Morning Headlines 1/23/18

Protenus Raises $11M from F-Prime Capital, Kaiser Permanente Ventures

Baltimore-based Protenus, a developer of AI-powered EHR security tools, raises $11 million in a Series B round that brings its total funding to $19.4 million.

Microsoft to drop its HealthVault Insights apps

Microsoft announces it will pull apps associated with its HealthVault Insights research project from app stores. User-generated data will be available via the HealthVault website.

Health Intelligence Company, Springbuk, Announces $20 Million Series B Round

Employer-focused health analytics company Springbuk raises $20 million in a funding round led by HealthQuest Capital and Echo Health Ventures.

USDA Invests in e-Connectivity to Restore Rural Prosperity by Providing Training and Health Care Services

The USDA awards $23.6 million via its Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program to rural communities in need of broadband equipment.

Morning Headlines 1/22/18

Allscripts Ransomware Update

In a ransomware update Sunday morning, Allscripts tells customers that Professional EHR and Allscripts PM are being brought back online on a rolling basis; users should plan for their systems to be down Monday. The company will let customers know what if any HIPAA breach reporting is required.

Amazon just hired a top Seattle doctor who ran a network of health clinics

Amazon hires Martin Levine, MD (Iora Health) for an unstated role.

Consent for Release of VA Medical Records

To ensure medical records are available at the point of care, the VA issues a proposed rule that would allow outside providers to access records through HIEs, bypassing the need for the VA to have a patient’s written consent in hand.

Morning Headlines 1/19/18

Ransomware Attack Takes Down Some Allscripts Systems

Allscripts reports that a ransomware attack has taken down some of the applications that are hosted in its Raleigh and Charlotte, NC data centers.

State rejects challenge to UI’s decision on electronic-records contract

The Illinois Chief Procurement Office for Higher Education rejects Cerner’s protest of UI Health’s September 2017 decision to award Epic a $62 million contract.

Hacker Might Have Stolen the Healthcare Data for Half of Norway’s Population

A hospital management organization in Norway discloses a January 8 data breach that may have impacted the medical records of 2.9 million patients.

Change Healthcare acquires National Decision Support Company

Change Healthcare acquires medical guidelines technology vendor National Decision Support Company.

Morning Headlines 1/18/18

Senator seeks answers on pause in VA’s Cerner deal

Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), a member of the committee that must approve the VA’s request to move money to fund its Cerner project, expresses frustration with the VA’s contract signing delay, questioning whether the VA did its interoperability due diligence, asking if it is seeking contract changes or considering alternate solutions, and wondering if Cerner can reschedule 900 engineers that were supposed to start work on the project in the Pacific Northwest.

Elsevier Acquires Via Oncology, a Leading Provider of Clinical Decision Support Solutions for Oncology Professionals

The UPMC spinoff provides cancer care management best practices and decision support.

Senate panel endorses Trump’s pick for Health secretary

The nomination of former drug company executive Alex Azar for HHS secretary moves on to a Senate confirmation hearing.

Forget Diets, Weight Watchers Wants You for Life

Weight Watchers International attempts to reposition itself from short-term weight loss support to becoming a life-long wellness service.

Morning Headlines 1/17/18

Hospital pays $55,000 ransom; no patient data stolen

Hancock Health (IN) pays a hacker’s demanded four bitcoin in ransom – worth $55,000 at the time of payment — to regain access to its systems.

Mounting Concerns About VA’s EHR Contract

The DoD decides to place its MHS Genesis Cerner project on hold for eight weeks because of a large number of open problem tickets and doctor complaints about poor workflows.

Nordic acquires The Claro Group’s revenue cycle transformation practice

Nordic expands beyond its traditional Epic consulting business with the acquisition of The Claro Group’s revenue cycle transformation practice.

Former Health Secretary Tom Price Gets a New Gig as Advisor

Former HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD joins Atlanta-based Jackson Healthcare’s advisory board.

VA CIO: Expect another 10 years of VistA in facilities during new EHR rollout

VA CIO Scott Blackburn points out that the VA will invest in and support VistA while the department implements its new Cerner system over the next decade.

Morning Headlines 1/16/18

Memorial resumes regular operations following last week’s flooding

MaineHealth’s Memorial Hospital (NH) gets key IT systems – including its three EHRs – back up and running after last week’s plumbing-related flood.

CHIME and HIMSS Name Randy McCleese CIO of the Year

The boards of HIMSS and CHIME award Methodist Hospital (KY) CIO Randy McCleese the the 2017 John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year award.

State Requests Lawsuit Against 62 Hospitals Be Dismissed

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill will not pursue litigation against 62 hospitals named in a lawsuit that contends they falsified records in order to qualify for Meaningful Use incentives of up to $300 million.

Morning Headlines 1/15/18

Hospital hit by ransomware: Attackers demand Bitcoin to release control of system

Systems at Hancock Health (IN) go down following a ransomware attack Thursday.

Mediator to help fix problems with Nanaimo IHealth records project

In Canada, a consultant’s report concludes that Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s over-budget, behind-schedule Cerner rollout has been mismanaged by Island Health and recommends that further rollouts across Vancouver Island be halted until problems are fixed.

SS&C To Acquire DST Systems

SS&C Technologies will acquire DST Systems, which provides technology, consulting, and outsourcing services for finance and healthcare, for $5.4 billion.

Ottawa hospitals upgrade medical record system

The Ottawa Hospital, the Ottawa Hospital Academic Family Health Team, and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Canada will replace their 25 year-old medical records system with Epic.

Morning Headlines 1/12/18

HIPAA Fee Policy ‘Threatens To Upend’ Records Industry: Suit

Release of information/HIM vendor Ciox Health sues HHS, saying HIPAA’s limitation on how much patients can be charged for copies of their medical records has saddled providers with hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs.

Philips to move company headquarters from Andover to Cambridge

Philips plans to relocate its North American headquarters by 2020, taking 2,000 employees to a new facility in Cambridge.

Army Virtual Medical Center launches at BAMC

Brooke Army Medical Center (TX) launches Army Medicine’s first virtual medical center.

Report ranks software developer as the best job in the US this year

A US News & World Report survey finds that software developer is the best job of 2018, outranking healthcare jobs for the first time.

Morning Headlines 1/11/18

Cerner Corporation names Brent Shafer CEO, Chairman

Former Philips North America CEO Brent Shafer will take on his new roles February 1.

Meet Eva, the voice-activated ‘assistant’ for doctors

EHR-embedded virtual assistant technology from EClinicalWorks, Epic, and Athenahealth heralds more productive workflows for physicians.

1Vision Awarded Home Telehealth Contract from the US Department of Veterans Affairs

The VA awards Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business 1Vision a $260 million contract to provide veterans with home telehealth services.

ONC Appoints New Chief Privacy Officer

HHS promotes Kathryn Marchesini to ONC’s chief privacy officer.

Morning Headlines 1/10/18

Change Healthcare Announces General Availability of First Enterprise-Scale Blockchain Solution for Healthcare

Change Healthcare announces GA of healthcare’s first enterprise-scale blockchain product, incorporating the technology into its Intelligent Healthcare Network for claims management.

President Donald J. Trump Takes Care of Veterans from the Battlefront to the Home Front

President Trump signs an Executive Order directing the DoD, VA, and Homeland Security to develop technology-heavy plans to provide mental health and suicide prevention resources to military personnel transitioning back to civilian life.

Siemens to list Healthineers unit in March: sources

Siemens will take its Healthineers business public in an April IPO that will value the company at $48 billion.

CMS announces new payment model to improve quality, coordination, and cost-effectiveness for both inpatient and outpatient care

CMS launches a new voluntary bundled payment model that allows providers to earn additional money if care expenses meet  a spending threshold that factors in quality.

McKesson CEO Calls Criticism of Company’s Opioid Role ‘Nonsense’

In an interview with Bloomberg, McKesson CEO John Hammergren downplays the company’s role in the opioid epidemic and hints at a possible 2018 IPO for Change Healthcare, in which it holds a 70-percent stake.

Morning Headlines 1/9/18

Practice Fusion, once headed for $1.5 billion valuation, ends in ‘disappointing’ fire sale

Allscripts will acquire Practice Fusion for $100 million in cash.

Allianz to invest $59 million in digital US healthcare provider

German insurance company Allianz will invest $59 million in American Well.

State approves UVM Health Network’s $151M records project

Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board approves a request to implement Epic at four hospitals within the University of Vermont Health Network.

Morning Headlines 1/8/18

2017 US Healthcare Breaches Involving Ransomware Increased 89% Year-Over-Year

A new report from Cryptonite finds that ransomware attacks on healthcare institutions increased by 89 percent from 2016 to 2017.

Denver-based health care ratings site Healthgrades confirms employee layoffs

Provider ratings and reviews business Healthgrades confirms an unspecified number of layoffs across the company.

Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement

ONC publishes a draft of its Trusted Exchange Framework as directed by Congress in the 21st Century Cures Act.

Morning Headlines 1/5/18

Power restored for Henry Ford Health’s computers

Henry Ford Health System (MI) recovers from a power outage at its data center early Thursday morning that shut down phones, email, and IT systems, including Epic.

VETS Act of 2017

Following in the House’s November footsteps, the Senate unanimously passes the Veterans E-Health & Telemedicine Support Act of 2017, giving VA providers the ability to care for patients via telemedicine at any location in any state.

Patient portal use and hospital outcomes

A Mayo Clinic Jacksonville study finds that only around 20 percent of inpatients who had previously registered for its patient portal actually used it during their stay, concluding that inpatient portal use probably doesn’t improve outcomes.

VillageMD Announces $80 Million Growth Financing from Athyrium Capital Management

Primary care management and technology company VillageMD raises $80 million in a financing round led by Athyrium Capital Management, bringing its total funding to $116 million.

Morning Headlines 1/4/18

Carrollton Family Clinic vs. EClinicalWorks

Carrollton Family Clinic (MS) files a class-action lawsuit against EClinicalWorks in an effort to recoup lost Meaningful Use incentive money and related IT expenses.

Medical E-Records Co. Files $30M Suit Against Rival

Kipu Systems sues Sanomedics subsidiary ZenCharts for allegedly stealing the intellectual property behind its EHR for behavioral health providers.

Data Incident

Emory Healthcare (GA) experiences a data breach when a former employee dumps Emory patient data onto a Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive Account associated with his or her new job at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

CMS Launches Data Submission System for Clinicians in the Quality Payment Program

CMS develops a new online performance data submission tool for physicians participating in the Quality Payment Program. The 2017 submission period runs through March 31.

Morning Headlines 1/3/18

At Veterans Hospital in Oregon, a Push for Better Ratings Puts Patients at Risk, Doctors Say

Doctors at the VA hospital in Roseburg, OR point to shady administrative efforts to boost quality ratings, including discharging sick ED patients and steering the chronically ill to nearby hospice care to avoid in-hospital deaths.

Computer downtime update 1-2-18

Jones Memorial Hospital (NY) notifies patients of the continued IT systems downtime after a December 27 cyberattack.

Promoting Telehealth in Rural America

The FCC seeks comments on a proposed rule that would increase and potentially reallocate funding for the Rural Health Care Program.

SSM Health Reports Privacy Breach of Medical Records

SSM Health (MO) notifies 29,000 patients of a November data breach involving inappropriate employee access. The call-center employee honed his activities in on a small group of patients with controlled substance prescriptions from a particular PCP in St. Louis.

Morning Headlines 1/2/18

Meuhedet Signs Giant Telemedicine Agreement With US Startup

Israel-based HMO Meuhedet inks a deal with American Well valued at between $50 million and $60 million. The company, which is the country’s third-largest HMO, will be the first non-US business to work with American Well. Israeli-born brothers Ido and Roy Schoenberg – both physicians – founded the telemedicine company in 2006.

US medical device tax back in effect after two-year pause

A medical device sales tax of 2.3 percent goes back into effect after a two-year hiatus, a development the Advanced Medical Technology Association believes will stifle innovation and lead to the loss and/or creation of jobs.

FDA chief: I’m surprised it took big tech this long to get into health care

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD shares his thoughts on the ways in which Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet will transform the healthcare industry.

New year set to bring overhauled electronic health records system to Newman Regional Health

In Kansas, Newman Regional Health deploys Meditech 6.16 – its first medical records upgrade in 21 years.

Morning Headlines 12/29/17

State’s $44.3M health data system ‘at a crossroads,’ study says

A review of Vermont’s statewide HIE finds financial and administrative issues and an erosion of end user confidence.

CMS Appears to Forbid All Forms of Text Messaging

A health law firm reports that CMS has been issuing warnings hospitals that any form of texting PHI is unacceptable, even through secure text messaging applications. UPDATE: only ordering via text message is prohibited, as confirmed with CMS.

Swallowing a Spy — The Potential Uses of Digital Adherence Monitoring

A NEJM perspective article questions the usefulness of digital medicines, specifically the ingestible sensor manufactured by Proteus Digital Health to track and improve medication adherence. In the article, author Lisa Rosenbaum, MD opines that for digital monitoring to improve adherence rates, “lapses would probably need to reflect pragmatic rather than psychological obstacles, particularly for diseases for which medication taking isn’t associated with relief of symptoms.”

Some Doctors Still Billing Medicare for the Most Complicated, Expensive Office Visits

A ProPublica investigation questions the billing patterns of providers that almost exclusively bill CMS for the most expensive and complex visit type.