Morning Headlines 1/20/17

Tim Draper keeps defending Theranos

Despite exhaustive examples of corporate irresponsibility and ineptitude, early Theranos investor Tim Draper continues to defend the company, calling the unrelenting bad press a conspiracy to take down Elizabeth Holmes.

The Final Days of Obama’s Tech Surge

As the Obama administration winds down, speculation over the future of the United States Digital Service mounts. The group, made up of high-profile Silicon Valley tech minds, was launched to rescue Healthcare.gov and help transform the government with technology.

CBO Scoring: The Issue Is Not How It’s Done, But How It’s Used

Health Affairs explains the role of the Congressional Budget Office in the overall legislative process, and outlines CBO cost estimates associated with repealing ACA. The article also notes that House rules were recently passed that contain a provision forbidding the CBO from generating long-term estimates on the impact of repealing ACA.

HIMSS Media Lab is Launched to Lift Audience Engagement and Revenue

HIMSS acknowledges that it will begin selling member data to support vendor sales efforts, explaining “We’re leveraging the HIMSS database of over one million health and technology experts…This enables us to identify the emotional and business triggers…and that’s really the key to understanding buying intent.”

Morning Headlines 1/19/17

CMS announces extension of 2016 reporting deadline and intends to modify 2017 requirements

CMS notifies eligible hospitals participating in Meaningful Use that the deadline for submitting eCQM data for the 2016 reporting period has been moved from February 28 to March 13 and reports that additional changes are being considered to further ease reporting burdens.

Using the Electronic Health Record to Understand and Minimize Overuse

A JAMA article suggests that EHRs will deliver value by helping identify and minimize unnecessary, low-value care which the authors say accounts for “substantial health care expenditures and may cause harm.”

Theranos just made another major leadership change

Just prior to news broke that Theranos failed a second CMS inspection at one of its blood testing labs, the company announced a new advisory board that will focus on technology.

Trump HHS pick Tom Price faces Senate questioning on Obamacare, stock buys

Representative Tom Price, MD, President-elect Trumps pick to lead HHS, faces questions before the Senate HELP committee.

Morning Headlines 1/18/17

How Repealing Portions of the Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums

The Congressional Budget Office publishes its predictions on the impact ACA’s repeal will have, concluding that premiums will spike and the number of people who are uninsured would increase by 18 million in the first coverage year following the repeal.

Second Theranos Lab Failed U.S. Inspection

Theranos fails an inspection of its Scottsdale, AZ blood testing lab but fails to disclose this information to its investors.

Introducing IMEDS, a Public-Private Resource for Evidence Generation

The FDA launches the Innovation in Medical Evidence Development and Surveillance System, or IMEDS, which will make the FDA’s Sentinel System data and analytics tools available to private researchers.

The Heroism of Incremental Care

In a New Yorker op-ed, Atul Gawande, MD compares the incremental approach primary care providers take in managing conditions with the one-and-done approaches surgeons prefer, conceding that primary care may be doing more good in the long run.

US insurers get inside cars, mouths, grocery carts in profit search

Reuters covers the use of data mining by health insurers to help price policies and target profitable customers more effectively.

Morning Headlines 1/17/17

Trump Is Considering Another Thiel Associate to Lead FDA

President-elect Trump is reportedly considering Silicon Valley executive Balaji Srinivasan to lead the FDA. Srinivasan has no medical background, but earned consideration because he is a Peter Thiel associate.

Survey Snapshot: What Patient Engagement Technology Is Good For

A recent NEJM Catalyst survey on patient engagement tools finds that providers are excited about the potential benefits associated with new technologies, but do not know which ones to recommend.

You can now book workout classes directly from Google

Google partners with digital health startup MindBody to let users search for, book, and pay for exercises and wellness classes from within Google’s search results.

Why Regulating AI Is A Mistake

Following the recent death of a passenger who was driving in an auto-piloted Tesla, AI experts weigh in on the pros and cons of regulating the use of artificial intelligence.

Morning Headlines 1/16/17

Justices Will Hear Challenges to Mandatory Employee Arbitration

The Supreme Court agrees to hear a case brought by Epic and two other corporations seeking clarification on the use of arbitration clauses in employment agreements that prohibit employees from banding together to take legal action over workplace issues.

Hospital closes systems after IT attack

In England, Barts Health NHS Trust shuts down several of its IT systems after suffering a “non-ransomware” cyberattack.

The Biggest Changes Obamacare Made, and Those That May Disappear

The New York Times offers point-by-point analysis of the real impact of repealing ACA and outlines possible replacement legislation.

Rudeness and Medical Team Performance

Researchers in Israel finds that when nurses are scolded by rude patients, their performance decreases across all measured clinical quality categories for not only that patient, but all of their patients. Preventative cognitive bias modification programs were shown to help neutralize the impact rudeness has on performance.

Morning Headlines 1/13/17

Merger May Revitalize California’s Flagging Effort To Pool Medical Records

The nonprofit HIE California Integrated Data Exchange will merge with Inland Empire Health HIE, creating an exchange with the medical records of 16.7 million people.

Obamacare is one step closer to repeal after Senate advances budget resolution

The Senate approves a budget resolution that begins the process of repealing ACA.

Arizona Plans to Sue Blood-Testing Company Theranos

The Arizona Attorney General is seeking outside legal counsel as it prepares to sue Theranos, alleging that it defrauded consumers in the state.

HealthTap launches Dr. A.I.— Meet your new, personal AI-powered physician

HealthTap launches an artificial intelligence-powered online symptom checker that “helps route users to doctor-recommended insights and care.”

Morning Headlines 1/12/17

A Senate Vote-a-Rama Primer, in Case You Plan to Sleep Tonight

Wednesday night, the Senate will vote on a budget resolution that will begin the process of repealing ACA.

IBM Watson, FDA to explore blockchain for secure patient data exchange

The FDA signs a two-year joint-development agreement with IBM Watson to investigate the use of blockchain technology for securely sharing patient data from EHRs, clinical trials, mobile devices, and other sources.

Health care must ditch its attachment to outdated software

Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush publishes an op-ed in STAT encouraging health systems to ditch legacy health IT software, while acknowledging that there will be no government subsidies to help providers buy more software under the Trump presidency.

Trump ‘Just Killed’ Paul Ryan’s Obamacare Repeal-And-Delay Strategy

Despite progress on ACA repeal efforts, President-elect Trump reported during a press conference Wednesday that the repeal and replacement of ACA would happen simultaneously.

Morning Headlines 1/11/17

Biden, Obama attack lack of meaningful use

Politico quotes Vice-President Biden as saying “you guys in the health care industry are the least sharing people in the world,” going on to say that he’d like to have the Secret Service lock the CEO’s of the major EHR vendors in a room and keep them there until he got answers.

Cleveland Clinic doctor’s anti-vaccine column: Q&A explainer

The VP of Content for Cleveland.com, the website that inadvertently ran an anti-vaccine piece by a Cleveland Clinic medical director, says that the Clinic’s communications team was setup as a trusted publisher and uploaded the controversial op-ed on its own without oversight or warning. and  Cleveland Clinic’s ability to publish articles to the site has now been revoked.

Iatric Systems Announces New FlexButtonTM Application to Bring Third-Party Patient Data into the EHR Workflow

Iatric launches FlexButton, an EHR bolt-on solution that pulls relevant patient data from other EHR systems into clinical workflows with the push of a button.

Siri, Am I About to Have a Heart Attack?

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, hedge fund manager Andy Kessler blames EHR vendors, Epic in particular, for the lack of EHR interoperability in healthcare.

Morning Headlines 1/10/17

St. Jude releases cyber updates for heart devices after US probe

St. Jude Medical, which was recently acquired by Abbott Laboratories for $25 billion, releases a software patch intended to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities discovered in its heart implants. The vulnerabilities were made public several months ago by short-selling firm Muddy Waters and security firm MedSec, and nearly derailed the acquisition.

ICD-10 Section

CMS reports that the 2017 ICD-10 code update will prevent it from processing data reported for certain quality measures during Q4 2016, and as a result says that it will not apply PQRS payment adjustments to those affected.

President Obama talks to Vox about Obamacare’s future

In an interview with Vox, President Obama discusses his disappointment with the pace of digitalizing and sharing medical records, saying “it’s a lot slower than I would have expected; some of it has to do with the fact that it’s decentralized and everyone has different systems. In some cases, you have economic incentives against making the system better; you have service providers — people make money on keeping people’s medical records — so making it easier for everyone to access medical records means that there’s some folks who could lose business. And that’s turned out to be more complicated than I expected.”

Sylvia Burwell Remarks at the National Press Club

In her farewell speech, departing HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell warns against repealing ACA without having a comprehensive replacement in place.

Morning Headlines 1/6/17

The Advisory Board Company Aligns Health Care Capabilities to Enhance Efficiency and Drive Future Growth

The Advisory Board Company announces “workforce restructuring and office closures” within its healthcare business that will culminate with layoffs for 220 employees and four offices being closed.

Castlight Health Announces Strategic Acquisition of Jiff

Castlight Health announces it will acquire competing health benefits platform vendor Jiff. Castlight Health stock dropped 13 percent after the announcement.

Athenahealth plans big tech jobs expansion at Ponce City Market

Athenahealth announces that it will grow its Atlanta-based campus to about 1,000 workers by 2018.

Form 8-K: Computer Task Group Inc.

In a letter to shareholders, CTG’s Board of Directors explains that it is working to reduce overhead costs while shifting its focus from EHR implementation services to optimization and performance improvement services, application management services, and service desk staffing.

Morning Headlines 1/5/17

Learning From CBO’s History Of Incorrect ObamaCare Projections

Forbes revisits the Congressional Budget Offices’ faulty cost and enrollment estimates as Congress moves forward with the process of repealing the law, which will likely require new estimates from the CBO.

2016 Year End Funding Report: A reality check for digital health

Digital health VC firm Rock Health publishes its year-end report on health IT investment activities, noting that the year ended down on total dollars invested, but number of deals continued to climb.

Greek prosecutor raids Novartis Athens offices in bribery probe

Novartis offices in Athens are raided after government authorities were tipped of by media reports that the company has been paying bribes to local providers to increase their prescription rates.

Cleveland Clinic inks five-year agreement with IBM

IBM signs a five-year contract to provide IT design, support, and security expertise for Cleveland Clinic.

Morning Headlines 1/4/17

Healthcare’s Digital Divide Widens, Black Book Consumer Survey

Black Book releases results from a national poll of 12,000 consumers designed to measure patient adoption of consumer-facing healthcare technology.

Senate Initiates Steps to Repeal Health-Care Law

On its first day back in session, the Republican-controlled Senate introduces legislation that will begin the ACA repeal process, using a budget reconciliation tactic that requires only a simple majority vote to pass.

The Health Data Conundrum

In a New York Times op-ed piece,  Eric Topol, MD and Kathryn Haun, JD argue that medical records should not be stored in large centralized databases that make easy and attractive targets for cybercriminals, suggesting instead that patients and caregivers should own and store their own records in a decentralized storage model.

Japanese white-collar workers are already being replaced by artificial intelligence

In Japan, 34 health insurance claims workers are being replaced with “IBM Watson Explorer” which will scan hospital records to calculate insurance payouts.

Morning Headlines 1/3/2017

Digital health investment reaches $7.9B across 585 companies in 2016

Digital health startups raised $7.9 billion in investments in 2016, with startups focused on improving the patient experience raising the most, at $2.8 billion.

Doctors are starting to let patients read their notes

Modern Healthcare covers the growing popularity of the OpenNotes project as UCHealth (CO) prepares to expand note sharing to include all of its mental health services.

2016 in Review

John Halamka, MD publishes a top 10 list of notable healthcare IT breakthroughs from 2016.

ACA Pregnancy Termination, Gender Identity Protections Blocked; Wellness Program Incentives Survive

Health Affairs reviews which ACA rules go into effect on January 1, which were challenged in court, and which were ultimately blocked.

Morning Headlines 12/30/16

Trump Said to Discuss Veterans’ Care Overhaul With Hospital CEOs

President-elect Trump is meeting CEOs from Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Partners Healthcare, and Cleveland Clinic to discuss the possibility of allowing veterans to go to any hospital for care, instead of just VA facilities.

Safety huddles to proactively identify and address electronic health record safety

A JAMIA study evaluates the benefit of including EHR safety concerns on daily safety hurdles briefings, concluding that doing so “could potentially serve as an important methodology for institutions to identify, understand, and address the complexity of EHR-related patient safety concerns.”

Use of Secure Text Messaging for Patient Care Orders Is Not Acceptable

Joint Commission revises its position on text-based orders, clarifying that sending patient orders over secure text message platforms is not acceptable.

US Spending on Personal Health Care and Public Health, 1996-2013

A JAMA study stratifies health care spending growth by condition, age, sex, and type of care.

Morning Headlines 12/28/16

St. Charles dropped med check system before patient’s death

A patient at St. Charles Medical Center (OR) dies after a nurse administers an IV with the wrong medication mixed in. The hospital had stopped using its stand-alone bedside IV administration software when it moved to McKesson’s Paragon EHR, resulting in a safety gap in its medication administration practices.

Postmarket Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices

The FDA releases its final guidance on cybersecurity requirements for medical devices.

A disconnect between physicians and laboratory professionals

A CDC study finds that physicians rarely contact laboratory professionals when faced with questions on which tests to order or how to interpret a result.

A Letter to Donald Trump About Health Care

A New York Times opinion piece calls for Donald Trump to stand by his once outspoken support of universal health insurance coverage amid concerns that the GOP will repeal ACA without passing a replacement law designed to expand insurance coverage.

Morning Headlines 12/27/16

The Truth About Blockchain

In an interesting but non-healthcare specific piece, Harvard Business Review recounts the 30-year path TCP/IP took to transform business and draws parallels to the pace and transformative nature that blockchain technology could have on business practices in the future.

Fearing Medicaid cuts, states wield health data as a political weapon

CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt is pointing to diagnostic and cost of care data from states that expanded Medicare under ACA to make a case against a full repeal of the law.

Got a chronic disease? There will soon be a prescription app for that

Wired UK covers the NHS program aimed at developing and prescribing apps to help manage chronic diseases.

Morning Headlines 12/22/16

2017 Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Payment Adjustment Fact Sheet for Hospitals

CMS releases EHR Incentive Program performance statistics stating that 98 percent of eligible hospitals and CAHs successfully demonstrated meaningful use, but noting that there are about 171,000 Medicare eligible providers subject to a downward payment adjustment in 2017.

McKesson, Change Healthcare get antitrust clearance for IT deal

The proposed merger between McKesson’s technology business and Nashville-based Change Healthcare receives approval from the US Justice Department.

Interoperability Standards Advisory

ONC publishes its 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory.

9 Healthcare Tech Trends in "The New Year of Uncertainty", Black Book Survey Results

Black Book releases results from a health IT-related survey of hospital executives, finding broad consensus that IT budgets will stagnate in the coming year.