Morning Headlines 1/5/24

MultiPlan Announces CEO Succession Plan

Oracle Health General Manager Travis Dalton (previously chief client and services officer at Cerner) will leave the company to join MultiPlan as president and CEO on March 1.

Arbital Health Completes Acquisition of Santa Barbara Actuaries and Closes Series A Financing

Newly formed Arbital Health, which offers technology and third-party adjudicator services to assess whether value-based care outcomes were received, acquires Santa Barbara Actuaries and completes a $10 million Series A funding round.

Georgia medical board restores telehealth prescribing flexibility

The Georgia Composite Medical Board backtracks its decision to re-impose in-person visit requirements for prescription of controlled substances after provider and patient outcry.

Lilly Launches End-to-End Digital Healthcare Experience through LillyDirect

Drug maker Lilly launches LillyDirect, which will offer home delivery of its drugs for obesity, migraine, and diabetes directly to patients via the Truepill pharmacy service.

Morning Headlines 1/4/24

Mercy leaders promise upgrades as they close deal for southeast Missouri health system

SoutheastHealth officially becomes a part of Mercy, citing a need to modernize its EHR as a factor in its decision to accept the health system’s acquisition offer.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Veradigm Inc. and Announces Opportunity for Investors with Substantial Losses to Lead Class Action Lawsuit

A San Diego-based law firm spearheads a class action lawsuit against Veradigm, charging the company and certain executives with overstating revenues by $20 million, artificially inflating revenue over a two-year period, misrepresenting demand for products and services, and failing to adhere to appropriate accounting practices.

Medical Device Cybersecurity: Agencies Need to Update Agreement to Ensure Effective Coordination

The Government Accountability Office calls for the FDA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to update their medical device cybersecurity agreement so that their efforts are more coordinated and reflect organizational and procedural changes made over the last several years.

Morning Headlines 1/3/24

Veradigm Strengthens Award-Winning Revenue Cycle Services Portfolio with Acquisition of Full-Service RCM Company

Veradigm acquires Koha Health, a full-service revenue cycle management company for orthopedic practices and ambulatory surgery centers.

Cano Health Receives NYSE Notice of Non-Compliance with Market Capitalization Criteria

Primary care company Cano Health receives a second de-listing warning from the NYSE, this time pertaining to its inability to sustain a $50 million total market capitalization over a 30-day trading period.

Liberty Hospital staff worries patients are in ‘jeopardy’ if ‘cyber security incident’ drags on

Liberty Hospital (MO) continues to rely on paper charts as it works to get IT systems up and running after a December 19 cyberattack.

Morning Headlines 12/29/23

Apple will sell latest Apple Watch models again after import ban temporarily stopped by U.S. appeals court

The company also says it has submitted redesigned Apple Watch models for customs approval.

Walgreens’s Ambitions Lean on Its Technology. First, It Has to Build Up Its IT Department.

The Wall Street Journal says that the company is on its third CIO in a year, has low IT employee satisfaction, and has cut back on use of contractors, all of which place its business turnaround in jeopardy.

Another Corewell Health data breach impacts more than 1 million patients

The Michigan hospital has patient information exposed for the second time in a month after breaches involving its vendors HCTec and Welltok.

Employers Increase Access to Mental Health-Related Chatbots or Apps

Two-thirds of large employers offer access to mental health chatbots or apps as an employee benefit despite concerns about effectiveness and privacy.

Morning Headlines 12/28/23

Attorney General James Secures $300,000 from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for Failing to Protect Patient Data

The health system settles state charges that it used pixel tracking to send the information of 54,000 website users to advertisers that sometimes included their search terms and demographic information.

Hackers in an Integris Health data breach are emailing victims. What to do if you receive one.

Hackers are emailing the health system’s patients to demand a $50 payment to keep their information private after Integris declined to pay a ransom.

AliveCor praises ITC for Apple Watch ban in the US as it still disputes with Apple

The smartphone ECG vendor company expresses support for Masimo as both companies are embroiled in legal fights with Apple over claimed patent violations.

Kansas City students brainstorm new life for former Cerner headquarters

Students propose that the vacant former world headquarters of Cerner at 2800 Rockcreek Parkway be turned into either a mini-community that includes expansion of an adjacent hospital or a college campus.

Morning Headlines 12/22/23

Invitae Divests Ciitizen Health Data Platform and Implements Further Cost Cuts

Medical genetics company Invitae divests its Ciitizen patient-controlled health data business, which it acquired for $325 million in September 2021.

Notice of Cybersecurity Incident

First responder software vendor ESO Solutions notifies 2.7 million people that their information was exposed in a ransomware attack.

Measuring the Impact of AI in the Diagnosis of Hospitalized Patients: A Randomized Clinical Vignette Survey Study

Researchers find that clinician diagnostic accuracy in image analysis dropped significantly when guided by a systematically biased AI model, even when the model included the methods that led to its flawed interpretation.

Vital signs vs. dollar signs: At HCA hospitals, the person monitoring your heart may monitor 79 other patients, too

An NBC News investigation finds that HCA’s remote telemetry monitoring has been plagued by understaffing, system downtime, and poor communication between technicians and floor nurses.

Morning Headlines 12/21/23

Get Well Announces Expansion Into Health Plans, Brings Health Plan Strategy Expert Christian Bagge to Lead Go-to-Market Efforts

Digital patient engagement vendor Get Well announces plans to expand into the payer space, bringing on former MPulse Mobile VP Christian Bagge to lead the effort.

Knownwell Raises $20M Series A From A16Z to Scale the First Patient-Centered Healthcare Home For Those With Overweight and Obesity

Knownwell, a hybrid primary care and weight management clinic based in Needham, MA, raises $20 million in a Series A funding round.

Amy Abernethy to step down as Verily’s chief medical officer in latest departure from company

Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, will leave Verily to join an unnamed nonprofit healthcare institute focused on policy and innovation.

Morning Headlines 12/20/23

Justice Department Disrupts Prolific ALPHV/Blackcat Ransomware Variant

The Department of Justice announces it has taken down digital infrastructure used by the ALPH/Blackcat ransomware group and has offered a decryption key to over 500 victims.

Apple to halt Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 sales in the US this week

Apple will stop selling its Ultra 2 and Series 9 Watches at least temporarily due to an International Trade Commission ruling related to a blood oxygen sensor technology patent dispute with medical device manufacturer Masimo.

Adventist Health rehiring IT staff previously outsourced to Oracle

Adventist Health ends its ITWorks contract with Oracle Health, which will lay off 65 employees at Adventist’s Roseville, CA headquarters as the health system brings the services back in-house.

MPulse is Combining with HealthTrio and Decision Point Healthcare Solutions

Digital healthcare engagement company MPulse acquires HealthTrip and Decision Point Healthcare Solutions, both of which also offer patient and member engagement solutions.

Liberty Hospital ER diverting patients to other facilities due to IT issue

Liberty Hospital (MO) diverts ER patients and reverts to downtime procedures while it attempts to recover from an unspecified IT event that began Tuesday morning.

Morning Headlines 12/19/23

CoachCare acquires Verustat

Remote patient monitoring and virtual care company CoachCare acquires RPM vendor Verustat, its fourth acquisition within the last 12 months.

Bright Health’s California Medicare business devalued by $100M ahead of sale

Bright Health Group will sell its California Medicare Advantage business to Molina Healthcare for $500 million, rather than the originally proposed $600 million, in a previously announced deal that is expected to close in early January.

Kaid Health Announces New Financing to Fuel Market Expansion of its Whole Chart Analysis Platform

AI-powered chart review software vendor Kaid Health announces a new investment that brings its total funding to $9 million.

Morning Headlines 12/18/23

IT failures causing patient deaths, says NHS safety body

England’s Health Services Safety Investigations Body says that IT problems are among the most pressing in hospitals, noting that some of the reports it has reviewed involved patient deaths.

Trend Health Partners Acquires Advent Health Partners

Healthcare payment integrity solution vendor Trend Health Partners acquires Advent Health Partners, which offers technology for reviewing medical records for revenue cycle processes.

Ransomware gang behind threats to Fred Hutch cancer patients

Hunters International claims responsibility for the ransomware attack on and subsequent cyberextortion emails to patients of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Certainly Health Raises $2.3M in Funding to Enable Consumers to Book Any Doctor With Upfront Prices

Certainly Health, which runs an online marketplace for booking medical and cosmetic procedures with guaranteed out-of-pocket pricing, raises $2.3 million in funding.

Morning Headlines 12/15/23

HHS Finalizes Rule to Advance Health IT Interoperability and Algorithm Transparency

HHS and ONC approve the final HTI-1 rule, which addresses algorithm transparency, an enhanced information blocking requirement, a requirement that certified health IT developers report interoperability-focused metrics; and designates USCDI v3 as the baseline certification standard.

Veradigm Inc. Announces that Nasdaq Hearings Panel has Granted its Continued Listing, Pending Return to Compliance with Nasdaq Filing Requirements

The hearings panel of Nasdaq extends the continued listing of Veradigm shares until February 27, 2024.

WeightWatchers Launches New Behavior Change Program Designed to Support the Unique Needs of Individuals on GLP-1 Medications

Nine months after acquiring telehealth-based weight management company Sequence, WeightWatchers launches WeightWatchers Clinic to offer members access to prescription weight loss drugs.

Volpara Health enters agreement to be acquired by Lunit, Inc.

AI-powered cancer imaging analysis system vendor Lunit will acquire New Zealand-based Volpara, which offers breast cancer detection software, for $198 million in cash.

Morning Headlines 12/14/23

PursueCare Completes Fundraising Round and Acquires Digital Therapeutics Tools

Online addiction and mental health counseling company PursueCare announces a $20 million Series B funding round and the acquisition of prescription digital therapeutics developed by the now-shuttered Pear Therapeutics.

Class-action suit accuses another Medicare insurer of using AI to deny care

A class-action lawsuit claims Humana has used AI to deny seniors rehabilitation care recommended by their physicians, despite knowing that the algorithm is “highly inaccurate.”

Twin Health gets $50M injection for metabolic care

Metabolic care and technology company Twin Health raises $50 million in a Series D funding round.

Former Watsonville Community Hospital owners siphoned $4 million for personal use, bankruptcy trustee alleges

Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings reveal that three former Watsonville Community Hospital (CA) executives “grossly mismanaged” the hospital’s finances by making millions in unauthorized payments to themselves and mismanaging its EHR and billing systems.

Morning Headlines 12/13/23

Oracle shares slide as revenue misses estimates

Oracle’s Q2 results beat earnings expectations but fall short on revenue, with CEO Safra Catz calling Oracle Health, the former Cerner business, “a drag on Oracle growth.”

ONC and The Sequoia Project Designate First TEFCA QHINs

ONC and The Sequoia Project officially recognize KONZA National Network, EHealth Exchange, Epic Nexus, Health Gorilla, and MedAllies as QHINs.

Kaiser Permanente Slashes IT Jobs Across Bay Area

Kaiser Permanente lays off 115 IT employees, 65 of them in Northern California.

Morning Headlines 12/12/23

ConcertAI to Acquire CancerLinQ to Build the Leading Healthcare Learning and Research Network in Oncology

Data and generative AI company ConcertAI will acquire American Society of Clinical Oncology subsidiary CancerLinQ, which offers real-world oncology data and quality-of-care technology services.

KKR Nears Deal for Cotiviti Valuing Firm at $11 Billion

Private equity firm KKR is in talks to acquire a 50% stake in healthcare payment and analytics software company Cotiviti from Veritas Capital in a deal that would value the business at between $10 billion and $11 billion.

Fruit Street alleges Sharecare cannibalized diabetes product in $25M lawsuit

Fruit Street files a $25 million lawsuit against former partner Sharecare, claiming the company violated the terms of their agreement by launching its own version of Fruit Street’s diabetes management program.

Morning Headlines 12/11/23

Veradigm Inc. Announces Leadership Transition

The board of Veradigm fires the company’s CEO and CFO for failing to comply with financial reporting and disclosure policies, following an investigation by its audit committee.

Hundreds of patients receive threatening emails after Fred Hutch cyberattack

Hackers email Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center patients demanding payment to prevent their information from being sold.

Ransomware group posts stolen Tri-City Center documents to dark web

Cyberextortionists post a “proof pack” of patient information that they obtained from Tri-City Medical Center (CA) following a ransomware attack that took its systems offline for more than two weeks.

Morning Headlines 12/8/23

Novant to move some IT operations to Indian vendor. System declines to say how many employees will be affected

Novant Health (NC) will outsource some of its IT department’s work to India-based Wipro.

St. Francis systems restored after ransomware attack

Ardent Health Services restores access to Epic after nearly two weeks of downtime following a November 23 cyberattack.

HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Settles First Ever Phishing Cyber-Attack Investigation

Lafourche Medical Group (LA) will pay HHS OCR $480,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations related to a 2021 phishing attack that exposed the PHI of 35,000 people.

Morning Headlines 12/7/23

R1 RCM to Acquire Acclara

Multistate health system Providence sells its Acclara RCM business to R1 RCM for $675 million, and enlists R1 to provide revenue cycle services.

HHS Announces Next Steps in Ongoing Work to Enhance Cybersecurity for Health Care and Public Health Sectors

HHS expands its efforts to help providers improve cybersecurity with a new concept paper that includes plans to offer financial cybersecurity assistance to hospitals.

Fountain Life Acquires Health Data Technology Company LifeOmic to Power its Advanced Diagnostics and Membership Services

Membership-based precision diagnostics and therapeutics company Fountain Life acquires precision digital healthcare company LifeOmic for an undisclosed sum.