Monday Morning Update 2/26/24

Top News

AI clinical documentation company Abridge raises $150 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Lightspeed Advisor Paul Ricci is a former chairman and CEO of Nuance, one of Abridge’s biggest competitors. I interviewed Abridge founder and CEO Shivdev Rao, MD nearly one year ago.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

A majority of readers, whether on their own dime or their employer’s, plan to attend conferences like ViVE and HIMSS for the networking opportunities. Scoring new customers and/or prospecting comes in at a close second. The results seem pretty intuitive, but Ex Epic makes a good point by reminding readers that these events offer folks being pulled back into office settings after working remotely for the last several years “a good opportunity for teambuilding and seeing coworkers in person.”

New poll to your right or here: Has the AT&T or Change Healthcare outage affected you or your organization? I’m wondering if a majority of readers felt the pinch of non-existent wireless service or have had trouble processing prescriptions, either as a patient or provider. Share your experience by leaving a comment.

ViVE kicks off today in Los Angeles, though social media chatter indicates an influx of health IT folks flew in on Saturday. I have to wonder if the Clearsense-sponsored Billy Idol concert Tuesday night will get as many people out on the dance floor as Party on the Moon did at past HIStalkapaloozas. Feel free to email me your conference observations, anecdotes, and pix so that HIStalk readers who’ve stayed at home can live vicariously through your (anonymous if you so choose) experiences.

Check out HIStalk’s Guide to ViVE.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

DarioHealth, which offers digital solutions for the management of chronic conditions, will acquire mental health and wellness app company Twill.

Sales

• Yale New Haven Health (CT) selects Abridge’s AI clinical documentation software.

People

Mednition promotes Deena Brecher, RN to chief nursing officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Vyne Medical adds automation capabilities to its Trace clinical communication management software.

25m Health will work with Clearwater to develop custom cybersecurity and compliance programs for companies within its portfolio of startups.

CenTrak announces GA of its cloud-based Connect RTLS management software.

NorthBay Health Urgent Care (CA) will take over management of its facilities, which had been operated by primary and urgent care company Carbon Health since 2017. The clinics will transition to NorthBay’s Oracle Health EHR when they re-open March 4. Meanwhile, Carbon Health, which operates clinics in 13 states, announced a fourth round of layoffs last week.

Privacy and Security

Change Healthcare continues efforts to recover from a cyberattack that parent company UnitedHealth Group suspects is the brainchild of a “nation-state,” according to its Thursday filing with the SEC. Change, which processes 15 billion healthcare payment transactions annually and is one of the country’s largest prescription processors, says it’s taking multiple approaches to restore its systems.

Other

A coroner warns that ill-configured software likely contributed to the death of an emergency department patient, according to findings presented at the inquest of an NHS dietician who died of a pulmonary embolism in 2022. University Hospital of North Durham in England had implemented new Oracle Health software two months before Emily Harkleroad was admitted to its ED, a period of time during which clinicians complained that the new system didn’t adequately alert users to the sickest patients – a flaw the coroner believes delayed any potentially life-saving treatment Harkleroad may have received. The hospital and Oracle Health have been asked to issue a plan of remediation.

It comes to light that an unspecified IT error at an NHS hospital gave physician associates access to e-prescribing privileges that allowed them to illegally prescribe opiates and sedatives 22 times over a seven-month period.

Netsmart achieves top customer satisfaction rankings for behavioral health and post-acute care technology, according to recent Black Book Research surveys.

Sponsor Updates

• Netsmart sponsors The Battle Within’s Heroes Journey event, which helped to raise $350,000 for its cause.
• Healing Hands Ministries (TX) adds Sunoh.ai medical AI scribe capabilities to its EClinicalWorks system.
• Artera welcomes Azara Healthcare, Health IPass, Memora Health, Feedtrail, and more to the Artera Marketplace.
• Nordic releases a new Designing for Health Podcast featuring Mark Townsend, MD.
• Sectra publishes a new case study, “Paving the way with AI at innovative Dutch hospital.”

Blog Posts

• Optimizing Medical Coding with Technology: Comparing Encoders, Computer-Assisted Coding, and Autonomous Coding Solutions (Nym Health)
• Bedroom blunders: The hidden usability issues of hospital-at-home devices (Nordic)
• Optimum Healthcare IT is Headed Out West for ViVE 2024 (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• CMS Update: Texting Patient Orders in Healthcare (PerfectServe)
• Six critical data security questions you should ask every healthcare technology vendor (Redox)
• Bridging the Gap: Medical Data Standardization and Data Quality (Rhapsody)
• Leveraging a hosted solution to enhance hospital operations (Spok)
• 5 Ways Clinical Direct Messaging Can Help Close Gaps in Care (Surescripts)
• Tackling 2024’s Biggest Healthcare Operations Hurdles (Symplr)
• How digital transformation can help address clinician burnout (Wolters Kluwer Health)

Contacts

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