Monday Morning Update 4/29/24

Top News

Teladoc Health reports Q1 results: revenue up 3%, EPS –$0.49 versus –$0.42, beating revenue expectations but falling short on earnings.

Shares dropped slightly on the news. They are down 53% in the past 12 months versus the S&P 500’s 23% gain, valuing the company at $2.2 billion. From the earnings call:

• The company says AI will help the company engage with members.
• Its BetterHelp online behavioral health business continues to be challenging as both user count and revenue dropped year over year, although Teladoc has replaced its leadership, hopes to see improvement later this year, and will continue selling only via direct-to-consumer.
• Teladoc says interest is growing in its weight management business and the new members that it brings creates cross-selling opportunities.
• The company says that the it has seen no impact in the former Livongo business from Peterson Health Technology Institute’s critical review of the value of digital health solutions, continuing to be believe that Teleadoc’s chronic care programs provide clear ROI.

Reader Comments

From VendorVP: “Re: Steward Health Care. Wonder what Meditech will do when Steward goes bankrupt and stops paying their invoices?” Steward completed its 18-hospital Meditech Expanse implementation in mid-2022.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Most poll respondents, including me, believe that the VA will continue their Oracle Health rollouts this year. Straddling two systems is not sustainable and the VA can’t risk giving Congress more reasons to criticize it.

New poll to your right or here: What effect will the elimination of non-compete agreements have on your present job?

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

An unnamed Epic spokesperson says that the company agrees with FTC’s regulation to end the use of non-compete agreements as long as the agreements weren’t created to protect intellectual property. I’m reading between the lines in concluding that Epic thinks its own non-competes are fine but is happy that chain restaurants can’t use them to limit the careers of sandwich assemblers.

People

Paula Cobb, MBA (Blackbaud) joins AvaSure as VP of marketing.

Amy Rettler, MS (TheraManager) joins Evergreen Health Partners as SVP of EHR solutions.

Announcements and Implementations

The US Army celebrates the replacement of its MC4 battlefield EHR with Operational Medicine Information Systems – Army (OMIS-A).

Government and Politics

FTC Chair Lina Khan warns that healthcare price fixing could be accomplished without back-room deals by using AI algorithms to set prices without undercutting each other. FTC is also looking into the possibility that companies could use AI to set prices dynamically for individual consumers.

The European Parliament approves the European Health Data Space, which will allow cross-border sharing of electronic health data with patient opt-out and give researchers who are issued permits to access to de-identified patient data. Covered data sources include EHRs, disease registries, claims data, prescription dispensing, genomic information, social determinants of health, environmental factors, and the output of medical devices and health apps. Click the graphic above to enlarge.

Privacy and Security

The VA notifies 15 million veterans that the Change Healthcare ransomware attack may have exposed their health information.

The Federal Trade Commission finalizes changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule that requires vendors of health apps and related technologies to notify individuals, the FTC, and the media if personally identifiable health data is exposed.

Kaiser Permanente notifies 13.4 million current and former members of its health plan that website user tracking tools may have sent their personal information to third-party vendors.

Other

California Nurses Association members picket Kaiser Permanente’s San Francisco Medical Center holding signs that said “Patients are not algorithms” and “Trust nurses, not AI.” The union’s president expressed concern that Kaiser is promoting itself as an AI leader in healthcare, but is likely to use the technology to boost profit rather than to improve care.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks will host its 2024 Health Center Summit May 8-10 in Boston.
• Netsmart welcomes Vandoit, which offers mobile vehicles for healthcare, to the Netsmart Marketplace.
• Sonifi Health adds Enghouse Video’s video conferencing technology to its interactive TV systems.
• RxLightning celebrates unprecedented growth and achieves meaningful medication access milestones.
• University medical centers in Germany choose Sectra’s radiology solution to streamline workflows and shorten lead times for patients.
• Spok releases a new e-book, “The Six Strategic Advantages of Consolidated Contact Centers.”
• Surescripts publishes a “QHIN Readiness Guide.”
• Health Data Movers publishes a new episode of its “QuickHITs” podcast with guest Shafiq Rab, MD, MPH, CDO/CIO of Tufts Medicine.
• Symplr adds Branch’s workforce payments software to its Contingent Talent Management platform.
• Waystar will exhibit at the OPIE Software: Driving Practice Success customer conference May 2-3 in Oklahoma City.

Blog Posts

• The IDD Summit Part 3: Expert Panel on Workforce Satisfaction (Netsmart)
• 9 insightful quotes on cloud and AI from Stanford Health Care and AWS leaders at Arab Health 2024 (Nordic)
• Bridging the Workday Skills Gap: A Path to Success with Optimum Healthcare IT (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• The “Whats, Whys, and Hows” of Rebuilding a Healthy Nursing Workforce (QGenda)
• The Impact of Time in Nursing (Symplr)
• Trualta Spotlight: Monique Frahm – Care Educator (Trualta)
• Why Communication is Key for Healthcare Organizations (TruBridge)

Contacts

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