News 8/21/24

Top News

Providence will hire an additional 2,000 staff at its IT hub in India by the end of 2025, bringing its total headcount to 3,500.

Providence India manages a variety of enterprise IT applications and innovation projects for the multi-state health system. It plans to offer services to other US providers.

Reader Comments

From EHR Door Drop: “Re: Oracle Health. Driving customers to Epic?” Oracle Health took the low road in trolling Epic UGM attendees with its vague message. Few of the hardcore Epic users who attend UGM are unaware of Cerner, having rejected it previously and having little interest in revisiting that decision. For real shock and awe, Oracle should have launched one of those fireworks-like drone shows in the skies above the UGM campfire with Larry Ellison barrel-rolling in his personal MiG-29.

From Meanderer: “Re: Epic. Announced at UGM that it will provide full consulting services.” A couple of of folks told me this. Meanwhile, I’ll register a minor grammatical quibble that Epic is spelling the UGM’s name as “Storytime” instead of the correct “Story Time” in some (but not all) graphics.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Gold Sponsor Med Tech Solutions (MTS). The company creates innovative technology systems that put the unique needs of each healthcare organization at the center of its work across the full IT journey. MTS services are supported by dedicated IT Care Teams to ensure technology systems support essential clinical workflows and strategic business plans. Provider organizations and networks can count on a secure, reliable IT infrastructure, optimized clinical and business applications, and full end-user support so they can focus on patient care. Founded in 2006, MTS serves thousands of healthcare provider organizations nationwide. The company is the top-ranked IT services firm for healthcare organizations on the elite Channel Futures MSP 501 list and has been recognized as a 2023 CRN Pioneer 250 Honoree. MTS has achieved HITRUST Risk-based certification for its cloud platform, demonstrating a proactive approach to cybersecurity, data protection, and risk management. Thanks to Med Tech Solutions for supporting HIStalk.

Webinars

September 10 (Tuesday) noon ET. “Overcoming Hurdles in Specialty Med Access Under Medical Benefits.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Drew Hunsinger, VP of corporate business development, DrFirst; Tyler Wince, MEd, VP of product and technology specialty solutions, DrFirst. More specialty medications, which made up 80% of FDA’s new drug approvals last year, are falling under medical benefits, which challenges the patient care processes and efficiency of providers. Medication access experts will discuss how automation and unified medication management solutions can ensure better outcomes for patients and providers by addressing patient access hurdles and enhancing the ‘stickiness’ of EHRs. They will also provide insights into how regulatory changes such as interoperability and prior authorization mandates will affect healthcare stakeholders.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Premier announces Q4 results: revenue up 3%, EPS $0.69 versus $0.68, beating Wall Street expectations for both. PINC shares are down 9% over the past 12 months, valuing the company at $2.1 billion.

Sleep apnea-focused digital healthcare company Ognomy raises $6.8 million in seed funding.

Hospital supply chain automation company Clarium announces $10.5 million in new funding and the GA of its new Astra OS workflow software and data ecosystem.

Sales

• Akron Children’s will make the Woebot for Adolescents chat app for mental health available via clinician referral.
• Graves Gilbert Clinic (KY) selects analytics and data management services from Ancore Health.
• Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will implement Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging Radiology Information System across its five facilities in England.
• In Idaho, Clearwater Valley Health and St. Mary’s Health will implement a shared Meditech Expanse EHR system.
• BayCare (FL) will work with chronic care management company Cadence to launch a remote patient monitoring and virtual care program for seniors.

People

Divurgent names Dean Boyd (Futura Healthcare) VP of client services.

Sara Braner (ROI Healthcare Solutions) joins Cordea Consulting as VP of sales.

Announcements and Implementations

Bingham Healthcare (ID) will use a $110,000 grant to launch telepharmacy services at its Pocatello location and teleneurology and virtual behavioral healthcare consults at Bingham Memorial Hospital’s ER.

Mayo Clinic describes its use of an artificial knee whose internal sensor monitors the user’s recovery by measuring range of motion, steps, and stride.

Government and Politics

The VA highlights the impact that telehealth services have had on patient care at its outpatient clinic in rural North Platte, NE. Patients have been able to access care closer to home across 50 specialties via virtual connection to providers in multiple states.

Other

WVU Medicine’s JW Ruby Memorial Hospital implements an EHR alert developed internally by Chris Justice, RN, that notifies physicians, pharmacists, and advanced practice providers of co-existing acute kidney injury and nephrotoxic medications. Justice says the alert has resulted in the discontinuation of more nephrotoxic medications; and a reduction in length of hospital stay, acute kidney injury severity, and number of patients requiring dialysis.

The American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) bestows its 2024 Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence to Atul Butte, MD, PhD, UCSF professor and director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute. 

Liberty Regional Medical Center in rural Georgia hopes to offer its Mom’s Heart Matters remote patient monitoring program for pregnant and post-partum mothers to other hospitals in the state. The program, which uses technology from GoMo Health, has helped LRMC clinicians intervene before cardiac-related post-partum complications become life-threatening.

The 7,000 visitors expected to descend on Epic’s Verona campus and the greater Madison, WI, area this week for the company’s user group meeting are expected to generate $8.2 million in local spending.

Sponsor Updates

• CloudWave sponsors the Firelands Health 2024 “Caddyshack” Open golf outing benefiting cancer patient care.
• Wolters Kluwer Health announces the launch of UpToDate Digital Medication Education and UpToDate Consumer Education, two new pharmacy solutions from UpToDate Digital Architect.
• Alpha II will exhibit at the MedInformatix Summit through August 22 in New Orleans.
• The Nerds MD Podcast features Augmedix founder, Director, and Chief Strategy Officer Ian Shakil, “From Google Glass to AI Scribes: The Augmedix Journey.”
• Availity highlights prior authorization modernization on HIMSStv.
• Mount Sinai Queens (NY) expands its AvaSure implementation with two additional Telesitter cameras.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “Dissecting Pharmacy Cost Drivers and the Value of PMPM, with Kristin Begley, PharmD, and Mike Miele, FSA, MAAA.”
• Waystar wins multiple Stevie Awards in the categories of best company of the year, best payment solution, digital automation, and AI and machine learning healthcare applications.
• Clinical Architecture celebrates its 17^th anniversary.
• Amenities Health will participate in the Microsoft for Startups Pegasus Program.

Blog Posts

• The Health Equity Breach: What We Can Learn (AdvancedMD)
• Embracing the Digital Shift: The Role of AI in Enhancing Efficiency and Resource Allocation (AGS Health)
• Using healthcare IT to optimize your hospital’s pharmacy (Altera Digital Health)
• The importance of data governance in healthcare (Arcadia)
• Understanding CMMC for Healthcare Organizations (Clearwater)
• Understanding the Role of Data in Biden’s Cancer Initiative (Dimensional Insight)

Contacts

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