Morning Headlines 9/7/20

VA reboots health record rollout

The VA’s implementation of Cerner’s scheduling solution in the Midwest’s VISN10 region will be followed there by the full Cerner rollout.

Race for Coronavirus Vaccine Pits Spy Against Spy

The FBI warns University of North Carolina and other universities that state-sponsored cyberhackers from China, Russia, and Iran are targeting their COVID-19 research data.

Lessons from a Virus Tracing Dud

The state of Utah paid $3 million plus $300,000 per month to a small technology firm to develop its Healthy Together contact tracing app, which is being used by just 200 people.

Morning Headlines 9/4/20

Premier Inc. Earns First Place in AHRQ Predictive Analytics Challenge

AHRQ names Premier as the winner of its predictive analytics challenge, in which its PremierConnect most closely predicted admissions and length of stay.

Nordic taking proactive steps to serve clients more effectively in a COVID-19 world

Nordic lays off 72 of its 1,000 US-based employees due to the pandemic-induced financial disruptions its customers have faced.

Defense Innovation Unit Selects Google Cloud to Help U.S. Military Health System With Predictive Cancer Diagnoses

The DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit will work with Google Cloud to develop a digital pathology solution that will include augmented reality microscopes and AI models for more accurate and timely cancer detection.

Morning Headlines 9/3/20

Coast Guard Begins Deploying Pentagon’s New Electronic Health Records System

The US Coast Guard goes live on the DoD’s Cerner-powered MHS Genesis EHR at four facilities in California, with facility-wide deployment expected over the next two years.

WELL Health to Expand into US Market with Proposed Majority Stake in US Telehealth Leader Circle Medical and Announces $23M CAD Offering with Group of Investors Led by Mr. Li Ka-shing

Canadian Well Health Technologies will acquire San Francisco-based primary care company Circle Medical for $14 million.

Insurer Centene invests in start-up Hazel Health in $33.5 million venture funding round

Student-focused telemedicine startup Hazel Health raises $33.5 million in a Series C round led by Bain Capital and Owl Ventures.

Boston startup Biofourmis raises $100m for remote medical tech

Biofourmis raises $100 million to further develop its predictive analytics-based remote patient monitoring technology.

Morning Headlines 9/2/20

PicnicHealth Announces $35M in Funding to Accelerate Medical Research Based on Real World Data

PicnicHealth, which assembles a user’s health history from their medical records, packages them into a PHR, and then allows the user to send their anonymized data to drug companies as real-world evidence for research, raises $35 million.

TigerConnect Acquires Call Scheduler, Launches Fully Integrated TigerSchedule to Simplify Physician On-Call Scheduling

TigerConnect acquires Adjuvant’s physician scheduling tool, which it will release as TigerSchedule in combining physician scheduling with clinical collaboration.

Apple and Google will build their coronavirus contact tracing software right into your phone

Apple and Google will include COVID-19 exposure notification in the next updates of IOS and Android, eliminating the need for users to install them as a separate app.

Morning Headlines 9/1/20

CMS agrees to cover ‘breakthrough’ medical devices

A proposed CMS rule would give Medicare beneficiaries access to medical devices the FDA designates as breakthrough technology.

Cerner Unit Books Potential $161M VA Health Network Deployment Order

Cerner’s government services business receives a $161 million order to implement an enterprise healthcare services network at four VA medical centers in Ohio.

Madison nurses start company to provide online COVID-19 screening

Former Epic nursing innovation and product lead Bre Loughlin, RN co-founds Nurse Disrupted to offer virtual COVID-19 screening to men’s and women’s shelters in Madison, WI.

Morning Headlines 8/31/20

GoodRx files to go public with a rare characteristic: Profits

Prescription shopping vendor GoodRx files for an IPO, showing first-half results of $55 million in profit on $257 million in revenue with high growth in both.

Ascension Michigan health system to lay off and outsource 223 IT jobs in Troy

Ascension Michigan will lay off 223 employees of its IT network operations and service desk in October as the health system outsources their jobs.

HHS Deputy Secretary Hargan Statement on Appointment of Acting CIO

HHS Principal Deputy CIO Perryn Ashmore will begin serving as acting CIO following the resignation of Jose Arrieta.

Morning Headlines 8/28/20

Cerner ties in with new Amazon Halo to add depth to data in health records

Cerner integrates its systems with Amazon’s new Halo, a health and wellness wearable, app, and membership program.

New Jersey Electronic Health Records Company to Pay $500,000 to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas will pay $500,000 to settle allegations that its Viztek subsidiary obtained Meaningful Use certification for its EXA EHR under false pretenses, causing end users to falsely attest for MU incentives.

HHS Awards $117 Million to Support Health Center Quality Improvement

HHS will award over $117 million to 1,318 health centers across the country to help with quality improvement efforts including advancing the use of health IT.

Morning Headlines 8/27/20

SeamlessMD Raises $4 Million CAD Series A to Meet Increased Demand for Digital Patient Engagement Due to COVID-19

Toronto-based SeamlessMD will use a new round of funding to further scale its patient engagement app, designed to help patients before, during, and after hospital stays.

Prescryptive Health Closes $26 Million Series A Financing

Employer-focused, prescription-savings app startup Prescryptive Health raises $26 million in a Series A round led by Morningside Ventures.

Altarum’s Innovative Value-based Payment Solution—PROMETHEUS Analytics®—is Acquired by Change Healthcare

Research and advisory nonprofit Altarum sells its Prometheus Analytics software to Change Healthcare.

Morning Headlines 8/26/20

Warburg Pincus and Martis Capital Announce the Merger of Qualifacts and Credible Behavioral Health

The private equity owners of behavioral software vendors Qualifacts and Credible Behavioral Health will merge their respective companies, giving the merged organization a client base of 800 behavioral health agencies.

Lyra Health Closes $110M in Series D Funding

Lyra Health, which offers technology-powered mental health benefits for employers, raises $110 million in a Series D funding round, increasing its total to $290 million and valuing the company at $1.1 billion.

PatientPop Announces $50M in Series C Funding

Practice management software vendor PatientPop raises $50 million in a Series C funding round, increasing its total to $125 million.

Trump Administration Strengthens COVID-19 Surveillance with New Reporting and Testing Requirements for Nursing Homes, Other Providers

CMS issues new emergency regulations that include requiring hospitals to report COVID-19 data daily to HHS or face possible termination of Medicare and Medicaid payments.

Morning Headlines 8/25/20

Google is investing $100 million in telehealth provider Amwell, which will use Google Cloud

Amwell files to go public as Google Cloud announces that it will invest $100 million in the telemedicine company and become its preferred cloud partner.

VA rolls out new patient-appointment tool, as part of electronic health record modernization transformation

The VA Central Ohio Healthcare System goes live on a centralized scheduling solution as part of its agency-wide transition to Cerner technology.

Hartford HealthCare pushes ahead in pandemic to bring workers to office building on prominent corner in downtown Hartford

Hartford HealthCare (CT) will move forward with plans to open a patient care access center in downtown Hartford that will include a telemedicine-equipped urgent care center.

Morning Headlines 8/24/20

Outset Medical on deck for IPO

Outset Medical, which offers a portable, cloud-connected home dialysis machine that can integrate with EHRs, files for a $100 million IPO.

Appeals court further erodes huge 2016 jury award for Epic Systems

A US appeals court reduces the $280 million in punitive damages that Tata Consultancy Services had been ordered to pay Epic in a 2014 trade secrets lawsuit, saying that $140 million is a reasonable figure.

Exo Raises $40M Series B Extension To Bring Ultrasound Device To Market

Handheld ultrasound device manufacturer Exo raises $20 million in a Series B round, increasing its total to $100 million.

Morning Headlines 8/21/20

Troubled Covid-19 Data System Returning to CDC

HHS denies a Wall Street Journal report that says COVID-19 hospitalization data reporting, which was moved to an HHS system with little warning and with criticism from some members of Congress, will return to CDC’s control under a new system.

Trump plots broad health data overhaul after troubled rollout of Covid-19 database

The federal government has launched Modernizing Public Health Reporting and Surveillance, a multi-year initiative to improve data quality at state and local health departments.

Experity Announces Acquisition of Calibrater Health

Urgent and primary care software vendor Experity acquires patient relationship management company Calibrater Health.

Patient engagement startup raises $15 million from Google’s Gradient Ventures

Physician practice-focused patient engagement vendor Klara raises $15 million in a Series A round, bringing its total raised to $32 million.

Morning Headlines 8/20/20

Brightline Raises $20 Million to Bring Behavioral Health Care to Kids and Families Across California and Beyond

Pediatric behavioral health startup Brightline will use a $20 million funding round to further develop and expand access to its virtual visit services.

Baptist Health begins $100 million total digital transformation

Baptist Health South Florida looks to hire a chief digital officer as it prepares for health IT projects, including additional Cerner implementations, that will help it offer patients improved care through a more Amazon-like experience.

Vocera Acquires EASE to Improve the Healthcare Experience for Patients and Families

Clinical communications vendor Vocera acquires EASE Applications, which has developed messaging tools to help family members communicate with a patient’s care team.

Otsuka approved to buy bankrupt smart-pill maker Proteus’ assets, overcoming opposition from Novartis

Japanese pharmaceutical company Otsuka will acquire the assets of Proteus Digital Health, which filed for bankruptcy in June, for $15 million.

Morning Headlines 8/19/20

Bridge Connector Raises $25.5 Million in Series B Funding to Advance Interoperability Layer for Health Care

Nashville-based interoperability platform vendor Bridge Connector raises $25.5 million in a Series B funding round, increasing its total to $45 million.

Change Healthcare Acquires Nucleus.io

Change Healthcare enhances its Enterprise Imaging Network with the acquisition of Nucleus.io, a cloud-based imaging and workflow software company.

WebMD and Krames Launch Back to Care Program, Connecting Patients with Prescription Assistance

WebMD and Krames launch WebMD Back to Care, which connects patients with available prescription payment assistance programs.

Morning Headlines 8/18/20

Thirty Madison raises $47 million for its direct to consumer treatments of hair loss, migraines and indigestion

Consumer-facing telemedicine and prescription delivery startup Thirty Madison raises $47 million, bringing its total funding to $70 million.

Omnicell to Acquire Pharmaceutical Strategy Group’s Leading 340B Software-Enabled Service Business

Medication management vendor Omnicell will acquire Pharmaceutical Strategy Group’s 340B Link business for $225 million.

Patient Square Capital Formed To Become The Premier, Dedicated Health Care Investment Firm

Healthcare investment veteran Jim Momtazee announces the launch of Patient Square Capital, an investment firm that will focus on technology-enabled services, medical devices, digital health, providers, and consumer health.

Morning Headlines 8/17/20

Firm Helping Run U.S. Coronavirus Database Refuses Senators’ Questions

Citing an NDA, health IT vendor TeleTracking refuses to answer the Senate Health Committee’s questions about its $10.2 million contract to develop a HHS COVID-19 hospitalization reporting database to replace one used by CDC.

HHS CIO Arrieta unexpectedly resigns

HHS CIO Jose Arrieta resigned unexpectedly Friday night after 16 months on the job, saying he wants to spend time with his kids.

Epic Systems consolidating four departments into one division

Epic notifies employees that it will immediately consolidate its training, implementation, QA, and technical communications under an application services division.

Medical Debt Collection Firm R1 RCM Hit in Ransomware Attack

Revenue cycle company R1 RCM works to recover from a ransomware attack that occurred just as the company was preparing to release its quarterly financial results.

Morning Headlines 8/14/20

Teladoc rival MDLive is preparing to go public next year

MDLive plans to launch an IPO early next year, encouraged by Teladoc’s announced $18.5 billion acquisition of Livongo.

CancerIQ Raises $5M in VC Funding, Adds Strategic Hires to Epic Integration Team

Precision medicine software startup CancerIQ will use a new $5 million investment to further scale its oncology-focused technology, add staff members to its EHR integration team, and seek out new genomics partners.

Craneware Plans Bumper Placing As It Eyes Acquisition Opportunities

Scotland-based Craneware will raise $100 million, about 20% of its market value, to fund potential acquisitions from a small number of opportunities it has identified.

Epic Systems Reverses Course On Mandatory In-Person Work Policy

Epic makes its planned return to campus optional, reversing its previous decision and allowing employees to work from home through at least the end of the year.