News 10/9/24

Top News

ASTP says that information blocking and lack of interoperability progress is mostly due to behavior rather than technology and vows to increase oversight that includes these issues:

• Publicly accessible API documentation is not available or not usable.
• Developers are imposing fees, contractual terms, and intellectual property requirements that are not allowed.
• Some EHRs allow connection only to generic API endpoints, which makes it hard for API users to connect directly with health systems.
• Provider organizations and API developers are requiring patient access API developers to sign a HIPAA business associate agreement, which is not legally required.
• Providers and developers are not providing timely explanations when they deny data access.

ASTP reinforces that HHS OIG can fine developers, health information networks, and HIEs up to $1 million per information blocking violation, while CMS will apply disincentives to providers who have committed information blocking. 

Reader Comments

From Bol: “Re: Seema Verma. I wonder if Oracle Health gave her a line item for personal brand-boosting like HHS did?” Verma, best known for her attempts to kill the Affordable Care Act and criticism of the Medicaid program even as she was being paid by taxpayers to run those programs as CMS administrator, is second-best known for spending $5 million of taxpayer dollars on external PR consultants who were assigned to promote her “personal brand.” Maybe it worked since she ended up as the top executive of Oracle Health, which holds a $16 billion VA contract. Verma complained via X this week about the “political theater” in which members of Congress are questioning the VA’s spending and lack of success with their Oracle Health project. She advocates for aggressive go-lives, which of course would trigger milestone payments to her employer. Her entry in Wikipedia resembles a fact-checked tabloid expose.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Healthmonix. The company’s cutting-edge solutions simplify regulatory reporting and enhance performance in value-based care models. Its flagship product, MIPSpro, streamlines MIPS reporting with flexible data integration, helping healthcare providers maximize their Medicare reimbursements. MIPSpro supports the latest MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs), making it easier to align reporting with CMS priorities while improving scores and compliance. APP Impact consistently enhances APP scores by an average of 23%, ensuring organizations stay ahead in the complex healthcare landscape. For ACOs, ACO Measure Compliance solution offers actionable insights and ensures reporting compliance, improving care outcomes and financial performance. With seamless integration into popular EHRs like Epic, Healthmonix supports various data submission options, including direct EHR integration, QRDA I parsing, and standard spreadsheet uploads, ensuring flexible and accurate data reporting. Whether you’re navigating MVPs, MIPS, or APMs, Healthmonix provides the tools to succeed. Thanks to Healthmonix for supporting HIStalk.

I found this Healthmonix webinar recording from a couple of weeks ago titled “Tough Measures in 2024.”

Webinars

October 15 (Tuesday) noon ET. “AI in Practice: How Privia Health Empowers Doctors to Win at Value-Based Care.” Sponsors: Navina and Athenahealth. Presenters: Dana McCalley, MBA, VP of value-based care, Navina; Michael McDonnell, strategic account executive, Navina; Francheska Feliciano, director of risk adjustment, Privia Health. The panelists will share practical insight from Privia Health’s experience that are applicable for users of any EHR, focusing on strategies to improve collaboration between clinical teams and coders, reduce administrative burden, and ensure accurate HCC capture at the point of care. The presenters will offer strategies for streamlining value-based workflows across clinical and coding teams, reducing friction and administrative burden, and improving value-based performance and risk adjustment accuracy by empowering clinicians with AI at the point of care.

October 24 (Thursday) noon ET. “Preparing for HTI-2 Compliance: What EHR and Health IT Vendors Need to Know.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Nick Barger, PharmD, VP of product, DrFirst; Tyler Higgins, senior director of product management, DrFirst. Failure to meet ASTP’s mandatory HTI-2 certification  and compliance standards could impose financial consequences on clients. The presenters will discuss the content and timelines of this key policy update, which includes NCPDP Script upgrades, mandatory support for electronic prior authorization, and real-time prescription benefit. They will offer insight into the impact on “Base EHR” qualifications and provide practical advice on aligning development roadmaps with these changes.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Roon, which offers vetted, verified medical information from experts, raises $15 million in a seed funding round. The startup recently added an AI-powered Instant Answer feature to its app.

Value-based care workflow automation vendor Reveleer acquires Curation Health, a clinical insights company that is based in Maryland. Reveleer secured $65 million in new financing earlier this year.

Women and family health virtual clinic operator Maven Clinic raises $125 million in a Series F funding round that values the company at $1.7 billion.

Data management firm Harmony Healthcare IT acquires Trinisys, which offers data management and workflow automation solutions.

Sales

• Ardent Health (TN) selects Glytec’s diabetes management and insulin dosing software.
• Kettering Health (OH) will offer heart failure patients the option to participate in a remote patient monitoring program that is powered by Story Health.
• Mary Washington Healthcare (VA) will implement RCM software and services from Ensemble Health Partners.
• USA Health, University of South Alabama’s health system, will implement safety solutions from RLDatix.

People

Arcadia names Aneesh Chopra, MPP (CareJourney) chief strategy officer, Dave Szela (Datavant) chief growth officer, Luke Hansen, MD (Homeward) chief medical officer, and Vignesh Elamvazhuthi, MS SVP of engineering.

Jason Stenta, MBA (Optum) joins Walgreens as SVP and chief commercial officer.

Ada Health names Patrick Wetherille (Everyday Health) COO and Jacob Plummer (Datavant) chief commercial officer, and CTO Graham French to the additional role of chief quality officer.

Greenway Health hires Paul Ford, MSIT (Inovalon) as CISO.

Announcements and Implementations

Baylor Scott & White Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Novant Health, and Providence form Longitude Health, which will “identify, develop, and scale capability-based solutions to enhance core operational functions and transform health system performance.”

TrustCommerce, a Sphere company, announces that its Cloud Payments product is now certified on all major US payment processing platforms.

Community Health Systems (TN) adopts Denim Health’s conversational AI as a part of inbound call workflows at its Patient Access Center.

Athenahealth launches AthenaOne for Behavioral Health.

UMass Memorial Health – Harrington reduces all-cause 30-day readmissions of CHF patients via its remote monitoring program that uses technology from Brook Health.

HLTH USA will feature college-uneducated healthcare experts Halle Berry and Lenny Kravitz at its upcoming conference. Next up in medical grand rounds: “Multifactorial Approaches to the Pathophysiology and Intervention of Polymicrobial Translocation in the Gastrointestinal Microbiome: Implications for Systemic Inflammatory Responses and Personalized Therapeutic Modalities,” featuring Pauly Shore and musical guest Marilyn Manson.

Government and Politics

Epic sues Epic Staffing Group, indicating in its complaint that the healthcare and life sciences staffing services company  company started using Epic-focused names in 2022 despite knowing that Epic had held the rights for those names for 40 years. Epic Staffing Group, the country’s 22nd largest healthcare staffing firm, was acquired by a venture fund owned by Hyatt Executive Chairman Tom Pritzker in 2022.

Other

UC Davis Children’s Hospital researchers determine that virtual access to family-centered rounds in the NICU increase parent attendance, particularly among minorities, families living in underserved areas, and those without a college education. Researchers will next study the effects of adding professional interpreters to the virtual family-centered rounds.

Sponsor Updates

• Ascom Americas staff collect cash donations and supplies to send to Western North Carolina for Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
• Mercy Health renews its medical imaging contract with Visage Imaging for an additional eight years.
• Dimensional Insight VP of Marketing Kathy Sucich will chair the Tech & AI Stage at Reuters Total Health October 8-9 in Chicago.
• Sant Boi Hospital in Barcelona, Spain implements Agfa HealthCare’s enterprise imaging software.
• Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in England adds knowledge-based medication administration to its Altera Sunrise implementation.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast, “Navigating Flu Season! A Quick Update on Vaccines and Such, with Libbi Green, PharmD.”
• CereCore releases a new podcast, “Streamlining Success: How OHH Achieved An 11-Month Epic EHR Transition.”
• The HealthBizCast Podcast features Clearwater CFO Baxter Lee.
• Consensus Cloud Solutions will sponsor the HIMSS North Carolina Conference October 10-11 in Wrightsville Beach.

Blog Posts

• Streamlining Success: How OHH Achieved An 11-Month Epic EHR Transition (CereCore)
• The Increased Risk of Ransomware (AdvancedMD)
• Leveraging Advanced Technologies in Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management (AGS Health)
• AI and cybersecurity: How safe are your systems? (Altera Digital Health)
• Workforce enablement tools for actionable health data (Arcadia)
• Proven Strategies for Boosting Learner Engagement: LMS, Analytics, and More (Divurgent)
• Journey Mapping: Your Key to Understanding Experiences (Tegria)

Contacts

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