Monday Morning Update 5/5/25

Top News

The White House’s budget proposal would increase funding for the VA’s Oracle Health EHR project by $2.17 billion.

The proposed budget also calls for a $493 million reduction in the VA’s spending on specific IT systems.

Reader Comments

From Earl: “Re: Baptist Health South Florida. Replacing Cerner with Epic in a huge loss for Oracle Health.” Unverified, but I see that BHSF has been added to Epic’s UserWeb list. The health system has 11 hospitals, 28,000 employees, and annual revenue of $6 billion.

From AI Esquire: “Re: patients correctly diagnosing themselves with ChatGPT after their doctor missed something. Will an AI double-check become the standard of care?” When consumer-grade AI outthinks a doctor, which is surely rare, the best-case outcome is reputational damage. The worst is having a malpractice attorney feigning puzzlement for the jury’s benefit in asking, “Doctor, if your patient thought to check a free version of ChatGPT, why didn’t you?” Most clinical decisions are routine, but when they’re not, a second opinion that is backed by real-time evidence and that is free of confirmation bias isn’t just helpful, it’s malpractice self defense.Those ambient documentation tools that everyone is rushing out could extend beyond the commoditized function of simple transcription and integrate with the EHR to put helpful clinical information on the screen to support treatment decisions or patient questions. That’s a lot more professional than watching your doctor painfully pecking at ChatGPT on their phone.

From Darnell: “Re: hospital EHR count. Was the percentage number you ran based on organizations or beds?” The KLAS report contained both, but I ran the hospital count — Epic 48%, Oracle Health 27%, and Meditech 15%. By the percentage of 887,000 acute hospital beds, it’s Epic 55%, Oracle Health 22%, and Meditech 13%.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Voting in last week’s poll was both heavy and decisive.

New poll to your right or here: In the most recent major health tech purchase you were involved with, what triggered the buyer’s initial interest? It’s weird wording I know, but I wanted to make the question applicable for people on both sides of the deal.

Thanks to these companies for their recent support of HIStalk. Click a logo to learn more.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Waystar reports Q1 results: revenue up 14%, EPS $0.17 versus –$0.13. WAY shares have nearly doubled since closing below their IPO price on the first day of trading in June 2024. CEO Matt Hawkins said in the earnings call that the company has shifted “from AI hype to ROI reality” in delivering results through its AI-powered products.

Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners acquires an undisclosed stake in NextGen Healthcare from Thoma Bravo, which took the company private in 2023.

Five South Florida Tenet hospitals sue The Leapfrog Group, which they claim penalized them with poor safety grades because they declined to provide proprietary data.

People

Civitas Networks for Health names Jolie Ritzo, MPH as interim CEO following the departure of founding CEO Lisa Bari, MPH, MBA, who has joined Innovaccer as head of external affairs.

TigerConnect hires Sean O’Neal (Sinch) as CEO.

Google Chief Health Officer and former National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc will retire this summer. Replacing her will be Michael Howell, MD, MPH, Google’s chief clinical officer.

Dale Gold, MD (CommonSpirit Health) joins Kaiser Permanente Medical Foundation as CMIO.

Announcements and Implementations

Early adopters are piloting an Epic feature that allows patients to schedule appointments using a texting-based AI assistant.

A new KLAS report on data and analytics platforms scores Dimensional Insight #1 in customer satisfaction. Oracle Health finished last due to lack of service, support, and communication, but most customers say that they will keep using its product because they are committed to Millennium. Nearly one-third of surveyed Health Catalyst customers plan to replace the product due to high data storage costs and lack of innovation.

Privacy and Security

Microsoft will replace passwords with phishing-resistant passkeys for newly created Microsoft accounts. The company hopes that the number of password authentications will decline to the point that it can eliminate password support.

Other

The best thing I that read on LinkedIn this week was from Colonel Chani Cordero, MHA, MEd, CIO/CDO of Brooke Army Medical Center and a soldier for nearly 20 years. It’s just a personal update, but it got my attention because her personal branding is outstanding. She’s in great career shape if her plan is 20 and out.

UCHealth CMIO CT Lin, MD posted this slide from a presentation by MultiCare at Epic XGM titled “A Wellness Approach to Improving Provider Efficiency and Reducing Burrnout.” It’s a refreshing take from Chris Kelley, MD, MS; Wesley Lane; and Tamara Chang, MD, especially the “B- is good enough” part. I figure it must be insightful if CT’s a fan.

Sponsor Updates

• InterSystems will host Ready 2025 and the accompanying Healthcare Leadership Conference June 22-25 in Orlando.
• RLDatix joins The Leapfrog Group’s Partners Advisory Committee.
• Black Book Research survey-takers rank Netsmart’s GEHRIMED as the top solution for geriatric and gerontology physician practices.
• Nordic releases a new “Designing for Health” podcast episode titled “Interview with Melissa Welch, MD.”
• Sonifi Health offers a new case study featuring Henry Ford Health titled “Virtual care, real results: How to successfully transform virtual patient care across an organization.”
• TrustCommerce, a Sphere Company, publishes a new e-book titled “Safeguarding Patient Payment Data: A Critical Priority for Healthcare Providers in 2025.”
• WellSky will exhibit at the Ohio Health Care Association Convention May 5-8 in Columbus.
• VisiQuate offers a new client overview titled “How predictive forecasting helped CHOC plan smarter, act faster, and stay ahead of cash flow challenges.”

Blog Posts

• The Top Post-Acute Revenue Cycle Management Challenges — and How to Overcome Them (Inovalon)
• From culture to credibility: Elevating trust and reputation through “just culture” (RLDatix)
• Transforming healthcare through nurse-led innovation (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• What You Need to Know About Interoperability and How it Affects You: Part 2 (Netsmart)
• Over-screening and wellness apps: Why raw health data doesn’t always support effective healthcare (Nordic)
• HIPAA Security Rule Update: A New Era for Healthcare Cybersecurity (Nym)
• Knowledge25 – Where Optimum Will Be (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• 3 takeaways from this year’s patient experience conference (Sonifi Health)
• Transforming Prior Authorization: A Leap Towards Efficiency with Touchless Prior Authorization (Surescripts)
• 5 Small Ways Hospitals & Health Systems Can Celebrate Nurses Week in 2025 (Symplr)
• Selecting a Conversational AI Partner: Key Considerations for Healthcare Organizations (Tegria)
• The psychology of patient payments: How to improve collections + patient satisfaction (Waystar)

Contacts

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