Monday Morning Update 3/17/25

Top News

Several private equity firms have submitted bids to acquire revenue cycle management company AGS Health at a valuation of around $1 billion.

The company’s Sweden-based investment firm owner paid $320 million for the company in 2019.

The 14,000 employees of AGS work from offices in India, the Philippines, and the US.

Reader Comments

From Borat: “Re: Epic Research. Who needs the CDC now, Elon? Kidding, but only sort of. You can’t beat the recency of the data versus the 3-4 year delay in CDC reports.” Epic Research enables the rapid sharing of vetted insights that are drawn from Epic’s Cosmos database of the de-identified patient data from customers. As the organization puts it, unlike traditional research and publication as a journal article, “It is designed to make good data available sooner rather than perfect data available too late.” This approach bypasses the lengthy process required for peer-reviewed journal. The CDC has turned to Epic Research for help with urgent public health and pandemic-related issues that couldn’t afford delays. Also, while I’m not sure how the CDC selects its research priorities, their focus likely leans less toward publishing findings that are immediately actionable for health systems. Add in the uncertainty surrounding which CDC projects will be defunded and how many experts it may lose and Epic Research becomes even more appealing. Meanwhile, Larry Ellison has stated that Oracle Health intends to pursue similar real-world evidence research, so it will be interesting to see what they produce. Regardless, the ability to quickly analyze and apply real-world data is an increasingly valuable asset.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Poll respondents aren’t confident about the 2025 prospects of their employers, with commenters citing federal government dysfunction, potential cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, and the threat of a recession.

New poll to your right or here: What ways have you recently used to reduce the time you spend on unproductive meetings? I didn’t ask how you recognize that a meeting is going to be a waste of time, but here are some signs from years of reading the hospital conference room:

• Nobody seems to know who’s running the meeting, what results are expected, or whether the group has any actual authority.
• The convener starts the meeting late to accommodate tardy invitees, fails to create an agenda with goals, and allows the meeting to end without creating assignments and minutes.
• The attendee count keeps growing because everyone who is affected mistakenly believes that their input is both invaluable and urgently needed.
• Status updates that could have been managed via email become a competitive verbal sport of sounding busy.
• Knowledgeable but quiet attendees let the loud but less-informed attendees dominate.
• Attendees ramble endlessly to make sure that they clock the same amount of suck-up airtime as peers.
• People talk about their feelings or concerns.
• A high-ranking attendee – who may be known for missing meetings, coming in late, or not paying attention – mistakes their trite anecdotes and gut feelings for keen insight that makes it logical for them to override group decisions.
• No actual decisions are made because in hospitals, nobody has the power to say yes, but everyone has the power to say no.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: March 20 (Thursday) noon ET. “Enhancing Patient Experience: Digital Accessibility Legal Requirements in Healthcare.” Sponsor: TPGi. Presenters: Mark Miller, director of sales, TPGi; David Sloan, PhD, MSc, chief accessibility officer, TPGi; Kristina Launey, JD, labor and employment litigation and counseling partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP. For patients with disabilities, inaccessible technology can mean the difference between timely, effective care and unmet healthcare needs. This could include accessible patient portals, telehealth services, and payment platforms. Despite a new presidential administration, requirements for Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have not changed. While enforcement may unclear moving forward, healthcare organizations still have an obligation to their patients for digital accessibility. In our webinar session, TPGi’s accessibility experts and Seyfarth Shaw’s legal professionals will help you understand ACA Section 1557 requirements, its future under the Trump administration, and offer strategies to help you create inclusive experiences.

Live Webinar: March 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “How to Improve Clinical Workflows with AI Chart Summaries and Risk Predictions.” Sponsor: Health Data Analytics Institute. Presenters: Scott Cullen, MD, senior advisor, Health Data Analytics Institute; David Clain, chief product officer, Health Data Analytics Institute. Learn how the EHR-embedded HDAIAssist tool is transforming the ability of clinicians to pull insights out the mountains of data that have accumulated in the EHR, quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively. HDAlAssist, which is part of HealthVision, the intelligent health management system, combines AI chart summaries and granular risk predictions to quickly inform care planning decisions, especially for the most complex, high-risk patients.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Informa’s annual financial report reveals that it paid $110 million for its July 2023 acquisition of the HIMSS conference. The last pre-COVID HIMSS tax filing from 2019 reported $43 million in conference revenue against $16 million in expenses, suggesting that Informa paid about four times earnings. That would represent about 24% of the total revenue of HIMSS.

People

CTG hires Dan Stoke (Nordic Global) as VP of its US healthcare business. He replaces Christine Blanchard, who is retiring.

Government and Politics

In England, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces plans to dissolve NHS England, which was established in 2013 to oversee NHS funding, policies, and major initiatives like digital health transformation. Its functions will be absorbed by the Department of Health and Social Care, a move the government estimates will save $130 million by eliminating duplicate costs. Of NHS England’s 15,000 employees, 9,000 are expected to lose their jobs as part of the transition.

Government insiders say that White House-mandated HHS cost cutting could reduce ASTP’s headcount from 180 to 30.

Sponsor Updates

• A Black Book Research survey of global health IT buyers and decision-makers outside of the US reveals a growing preference for non-US electronic patient health record providers.
• Optimum Healthcare IT releases a new case study titled “Closing the Workday Skills Gap at OU Health.”
• PerfectServe launches the 2025 Nurses of Note Awards Program with new categories.
• Praia Health publishes a new case study featuring Providence titled “Praia Health delivers standard of digital engagement ROI health systems.”
• TrustCommerce, a Sphere company, will exhibit at the East Coast CORE Spring Meeting March 19-21 in Tampa, FL.
• TeamBuilder will present at The Millennium Alliance’s Transformation Assembly March 19-20 in Austin, TX.
• WellSky releases a new case study titled “UF Health St. Johns Care Connect: Uniting a community to address social determinants of health.”
• AGS Health, FinThrive, Inovalon, MRO, Nym, SmarterDx, TruBridge, VisiQuate, and Waystar will exhibit at the HFMA Revenue Cycle Conference March 19-21 in San Antonio.

Blog Posts

• How Data Analytics is Transforming A/R Optimization in Healthcare (FinThrive)
• Choosing the Right Medical Billing Software: A Guide for Healthcare Providers (Inovalon)
• A new era in healthcare innovation highlighted at HIMSS 2025 (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Optimizing today, innovating for tomorrow: how dual transformation can enhance Canadian healthcare (Nordic)
• How Do You Find the Budget for Experience Orchestration? (Praia Health)
• Don’t Leave Person Data to Change: Use AI (Rhapsody)
• 5 Guidelines for Researching & Developing Privileging Content (Symplr)
• Reimbursement roundup: Telemedicine, Medicare + reimbursement rate changes in 2025 (Waystar)

Contacts

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