News 5/10/24

Top News

Ascension’s 140 hospitals and 2,600 healthcare sites in 19 states divert patients and go back to paper documentation following an unspecified cybersecurity event that forced the health system to take down “select technology network systems” Wednesday morning.

Ascension has urged its business partners to disconnect from its systems, which would suggest a ransomware attack.

Hospital visitors say that they saw younger doctors struggling to use fax machines, pneumatic tube systems, and paper prescription pads for the first time.

Reader Comments

From Rashaverak: “Re Steward bankruptcy filing. Hoping that the Commonwealth of MA sues Cerberus Capital to recoup some of the nearly $1 billion profit via its fleecing of Steward’s MA hospitals. Steward spun off its MA real estate to a real estate holding company for $1.25 billion in 2016. It appears that none of those dollars went into improving Steward patient care, but more likely to Cerberus’ pockets.” Blame the game, not the player, for employing immoral but not illegal behavior to do what private equity (aka pirate equity) firms do best – buy a company, load it with debt, pay investors all their money back immediately, and then walk away with bro high-fiving when the business is financially starved because it can’t even pay the interest on the loans that were taken out in its behalf. I’m sure that Steward chairman and CEO Ralph de la Torre, MD is anguishing over the plight of patients and communities from his $40 million yacht that operates out of the Galapagos Islands (one of two that he owns). He awarded himself a $100 million bonus when Cerebrus quadrupled its investment by selling the land from under its hospitals, pocketing $800 million.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Last chance for HIStalk sponsors to get a free mention in my guide to the MUSE Inspire conference. I have just one response versus the several companies that are exhibiting, so my work will be minimal.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

CareCloud hires an investment bank to review its capital structure after it turns down an unsolicited acquisition offer. CCLD shares have lost 64% of their value in the past 12 months and are 91% off their all-time high, valuing the company at $17 million.

A Bloomberg report that is based on interviews with former Cerner clients and employees concludes that the business lost at least 12 large clients in 2023. Bold product ideas have been placed on hold as Oracle’s engineers struggle with moving the Cerner product to the cloud. Internal documents predict that Oracle Health sales will decline 5% this fiscal year due to the VA project’s hold. Insiders say that Larry Ellison’s boasting that most Cerner clients have been moved to the cloud is accurate, but misleading – it’s a bunch of small medical practices, but no huge health systems that are likely to have customized the product.

People

NextGen Healthcare hires Jacob Sims (Gainwell Technologies) as CTO and Garo Doudian (Moody’s Analytics) as CIO/CISO.

Nisha Gandhi, RN, MBA (AbleLight) joins KeyCare as chief growth officer.

Nordic hires Stuart McLean, MBA (Alvarez and Marshal) as interim CEO following the retirement of Jim Costanzo. The company also lists Uyon Johnson, MBA (Bon Secours Mercy Health) as interim chief human resources officer.  

Announcements and Implementations

Valley Health System (NJ) opens a new “smart hospital” as its flagship in Paramus, which uses Meditech Expanse, in-room monitors to allow patients to review their medical information and manage room environment, RTLS-based display of the names of caregivers who enter the room, and AI-powered fall monitoring.

Customer experience app vendor Ushur releases a white labeled medication adherence solution for payers and pharmacy benefit managers.

Privacy and Security

Some systems at Palomar Health Medical Group (CA) remain down after the organization took them offline following suspicious computer activity on Sunday.

Sponsor Updates

• Symplr launches a new Symplr Workforce mobile app feature to enable healthcare professionals to nominate nurses for a DAISY Award.
• FinThrive publishes a new case study, “McCurtain Memorial Hospital Cuts Weekly Verification Time by 30 Hours with Real-Time Insurance Discovery.”
• Arcadia publishes a study that finds that nearly half of all healthcare data is not used in decision-making.
• HCTec will sponsor the Texas Regional HIMSS Spring Conference May 14-16 in Grapevine.
• The Medicomp Systems Tell Me Where IT Hurts Podcast earns an honorable mention in the PR News Digital Awards program.
• Mobile Heartbeat partners with technology consulting firm Signet.

Blog Posts

• Empowering Nurses for Effective Bedside Medication Counseling (First Databank)
• Solving the Top Challenges of Prior Authorizations in Healthcare (FinThrive)
• Is “Sorry” Good Enough? Insights from UHG’s Change Healthcare Testimony (Fortified Health Security)
• How Healthcare Risk Adjustment and Detailed Documentation Can Improve Member Care (Inovalon)
• Reveal: The Future of Lung-Cancer Detection (Lucem Health)
• How EHRs Help Nurses Balance Care Planning (Medhost)
• Using innovative technology to drive quality improvement efforts (Meditech)
• Choosing the Right QPP Reporting Method of MSSP ACOs in 2025 (MRO)

Contacts

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