News 9/26/25

Top News

Epic announces these items at Thursday’s Open@Epic:

• MyChart Central, which adds biometric login using Epic ID and allows retrieval of a patient’s records from any participating organization.
• Connection of home medical devices without external apps using Epic’s new Bluetooth Generic Health Sensor specification.
• Real-time “blue dot” patient wayfinding in MyChart (November 2025).
• Additional prior authorization APIs (February 2026).
• Developer licenses for the Clarity Data Model.
• Staff duress APIs (February 2026).
• Updates to Open.Epic and Epic’s Vendor Services, including a five-step guide with developer roadmap, 40 developer playbooks, and expanded Sandbox testing capabilities.

Reader Comments

From Concerned Clinical Staff: “Re: Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Rolling out the Go Helen Nurse Concierge app ahead of Epic implementation. Does anyone have more information on the company? It seems duplicative with Epic’s Rover and Bedside and lack of Epic integration seems like a prime situation for errors in allergies, NPO, etc.” My understanding is that patients use the company’s voice app to make non-clinical, hospitality-type requests from their rooms (bring ice, order meals, etc.) that are then routed internally by the company’s concierge team. Nurses can also make in-room requests to have supplies brought to the room. The hospital is piloting Helen.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

HIStalk sponsors who are participating in the HLTH conference October 19-22: tell me about your activities and I’ll include them in my conference guide.

I’m slowly warming up to podcasts after years of dismissing them, and I now see why they’re perfect for long walks and road trips. My first full series, which I’ve actually listened to twice, is the Peabody-winning investigative documentary “S-Town.” It’s gripping, provided you aren’t put off by profanity. Since its 2017 release, it has been downloaded 200 million times, which may make it the most-listened-to podcast ever. The experience reminds me of 1940s radio drama, where intimacy and imagination fill the mental space more powerfully in the absence of visuals.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Concord Technologies. Concord Technologies is a leading provider of Secure Document Exchange, Intelligent Document Processing, and Interoperability solutions to healthcare providers, payers, and  other highly regulated businesses. For more than 20 years, billions of sensitive records containing valuable patient information have been reliably, accurately, and securely exchanged across Concord’s digital health network, and today, the company processes more than 4 billion pages of protected data each year. The company is also recognized for its best-in-class development of new artificial intelligence technologies, including Concord’s Practical AI approach to solving the most pervasive administrative challenges in the healthcare industry and for pioneering end-to-end Straight-Through Processing of healthcare data into the system of record. Thanks to Concord Technologies for supporting HIStalk.

Sponsored Events and Resources

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Datavant acquires DigitalOwl, which summarizes patient records for law and insurance firms.

AmplifyMD, which offers hospitals a multispecialty virtual care platform and physician network, raises a $20 million Series B round.

Oracle awards its newly announced co-CEOs stock options worth $350 million, $250 million for Clay Magouyrk and $100 million for Mike Sicilia.

Sales

• Java Medical Group will expand its use of TruBridge’s technology and services at Russellville Hospital (AL).
• Bethany Children’s Health Center will implement Commure’s documentation and workflow platform, integrated with Meditech.
• Primary care provider Marathon Health chooses Medbridge’s Pathways musculoskeletal care platform.

People

Intermountain Health promotes Mike Harmer, MPA to VP of ERP digital services.

Announcements and Implementations

CommonSpirit Health will use ESO’s EMS–hospital integration platform to give nearly 4,000 Utah first responders real-time access to the hospital outcomes data of patients they have transported.

CareCloud launches a hospital-focused physician relationship management platform obtained from its acquisition of Medsphere one month ago.

AI meeting assistant vendor Fireflies.ai rolls out Fireflies for Healthcare, a HIPAA-compliant documentation platform that integrates with EHRs via Chrome and generates clinical notes, patient summaries, referral letters, sick notes, and follow-up scheduling. Plans start at $10 per provider per month.

WellSky launches the AI-supported WellSky CarePort Referral Intake solution.

Wolters Kluwer Health announces UpToDate Expert AI, which allows clinicians to access evidence-based answers at the point of care.

The Joint Commission recognizes Tampa General Hospital with its inaugural innovation award, citing its work with Palantir, implement of ambient documentation, use of Apella’s OR safety computer vision technology, and its hospital-at-home program.

Ambience Healthcare introduces HCC Compliance Validator, which verifies in real time that clinician-selected diagnoses are substantiated for CMS compliance.

Access Community Health Network collaborates with Epic and the Social Security Administration to exchange medical records electronically to speed up disability benefit review.

Sutter Health launches Sutter Sync, developed with Epic, to send readings from its proprietary blood pressure cuff, scale, and glucometer directly to Epic’s MyChart app on the patient’s phone, eliminating the need for a separate device app. Epic mentioned its Bluetooth Generic Health Sensor specification this week at Open@Epic.

Other

A study finds that private equity hospital takeovers are linked to staff and salary cuts, more patient transfers to other hospitals, and increased ED deaths.

ProPublica details an insurer’s denial of mental health coverage for a man who tried to commit suicide twice. His wife accuses the company of “weaponized incompetence” for intentionally throwing up barriers such as publishing incorrect fax numbers and blocking her access to billing codes, denial reasons, and medical records that her husband had authorized her to see.  

Sponsor Updates

• Medicomp Systems releases a new episode of its “Tell Me Where IT Hurts” podcast featuring Health Gorilla Chief Medical Officer Steven Lane, MD.
• The “NCPDPunscripted” podcast features First Databank VP of Clinical Network Services Lathe Bigler.
• AvaSure, First Databank, Inovalon, PerfectServe, Symplr, and Wolters Kluwer Health will exhibit at the ANA Magnet & Pathway Conference October 8-10 in Atlanta.
• Healthcare IT Leaders publishes a new guide titled “The Ultimate Workday Resource Planning & Staffing Guide.”
• Gartner recognizes Linus Health in its Hype Cycle for Digital Care Delivery, 2025, under the category of digital clinical voice analysis.
• Optimum Healthcare IT publishes a new episode of its “Visionary Voices” podcast titled “Agentic AI in Healthcare,” featuring Sameer Sethi from Hackensack Meridian Health.

Blog Posts

• Technology can help meet patients where they are (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• New Jersey Social Care Summit: Highlights from the Garden State (Findhelp)
• Why Five9 in Epic’s Toolbox Program Sets a New Standard for Healthcare CX (Five9)
• Why Unstructured Data Is a Hidden Risk (Fortified Health Security)
• Be Ready Before Disaster Strikes: Building an Effective Business Continuity Plan (Impact Advisors)
• How to improve the patient financial experience: Address these 8 reasons why patients do not pay their medical bills (Inbox Health)
• Inside a Mental Health Provider’s Revenue Cycle Transformation (Inovalon)
• How Should AI Be Used in Healthcare? A Guide to Intentional Implementation (Kyruus Health)

Sponsor Spotlight

Wolters Kluwer Health announces UpToDate Expert AI, GenAI for clinicians, built by clinicians. Clinicians get fast, reliable, evidence-based answers for patient care in a chatbot-style interface. UpToDate Expert AI is purpose-built for centralized, enterprise-wide deployment and management. For health system administrators, Wolters Kluwer’s well-established ecosystem approach is committed to supporting enterprise needs for transparency, compliance, and governance. And, UpToDate is embedded in top digital health tech platforms, AI scribes, and EHRs ensuring workflow integration. See details. (Sponsor Spotlight is free for HIStalk Platinum sponsors).

Contacts

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