Morning Headlines 2/24/15

Strengthening Patient Care: Building an Effective National Medical Device Surveillance System

The FDA publishes a report outlining its $250 million plan to roll out a national medical device surveillance system over the next seven-years.

Epic vs. Cerner Competition Heats Up

A KLAS report on acute EHR purchasing decisions asks hospitals that are in the market for a new system who their likely next vendor will be: 25 percent reported Epic, 14 percent reported Cerner, 13 percent reported MEDITECH, and 5 percent reported McKesson, while 41 percent are undecided.

Mobile app with evidence-based decision support diagnoses more obesity, smoking, and depression, Columbia Nursing study finds

A Columbia University study published in the Journal of Nurse Practitioners finds that diagnosis rates for obesity, smoking, and depression were much higher when nurses used a smartphone app that explained evidence-based guidelines and triggered clinical decision support prompts during routine exams.

Kaiser tests video visits to cut waits

Kaiser Permanente experiments with telehealth visits as a possible way of reducing ED utilization and wait times.  

Morning Headlines 2/23/15

$842-million health records project in B.C. faces delays, software dispute

In Canada, leaked documents reveal that a $670 million IBM/Cerner implementation may be heading to arbitration over delays and efficiency issues.

Healthcare Research Firm Toughens Survey Standards as More CIOs Reap the Profits of Reselling Vendor Software

Black Book adjusts its survey methods after discovering that some hospital managers had answered surveys on behalf of end users while at the same time overseeing efforts to resell hosted installs of the EHR to private practices and smaller local hospitals.

Texas Man Charged in $1 Million Fraud Scheme

A Texas man is facing fraud charges after posing as a Cerner representative and then selling an MRI machine to a Dallas-area hospital for $1.3 million.

Morning Headlines 2/20/15

Most Admired 2015

Fortune Magazine names Cerner to its 2015 Most Admired Companies list.

Castlight Health Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2014 Results

Castlight Health announces Q4 and 2014 year end results: Revenue for 2014 closed out at $45.6 million, a 252 percent increase over 2013, but still resulting in an overall $86.2 million operating loss, EPS -$1.16 vs. -$6.28. Stock prices dropped 31 percent Thursday following an analyst’s downgrade.

Oregon Sues Oracle Over Health Insurance Site

Oregon has filed another lawsuit against Oracle, seeking to bar the company from doing business in the state, over claims that Oracle is preparing to pull the plug on hosting Oregon’s state insurance exchange.

U.S. FDA approves 23andMe’s genetic screening test for rare disorder

After a long regulatory battle with the FDA, genetic testing service provider 23andMe earns regulatory approval to market its personal genome testing service. The company is only approved to test for a genetic mutation associated with Bloom syndrome, a rare disorder that leads to an increased risk of cancer.

Morning Headlines 2/19/15

Epic Systems to open its own app exchange

A local Madison paper reports that Epic is about to launch an app store that let customers buy apps from third-party developers that integrate with the core EHR system.

Number of the Day: 11.4 Million

The Obama administration announces that 11.4 million consumers have signed up for health insurance through the state and federal marketplaces, of which 6.7 million were automatically re-enrolled from last year.

Cutting the Gordian Helix — Regulating Genomic Testing in the Era of Precision Medicine

Eric Lader, PhD., MIT professor and principal leader of the Human Genome Project, publishes an article in the New England Journal of Medicine discussing the need for tighter regulatory oversight on personalized medicine recommendations coming from genetic testing.

Another Study Shows ACC/AHA Risk Calculator Overestimates CVD Events

Four out of five cardiovascular risk-prediction algorithms, including the new ACC/AHA risk calculators, have been found to overestimate the risk of a cardiovascular event. The 2013 ACC/AHA risk calculator overestimated risk of cardiac-related deaths by 86 percent for men and 67 percent for women.

Morning Headlines 2/18/15

ObamaCare’s Electronic-Records Debacle

Jeffrey Singer, MD writes an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal lambasting the Republican party for focusing solely on repealing Obamacare, and not also targeting the repeal of the HITECH Act, explaining “electronic health records have harmed my practice and my patients.”

Syracuse hospital loses $21.6 million, wants to join big health system

After losing $22 million in 2014, largely to one-time Epic implementation costs, St Joseph’s Hospital (NY) is exploring a merger with a larger hospital network, likely Trinity which St. Joe’s has an existing relationship with.

Duke University alum and former offensive lineman is helping college players across the nation keep up with demanding schedules

Duke University rolls out new software for football recruits designed to organize their schedules, remind them of doctors appointments, track their performance, and store their medical records. Duke reports the system saved the university $244,305 in materials and employee hours over a six-month period, a 345 percent return on investment.

What Exactly Is an Apple Watch For?

The Wall Street Journal covers some of the last minute design sacrifices Apple made before unveiling the Apple Watch, including scrapped plans for blood pressure monitoring and stress level monitoring.

Morning Headlines 2/17/15

Feds, states extend Obamacare enrollment period for some

Healthcare.gov and most state-level exchanges will extend open enrollment through next weekend due to complaints of long waits and computer glitches.

Analytics Predict Which Patients Will Suffer Post-Surgical Infections

Predictive analytics systems are having a direct impact on post-operative infection rates. By analyzing risk factors and intraoperative physiological conditions, analytics systems are able to flag patients with an increased risk of developing infection as they come out of surgery, which has resulted in overall reduced infection rates. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is reporting a 58 percent drop in colon surgery infections in the two years since it implemented predictive analytics.

Cost of Anthem’s data breach likely to exceed $100 million

Analysts estimate that Anthem’s recent data breach will end up costing the insurance giant more than $100 million.

Morning Headlines 2/16/15

Reforming the Military Health System

A report on the military health system written by a group of DoD, VA, and health IT experts calls on the DoD to migrate its TRICARE insurance program from a fee-for-service to a value-based reimbursement model and warns that locking into a long-term, commercial EHR contract based on current needs could be tantamount to signing a twenty-year contract with Blackberry just before wireless data plans  changed the smartphone landscape.

The software ‘unicorn’ that will never go public

Fortune profiles eClinicalWorks, whose CEO launched the company with no VC backing and bootstrapped it into a $320 million annual revenue enterprise.

Ex-Lizard Squad Hacker Targets NHS Websites

A 16-year old hacker has published a list of security vulnerabilities, including SQL injection flaws and generic admin login settings, that he and a hacker group called Lizard Squad discovered on NHS websites.

A Warehouse Fire of Digital Memories

Following the seven-alarm fire in Brooklyn that destroyed decades worth of archived paper medical records, Google VP Vint Cerf warns that the same fate awaits electronic records because as soon as the proprietary systems that read them are gone, the data will be inaccessible. He is calling for the creation of new technologies that can extract data from old software systems that have since been sunset.

Morning Headlines 2/13/15

Inovalon (INOV) Stock Rises Today on NASDAQ Debut

Analytics vendor Inovalon ends its first day on the stock market at $29.61, nearly ten percent up on the day.

NPSF convenes panel to set plans for progress

The National Patient Safety Foundation announces plans to convene a panel of patient safety experts that will assess progress made since the publication of IOM’s “To Err Is Human,” and then form patient safety goals and strategies outlining the next 15 years.

Deloitte announces new approach to EHR implementation and support

Deloitte begins marketing an EHR implementation and support approach designed to support smaller hospitals interested in migrating to a value-based reimbursement model.

Patient safety leader named CIO at Brigham & Women’s

David Bates, MD is named as the next CIO of Brigham & Women’s and the executive sponsor of the Brigham Innovation Hub. He was previously the chief quality officer at BWH.

Morning Headlines 2/12/15

Lawmakers oppose delaying October rollout for ICD-10

A group of representatives hears testimony on the implementation of ICD-10, including 6 of 7 industry representatives speaking in favor of an on-time transition.

U.S. creates new agency to lead cyberthreat tracking

Following the string of recent high-profile hacker attacks, the US will stand-up a new  intelligence unit called the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center that will be focused on tracking cyberthreats

Government Watchdog Says Veterans Affairs at High Risk for Fraud, Waste

The GAO publishes a report labeling the VA’s health care system a “high-risk” area of the government, citing vulnerability to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement.

Morning Headlines 2/11/15

Cerner Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2014 Results

Cerner announces Q4 results: revenue up 16 percent to $1.16 billion, adjusted EPS $0.47 vs. $0.39.

Premier, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2015 Second-Quarter Results

Premier, Inc. announces Q2 results: revenue is up 19 percent to to $294 million, EPS $0.36 vs. $0.31.

Is Your Doctor’s Office the Most Dangerous Place for Data?

ABC News cover the rise of hackers migrating toward the healthcare space, an industry that finds itself 10-years behind financial services in terms of protecting consumer information.  

WakeMed posts $3M Q1 income, goes live with electronic records

WakeMed goes live with its $100 million Epic install.

Morning Headlines 2/10/15

CMS’s Efforts to Prepare for the New Version of the Disease and Procedure Codes

A GAO report finds that CMS is adequately prepared to migrate to ICD-10 coding in October 2015.

WellStar, Emory explore merger in Atlanta area

Emory University Healthcare  is in discussions with WellStar Health System to merge, forming an 11-hospital integrated delivery network in the Atlanta area.

Medical Device Data Systems, Medical Image Storage Devices, and Medical Image Communications Devices

The FDA issued two final guidance documents on the regulatory stance it will take over mHealth apps and software systems that send and receive, but do not alter, medical data.

Morning Headlines 2/9/15

Anthem hack: Personal data stolen sells for 10X price of stolen credit card numbers

Security analysts report that the Anthem hackers should be able to sell the stolen health records for as much as $1,000 each, making them ten times more valuable than stolen credit card data.

Defense Health shoring up IT ahead of EHR move

The Defense Health Agency reports that it will spend 2015 updating its IT infrastructure in preparation for its upcoming EHR implementation.

VITL Launches Marketing Push With Super Bowl Ad

The Vermont Health Information Exchange spent $13,000 to run a 30-second regional commercial during the Super Bowl in an effort to increase patient consent rates and boost physician utilization.

Morning Headlines 2/6/15

Roper Industries Announces Two Medical Software Acquisitions

Roper Industries, parent company of Sunquest, acquires two more health IT companies for a total of $450 million. Data Innovations, a middleware software vendor that supports hospital laboratories, and SoftWriters, a software vendor working in the long-term care space.

Exclusive: Apple’s health tech takes early lead among top hospitals

In a small survey, Reuters finds that 14 of 23 hospitals are moving forward with plans to interface with Apple’s HealthKit API, beating Google and Samsung in terms of hospital penetration.

athenahealth, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2014 Results

Athenahealth reports 2014 year end results: revenue is up 26 percent, at $752 million, adjusted EPS $1.31 vs. $1.16.

McKesson Reports Fiscal 2015 Third-Quarter Results

McKesson reports Q3 results: revenue up 37 percent to $47 billion, adjusted EPS $2.89 vs. $1.48. Revenue from its health IT business dropped seven percent to $755 million.

Morning Headlines 2/5/15

Health Insurer Anthem Hit by Hackers

Anthem, the country’s second-largest health insurer, is reporting that hackers broke into a database containing personal information for 80 million customers. Investigators are still assessing the damage, but early reports suggest that “tens of millions” of records were stolen.

AMA, MATTER Partner to Create Transformative Health Care Innovation and Technology-enabled “Physician Office of the Future”

AMA is partnering with a Chicago incubator to create a health IT lab focused on growing startups that will drive efficiencies and improve care delivery for physician offices.

Under Armour Just Bought 100 Million Users Worth of Fitness Data

Under Armour acquires calorie counter app MyFitnessPal for $475 million and fitness app Endomondo for $85 million, growing its digital health ecosystem to 100 million active users.

Morning Headlines 2/4/15

athenahealth Collaborates with BIDMC on Inpatient Cloud-based EHR

Athenahealth acquires Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s home grown inpatient EHR. Athena will scrap the code, but will use the system as a model to build its own inpatient EHR over the coming months.

Fiscal Year 2016 Budget of the US Government

ONC requests $92 million in the 2016 federal budget, of which $5 million will be used to establish a Health IT Safety Center.

HHS and ONC invest $28 Million in Health Information Exchange Grants

HHS announces $28 million in new grant money available to support the adoption of HIEs.

Morning Headlines 2/3/15

Cerner Completes Acquisition of Siemens Health Services

Cerner announces the completion of its acquisition of Siemens Health Services. The new merged organization has a combined customer base of 21,000 facilities and an annual R&D budget of $650 million.

Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation and Three Affiliated New Mexico Hospitals to Pay $75 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

For-profit hospital chain Community Health Systems will pay $75 million to settle False Claims Act charges with the DOJ. Three New Mexico hospitals are accused of making illegal donations to county governments. The funds were used to pay the state’s share of Medicaid payments to the accused hospitals, in an effort to drive up local spending and take advantage of a federal program that reimbursed New Mexico $0.75 for ever dollar spent on rural Medicaid services.

ONC Annual Meeting, February 2 – 3

ONC’s Annual Meeting kicked off in Washington DC today. Tomorrow morning Karen DeSalvo, MD will join the former National Coordinators for an hour long round table on the state of the HIT nation.

Cost Comparison Between Home Telemonitoring and Usual Care of Older Adults: A Randomized Trial

Researcher compare the total cost of care for 205 patients over the age of 60 and find that, over the course of a 12-month period, traditional care costs the same as care supplemented with remote patient monitoring services.

Morning Headlines 2/2/15

Interoperability Roadmap

ONC publishes a draft version of its 10-year interoperability roadmap. The 166-page document outlines a plan for deploying and maintaining an API-based interoperability framework over the next 10 years.

White House Details ‘Precision Medicine’ Initiative

President Obama’s recently announced Precision Medicine Initiative will send $5 million to ONC to develop an interoperability framework and data exchange standards.

CPSI Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2014 Results and 2015 Guidance

CPSI announces Q4 and year-end results: revenue down 10 percent to $46.3 for the quarter and $204 million for the year, EPS $0.60 vs. $0.90. Share prices dropped 16 percent on the news.

Some Maine hospitals can predict your next trip to the ER: Here’s how

A local paper covers the population health analytics tool that Maine’s HIE HealthInfoNet is using to predict which patients are trending toward a stroke, heart attack, hospital admission, or ED visit.