Morning Headlines 7/29/15

Harvard tech guru funds collaborative medical software

A Harvard Business professor invests $8.4 million in digital health startup ACT.md, a company focused on building collaboration tools to improve handoff communications and care coordination among providers.

NantKwest a huge IPO, but watch the small float

In the largest biotech IPO in a decade, Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD’s NantKwest started trading on the NASDAQ today, opening at $37 per share for an initial market capitalization of $2.6 billion. Soon-Shoing acquired the company less than a year ago for just $48 million.

Community Hospital EHR  – 2015

Peer60 publishes survey results from 277 community hospital providers, finding that 20 percent of community hospitals are actively looking to replace their current EHR, with Epic, Cerner, and Meditech most frequently named as likely replacement vendors.

UMass Memorial Health Care plans big patient record upgrade

UMass Memorial Health Care CEO Eric Dickson, MD reports that the health system will invest $700 million over $10 years in its transition from Sorian to Epic, representing the largest capital investment in its history.

Morning Headlines 7/28/15

Senate panel will push HHS to delay Stage 3 MU rules

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will submit a series of recommendations to the Obama administration focused on expanding EHR use through directives and rule changes, rather than legislative actions that can take years to pass. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who chairs the committee, reports that the submission will include a recommendation that MU3 be delayed.

Health care will have its own Internet soon, Athenahealth chief says

CNBC interviews Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush, who predicts that “the lion’s share of routine health care” will be managed online in the future. Bush cites Amazon’s transformation of the retail market as an example of how to build consumer trust.  “Amazon took a piece of the Internet and made it safe enough, reliable enough, and connected enough that Main Street Americans use it for retail. We’re going to do the exact same thing. We know how to do this now. We’ve done it in other sectors."

Number of 5-star hospitals doubles in updated CMS ratings

CMS updates its five-star rating system for hospitals, which is based entirely on patient-satisfaction surveys, to reflect newly collected survey results. The scores will be updated quarterly moving forward.

Morning Headlines 7/27/15

Electronic Health Records on Mobile Devices

Cybersecurity experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology publish a draft guide on securing mobile devices for use in the health care industry.

Another Big Earnings Beat for Athenahealth, Inc.

Athena publishes Q2 results: revenue climbed 21 percent to $224.7 million, EPS $0.32 vs. $0.32, missing revenue projections but beating earnings estimates. Stock prices, which had jumped five percent earlier in the day on news that Athena signed NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services Organization, lost two percent of those gains in after hours trading.

The Health IT Safety Center Roadmap: What’s Next?

In a Health Affairs blog, Dean Sittig and Hardeep Singh publish an assessment of ONC’s Health IT Safety Center Roadmap.

Modernizing Medicine to acquire Weston electronic medical records firm

Cloud-based dermatology EHR vendor Modernizing Medicine acquires gMed, a gastroenterology EHR vendor, for an undisclosed sum.

Morning Headlines 7/24/15

UMass Memorial’s medical records upgrade won’t be cheap

UMass Memorial Health Care (MA) announces that it will replace its Sorian EHR with Epic, with CEO Eric Dickinson commenting that it was “one of the most important contracts I have signed since becoming CEO.”

Clinical, Technical, Organizational and Financial Barriers to Interoperability Task Force

ONC launches its new Clinical, Technical, Organizational and Financial Barriers to Interoperability Task Force, which will develop a report on interoperability challenges by October 2015.

Cerner Announces Industry-First, EHR-Agnostic Tool to Improve Accuracy of Fall Risk Detection

Cerner releases a vendor-agnostic EHR tool that identifies fall-risk patients with a 90 degree accuracy.

NewYork-Presbyterian Selects athenahealth as the Technology Platform for Its Physician Services Organization

NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group will implement Athenahealth’s EHR, practice management, and patient portal solutions across all of its practices, servicing 800 physicians.

Morning Headlines 7/23/15

Anthem Nears Deal to Buy Cigna for $48 Billion

Anthem and Cigna are, once again, nearing an acquisition deal.The deal will be worth $48 billion, or $188 per share for Cigna. Cigna shares closed at $151 per share Wednesday, but climbed eight percent in after hours trading following the acquisition rumors. An announcement could be made as early as Thursday afternoon.

2015 Top Markets Report Health IT

The Department of Commerce releases a report on health IT, calling it a strong export opportunity for the US, and forecasting that the top five markets over over the next three years will be: Finland, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Contractor for Maryland health exchange website to pay $45M

Noridian Healthcare Solutions agrees to pay $45 million to Maryland to avoid legal action after failing to deliver a functional state health insurance exchange.

Morning Headlines 7/22/15

Break the Red Tape: Electronic Health Records Town Hall (video)

AMA of Georgia holds a town hall-style meeting hosted by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and AMA President Steven Stack, MD  to discuss ongoing usability issues with EHRs and looming MU3 regulations.

UVA, MITRE partner to improve health data analysis

University of Virginia Health System and The MITRE Corporation have partnered to develop advanced warning systems to help identify early changes to hemorrhages or lung failure.

Thomas Verbeck: Sharing medical data saves lives

Thomas Verbeck, a retired US Air Force brigadier general and CIO, calls for a to halt the DoD EHR procurement until a congressional review can be conducted to evaluate the problems that a non-integrated system will cause for soldiers, veterans, and care providers across the DoD, VA, and civilian health systems.

Virtual Reality Now Being Used To Treat Bipolar Disorder

In England, Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headsets are being piloted by the NHS to help patients with mental health disorders learn to cope with environmental stressors. Using VR, researchers are immersing patients in everyday scenarios, such as riding the subway or the bus, in hopes of triggering controlled emotional responses that can then be analyzed.

Morning Headlines 7/21/15

How Not to Fix the F.D.A.

The New York Times Editorial Board publishes a piece critical of the 21st Century Cures Act, pointing out problematic provisions that weaken FDA oversight on medical devices and strip the drug review process of important safety measures, recommending that the Senate “either eliminate or rewrite the flawed provisions before passing its version of the legislation.”

Hacked? Big deal: I made my most personal data public

John Halamka, MD and CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, recounts his decision to publish both his complete medical record and sequenced genome, in an article he writes calling for a patients-centric platform that would allow anyone to voluntarily share their own health data.

Project ECHO: Force Multiplier For Community Health Centers

GE Foundation will fund the Project ECHO initiative with a $14 million, three-year grant designed to help the project continue growing. Project ECHO is a web-based forum that helps community providers address complex conditions in their local populations by connecting them with experts who provide disease management education sessions and patient-specific treatment advice.

Federal Grant Awarded to Support State Medical Boards in Developing Infrastructure for Interstate Medical Licensure Compact

The Federation of State Medical Boards announces that it has received a $225,000 grant to help states adopt the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, an agreement it drafted last year that eases licensure restrictions on cross-state care delivery in an effort reduce barriers to telehealth expansion.

Morning Headlines 7/20/15

UCLA Health Victim of a Criminal Cyber Attack

UCLA Health announces that 4.5 million patient records have been compromised after discovering that during a September 2014 cyber attack,  hackers had accessed secure parts of the network where medical records were stored.

Allscripts Shares Soar After Preliminary Results Beat Estimates

Allscripts reports preliminary Q2 results: expected revenue is projected at $350-$354 million, EPS $0.12, beating analyst expectations on both. Share prices climbed nine percent on the news.

Health IT Safety Center Roadmap

ONC publishes its Health IT Safety Center Roadmap which calls for the creation of a Health IT Safety Center where industry stakeholders would analyze emerging safety issues and generate evidence-based solutions and resources. The center is expected to generate $20 million in costs over its first five years of operation.

Drone Drug Delivery Flights Add International Research Element to Health Outreach

The first FAA-approved drone delivery system goes live, delivering pharmaceuticals  to a free health clinic running in the rural community of Wise, VA.

Morning Headlines 7/17/15

NantHealth Acquires Harris Healthcare Solutions

Healthcare billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiung, MD’s digital health startup NantHealth acquires Harris Healthcare Solutions, which sells a suite of health information exchange products, for an undisclosed sum.

The Sullivan Institute, WEDI, HIMSS, MGMA Unveil Pilot Design for Virtual Clipboard Initiative

The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation, along with HIMSS, WEDI, ONC, MGMA, and others, publish the results of the Virtual Clipboard Initiative, a collaborative effort aimed at developing a blueprint for a mobile app that would streamline the patient check-in process by automating the transfer of demographic, insurance, and clinical summary information.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Announces New Identity Protection Services For Customers Nationwide

Blue Cross Blue Shield announces a nationwide initiative to offer customers with credit monitoring, fraud detection, and fraud resolution services by the start of 2016.

New London, Westerly hospitals to join Yale New Haven system

Lawrence + Memorial Hospital (CT) and Westerly Hospital (RI) will merge with the Yale New Haven Health System, implementing Epic across both sites as part of the deal.

Morning Headlines 7/16/15

Watchdog finds potential for fraud in Obamacare subsidies

A GAO report finds that 11 of 12 fake accounts it created to test HealthCare.gov were approved for subsidies last year, and all 11 were re-approved this year, meaning that in its two years of operation, administrators have not managed to remove any of the fake accounts.

CMS cutting-edge technology identifies and prevents $820 million in improper Medicare payments in first three years

CMS reports that its analytics-powered Fraud Prevention System has saved the government $820 million during its first three years in operation, including $454 million during 2014 alone, a 10 to one return on investment.

Former CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner will take AHIP helm

Marilyn Tavenner, the former head of CMS, will take on the role of president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the country’s leading insurance lobbying firm.

Morning Headlines 7/15/15

Making the Cut: Why choosing the right surgeon matters even more than you know

ProPublica publishes its Surgeon Scorecard, a comprehensive data visualization tool that displays surgeon-specific complication rates for eight elective procedures.

McKesson Executive Compensation Under Fire, Again

McKesson executives are fighting off another Teamster-sponsored shareholder proposal that would eliminate automatic payouts for top executives in the event of a change in control, including $142 million that would be due to CEO John Hammergren alone.

McCullough-Hyde takes ‘giant leap forward’

McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital (OH) implements Epic across its 45-bed facility for $9.5 million after affiliating with TriHealth.

Morning Headlines 7/14/15

AHA Voices Concerns With 21st Century Cures Act’s Interoperability Provisions

The AHA is lobbying against interoperability provisions included in the  21st Century Cures Act that the House recently passed. In a letter sent to Congress , AHA takes issues with Section 3001, which authorizes HHS to levy penalties against hospitals and providers engaged in “information blocking.”

Linking The Clinical Experience To Community Resources To Address Hunger In Colorado

Health Affairs publishes an article on a Colorado-based clinic-to-community initiative aimed at curbing nutritional deficiencies in the local population by incorporating hunger screenings into standard EHR workflows. Qualifying patients were then referred to a local food assistance program.

OPM Announces Steps to Protect Federal Workers and Others From Cyber Threats

The Office of Personnel Management reports that the personal information of 21.5 million military and civilian government workers was compromised during a May 2015 cyberattack on its federal background investigation system. The exposed information, impacting nearly all personnel that underwent a background investigation since 2000, includes Social Security numbers; residency and educational history; employment history; information about immediate family and other personal and business acquaintances; mental and physical health; fingerprints; and criminal and financial history.

Morning Headlines 7/13/15

HIPAA Settlement Highlights Importance of Safeguards When Using Internet Applications

St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (MA) will pay $218,000 to settle a HIPAA violation after  staff members are found storing the medical documents of 498 patients on an unnamed internet-based file sharing application.

Modern Doctors’ House Calls: Skype Chat and Fast Diagnosis

The New York Times analyzes the growing popularity of telehealth services and the reluctant but increasing willingness of insurance companies to reimburse for them.

Derek Streat’s software could change the way we train and evaluate doctors

A University of Washington spinoff raises $2.5 million to build a crowd-sourcing platform for surgeons that evaluates the skill and technique of peers based on uploaded videos of performed procedures. The developers say that the platform will deliver objective reviews at a fraction of the cost of traditional peer-reviews.

Harvard researchers tested 23 online ‘symptom checkers.’ Most got failing grades. Here’s how they stack up.

Harvard researchers evaluate the accuracy of online symptom checkers, finding that an accurate diagnosis is only returned as the primary diagnosis 34 percent of the time, and only identifies the correct diagnosis within the first three results 51 percent of the time.

Morning Headlines 7/10/15

ICD-10 Medicare FFS Acknowledgement Testing: June 1 through 5, 2015

CMS reports that 90 percent of submitted claims were accepted during its latest round of ICD-10 acknowledgement testing. Most rejected claims were the result of errors within the submission, and no claims system issues were identified.

Obama nominates Slavitt as CMS administrator

Andrew Slavitt is nominated as the next CMS administrator, a position he has held on an interim basis since Marilyn Tavenner stepped down in February.

Theranos and Capital BlueCross Team Up to Provide Innovative, Low Cost, Accessible Lab Testing Services in Central Pennsylvania

Lab services vendor Theranos announces a partnership with BlueCross to offer lab tests at a cost 50 percent below Medicare reimbursement rates.

Gary Fingerhut out as Cleveland Clinic Innovations executive director

Cleveland Clinic Innovations Director Gary Fingerhut quits after the FBI discovers that he made inappropriate financial transactions related to a Cleveland Clinic spin-off company. 

Morning Headlines 7/9/15

Cerner to Replace Department of Defense’s Anatomic Pathology Laboratory Information System

The DoD selects Cerner as its next laboratory information system vendor, replacing its existing LIS applications across all Military Health System facilities.

Thompson, Harper, Black, Welch Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Expand Telehealth Services

US Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) along with three co-sponsors introduces a bipartisan bill that would remove geographic barriers to telehealth services and increase the use of remote patient monitoring technologies for Medicare patients. The bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

New Patient-Focused Commitments to Advance the President’s Precision Medicine Initiative

The White House publishes proposed research guidelines for its Precision Medicine Initiative, aimed at protecting patient privacy. Public comments are open until August 7. The announcement also highlights several new initiatives aimed at increasing patient awareness about their right to get digital copies of their medical records.

Why medical journals must make researchers share data from clinical trials

BMJ becomes just the second major medical journal to require research data sharing as a condition of publication, joining PLOS. The NIH, World Health Organization, and Cochrane Collaboration have called for de-identified patient data collected during clinical trials to be shared with the the larger research community, but information sharing is still an uncommon practice.

Morning Headlines 7/8/15

Checking on your doctor? Even feds’ database is flawed

CMS’s National Provider Identifier database, which was developed to provide patients with a way of researching physicians, is found to contain tens of thousands of errors and mismatched provider identification numbers. 

With $2.1B in digital health funding, first half of 2015 is keeping pace with 2014

Rock Health publishes its mid-year digital health funding report. Investments in health IT have mirrored the amounts seen in 2014, with an uptick in later stage funding rounds and M&A activity.

Delaying Certain Penalties Relating to Meaningful EHR Use By

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) proposes an amendment to the 21st Century Cures Act that would delay Meaningful Use penalties and rebate penalties already paid by eligible providers.

This Medical Charity Made $3.3 Billion From a Single Pill

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation nets $3.3 billion by selling its royalty rights to Kalydeco, the first drug approved to treat the underlying cause of CF.   The foundation had been funding CF drug research in exchange for a share of royalties on any treatments developed since the late 1990s.

Morning Headlines 7/7/15

CMS and AMA Announce Efforts to Help Providers Get Ready For ICD-10

AMA announces that after negotiating with CMS, the two have agreed on changes to the ICD-10 transition plan that will provide a one year grace period in which ICD-10 claims without the appropriate specificity documented will still be accepted.

Meaningful Use Program: Why it failed and how to save it

Niam Yaraghi, a Brookings Institute fellow in the institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, suggests that MU2 failed because clinicians were never presented with a compelling reason to fully embrace health IT. He proposes mandating efficiency improvements in hospitals and practices, and then granting providers the flexibility to adopt whatever IT solutions they need to achieve those goals.

Despite regulatory troubles, DNA testing firm 23andMe raises more money

Personal genetics vendor 23andMe raises $80 million of a planned $150 million Series E funding round, its first investment activity since 2012, before it ran into significant regulatory problems with the FDA.

$237 million Tuomey judgment upheld by federal appeals court

A federal appeals court upholds a $237 million False Claims Act verdict against Tuomey Healthcare System (SC), exceeding the hospital’s annual revenue. The fine stems from charges that in the early 2000’s Tuomey knowingly filed thousands of illegal claims worth $39 million to Medicare.

Happy Data Independence Day!

Former national coordinator for health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD launches #DataIndependenceDay, a call to action for the public to request electronic copies of their medical records and then share their experiences.