Morning Headlines 5/30/16

US IPO Week Ahead: Billionaire doctor back with another IPO

Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, will bring NantHealth public this week in a $91 million offering.

Court Rules Companies Cannot Impose Illegal Arbitration Clauses

A federal appeals court ruled against Epic on Thursday, deciding that companies cannot force their employees to sign arbitration agreements that prevent them from filing lawsuits against their employer.

Nanaimo doctors say electronic health record system unsafe, should be shut down

In Canada, providers at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital are unhappy with the recent $174 million Cerner go live, returning to paper charts in both the ICU and ER “out of concern for patient safety.”

Stung by Yelp Reviews, Health Providers Spill Patient Secrets

ProPublica reports that doctors, dentists, and other clinicians are responding to negative Yelp reviews left by unhappy patients inappropriately, sometimes posting confidential patient information within their responses.

Morning Headlines 5/27/16

Epic Systems Takes Out Troll Patent on Abstract Idea

Epic wins a patent infringement lawsuit filed by patent troll Preservation Wellness Technologies. Epic argued, and a judge agreed, that the patent in question vaguely described “unpatentable subject matter” related to managing and sharing medical records.

CMS’s Andrew Slavitt talks with MMS about MACRA

In an interview with Massachusetts Medical Society, CMS Acting Administrator Andrew Slavitt discusses MACRA and interoperability, saying, “If you are a customer of a piece of technology that doesn’t do what you want, it’s time to raise your voice. We’re doing everything we can to make sure that the technology vendors stop focusing on meeting the regulations, so they can start focusing on their customers and their users.”

Upgrading the Certified Health IT Product List: Understanding Corrective Action Information

ONC updates its Certified Health IT Product List to include information on vendors that have at any point fallen out of compliance with certification requirements.

The Fraudulent Claims Made By IBM About Watson and AI

Cognitive science expert Roger Schank, PhD calls out IBM for marketing Watson as a cognitive computer, calling the company and its advertisements fraudulent.

Morning Headlines 5/26/16

Congressional panel asks DOJ to investigate creation of Cover Oregon

The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has asked the Justice Department and the Oregon State Attorney’s office to launch criminal investigations into the mishandled launch of Oregon’s health insurance exchange, Cover Oregon.

Evaluating the impact of a computerized surveillance algorithm and decision support system on sepsis mortality

Huntsville Hospital (AL) reduces sepsis-related mortality by 53 percent after implementing an early warning sepsis surveillance system.

To Cut Wait Times, VA Tries MinuteClinics In Northern California

In an effort to reduce appointment wait times for veterans, the VA partners with CVS to offer urgent care services to veterans in San Francisco. The VA will integrate patient records with CVS MinuteClinic and all care provided will be free for veterans.

Flatiron Health and the FDA Embark on Cancer Research Collaboration

Oncology software vendor Flatiron Health will collaborate with the FDA to research the use of immunotherapies in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Morning Headlines 5/25/16

Soon-Shiong: Why I’m investing $70.5M in Tribune

Healthcare billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong invests $70.5 million in Tribune Publishing, parent company of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, making him the second-largest shareholder, holding 12.9 percent.

New Clarification – $6.50 Flat Rate Option is Not a Cap on Fees for Copies of PHI

HHS clarifies that providers may charge a flat fee of $6.50 for patient record requests, or continue calculating a request fee based on allowable labor costs for either a specific request or for an average request.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reveals the Apple Watch’s ‘holy grail’

Tim Cook reports that Apple is “really focused” on health and that Apple Watch is the company’s plan for entering the market.

Founder and Former Practice Fusion CEO Unveils New Company – iBeat

Former fired Practice Fusion founder and CEO Ryan Howard launches a new company, iBeat, which will develop a wearable heart monitor.

Morning Headlines 5/24/16

Q&A: Meditech founder Pappalardo says invention was ‘my overall destiny’

Neil Pappalardo, Meditech founder and lead creator of the MUMPS programming language, discusses his early life, his recent health, and his plans for the future of the company in a Modern Healthcare interview.

Making the Comprehensive Shared Care Plan a Reality

Leaders from HHS co-author a New England Journal of Medicine article calling for the use of shared care plans to improve care coordination.

MGH to build Down syndrome portal

Massachusetts General Hospital will launch a “virtual clinic” to improve care for people with Down syndrome that do not have access to local specialists.

San Juan County warns of data breach

San Juan County (NM) warns patients being treated in its drug and alcohol treatment program that 12,000 records were compromised when hackers accessed a computer at the treatment center.

Morning Headlines 5/23/16

Hackers demand ransom payment from Kansas Heart Hospital for files

Kansas Heart Hospital (KS) pays hackers an undisclosed sum to restore access to its system after being hit with a ransomeware attack only to have hackers refuse to restore access and demand even more money.

Hospital Uses Fake Phishing Emails in Security Training; Will Move to Gamification

Administrators at  Lawrence General Hospital (MA) are testing network security by sending phony phishing scam emails to employees to see how often the embedded links are clicked.

athenahealth Appoints New CFO

Athenahealth promotes Karl Stubelis to CFO, replacing outgoing Kristi Matus, who has decided to leave the company effective May 31.

St. Luke’s Epic Electronic Medical Record Implementation is a Success

St. Lukes University Health Network (PA) goes live on Epic across its six hospitals without incident.

Morning Headlines 5/20/16

Theranos throws out all Edison blood test results from 2014 and 2015

Theranos issues tens of thousands of corrected lab test results from samples processed on its proprietary Edison analyzer between 2014 and 2015.

#FHIR and the Gartner Hype Cycle

Grahame Grieve, architect of HL7’s FHIR protocol, says that FHIR is being overhyped and denounces the idea that FHIR will solve interoperability.

ITelagen Acquires Planet Logic to Provide World-Class Cloud Hosting Solutions

ITelagen, an EHR hosting and support vendor, acquires competitor Planet Logic.

Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust appoint Cerner as preferred supplier for major Electronic Patient Record programme

In England, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust chooses Cerner Millennium.

Morning Headlines 5/19/16

Statement from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security

In a letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, CHIME addresses the threat cyberattacks pose to healthcare organizations, saying “. Even the largest healthcare delivery organizations, with the greatest investment in security programs, may still fall victim to bad actors as we have seen with some of the largest retail organizations, financial institutions and even the federal government suffering large-scale breaches.”

Rating hospitals by the stars: The feds’ latest plan to measure quality is the most controversial

The Washington Post outlines the industry concerns that led to CMS delaying the implementation of its new star rating system for hospitals.

Obamacare Rates Rise in New York, and So Does Political Risk

Insurers in New York are requesting premium increases averaging 17 percent in New York. Alan Murray, CEO of New York insurer CareConnect, says, “If these requests aren’t approved, you are going to see more carriers leaving the market.”

ER docs sue HHS over out-of-network payments

The American College of Emergency Physicians is suing HHS over a provision of ACA that allows insurers to underpay for out-of-network emergency medical services.

Morning Headlines 5/18/16

VA edges closer to rollout of new health record platform

The VA reports that the Enterprise Health Management Platform, its Vista web overlay, will be up and running by the end of the summer.

New $1.2b Partners computer system brings prescription for frustration

The Boston Globe highlights employee frustrations with Partners Healthcare’s newly implemented $1.2 billion Epic system.

This health-care trend could make your hospital stay $2,000 more expensive

Edith Ramirez, chair of the FTC, argues that consolidation in the healthcare industry is eliminating needed competition and driving up the cost of care.

Hackers hold DeKalb Health computer systems hostage

A ransom ware attack at DeKalb Health (IN) has forced the hospital to implement downtime operating procedures and divert EMS to other facilities.

Cerner Faces Another Lawsuit Over Its Overtime Policy

Help desk workers at Cerner have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that they are required to work 48 hours a week but are not paid overtime.

Morning Headlines 5/17/16

Pfizer to Buy Anacor for $4.5 Billion

Pfizer announces that it will buy Anacor Pharmaceuticals for $4.5 billion, a 55 percent premium on Friday’s closing share price.

Giving New Doctors the Tools They Need

In a New York Times op-ed, a Harvard Medical School resident describes medical education as predicated on memorization and insufficient and outdated. He argues, “In an era of big data, Google and iPhones, doctors don’t so much need to know as they need to access, synthesize, and apply.“

Federal survey finds ‘troubling’ online behavior that could impact medical record sharing

A Census Bureau survey of 41,000 households finds that the recent uptick in data breaches across industries has made consumers shy away from online services over privacy concerns.

Exploring Concordance of Patient-Reported Information on PatientsLikeMe and Medical Claims Data at the Patient Level

A study evaluating the accuracy of self-reported medical data shared on PatientsLikeMe compared self-reported multiple sclerosis diagnosis with claims data and finds that the information collected on the site was largely accurate.

Morning Headlines 5/16/16

Rethinking MACRA, a follow up

BIDMC CIO John Halamka revisits his earlier analysis of MACRA.

Google’s NHS deal does not have regulatory approval

The partnership between Google’s artificial intelligence unit, DeepMind, and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust does not have ethical or regulatory approval from the NHS, according to an investigative report from New Scientist.

Tor Founder: Your Medical Records Are The Next Big Target For Hackers

Speaking at a conference on cybercrime, Paul Syverson, co-creator of the anonymous web browser Tor, predicts that “Medical identity theft is poised to take over as the primary form of identity theft.”

Study assesses performance of direct-to-consumer teledermatology services

A study evaluating the clinical quality of teledermatology services finds significant issues, including incorrect diagnoses, treatment recommendations that contradict guidelines, and prescriptions that were issued without a discussion about possible side effects.

Morning Headlines 5/13/16

GPs told to review patients at risk as IT error miscalculates CV score in thousands

Doctors in England are being asked to reconsider statin prescriptions for thousands of patients after experts discover that the widely-used SystemOne EHR had been miscalculating cardiovascular risk for the last seven years.

An Unintended Side Effect of Transparency

ProPublica notices that drug seekers have been using its Prescriber Checkup tool, a national database containing the prescribing habits of doctors, to find providers most likely to prescribe narcotics.

Fitch Rates Memorial Hospital at Gulfport’s (MS) 2016 Revs ‘BBB’; Downgrs Outstanding

Bond ratings of the city of Gulfport, MS issued on behalf of Memorial Hospital at Gulfport has been downgraded due to a sharp decline in liquidity and an EHR implementation (Cerner) that lead to “an unfavorable increase to accounts receivable.”

Zocdoc Announces New EHR Integration to Improve Access and Interoperability for Health Systems and Patients

Zocdoc announces that it will integrate its patient self-scheduling software with Epic via an API.

Morning Headlines 5/12/16

Theranos Executive Sunny Balwani to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

Theranos President and COO Sunny Balwani resigns as the SEC continues its investigation into whether the company misled investors about its technology and operations.

Technical Considerations for 2 Additive Manufactured Devices

The FDA publishes draft guidance of 3D printed medical devices.

So many people are dying of drug overdoses that they’re easing the donated organ shortage

In 2015, nearly ten percent of organ donors died of a drug overdose, a 50 percent increase over the last five years.

BSA Health System Selects Epic for its Hospitals and Clinics

BSA Health Systems (TX) chooses Epic to replace 80 software programs currently used across the health system.

Morning Headlines 5/11/16

Clues to Better Health Care From Old Malpractice Lawsuits

Malpractice insurers and medical groups are mining aggregate data from lawsuits that have been closed in the last few years to identify common reasons that doctors are sued and any underlying issues that threaten patient safety.

May 11-12, 2016 Meeting of the UT System Board of Regents

MD Anderson reports a $160 million drop in year-over-year income, blaming “an increase in expenses combined with a decrease in patient revenues as a result of the implementation of the new Epic Electronic Health Record system.”

Missouri Health Systems Select Cerner’s Digital Record

In Missouri, SoutheastHEALTH and Missouri Delta Medical Center both chose Cerner Millennium, replacing Siemens Soarian.

Morning Headlines 5/10/16

NantHealth, Soon-Shiong’s personalized medicine company, files IPO

Healthcare billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD files IPO paperwork ahead of plans to take his healthcare business, NantHealth, public. The company delayed earlier IPO plans, citing adverse market conditions, and continues to operate in the red.

FBI Cyber Division Chief Advises Companies Not to Pay Ransom for Release of Data

Speaking at the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at UC Berkeley, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director James Trainor says that businesses should not pay the ransom if they are the victim of a ransomware attack, and reiterates that while the attacks will continue to be a threat for years, “Ransomware is about backups, more so than anything else.”

A Comprehensive Strategy for Primary Care Payment Reform in Medicare

Farzad Mostashari, MD, Bob Kocher, MD, and Mark McClellan, MD, PhD co-author an opinion piece on the implications the recently announced Comprehensive Primary Care Plus model will have on ACO participation, calling for consideration of a CPC+ACO pilot program.

HHS announces challenge to redesign the medical bill for patients

During the Health Datapalooza conference, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell announces an innovation challenge soliciting designs for medical bills that are easier for patients to understand.

Morning Headlines 5/9/16

American College of Physicians: Sylvia Mathews Burwell

In a speech given at the 2016 ACP Internal Medicine Meeting, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell assures providers that Meaningful Use complaints are being taken seriously and that the department is “working to address things like burdensome reporting and inflexible requirements.”

Saint Agnes Medical Center victim of data breach

Hackers running a phishing scam steal the W-2s of 2,800 Saint Agnes Medical Center (CA) employees.

Cerner (CERN) Q1 2016 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

During its Q1 earnings call, Cerner President Zane Burke reports that the company has reached an all time win rate against competitors, primarily Epic, driven by software improvements, lower cost of ownership, and open platform capabilities.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) Paul M. Black on Q1 2016 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

During its Q1 earnings call, CEO Paul Black notes that the company is building a precision medicine hub, “bringing together clinical, genomic, and consumer-based information to a centralized database.”

Morning Headlines 5/6/16

A Deep Dive on the MACRA NPRM

BIDMC CIO John Halamka, MD publishes his analysis of the recently released MACRA proposed rule.

Cerner Reports First Quarter 2016 Results

Cerner reports Q1 results: revenue grew 14 percent to $1.14 billion vs. $996 million during the same quarter last year, adjusted EPS $0.53 vs. $0.45, missing revenue projections. Share prices fell four percent in after hours trading.

Allscripts announces first quarter 2016 results

Allscripts reports Q1 results: revenue grew three percent to $346 million but fell short of projections, adjusted EPS $0.13 vs. $0.08.

Ns1ghter Launches Free and Unlimited Doctor Visits

An Austin-based startup launches offering free, unlimited telehealth visits and free second opinion case reviews.