News 2/9/24

Top News

CMS approves the use of HIPAA-compliant secure texting platforms for sending patient information and patient orders in hospitals and critical access hospitals.

Previous guidance from late 2017 allowed texting patient information if a secure platform was used, but prohibited texting of patient orders in all situations.

HHS separately announces new provisions to the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records that address one-time patient consent, redisclosure, accounting of disclosures, use of records in legal proceedings, and breach notification.

Reader Comments

From Moon Pie: “Re: Best in KLAS. Notice that Oracle Health finished last for overall software suite?” I did notice. I don’t know if Oracle cares, but $28 billion is a lot to have spent to buy the last-place finisher. Oracle Health also took the bottom spots in the health system-owned ambulatory EHR and practice management system categories. Scores for Oracle Health’s patient accounting and patient systems were even more abysmal, bottoming out at 48.6 for mid-sized hospitals, a full 30 points behind second-place finisher Meditech. This is like when GE Healthcare took quite a few top-performing companies from first to worst after buying them. At least Oracle Health’s EHR beat Altera Digital Health’s Sunrise by a lot for large hospital EHR, although it’s a hollow victory when neither are selling much to big hospitals.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

I published “HIStalk’s Guide to ViVE 2024,” which includes information about my sponsors that are participating. I’ll leave the collection form for HIMSS24 open a bit longer.

I haven’t run a Donors Choose teacher photo in a while, so here’s one from Ms. P in Kansas, a school librarian who was excited to receive 10 STEM books from a reader’s donation and matching funds from my Anonymous Vendor Executive. She reports, “We are a large elementary school in a rather poor area and so it was nice to get these new books and make them available to our students to check out. We have a lot of smart, curious students and so they will enjoy these books and the hands-on projects that they can create by following the directions. We are so grateful for Donors Choose contributors. Your investment in our library is an investment in the future. Thank you so much.”

HIStalk Sponsors Named Best in KLAS

• Agfa HealthCare – imaging universal viewer.
• Arcadia – value-based care managed services (now Guidehealth).
• Dimensional Insight – data and analytics platform.
• EVisit – non-EHR virtual care platform.
• Findhelp – social determinants of health networks.
• FinThrive – insurance discovery.
• Fortified Health Security – security and privacy managed services.
• Healthwise – patient education.
• Impact Advisors – overall IT services firm; ERP implementation leadership; financial improvement consulting
• Meditech – acute EHR small; patient accounting and patient management small.
• MRO – release of information.
• Nuance – clinical documentation integrity; front-end EHR speech recognition; image exchange.
• Optimum Healthcare IT – go-live support.
• PerfectServe – physician scheduling.
• Pivot Point Consulting, a Vaco Company – managed IT services; technical services.
• QGenda – nurse and staff scheduling.
• Rhapsody – integration engines.
• Sectra – PACS large; PACS small.
• Symplr – time and attendance.
• Tegria – application hosting.
• Waystar – patient financial engagement.
• WellSky – personal care services and private duty nursing.

Let me know if I missed anyone or if you need sponsorship information.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Unlearn, which creates digital twins that allow smaller and faster clinical trials, raises $50 million in a Series C funding round.

Private Equity Stakeholder Project publishes a list of the 460 US hospitals that are owned by private equity firms. Texas is the state leader by far with 97.

Amazon will lay off several hundred people in its One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy businesses as part of a company cost-cutting campaign. Insiders say that Amazon executives want One Medical to save an additional $100 million this year. They also report tension between Amazon’s leadership and One Medical that is likely to lead to the departure of some of One Medical’s executives.

Neura Health expands its direct-to-consumer virtual neurology clinic for headaches and and migraines to include sleep disorders, epilepsy, concussion/TBI, stroke recovery, and tremor. Members pay $300 per year for access to $189 video visits with a neurologist within two days, 24/7 care team access, and health coaching. Its clinicians can issue prescriptions in 22 states, and insurance is accepted.

People

Ed Lee, MD, MPH (The Permanente Medical Group) joins Nabla as chief medical officer.

Healthcare IT Leaders promotes Ben Hilmes, MHA to CEO. He replaces Bob Bailey, who will remain executive chairman.

Mary Langowski, JD (Solera Health) joins Walgreens Boots Alliance as EVP and president of the company’s US healthcare business.

Rob MacNaughton, MBA (Redesign Health) joins Calibrate as CEO.

Erik Smith (Stanson Health) joins Sprinter Health as VP of enterprise partnerships. 

Announcements and Implementations

Mile Bluff Medical Center (WI) goes live with Meditech’s AI-powered Expanse search and summarization, powered by Google Health.

DirectTrust creates a standards body for interoperable cloud fax to support identity assurance, standards-based exchange of metadata, and federated standards for security. It is looking for members from several sectors.

Companies designated as notable performers in “Best in KLAS Software & Services 2024”:

• Epic – top overall software suite.
• Athenahealth – overall physician practice vendor.
• Impact Advisors – overall IT services firm.
• Evergreen Healthcare Partners – overall implementation services firm.
• Chartis – overall healthcare management consulting firm.
• The population health management solution of Lightbeam Health Solutions was the most improved software product, AGS Health’s Extended Business Office Services had the most improved services solution, and EClinicalWorks was named as the most improved physician practice product.

Elsevier launches Complete HeartX, an educational tool for Apple Vision Pro.

The National Library of Medicine posts a guest piece on AI from OHSU informatics professor William Hersh, MD, in which he calls for conducting randomized controlled trials or systematic reviews of RCTs.

Privacy and Security

Computers, telephones, and Internet remain down at Lurie Children’s Hospital after a January 31 cyberattack.

Montefiore Medical Center pays $4.75 million to settle HHS OCR charges that one of its employees stole and sold patient information over six months in 2015. That’s a lot of money and a lot of time between the event and the settlement.

Sponsor Updates

• The Blue Bonnet Family Medicine Health and Wellness Clinic in Texas attributes a 10% increase in patients seen to its use of EHR and AI assistant technology from EClinicalWorks.
• The Point-of-Care Partners Podcast features KONZA National Network, “TEFCA Chronicles – Konza’s Journey to Becoming a QHIN.”
• Riverside Doctors’ Hospital Williamsburg successfully deploys Upfront Healthcare’s platform for orthopedic total joint care journeys, achieving positive results in a number of areas.
• First Databank becomes a Silver Corporate Partner of AMIA.
• FinThrive will present at the HFMA Revenue Cycle Conference February 28 in San Diego.
• Health Data Movers joins the ServiceNow consulting and implementation partner program.
• The NerdMDs Podcast features KeyCare CEO Lyle Berkowitz, MD.
• Linus Health publishes a whitepaper, “Expanding Cognitive Screening & Assessment: A Practical Guide for PCPs.”

Blog Posts

• Hospitals have their best operational year since the pandemic (Black Book Research)
• Priority One for 2024: Staying Focused on Patients (EClinicalWorks)
• How the University of Hawai’i Empowers Student Success (Findhelp)
• Healthcare cybersecurity threats: January 2024 (Fortified Health Security)
• What is TEFCA? Find out in Our TEFCA 101 Autocomplete Game Video! (HealthMark Group)
• CereCore Achieves Outstanding 2024 KLAS Rating in Managed IT Services (CereCore)
• Harnessing Generative AI in Healthcare: A Pragmatic Guide to Accelerate Impact (Impact Advisors)
• The Economics of AFib (Lucem Health)
• Best Practices for Reducing Waste in the OR (Medhost)
• San Luis Valley Health elevates patient access with Meditech’s Expanse EHR (Meditech)

Contacts

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