News 3/28/25

March 27, 2025 News No Comments

Top News

HHS will eliminate 10,000 full-time positions and close half of its regional offices, with past and planned cuts expected to reduce its FTE count from 82,000 to 62,000.

The largest number of cuts will occur at FDA and CDC, which will lose 6,000 positions.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also announced plans to merge Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and other groups under the newly created Administration for a Healthy America. HHS will also merge the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to create the Office of Strategy.

HHS will also create a position of Assistant Secretary for Enforcement that will oversee the Departmental Appeals Board, the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, and the Office for Civil Rights.

Reader Comments

From Cynical C-Suite: “Re: ASTP/ONC. Being gutted and maybe folded into CMS. Guess that makes it official that interoperability is now just a billing problem.”

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Solace, which connects Medicare patients with virtual support advocates, raises new funding at a $300 million valuation. The company pivoted from a cash-only model to serving Medicare beneficiaries last year, when the program began covering advocacy services. Advocates help with scheduling appointments, communicating with doctors, reviewing medical bills, managing insurance appeals, and researching treatment options. Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Gurewitz previously worked as a marketing VP for a kids book club company.

Investor Halle Tecco checks in on the 65 health tech-adjacent unicorns that were born during the 2020–2022 ZIRP frenzy. She predicts that companies have been forced to accept unlabeled or down rounds, have undertaken cost-cutting programs, and are trying to extend their runway to reach profitability.

89% are still operating.
Two-thirds haven’t raised additional funding.
One went public (SomaLogic), and another plans to (Hinge Health).
Four were acquired or merged (CareBridge, Truepill, MindMaze, ClassPass).
Two shut down (Forward, Olive AI).

Taxo, which offers a data extraction and workflow automation engine for healthcare administration, raises $5 million in seed funding.

Several former leaders of Glassdoor launch Marit Health, a salary transparency website for doctors and advanced practice providers. It offers anonymous, verified data on salaries, bonuses, benefits, and shifts. Investors in its $3.2 million seed funding round include the founders of several health tech companies.

People

Mount Sinai Health System promotes Robbie Freeman, DNP, MS to chief digital transformation officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Ontario, Canada integrates four local hospices into its Meditech Expanse EHR.

Akido Labs will provide fast, clinician-supervised medical care to New York ride-share drivers using its ScopeAI diagnostic and treatment tool. In addition to its AI technology, the company operates a network of primary care and specialty care providers in California and Rhode Island.

Truveta adds administrative data to its EHR-sourced database, including billing details, provider resource allocation, and patient movement information.

Penn Medicine’s elimination of 300 positions includes six employees of Center for Health Care Innovation at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, which includes an accelerator program and innovation lab. The center’s website lists eight employees.

Government and Politics

Politico reports that potential candidates to lead ASTP/ONC include Ryan Howells, MA (Leavitt Partners, The CARIN Alliance) and former ONC senior advisor Thomas Keane, MD, MBA. It also says that the White House is reportedly considering reducing the office’s staff from 180 to 30 and possibly merging it into CMS.

Privacy and Security

The UK government fines Advanced Computer Software Group $4 million after ransomware hackers breached its systems that lacked multifactor authentication.

Sponsor Updates

CloudWave’s Managed Cloud Hosting solution again achieves the “Best Practice” rating following its completion of the Meditech Infrastructure and Supporting IT Process Assessment.
Black Book Research probes the fate of healthcare technology in the NHS based on insights from Digital Health Rewired 2025.
The Aga Khan University profiles its work with Meditech to roll out an EHR across Kenya.
Five9 announces that Five9 AI Agents has been named a winner for Innovative AI Products in the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards, presented by the Business Intelligence Group.
Inovalon will exhibit at AMCP Annual March 31-April 3 in Houston.
Linus Health will present at AD/PD April 1-5 in Vienna, Austria.
Mednition will exhibit at AONL 2025 March 31-April 1 in Boston.