News 3/29/23

Top News

HL7 publishes FHIR Release 5.

I will break my journalistic fourth wall in noting once again the industry contributions of “Father of FHIR” Grahame Grieve, who from interviews I’ve done with him always strikes me as an almost painfully humble, accolades-deflecting expert who led the charge that made FHIR a thing and just keeps on quietly doing the work.

Reader Comments

From Peony: “Re: huge health system losses. It’s all about their investments, not necessarily operations.” True in many cases. Health systems made annual fortunes from investing their big profits (which they don’t call that, of course) into investments that ranged from prudent to wildly speculative. Every investor looks smart in a bull market, but health systems are moaning at their investment losses much more loudly they did when bragging about their previous gains. I’m not an accountant, but headlines about shocking losses require further investigation. Did they lose money selling, or are these just paper losses that could be reversed when the market rebounds? How much money did the health system have stashed away that allowed them to play Warren Buffet, and did they buy and sell wisely? If they made money from operations, then should anyone care that their investments generated losses? Sometimes losses are real and critical — such as those in which a health system runs out of cash or sees their bond rating collapse — but I always suspect that it’s like plutocrats who claim crippling losses to the IRS while summering in the Hamptons.  

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Listening: REM, whose early 1980s concert videos started popping up in my YouTube feed. Lots of people know dramatic singer Michael Stipe and arpeggio guitar master Peter Buck, but the subtle contributions of Bill Berry on the drums and Mike Mills with clean bass lines and high harmonies are underappreciated. The onstage energy and “I can’t believe we get to do this” smiling glances at each other are inspiring. Mills looks like an awkwardly shy teen and Stipe had the charm and appearance of a young Elvis. You can forgive the band for “Shiny Happy People” by watching them work the small crowd from a tiny stage in their dues-paying early days, perhaps with extra points for walking away as friends in 2011 with no plans to milk the reunion tour cash cow.

HIMSS guide reminder for sponsors: I’ve received information from four companies, two of which aren’t HIStalk sponsors, so now’s the time to send your information.  And speaking of conferences, sponsor Consensus Cloud Solutions is at ViVE this week, so I’ve added them to my conference guide.

Were a lot of cattle raised on the open ranges of Tennessee, I pondered upon seeing ViVE attendees posing with cowboy hats like citybilly country music crooners whose need for them is equally questionable, especially indoors and/or at night? I’m pretty sure cowboy hats and boots are, like mouse ears in Orlando, a sure way to self-identify as a tourist.  

ViVE Observations From An Attendee

An HIStalk reader who is attending the ViVE conference sent these notes:

• Announced attendance is 7,500, represented by 650 startups, 425 investors, and 330 hosted buyers. (Mr. H note — I’m surprised that only 330 attendees had their registration comped for agreeing to sit through vendor pitches. That means that a ton of people paid the high registration fee, although I then wonder how many are provider decision-makers).
• The conference had an easy start. You could get into town, take in some scenery, network, and have fun. There was enough going on to feel worthwhile but not jam-packed.
• Sessions were heavy on panels instead of individual speakers. That gives more companies a chance at the front of the room, but in losing the ability for someone creative to kill it with a great presentation instead of answering run-of-the mill moderator questions.
• Content is mediocre rather than thought-provoking or bold. As someone said, “everyone is simply tossing out headlines.” I would like to see a contrarian track where people point out where the shiny objects and overhyped solutions have failed to deliver.
• Live music is everywhere, included a performer in the registration area.
• A brief moment of silence was observed for the Nashville school shooting victims.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Value-based care enablement startup Wellvana Health raises $84 million, bringing its total to $140 million.

Sales

• Cone Health (NC) will use Lirio’s Precision Nudging intervention software, initially focusing on patients with hypertension.
• Lee Health (FL) selects B.well’s Connected Health technology to power its forthcoming Lee HealthPass app, which will aggregate patient data into a single interface.
• Catholic Care Center chooses Medsphere’s EHR and PM solutions.
• Netherlands-based Maastricht UMC+ chooses Epic to replace its SAP/Cerner system.

People

Clearsense names Alan Scott (Red Hat) chief enterprise architect.

Scott Cullen, MD (Accenture) joins Avia as EVP of strategic innovation and chief clinical officer.

Louis Raya (Waystar) and Tyler Wells (Waystar) join ADVault as VPs of business development.

Ann Joyal , MS, RD (Wolters Kluwer) joins Symplr as VP of marketing communications.

Announcements and Implementations

Carle Health (IL) implements Scanslated’s AI-powered radiology reporting software, which offers patients easier-to-understand radiology reports accessible through their patient portals.

ConnectiveRx develops a new Enterprise Data Platform that integrates data from every patient and prescriber interaction across its lines of support for enhanced reporting.

Marshfield Clinic Health System implements automated patient registration technology from Notable at its facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan.

UR Medicine (NY) uses DexCare technology to offer on-demand video visits across care settings as part of its Get Care Now program.

Censinet announces GA of Censinet Connect, a service that enables healthcare vendors to digitally share completed security questionnaires and supporting documentation with prospects.

Labette Health (KS) implements chronic care management software and services from ChartSpan.

Philips launches its Virtual Care Management suite of technologies and services for providers, payers, and employers within the US.

Mercy will take over management of county-owned Perry County Memorial Hospital and will invest $6.5 million to transition the facility from Cerner to Epic this fall. Both providers are based in Missouri.

Masimo opens pre-orders for its Freedom smart watch that provides continuous readings of pulse oximetry, ECG, and respiration as well as fall detection. It also features a data privacy switch that can turn off sharing of all data, including location tracking and microphone. A $100 deposit buys a place in line for fall delivery at a $400 discount from a list price that wasn’t mentioned. Masimo, like AliveCor, is fighting Apple over health tracking patents.

Government and Politics

FDA seeks sources for large-scale, de-identified healthcare claims data along with full access to their EHR data for its biologic product surveillance programs. FDA says EHRs provide more granular patient clinical information that is useful for validating claims data, although they won’t serve as the primary data source since they cover smaller populations and aren’t always longitudinal.

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (MD) goes live on MHS Genesis.

The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center within HHS publishes a mobile device security checklist.

Carin Alliance publishes a report that describes how patients could provide their identities once to create a credential that could be shared across other systems without using individual portals. It envisions a person-center approach that allows people to interact with various systems in a scalable, low-cost manner.

Other

Humbled and honored to be recognized by Nora, who is immensely pleasured (HE-llo!) to tell me I’ve potentially won a “seal of recognition” from an unnamed organization that will recognize me at its unnamed conference, with no contact information provided except for Nora’s Gmail address. I’ll speculate that graduation from “potential honoree” status involves a transfer of funds. I’ll also speculate that given the conference date, the amply pleasured Nora works for Health 2.0, which has somehow started using a once-respected, HIMSS-owned conference name that it operates from India by way of a Las Vegas mail drop and from the Birmingham Bargains store in an Alabama outlet mall. In case you need an ego-stroking, self-nominated award that requires and offers little, they are “now accepting applications from industry stalwarts!” I assume that the industry stalwarts who have proudly posted a photo of their award failed to realize that this isn’t the actual Health 2.0.

Sponsor Updates

• CarePort will exhibit at AMGA March 29-31 in Chicago.
• CHIME releases a new Leader2Leader Podcast featuring Oracle Health Chairman David Feinberg, MD “The Future of Health Equity with Oracle Health.”
• Clinical Architecture releases the results of its “2023 Healthcare Data Quality Survey.”
• Nordic publishes a new episode of its In Network podcast.
• CloudWave will sponsor the MUSE New England Area Community Peer Group event March 29 in Pittsfield, MA.
• Current Health publishes a new case study, “UMass Memorial Health Builds Leading Hospital at Home Program.”
• Censinet and KLAS Research recognize AGS Health, Clearwater, Divurgent, Ellkay, Fortified Health Security, JTG Consulting Group, Nordic, and Upfront Healthcare for achieving and sustaining their KLAS Cybersecurity Transparent designation.

Blog Posts

• Medication Adherence: A simple workflow for improvement (Arcadia)
• The Burning Platform: Healthcare is in Dire Need of Change (CareMesh)
• How L1 Support and Hosting Services Made Customers Happy and More (CereCore)
• 3 Ways Analytics Can Help Fight Burnout in Healthcare (Dimensional Insight)
• Solve Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility Billing Challenges with Practice Management Software (ChartLogic)
• RapidAWV – Now optimized for any device! (ChartSpan)
• How to Track and Measure Provider Support Activities in Real Time (RCx Rules)
• Improve Operational Efficiency and Reduce Costs and Complexity with 1Clearsense (Clearsense)
• Hybrid Resiliency: Managing Healthcare Cyber Risk with the Best of Reactive and Proactive Security (Clearwater)
• Real-time Messaging Options Blows the Door Off Traditional Channels (ConnectiveRx)
• Healthcare Organizations: Electronic Faxing is Better with eFax and Unite (Consensus Cloud Solutions)
• Training Practices to Help Physicians Succeed at Risk-Based Documentation (and Beyond) (Curation Health)
• 5 Soft Skills to Look for in Prospective Employees (Direct Recruiters)
• Top Priorities for Healthcare CIOs Entering New Organizations (Divurgent)

Contacts

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