Morning Headlines 3/18/16

Improper disclosure of research participants’ protected health information results in $3.9 million HIPAA settlement

OCR announces two breach settlements stemming from stolen, unencrypted laptops. The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research will pay a $3.9 million fine, while North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota will pay $1.5 million.

Hospital exec quits, compares $764M upgrade to Challenger disaster

Charles Perry, MD, the CMIO of Queens and Elmhurst Hospital Centers resigns over concerns about the upcoming NYC Health + Hospitals Epic go-live. He compared the project to the Challenger space shuttle launch of 1986 and called for a delay to prevent patient harm.

McKesson Falls After Saying It Will Cut 1,600 Jobs in US

McKesson lays off 1,600 employees, or four percent of its US workforce, after losing several key customers.

Now There’s Proof: Docs Who Get Company Cash Tend to Prescribe More Brand-Name Meds

A ProPublica report finds that doctors who receive payments or gifts from pharmaceutical companies are two to three times more likely to prescribe a brand-name drug instead of a generic alternative.

Morning Headlines 3/17/16

VA moves to fire three hospital executives in Phoenix scandal

Two years after the Phoenix VA scheduling scandal came to light, the VA has formally proposed firing three more executives from the hospital: Darren Deering, MD,  the hospital’s chief of staff; Lance Robinson, the hospital’s associate director; and Brad Curry, chief of health administration service.

Organizations urge 90-day MU reporting period for 2016

CHIME and 32 other organizations ask CMS to shorten the MU reporting period for 2016 from 365 days to 90 days.

Google vet Alan Warren is Oscar Health’s new CTO

Allen Warren, former Google CTO and senior VP of engineering leaves his position to take a job as the CTO at tech-savvy insurer Oscar Health.

CHIME, HeroX Patient ID Challenge Gains Momentum

More than 200 companies have registered to participate in the $1 million CHIME National Patient ID Challenge.

Morning Headlines 3/16/16

Hospital data breach patients to receive settlement checks

St. Joseph Health (CA) settles a class action suit from 31,000 patients whose personal health information was left unsecure and accessible over the Internet. The health system will pay $15 million, of which $7.5 million will go to lawyers and $242 will be distributed to each patient.

NTT seen offering $3.5bn for Dell’s IT services ops

Japan-based NTT Data is expected to offer $3.52 billion to buy Perot Systems IT service business from Dell.

NYC’s $764M medical records system will lead to ‘patient death’: insiders

The New York Post cites anonymous insiders warning that NYC Health + Hospitals’ $764 million Epic system, scheduled to go live April 2, will crash and eventually cause patient harm and death.

Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks – security firms

Executives at four security firms suspect that Chinese-government supported hackers are behind the recent rise in increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks.

Morning Headlines 3/15/16

ACA setbacks dampen Intermountain’s finances

Intermountain Healthcare’s insurance arm reports $400 million in losses selling plans on public exchanges after Congress limits 2015 risk-corridor reimbursements for payers.

ICD-10 to add thousands of new diagnosis and procedure codes in FY 2017

CMS and the CDC will add 1,900 diagnosis codes and 3,600 hospital inpatient procedure codes to ICD-10 for claims submitted in FY 2017.

21st Century Oncology Notifies Patients of Data Security Incident, Offers Protection

National cancer care provider  21st Century Oncology notifies 2.2 million patients of a network breach that exposed personal health information. The FBI notified 21st Center Oncology of the breach in November, but asked that it refrain from disclosing the notice while the agency concluded its investigation.

HealthSpot’s assets are up for sale

Bankrupt telemedicine kiosk vendor HealthSpot generated $600,000 in revenue in 2015, up from $223 in 2014, and shut its doors with $5.17 million in assets and $23 million in liabilities. It is now accepting offers to purchase its remaining assets.

Morning Headlines 3/14/16

Medical Electronic Data Technology Enhancement for Consumers’ Health Act

The Senate HELP committee passes the MEDTECH Act, a bill that limits FDA oversight on EHRs and other medical software.

UnitedHealthcare launches a smaller, ‘very, very different’ insurer

UnitedHealthcare subsidiary Harken Health will begin selling individual insurance plans in Atlanta and Chicago that offer unlimited primary care visits with no co-pays if subscribers use Harken-owned health centers.

The World’s Most Innovative Research Institutions

HHS takes fourth place on Reuters list of Top 25 Global Innovators working in Government. The VA was also named, coming in at 12th place.

Global Center out to reduce vacancy

Cleveland-based Global Center for Health Innovation will work with Colliers to fill  20,000 feet of remaining vacant space. The building, whose major tenant is HIMSS, was a taxpayer funded project designed to boost tourism in the city, but has yet to live up to expectations.

Morning Headlines 3/11/16

EPAS labeled a dud by South Australian doctors forced to use it

In Australia, doctors at Port August Hospital write a letter to the CEO demanding that its $315 million Allscripts system be shut down, outlining 37 problems including a number of patient safety issues.

Paying It Forward- A Veteran’s Journey to HIMSS16

HIMSS tells the story of  Kevin Phillips, a homeless veteran that was invited to attend the conference and participate in the Veterans Career Services program, but got stranded in Chicago on a layover and, with no money to rectify the problems he was facing there, began walking back home to Fort Wayne, IN. Local police found the man and helped him continue his journey to the conference.

GE Electronic Medical Record added to Gold-medal Medical Services at Rio 2016 Olympic Games

GE announces that its Centricity Practice Solution has been chosen as the official EHR of the 2016 Olympics. Clinicians working the event will use the software to document and coordinate care for athletes.

American Workers Rank Last In Problem-Solving Skills With Technology

Americans rank last among 18 industrialized nations for technical problem-solving skills in the workforce.

Morning Headlines 3/10/16

VA names companies to share in $22 billion IT overhaul

The VA awards $22.3 billion in contracts to Booz Allen Hamilton, IBM, and Accenture as part of a department wide initiative to revamp IT systems. The project does not include funding to modernize or replace Vista, the EHR platform used by the VA.

e-MDs to Acquire Ambulatory Software Technology Assets from McKesson

E-MDs will acquire a number of McKesson ambulatory practice products, including Practice Choice, Medisoft, Lytec, and Practice Partner. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems

The Wall Street Journal reports that results from a 2015 CMS inspection of the Newark, California-based Theranos lab suggest that the company had been knowingly processing PT/INR tests on equipment that was generating erroneous results.

How Nash UNC improved care and added $1.5 million in revenue by deploying smartphones in the ER

UNC Nash Health Care (NC) generated $1.5 million in new revenue after issuing clinicians in the ED dedicated smart phones that were integrated with the hospital’s EHR. ED length of stay fell by 27 minutes and wait time for an inpatient bed assignment fell by 57 percent.

Morning Headlines 3/9/16

US Physician Practices Spend More Than $15.4 Billion Annually To Report Quality Measures

Health Affairs publishes a study estimating that US physicians spend 785 hours and $15.4 billion per year  dealing with reporting quality measures,

Cerner Approves $300M Common Stock Buyback Plan

Cerner’s board of directors approves the repurchase of up to 5.7 million shares, or 1.7 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, at a cost of up to $300 million. No time limit was set for the completion of the buyback plan.

Analysis of Prescribers’ Notes in Electronic Prescriptions in Ambulatory Practice

A JAMA study finds that 66 percent of e-prescriptions contain information in the free text field that should have been entered as discrete data, while another 5 percent contain comments that are irrelevant to the dispensing pharmacists.

Aetna moves to combine iTriage and WellMatch, confirms layoffs

As rumored on HIStalk this weekend, Aetna has laid off an undisclosed number of employees from iTriage and merged the business unit with WellMatch, an Aetna business focused on cost transparency.

Morning Headlines 3/8/16

Walgreens looks to cut ties with Theranos

Financial Times reports that Walgreens is moving forward with plans to end its relationship with Theranos in an effort to close the wellness centers Theranos runs in 40 of its Arizona pharmacy locations.

‘The data is being collected—now it needs to move’

In a short interview, National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD discusses MARCA and the unclear future of Meaningful Use Stage 3.

MD Anderson rolls out new electronic health records system

MD Anderson goes live with its Epic install. Epic was selected as vendor of choice in November 2013.

Walking Billboards for Patient-Centered Care

Patient advocate and artist Regina Holliday’s work is profiled by the Wall Street Journal.

Morning Headlines 3/7/16

VA may abandon VistA as its long-term electronic health record solution

The VA publically questions its commitment to modernizing Vista, its homegrown EHR platform, after requesting $40 million less for Vista modernization projects in 2017 than last year.

Main Line Health employees snared in security breach

10,000 employees at Main Line Health System have had their personal information compromised after an employee responds to a phishing email. The health system reports that no patient information was compromised.

Madison Memorial to move forward with $16 million purchase of records software

Madison Memorial Hospital (ID) contracts with Cerner to replace its existing Meditech EHR. The initial price of the contract was $6 million, and the ten year total cost of ownership is budgeted to reach $16 million.

2016 Student Technology Prize for Primary Healthcare

Mass General launches its “Ambulatory Practice of the Future” development challenge, calling on college students to design innovative solutions for primary care. The contest will award a $150,000 first place prize.

Morning Headlines 3/4/16

VA leaders cite progress on health record interoperability

David Shulkin, the under secretary for health at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, testifies before Congress that the VA and DoD are on track to be fully integrated by 2018, though during the same hearing VA CIO LaVerne Council reported that it was time to “take a step back” from planning the modernization of Vista while it considers off-the-shelf alternatives.

Cerner lands another big contract

Dignity Health will implement Cerner across all of its ambulatory clinics. Dignity already runs Cerner in its 39 acute care hospitals

This genetics company claims it just achieved a major milestone in biology — and it could transform personalized medicine

Veritas Genetics breaks the $1,000 genome sequencing threshold, offering full sequencing, interpretation, and genetic counseling for less than $1,000.

Life as a Healthcare CIO: Dispatch from HIMSS

John Halamka, MD recaps his impression of HIMSS16, expressing excitement over Surescripts National Record Locator Service, CommonWell, FHIR, and other initiatives that are gaining momentum.

Morning Headlines 3/3/16

ONC proposes greater oversight for EHR vendors

ONC publishes a proposed rule granting it authority to regulate EHR certification testing bodies, as well as review certified health IT products for information blocking and potential risks to patient safety,

EHR adoption is a great success! Except that docs still hate them

During a panel discussion on EHRs and interoperability, National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo,  MD and CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, MD offer contrasting views on the future of healthcare. Slavitt explains his pessimism, “She works with the technology community, which is making tons of progress. I’ve been spending the last few months hearing from physicians trying to use technology, I think they affect my mood just a little bit.”

Garmin and Allscripts Enter Strategic Relationship to Improve Patient Care

Allscripts partners with Garmin to integrate real-time patient generated health data captured by Garmin’s fitness trackers into Allscripts’ population health manager solution. Berkshire Medical Center (MA) will pilot the technology.

Morning Headlines 3/2/16

Surescripts activates National Record Locator Service, includes data on 140 million patients

Surescripts announces the launch of its National Patient Record Locator Service, a partnership that includes CVS, Express Scripts, Epic, and NextGen Healthcare, covering 140 million patients and 2 billion patient interactions.

Investing in the Future: New Market-Ready, User-Friendly Health Technology App and Infrastructure Support

National Coordinator for Health IT, Karen DeSalvo, MD unveils three new FHIR developer challenges aimed at improving interoperability.

Supreme Court Rules Against Vermont Health-Care Data Law

The Supreme Court strikes down a 2005 Vermont law requiring large health plans to report “information relating to heath care costs, prices, quality, utilization or resources required” to a state database.

Lahey Hospital’s operating loss widens as IT, drug costs mount

Lahey Hospital reports a $5.6 million operating loss for Q1, citing increased operating expenses and its $160 million Epic implementation costs as primary reasons.

Morning Headlines 3/1/16

Vendors, providers agree on interoperability, consumer access

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell announces during her HIMSS keynote speech that EHR vendors providing 90 percent of all systems used in the US along with the five largest private health systems have pledged to adopt federally recognized interoperability standards, avoid information blocking, and expand patient access to data.

eClinicalWorks aims to deploy healthcare IT solutions in 200 Indian hospitals by 2016 end

EClinicalWorks has 75 hospitals using its EHR in India, and expects that number to grow to nearly 300 by year end.

Health Catalyst raises $70 mln

Norwest Venture Partners and UPCM co-lead a $70 million Series E investment round, which CEO Dan Burton says will be its last investment round.

UPMC to lead $35 mln investment in medCPU

UPMC has taken a majority interest in MedCPU, a New York based clinical decision support startup and has led a $35 million investment round in the company.

Morning Headlines 2/29/16

Remarks by the President in Precision Medicine Panel Discussion

The White House publishes the Presidents transcript from the Precision Medicine panel discussion, in which he calls out interoperability issues directly, saying, “Part of the problem with have right now is that every patient’s data is siloed — it’s in a hospital here, a hospital there, a doctor here, a lab there.”

Meaningful-use hardship exemption deadline extended

CMS extends the hardship exemption deadline for hospitals and providers to July 1. Hospitals originally had until April 1 to file for an exemption, while EPs only had until March 15.

Cerner Names John Glaser SVP of Population Health

John Glaser will take over Cerner’s population health division on April 1.

Morning Headlines 2/26/16

Obama Administration Announces Key Actions to Accelerate Precision Medicine Initiative

The White House releases an update on its Precision Medicine Initiative, detailing commitments from 40 private organizations that will work on the project, largely on efforts to improve cybersecurity and data sharing as researchers work to build a one million participant research cohort.

NIH Taking First Steps on Huge Precision Medicine Project

As part of the Precision Medicine Initiative, the NIH will issue a grant to Vanderbilt University and Google’s life science business Verily to fund a pilot project to learn how best to recruit cohort participants and collecting their data.

Epic, the Cold Hard Facts

HIStalk and Peer60 publish survey results of C-level executives from Epic-using organizations, asking straight-forward questions written by Mr. H.

This Vet Filmed Himself Trying To Get A Doctor’s Appointment At VA. It Wasn’t Pretty

A video of Army veteran Dennis Magnasco trying  to schedule an appointment at his local VA clinic, but being unable to get through to an actual human, goes viral after his employer, Rep. Seth Moulton (D- Mass) shares the story on social media. The attention garnered Moulton several additional co-sponsors to his Faster Care for Veterans bill, which would allow veterans to self-schedule appointments using an app.

Morning Headlines 2/25/16

Dr. Robert Califf Wins Senate Confirmation to Run FDA

In an 89-4 vote, Robert Califf, MD, a cardiologist and clinical researcher from Duke University, has been confirmed by the Senate as the next FDA commissioner.

CommonWell Announces National Deployment of Interoperability Services to the Post-Acute Market

CommonWell will begin offering integration services in the post-acute care market in 2016, noting in its announcement that CommonWell members Brightree, Cerner, and McKesson have agreed to deploy the new services.

Google’s DeepMind AI group unveils heath care ambitions

Google announces that it has teamed up with researchers from the NHS to co-develop a version of its DeepMind AI platform focused on developing healthcare applications.

WebMD sees opening to tap into telehealth space

WebMD CEO David Schlanger says on its most recent earnings call that the company would likely enter the telehealth space, through either an acquisition or a partnership.