News 12/20/23

Top News

Apple will stop selling its Ultra 2 and Series 9 Watches at least temporarily due to an International Trade Commission ruling related to a blood oxygen sensor technology patent dispute with medical device manufacturer Masimo.

Masimo accuses Apple of meeting for partnership talks with the intention of obtaining competitive information for developing its own technology, after which it paid huge money to poach several Masimo inventors and executives.

Masimo’s pulse oximetry technology earned FDA clearance, but Apple was able to bring its sensor to market without it by claiming that it provides information but doesn’t diagnose.

Reader Comments

From Sunny Daylight: “Re: healthcare AI experts. Who are the thinkers and researchers who are doing the best work? If you wanted to build the world’s greatest network of healthcare AI experts, who would be on that list?” I don’t usually think in terms of individual experts, with the exception of Eric Topol, MD, but I’ll open it up to readers. It likely depends on the area in which the person works – as a clinician with AI interest, an AI researcher who focuses on healthcare, or armchair experts who speak and write confidently on the topic without a relevant work history.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Remote patient monitoring and virtual care company CoachCare acquires RPM vendor Verustat, its fourth RPM acquisition within the last 12 months.

Molina Healthcare will acquire Bright Health Group’s California Medicare Advantage business for $500 million, rather than the originally proposed $600 million, in a previously announced deal expected to close January 1.

Lehigh Valley Health Network and Jefferson Health announce plans to merge to create a 30-hospital, 62,000-employee health system with annual revenue of $14 billion.

Sales

• In England, Birmingham and Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust will implement Epic in 2024, with expected go-live in 2025.
• CoxHealth (MO) will implement Epic, replacing Oracle Health.
• Wilbarger General Hospital (TX) selects operational and financial analytics from Sixth Sense Intelligence.

People

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (TN) hires interim SVP/CIO Tina Smith, MBA (Seattle Children’s) to the full-time position.

Physician compensation and contract management software vendor Ludi promotes Danielle O’Rourke to CEO.

Lisa Morella, MBA (Mass General Brigham) joins CodaMetrix as VP of data and analytics.

Amino Health promotes John Asalone, MS to CEO. He takes over from David Vivero, who has taken on the role of chairman.

Announcements and Implementations

Avera launches virtual nursing pilot programs at McKennan Hospital & University Center and St. Mary’s Hospital in South Dakota.

Multi-state Mercy health system launches a patient-facing chatbot dubbed Toni in memory of Mercy’s first CEO, a Sister of Mercy for 65 years who died in 2022.

A Wolters Kluwer Health study finds that nearly nine out of 10 Americans worry that generative AI is not transparent about where it gets the information that it presents or that it uses unvetted Internet data.

Adventist Health ends its ITWorks contract with Oracle Health, which will lay off 65 employees at Adventist’s Roseville, CA headquarters as the health system brings the services back in-house.

Other

The “Bill of the Month” of KFF Health News involves a patient of Mount Sinai (NY), which booked her a telehealth visit when she called in asking about sinus symptoms. Her five-minute visit yielded prescriptions for a nasal spray and an antibiotic along with a bill for $660, which her insurance declined to cover because the doctor – whose name and employer she could not determine – was out of network despite being affiliated with Mount Sinai, which had provided a pre-visit estimate of $60. She was billed for a moderate-level visit. The doctor’s office would not respond to her inquiries and the hospital told her they could send her a copy of the consent form that she had signed only by fax. Payment for the September 2022 visit remains unresolved.

The correct Jeopardy answer: “What company’s far-from-reality marketing claims made the term Watson synonymous with healthcare AI failure?”

Sponsor Updates

• Ascom Americas helps to raise $7,500 for Duke Children’s Hospital during a local radiothon.
• EClinicalWorks releases a new customer success story, “Healow Enables Seamless Interoperability for Foster Children’s Medical Records.”
• Wolters Kluwer Health and The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists launch the O&G Open journal.
• AvaSure publishes a new case spotlight, “A proven approach to reducing patient falls while driving staffing efficiencies.”
• Censinet releases a new Risk Never Sleeps Podcast, “The Vital Partnership Between CISA and Healthcare.”
• Cegeka successfully completes its tender offer for CTG.
• HIMSS New England honors Divurgent VP Dana Locke with its Volunteer of the Year award, and Divurgent SVP Rebecca Woods with its Heyman Lifetime HIT Achievement award.
• FinThrive publishes a new guide, “How to Maximize Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursements.”
• Fortified Health Security names Jeff Brown regional director.

Blog Posts

• 2024 Healthcare Technology Industry Trends: Top Challenges for CIOs (CereCore)
• Underpayments in Healthcare: Causes and Implications (AGS Health)
• Leverage technology to reshape healthcare economics: A path to improved patient outcomes (Arcadia)
• Healthcare Communication Trends: Nearly 70% of Patients Prefer Conversational Messaging Over Basic Texting (Artera)
• Information Management: Digital Empathy, Bad Data, and More (Clinical Architecture)
• Urgent Care Conference 2024: How to Make the Most of Urgent Care Connect (Experity)
• Welcome Home: Helping Immigrant and Refugee Families Thrive (Findhelp)
• 5 Key Questions When Choosing a Digital Health Education Vendor (Healthwise)
• Buy or build? 4 crucial considerations for risk adjustment software decisions (Inovalon)
• The Year Ahead: Costs of Prescriptions, Treating Obesity, and AI in Healthcare (DrFirst)

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