News 9/13/24

Top News

Revenue cycle automation vendor Candid Health raises $29 million in a Series B funding round.

Co-founder and CEO Nick Perry, who came from Palantir Technologies, earned an MS in biomedical informatics from Stanford. 

Reader Comments

From Dr. Lovestrange: “Re: AI. Just came across this resource, which makes me think that we are underestimating the potential problems that are associated with AI.” The MIT-developed AI Risk Repository is a taxonomy of 700 AI risks that were documented in 43 frameworks. My search for “privacy” as a keyword turned up 41 sources.

From Oracle client: “Re: Oracle. While its earnings were higher, the company laid off client account execs on the Oracle Health side, continuing the ongoing gutting of support.” Unverified.

From Boingo: “Re: CVS. They are exiting the HDMS data analytics by the end of 2025, which leaves clients scrambling as they are in the throes of annual benefit planning. The only obvious players they can switch to on short notice are Optum or Truven. Once again, we have a great example of large players who think they can fix healthcare failing miserably.” CVS must have really ruined the business, which dropped into their lap as part of their $70 billion Aetna acquisition in late 2018, if the best option is to shut it down rather than turf it off to private equity.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Google released a test version of NotebookLM, a personalized research assistant that is powered by its Gemini 1.5 pro LLM, so of course I had to try it. I sent it a link to Tuesday’s news post and asked it to create what is basically a podcast. Here’s the resulting file, which sounds no less annoying or inexpert than many of the health tech podcasts that have proliferated like loquacious weeds. I need to play with the tool more since it seems to do a lot.

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

MPulse acquires insurer consumer engagement technology vendor Zipari.

People

Mount Sinai Health System names Lisa Stump, MS, RPh (Yale New Haven Health) as chief digital information officer and dean for information technology.

Ambient AI vendor Corti hires Chad Compton, MBA (Microsoft) as chief revenue officer; Frederik Brabant, MD (Microsoft) as chief medical strategy officer; and Yvonne Kirsch (Philips) as VP of partnerships.

Veritas Labs hires Rich Kenny, RN, MMCi (SAS) as chief clinical officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Salesforce announces out-of-the-box AI services for 15 industries, including patient services and benefits verification for healthcare.

NEJM will present “AI in Health Care – Putting Patients First,” a free virtual event on October 9.

NHS England’s procurement body will create a supplier framework that covers diagnostics and AI,  valued at $1 billion.

AvaSure will collaborate with Oracle Cloud and Nvidia to develop a virtual hospital concierge solution for nurses and families.

Netsmart launches Bells Virtual Scribe, which offers transcription and ambient documentation.

Government and Politics

Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), who is a physician, tells the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee that Oracle Cerner “should be abandoned today” because it was not a good choice for the VA. He says the VA should admit, “We screwed up, we made a mistake, we picked the wrong system, and we move on to a better system.”

Privacy and Security

Lehigh Valley Health Network will pay a $65 million settlement for a Russian hacker group’s cyberattack that exposed patient information and images of nude cancer patients on the dark web.

Other

I had given up on HIMSS ever filing their IRS Form 990 information returns and they never answer my requests to send them my way, but I accidentally ran across what seems to be a recent filing for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 (it seems like they should have filed for 2022 and 2023 by now and I didn’t find those). Highlights:

• Total revenue increased from $65 million to $87 million.
• Total expenses jumped from $47 million to $106 million.
• Net income dropped from $17.9 million to –$19 million.
• Net assets dropped from –$8.4 million to –$29.9 million.
• HIMSS sold 25% of its assets, $21 million, to fund operations during the COVID-19 downturn. It was paid $775,000 in insurance proceeds (presumably related to the cancelled HIMSS20) and took in $5.4 million in federal PPP COVID-19 funds.
• HIMSS employed 404 people at the time of filing.
• President and CEO Hal Wolf earned $1.2 million.
• Others topping the HIMSS compensation list are Chief Operating and Strategy Officer Sebastian Krolop ($770,000 – left in January 2023), EVP Bruce Steinberg ($597,000 – left in December 2023), VP of Media Sales Frank Bilich (433,000), and HIMSS Analytics EVP Reid Oakes ($402,000).
• HIMSS paid $10.3 million for consulting, including $1 million to McKinsey.
• Conference and meeting revenue was $31.7 million, which was 42% of total revenue, while membership dues totaled $10.2 million..
• The organization spent $2.3 million for legal services, $11.1 million for IT, and $129,000 for lobbying.
• HIMSS launched the Office of Scientific Research in November 2020, which reported zero income for 2021.

The New York Times investigates the conversion of a 1,200 acre Utah ranch into a luxury hunting retreat by Mike Siaperas, founder and CEO of medical RCM and credentialing firm Med USA. The Times found that he received $5 million from Utah lawmakers to clear cut his property using a technique that can flatten 100 acres of trees per day, which the state supported as an ecology project. The Times notes that Utah’s legislative session lasts just 45 days, leaving part-time lawmakers – who are overrepresented by developers and real estate investors – with little time to seek expert opinion or public feedback.

In India, a teen dies following a failed gallbladder operation that was being performed by a fake doctor who was following along with YouTube surgery tutorial videos on his phone while cutting. The “surgeon,” who dismissed the family’s concerns during the operation with “Am I the doctor here, or you?” is the subject of a police search after he fled following the teen’s death.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Skyrocket RCM Productivity with EClinicalWorks & Healow.”
• Ellkay will exhibit at the Athenahealth Thrive event October 28-30 in Austin.
• Findhelp welcomes North Star Health, Southeast Community Health Systems, and All Hours Adult Care to its network.
• FinThrive will present at the Florida HFMA Central Education & Networking Event September 20 in Clearwater.
• Behavioral health software vendor ContinuumCloud will integrate medication management solutions from DrFirst into its EHR platform.
• Impact Advisors will exhibit at Workday Rising 2024 September 16-19 in Las Vegas.
• Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City in the Middle East upgrades to InterSystems TrakCare Mobile Enabled User Interface.
• Laudio publishes a new case study, “How Novant Health Alleviated Pressure on Nurse Managers, Improved Employee Engagement, and Reduced RN Turnover by 15%.”
• Australia-based software startup DidgUgo will add interoperability, FHIR, and AI functionality to its visit verification solution using InterSystems Iris for Health.
• Linus Health will exhibit at the AAFP’s FMX 2024 conference September 24-28 in Phoenix.
• Med Tech Solutions publishes a new guide, “How Cloud EMR/EHR Can Transform Your Practice in 90 Days.”
• MRO will exhibit at the 2024 Tri-State HIM Summit September 15-17 in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Blog Posts

• Healthcare Practices Benefitting with EClinicalWorks AI Capabilities (EClinicalWorks)
• The Biosimilar Boom is Creating Medication Data Challenges for Stakeholders Across Healthcare (First Databank)
• Road to Dreamforce Part 2: The Power of Five9 and Salesforce Integration (Five9)
• AI Regulation in the US and Beyond: What You Need to Know (Fortified Health Security)
• How to Achieve a Strong Eligibility Verification Process (Inovalon)
• Transforming Rural Healthcare: Blue Ridge Medical Center’s Transition to a Sustainable REH Model (Medhost)
• 5 customers shine spotlight on health equity strategies (Meditech)
• Normal Wound Healing: Myths, Reality, and Tech Innovation (Net Health)

Contacts

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