I was part of the Pfizer COVID vaccine clinical trial in 2020. There was an app for recording some simple…
News 8/24/22
Top News
Struggling Babylon Health cancels its last NHS contract eight years early, saying that the projects aren’t profitable enough to continue in a cost-cutting environment.
Babylon had offered an AI-based chatbot for triaging patients and a telehealth service.
The company will focus on the US market, where the for-profit healthcare system generates more potential funding.
BBLN shares are down more than 90% since the company went public in a SPAC merger in October 2021.
Reader Comments
From Long Island IT: “Re: Northwell. Word in metro New York is that it is talking to Epic now that its CIO, who was tied tightly to Allscripts, is gone and the product set has been sold to Harris.” Unverified. Northwell and Allscripts announced in October 2019 that they would co-develop a next-generation EHR (which never happened) and Northwell extended its Allscripts contracts through 2027.
Webinars
None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.
Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock
Shares of Signify Health jump on the news that Amazon is reportedly interested in acquiring the home healthcare company, joining CVS Health and UnitedHealth. Final bids for Signify, which could achieve an $8 billion valuation, are due around Labor Day. UnitedHealth’s bid of $30 a share has made it the frontrunner thus far, followed by Amazon, which acquired membership-based primary care company One Medical last month for nearly $4 billion.
Virtual care company Recuro Health acquires Competitive Health, which offers digital health programs to employers. Recuro, which was founded last year by Teladoc founder Michael Gorton, acquired virtual primary care company WellVia in April.
Shares of Zoom took a beating on Tuesday as the company reported mixed quarterly results and lowered its forecast after enterprise sales failed to offset the loss of consumer users. A huge growth in Microsoft Teams users isn’t helping. ZM shares peaked in October 2020 at $559. They are now at $81, having lost 75% of their value in the past 12 months.
Sales
- Baptist Health chooses Censinet for vendor and product risk assessment.
- BronxCare Health System will implement virtual physical therapy, care paths, and remote education from Force Therapeutics for its orthopedic patients.
People
Suki names Belwadi Srikanth, MBA (Google) VP of product and design.
Brittany Carter, MBA (Cboe Global Markets) joins ChartSpan as CFO.
Todd Garlitz, MBA (LexisNexis Risk Solutions) joins virtual genomic services company Genome Medical as VP of growth marketing.
David Wardlaw, MBA (MobileSmith Health) joins Avant-garde Health as SVP of sales.
Tamara Elias, MD (Merck) joins Nuance / Microsoft as SVP of strategy and business incubation.
Announcements and Implementations
Cone Health’s payer subsidiary, HealthTeam Advantage, implements Bamboo Health’s Pings real-time care notification technology.
Brown & Toland Physicians makes e-consults with Stanford Health Care (CA) subspecialists available to its network of primary care physicians.
The Sequoia Project selects HITRUST as the certifying body for organizations looking to prove compliance with TEFCA security requirements for designation as Qualified Health Information Networks.
Payments technology vendor Anomaly announces an AI-powered claims prediction engine that it says can identify likely actionable denials with 97% accuracy.
The National Cancer Institute awards a grant to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to publish best practices for telehealth-enabled cancer care, which will include a study of its MSK@Home program for breast and prostate cancer.
Privacy and Security
Methodist McKinney Hospital (TX) refuses to pay hackers to retrieve 360 gigabytes of data that was stolen in a recent ransomware attack, which also affected two Methodist surgery centers. The attack occurred between May and July. The hackers have threatened to sell the data on the dark web.
In France, ransomware hackers demand $10 million to restore the systems of 1,000-bed CHSF Hospital Centre, which is sending patients to other hospitals.
The federal government warns hospitals about voice phishing attacks, in which hackers use telephone calls to convince computer users to install malware. The targeted user receives an email indicating that a subscription that they never signed up for is ending or from what is claimed to be a government entity or technology company, with instructions to call a provided telephone number for more information.
Other
The Verona paper profiles Epic’s artist-in-residence Manabu Ikeda, whose on-campus studio is open for visitors each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
A reader sent this shot of the famous opening campfire of Epic UGM. They offered kudos to the Verona fire department for managing the actual campfires. Meanwhile, I’ve read quite a few horror stories about would-be attendees who are sitting home because the airlines couldn’t figure out how to get them to Verona.
I had a photo of Judy’s keynote at Epic UGM inserted here that I should have noticed (as a couple of readers did who told me) that it was actually from last year’s conference, when the hall seemed emptier with distancing in place. That’s what I get for just searching Twitter for “EpicUGM” and forgetting that I would get old results since I almost never do a Twitter hashtag search. Anyway, Deep Space was apparently packed this week with 11,000 people in the audience. Thanks for the folks who let me know I goofed, and thanks in advance to whomever sends me a photo from this year’s session.
Sponsor Updates
- WebPT releases the Keet Remote Therapeutic Monitoring Dashboard and announces enhanced integrations with WebPT and Insight EHRs.
- Ellkay adds CRM data archiving to its LKArchive platform.
- CarePort will exhibit at the Chicago Care Coordination Summit August 30.
- An OptimizeRx study finds that its Evidence-Based Physician Engagement solution successfully identified doctors whose patients have treatment plans that may lapse due to a loss of insurance coverage.
- Biofourmis COO Jaydev Thakkar will present at the 2022 DPharm Idol Disrupt Event September 13 in Boston.
- Diameter Health exhibits at the Civitas Networks for Health Conference through August 24 in San Antonio.
- Bamboo Health makes its Crisis Management System available to support 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline regional call centers.
Blog Posts
- Healthcare leaders share four key insights on RCM innovation (Ability Network)
- How this simple cybersecurity practice could save you from a data breach (AdvancedMD)
- Healthcare analytics: build or buy? (Arcadia)
- Quitting Time Part 1: Integrating Programs to Drive Tobacco Cessation (Azara Healthcare)
- Leveraging Direct EHR Integration for Improved Clinical Efficiency and Patient Care (Bamboo Health)
- Making SDOH actionable at the point of care (Bravado Health)
- Patient Matching: It’s More Complicated Than You Think (CarePort)
- Meditech Expanse: Why Clinicians Love It (CereCore)
- Most Common IT Vulnerabilities for Practices (ChartLogic)
- Empowering Providers Through a Technology-Driven Physician Practice Management Platform (Clearwater)
- Defeating Copay Maximizer Programs: Supporting Clients in the Battle Against Payer Cost-Shifting (ConnectiveRx)
- Nursing Success within Hospital at Home (Current Health)
- Divurgent Turns 15 – A Look at Past, Present, and Future (Divurgent)
- Addressing the Acute Need for Chronic Care Services (EClinicalWorks)
Contacts
Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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Can’t fly to Verona? Of course not, ain’t no airport in Verona, WI. But I bet it won’t be long before Judy builds one!
@ HIS Junkie – The Judes uses the middleton airport for all of her private jet needs although you used to see her and Carl on the regular planes. Judy was in economy with the rest of us on one of our trips. She doesn’t have the Diamond status that her IS staff has.
But it’s a long way from Verona to Middleton, got to be at lest 10 miles, so I still see an Airport in Verona soon. That is, unless she finishes that StarTrek human teleport tool they have secretly been working on.
Re: Babylon….You describe this as a failing venture, but I hear opportunity! I am predicting that Yahoo, Circuit City and Toys R Us are all putting together their takeover bids now, eager to jump in to take their share of that easy healthcare money. Blockbuster has all of those former locations, just looking for new use for their spaces, and you can rent a movie while you wait (win-win!). First Iora failed big enough to sell high, then One Medical failed big enough to earn a bidding war. Is Babylon next?
The reference to ‘Deep Space’ sent me scuttling to sources to figure out, ‘what on Earth’ that is!
Well, Epic isn’t stuffy, you have to admit. Broadway shows. Science fiction. Rock music. Space travel. Ancient luminaries. Adventure movies.