News 9/11/24

Top News

Oracle reports Q1 results: revenue up 7%, adjusted EPS $1.39 versus $1.19, beating Wall Street expectations for both and sending ORCL shares to an all-time high.

Cerner / Oracle Health was not mentioned in the earnings call except that Larry Ellison used healthcare as an example in response to an analyst’s general question about monetizing AI:

• Oracle uses AI to prepare a pre-visit patient summary for the physician.
• Ambient AI is used to document the visit.
• Stanford needed three people to find his son’s X-rays in Epic, but with Oracle, the physician just says “Oracle, please show me Larry Ellison’s latest X-ray.” He adds, “Our user interface is so different than Epic.”
• Ellison says that “all of Cerner is the monetization,” where AI will fuel expansion of the health business, but won’t be sold as a separate product.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

On the musical front, I’m still digging deeper and longer into the REM catalog and can confidently recommend “All The Way to Reno,” “Crush with Eyeliner,” and the magnificent “Find the River.” Original drummer Bill Berry retired after collapsing on stage in 1997 with a brain aneurysm and seems to still suffer from some of the effects in recent interviews, but pre-1997 concert videos show his energetic, symphonic drumming and harmonizing, not to mention that his absence as a songwriter changed the band’s sound a lot for their remaining five albums. He and bassist Mike Mills were the most experienced and musically trained members of the band, but selflessly plugged away on the seemingly simple rhythm instruments because someone had to do it.

Webinars

September 17 (Thursday) noon ET. “Level Up Your Stars – Innovative Approaches to Boosting Quality Performance.” Sponsor: Navina. Presenters: Dana McCalley, MBA, VP of value-based care, Navina; Michael S. Barr, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, PreferCare; Yair Lewis, MD, PhD, chief medical officer, Navina. The presenters will explore strategies to boost quality performance and close care gaps effectively. Topics include enhancing quality metrics, developing strategies for care gap closure, leveraging AI for enhanced performance, and optimizing workflows.

September 19 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Cutting-Edge Conversations: A Fireside Chat With Top CMIOs.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Drex DeFord, MSHI, MPA, This Week Health; Lacy Knight, MD, MSMI, Piedmont Health; Jake Lancaster, MD, MSHA, MS, Baptist Memorial Health Care; Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, chief medical officer DrFirst. This fireside chat will distill key points from 15 CMIO participants of the 229 Executive Summit. Topics include the impact of AI on clinical workflows, strategies for optimizing healthcare operations, addressing physician burnout and patient safety, and advances in population health management.

October 3 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Navigating AI-Powered Medical Interpretation: Insights for Health Leaders.” Sponsor: Globo. Presenter: Dipak Patel, CEO, Globo. AI is redefining how providers can communicate with patients who speak limited English. However, not all LLMs are created equal, and their potential and limitations need to be examined further. Globo has published its results from testing several LLMs. This webinar will address the promises and perils of AI-enabled medical interpretation in summarizing that research in four key domains: the process of AI interpretation, how to measure it, the state of AI tools today, and the areas where AI falls short with interpretation.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The private equity owners of Zelis consider selling their minority stake in the healthcare payments company in a potentially $17 billion deal. Bain Capital and Parthenon Capital merged Zelis with payment data company RedCard Systems in 2019 in a transaction valued at $6 billion.

Global investment firm EQT will acquire revenue cycle and health information management company Gebbs Healthcare Solutions from ChrysCapital for a reported $850 million. EQT is also reportedly considering strategic alternatives for RCM vendor AGS Health, including a potential sale. EQT’s health IT investments also include Citius Tech, Lumeon, and Waystar.

Clinical generative AI company Pieces Technologies announces $25 million in new growth funding from investors that include OSF HealthCare (IL) and Children’s Health (TX).

AMA releases CPT 2025, which includes 270 new codes, 112 deletions, and 38 revisions.

Healthcare IT Leaders will open an Overland Park, KS office on the Aspiria campus and will add 25 positions there.

Sales

• Gillette Children’s Hospital (MN) selects data, analytics, and care management technology from HealthEC.
• Healthcare-at-home service provider CareRing Health will implement WellSky’s EHR and analytics software across its locations in five states and Washington, DC.

People

Glenn Wada (Blue Ocean Go to Market Partners) joins Iris Telehealth as chief growth officer.

MDClone hires Bruno Lempernesse, MS (Health Catalyst) as president.

Industry long-timer Mark Erwich, MBA (Verato) joins Health Launchpad as chief strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Mercy Cedar Rapids Women’s Center (IA) goes live on Volpara Health’s breast cancer risk assessment and care management software.

Renown Health (NV) implements DetectRx drug diversion monitoring software from IatricSystems.

Royal Columbia Hospital in British Columbia goes live on Meditech Expanse as part of Fraser Health’s facility-wide implementation.

LogicSource will collaborate with Cleveland Clinic to create non-clinical procurement best practices and benchmarking.

Apple adds sleep apnea detection to the Apple Watch and incorporates hearing features in AirPods Pro that include passive noise reduction, a clinical grade hearing test, and the ability to use AirPods Pro as an over-the-counter hearing aid for mild to moderate hearing loss.

Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD (Verily) and Brad Hirsch, MD (Verily) launch Highlander Health, which will focus on evidence generation and related investment.

A KLAS Arch Collaborative Report on EHR interoperability finds that a major clinician pain point is using outside patient data.

Privacy and Security

Five hospitals in Ontario and their shared IT services provider will spend $6.6 million on recovery efforts stemming from a ransomware attack in October 2023. Bluewater Health restored all of its systems, including Meditech, in February of this year. It will go live on Oracle Health in November. Windsor Regional Hospital, which is still working on a full recovery, has spent the majority of its recovery costs on staff overtime.

Just 20% of small and rural hospitals are taking advantage of free and low-cost cybersecurity resources from Microsoft and Google, according to new stats from White House officials. The vendor offerings are part of a federal initiative launched in June designed to help select healthcare facilities shore up their cybersecurity defenses.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Skyrocket RCM Productivity with eClinicalWorks & Healow.”
• AGS Health will exhibit at the Revenue Integrity Symposium September 12-13 in Oak Brook, IL.
• Altera Digital Health releases a new e-book, “Sunrise: The Flexible EHR to Meet Your Evolving Needs.”
• The Department of Commerce appoints Arcadia Chief Strategy Officer Aneesh Chopra to its National AI Advisory Committee.
• AvaSure will host its 2024 Symposium October 2-4 in Grand Rapids, MI.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast, “Customer Care in Healthcare: Setting a Higher Bar, with Will Tafoya.”
• CereCore releases a new podcast, “5 Communication Tactics for Better IT and Business Alignment.”
• The “InteropNow” podcast features Consensus Cloud Solutions EVP of Healthcare Strategy and Policy Bevey Miner, “Bringing Healthcare to Structured Data with Consensus Cloud Solutions.”
• Laudio publishes a case study titled “How Novant Health Alleviated Pressure on Nurse Managers, Improved Employee Engagement, and Reduced RN Turnover by 15%.”
• CloudWave publishes a new whit epaper, “Patient-centric Incident Response in Healthcare: A New Approach – What You Need to Know.”

Blog Posts

• 5 Communication Tactics for Better IT and Business Alignment (CereCore)
• No-show rates, virtual nursing programs & common medical billing mistakes (AdvancedMD)
• Demonstrating AI’s new role in medical imaging at Tampa General Hospital’s first ever Innovation Week! (Agfa HealthCare)
• Unlocking RCM Optimization for Private Equity-backed Medical Groups: Insights from Industry Leaders (Alpha II)
• Five Keys to Growing Through Memberships (Amenities Health)
• Ascom Asks the Experts: Exploring the Benefits of a Connected Healthcare Platform – Insights from the Industry (Ascom)
• Reproductive Health Privacy Rule Lawsuit May Signal Shift in Balance of Power (Clearwater)
• A Year in the Evolution of Data Quality (Clinical Architecture)

Contacts

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