in Nashville. That’s not exactly a testimonial to the topic in which it claimed expertise, and neither was the inconsistent name that HIMSS used to promote it (sometimes calling it Brand HIT, others BrandHIT, sometimes both in adjacent sentences). I assume HIMSS Media still runs its Media Lab, which sells marketing services, content, webinars, and basically paid access to HIMSS members.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Poll respondents show a preference for self-scheduling via a webpage rather than an app. Mario brings up the point that contactless appointments don’t triage based on patient need and are therefore problematic, while Rebecca notes that her least-favorite scheduling option is when the practice just tells her when to show up without asking first.

New poll to your right or here: Which factor would most entice you to seek information from a conference booth exhibitor?

Listening: Bartees Strange, who joyously follows his ear in veering from hard-charging rock to melodic hip-hop and making it all sound good.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Enlace Health of Columbus, OH. The Connected World of Enlace empowers payers, providers, and patients to participate together in an economically sound environment. Enlace Health solves healthcare from the inside out, fixing healthcare at its core. The Enlace solution is the only end-to-end infrastructure that bridges the gap between the current, chaotic system and an orderly healthcare world. Enlace always meets clients where they are, creating solutions based on need and maturity in value-based care. Enlace is Sustainable Healthcare. Delivered. Thanks to Enlace Health for supporting HIStalk.

I found this introductory video for Enlace Health on YouTube.

Thanks to the following companies for recently supporting HIStalk. Click a logo for more information.

Webinars

February 9 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “2022 – Industry Predictions and Medicomp Roadmap.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenters: David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp Systems; Jay Anders, MD, chief medical officer, Medicomp Systems; Dan Gainer, CTO, Medicomp Systems. The presenters will provide an update on the health IT industry and a review of the company’s milestones and insights that it gained over the past two years. Topics will include Cures Act implications, interoperability, AI, ambient listening, telehealth-first primary care, chronic care management, and new Quippe functionality and roadmap.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Shares in the Global X Telemedicine and Digital Health ETF (EDOC) dropped 10% in the past month versus the Nasdaq’s 11% loss. Digital health stocks have been on a tear lately, “tear” being the kind that pours from the eyes of investors who have watched their former high-flying companies auger into the hard ground of reality, especially those that took the SPAC back door. Private equity seems better suited lately to make startups successful compared to taking those companies public prematurely to ride an investment wave-slash-bubble, so we may see more companies exiting public markets after short, unsuccessful visits there.

Sales

• ChartWise Medical Systems selects SyTrue’s Natural Language Processing Operating System to mine structured and unstructured chart data into its NotePath AI-based chart review system.

People

Terri Sanders, MPH, formerly chief marketing and communications officer of HIMSS, joins Kivvit as managing director.

Announcements and Implementations

Labcorp launches OnDemand, which allows consumers to buy lab tests online and either collect samples at home or at its patient service centers. Competitor Quest offers a similar service, which is also marketed through Walmart. Physicians approve the tests behind the scenes in both cases, in Labcorp’s case via PWNHealth, for which Labcorp absorbs its $6.50 fee in the test purchase price.

Other

Ventilator manufacturer Vyaire Medical warns users of certain models to turn off the HL7 communication option after customers reported that the devices “unintentionally ceased ventilation during clinical use and require rebooting to resume ventilation.”

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks publishes a new customer success story, “How Records in Prisma Overcame a Language Barrier.”
• Fortified Health Security publishes its “2022 Horizon Report: The State of Cybersecurity in Healthcare.”
• OptimizeRx will present at BTIG’s MedTech, Digital Health, Life Science & Diagnostic Tools Conference February 15, and SVB Leerink’s virtual Global Healthcare Conference February 17.
• Olive announces the five winners of its Hack for Health developer contest.
• Frost & Sullivan has recognized Wolters Kluwer Health with its 2021 North American Company of the Year Award.
• Kyruus announces results from 2021, including expanding its customer base by 25 new healthcare organizations and expanding its online scheduling platform, among other achievements.
• Talkdesk appoints Tom Reilly (Cloudera) to its board.
• Vocera’s clinical communication and workflow solutions are now available for procurement through the NHS Shared Business Services Patient/Citizen Communications and Engagement Framework.
• Well Health announces its 2021 Well Health Award Winners.
• Arcadia publishes an analysis of data involving COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized and discharged from US hospitals in 2020.
• Zen Healthcare IT President and co-founder Marilee Benson has been selected to join The Carequality Advisory Council and the HIMSS Interoperability and HIE Committee.

Blog Posts

• Tapping Technology to Empower Your Workforce (Netsmart)
• How Empathy Can Help Reduce Hospital Readmissions (PatientBond)
• 4 Vendor Relationship Management Strategies for Healthcare (Symplr)
• Coming Soon! Tiny Talk Video Series with Our Privacy Experts (Protenus)
• 5 Ways to Make It Easier to Stay in Our Homes as We Age (Quil Health)
• Providers Are at the Center of Tech-Enabled Care Access (RxRevu)
• Founder Letter: How the Patient Experience Shaped WebPT’s Product Roadmap (WebPT)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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