I read about that last week and it was really one of the most evil-on-a-personal-level things I've seen in a…
News 7/24/24
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Congressman Matt Rosendale (R-MT), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, testifies on the rollout of the combined DoD/VA Oracle Health system at the Lovell Federal Health Care Center (IL) earlier this year. He notes that pharmacy staff are only able to process about 40% of prescriptions due to poor software functionality. Rosendale says that the pharmacy required 100 new employees with another 100 on the way to keep functioning.
He says that the VA should be required to lay out the cost to finish the Oracle Cerner rollout before committing to it, adding that he is certain the $16 billion figure that the VA previously supplied will be exceeded.
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HealthStream announces Q2 results: revenue up 3%, EPS $0.14 versus $0.13, beating Wall Street expectations for both. HSTM shares have risen 29% in the past 12 months versus the S&P 500’s 23% increase, valuing the company at $903 million.
Patient engagement software vendor Loyal raises $33.5 million in a Series B funding round and announces that founder, CEO, and chairman Chad Mallory will transition to a senior advisory role. Saurabh Sinha, founder and chairman of Emids Technologies, will take over as chairman of Loyal’s board and lead a search to fill executive roles.
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- NHS Norfolk and Waveney Acute Hospital Collaborative in England will implement Meditech across three trusts in 2026.
- West Tennessee Healthcare selects automated perioperative scheduling and workflow software from Qventus.
- Bon Secours Mercy Health will implement patient monitoring technology from Philips across its 49 hospitals over the next three years.
People
Volpara Health CEO Teri Thomas, RN, MSN takes on the additional role of chief business officer of Lunit’s cancer screening group, while CFO Craig Hadfield takes on the additional role of chief customer officer. Becky Weber (Health Catalyst) joins Volpara as EVP of sales.
Announcements and Implementations
Abridge, Mayo Clinic, and Epic will develop an AI-powered ambient documentation solution for nurses. The group hopes to have Mayo nurses using the system by the end of 2024.
Park Medical Centers in Detroit implements Kaid Health’s Whole Chart Analysis coding, quality monitoring, and clinical analytics software.
Wolters Kluwer Health launches its ClinicalPulse continuing education app for nurse practitioners.
Owensboro Health Regional Hospital (KY) launches virtual nursing programs in its ortho-neuro and pulmonary units ahead of a systemwide rollout.
The Sequoia Project publishes a draft of its Data Usability Workgroup Implementation Guide and invites public comment.
USPTO awards pharmacy benefit manager / pharmacy benefit administrator Capital Rx a patent for the data tagging system that it developed for its JUDI enterprise health platform.
A new KLAS report on go-live support places Optimum Healthcare IT in the #1 spot for overall performance, while emerging firms Ellit Groups and Healthrise earned high client satisfaction from the limited number of their clients who were interviewed.
Government and Politics
The VA will require veterans who use its website, apps, and My HealtheVet to enroll in Login.gov or ID.me starting next year.
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Schneider Regional Medical Center (USVI) reverts to downtime procedures after discovering a ransomware attack on its systems over the weekend.
Michigan Medicine notifies 57,000 patients of a data breach in late May that was caused by hackers infiltrating employee email accounts. The health system began sending out notifications last Friday, the same day that the global CrowdStrike/Microsoft update flaw temporarily crippled global IT systems across several sectors, including healthcare.
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- The Government of Greece will implement Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging platform across its public hospitals.
- Arcadia publishes a new guide, “Quality management tools to balance care and rising costs.”
- Capital Rx becomes one of the Lehigh Valley Business Coalition on Healthcare’s pharmacy benefit management partners.
- Clearwater integrates the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 into its IRM/Performance SaaS solution.
- The “Powered by Authenticity” podcast features Cordea Consulting founder and CEO Jen Jones, “Coaching and Mentoring Along the Way.”
- Health Data Movers posts a new episode of its “QuickHITs” podcast titled “Breaking Down Barriers in Healthcare IT: Insights from Stephanie Davis.”
- Direct Recruiters releases a new e-book, “The Power of People: Why AI Alone Isn’t Enough in Modern Recruitment.”
- CareCloud expands its partnership with DrFirst to include integrated RxInform functionality.
- Crossings Healthcare Solutions now offers Oracle customers customized EHR content and functionality.
- Inovalon offers Provider Market Insights to help life sciences organizations optimize investments based on market intelligence and accelerate the launch of innovative therapies.
- Surescripts releases a new report, “Clinician Perspectives & Prescribing Patterns Reveal Opportunities for Care Team Evolution.”
- CloudWave joins The Iroquois Healthcare Association as an enhanced business associate member.
Blog Posts
- The critical role of effective record-keeping for DEA compliance (Wolters Kluwer Health)
- Why Health Systems are Betting Big on ERP (Healthcare IT Leaders)
- Navigating the MIPS Reporting Changes: What You Need to Know (AGS Health)
- Bird flu: Here’s what you need to know (Altera Digital Health)
- The Missing Elements in Health Systems’ Digital Front Door Strategies (Amenities Health)
- A Major Milestone: Artera Academy Reaches 10,000 Learners (Artera)
- Reporting and Analytics: A Vital Component of the Revenue Cycle (Availity)
- The Power of Partnership: Advancing Medication Management Through Collaboration (DrFirst)
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Is the pharmacy system with “poor software functionality” the full cloud-based pharmacy application re-written from the ground up in 6-9 months Mike Sicilia promised Congress back in 2022?
* re-written by AI!!!
This sounds quite odd, and it would be good to know if this is some different pharmacy module than the rest of us use. We went live on Cerner in 2016 and did not add pharmacy staff and can process 100% of prescriptions. I have past experience working with our local VA and found them to have some interesting processes and workflows, so perhaps that is coming into play here also, and the VA overall is very complex and often not aligned well with itself at locations across the country. I assume the congressman is well-intentioned, though I also assume he is not expert at EHRs and corresponding workflows, and is attempting to portray anecdotal comments he has heard. We’d all like to know what is really going on, but so often when it comes to this topic, we get more heat than light.
I’ve figured it out. At first I was confused but now all is clear.
You see, we ARE running the new Pharmacy module, and have been doing so since announcement + 6-9 months. Speaking for all Oracle Cerner customers.
Mike Sicilia said so, and that’s good enough for me!
There hasn’t been a correction, or an adjusted timeline, or an update. That means it’s all done and dusted. We’re good.
Kudos to congressman Rosendale for his attempted oversight of such a massive project. Remember when this was announced in 2018 as $10bn no-bid contract? Now the price is up 60% to $16bn and the pharmacy software only works 40% of the time. Unbelievable.