Morning Headlines 2/5/24

NIH looks for new EHR to replace its 20-year old legacy system

The National Institutes of Health seeks $200 million in funding to replace its Altera Digital Health Sunrise system that it calls CRIS.

VMG Health Acquires Compliance Risk Analyzer from DoctorsManagement

Consulting firm VMG Health acquires Compliance Risk Analyzer, auditing and predictive analytics software developed by DoctorsManagement.

Allina Health deal shifting 2,000 workers to Optum

Allina Health will outsource IT and revenue cycle management services to Optum, which will rebadge 2,000 health system employees effective May 5.

Rivia Health Raises $3.25 Million in Series Seed Funding with PHX Ventures

RCM vendor Rivia Health raises $3.25 million in seed funding.

Morning Headlines 2/2/24

Where do we go from here on digital therapeutics?

The digital therapeutics market is stagnating in the US, as evidenced by vendor bankruptcies and lack of Medicare coverage for the sector’s products.

Cohere Health Raises $50 Million in Equity to Meet Increased Demand for AI-Driven Transformation of Prior Authorization Process

Prior authorization technology vendor Cohere Health raises $50 million in equity funding, increasing its total to $106 million.

Carpl guides healthcare providers through the growing market of radiology AI apps

Carpl, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed a marketplace of vetted radiology AI apps, raises $6 million.

SAMHSA releases final rule on opioid use disorder treatment

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration makes some COVID-19 flexibilities permanent, including the ability for Opioid Treatment Programs to prescribe opioid use disorder medications via telehealth without an initial in-person evaluation.

Network outage affects phone, internet service at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital

Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago works to recover from a Wednesday network outage that has impacted its internet, email, phone lines, and MyChart access.

Morning Headlines 2/1/24

Cardinal Health to acquire Specialty Networks and its PPS Analytics platform, a technology enabled multi-specialty group purchasing and practice enhancement organization in urology, rheumatology and gastroenterology

Cardinal Health will acquire Specialty Networks and its PPS Analytics software for $1.2 billion.

Oracle Taps Former Trump Official Seema Verma to Lead Cerner Business

Confirming HIStalk reader rumors, Oracle taps former CMS Administrator and current Oracle Life Sciences lead Seema Verma to head up Oracle Health.

Austin-Based Vital Interaction Closes $15M Series A Funding Round to Revamp Patient Communication with Hyper-Personalization

Austin-based patient engagement and retention technology startup Vital Interaction raises $15 million in a Series A funding round.

Health care operations enabler Fabric pays cash for AI helper Gyant

Fabric, a healthcare enablement startup formerly known as Florence, acquires Gyant, which offers health systems an AI-powered virtual assistant.

Morning Headlines 1/31/24

DOJ’s Healthcare Probes of AI Tools Rooted in Purdue Pharma Case

The Justice Department is reportedly issuing subpoenas to drug companies and EHR vendors to determine if AI is being used to influence prescribing in ways that breach anti-kickback and false claims violations

Regional West leader outlines changes, hears feedback during forum

Regional West Medical Center (NE) will pay Oracle $6 million to settle a contractual lawsuit, after which it will move forward with implementing Epic.

Valendo Health wants to bring value to diabetes care

Valendo Health, a remote diabetes patient monitoring and value-based care startup that works directly with endocrinology practices, raises $4 million in seed funding.

Peloton Equity Leads Growth Investment in OnPoint Healthcare Partners

Health IT and services company OnPoint Healthcare Partners secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Peloton Equity and Fort Maitland Capital.

Morning Headlines 1/30/24

FL Man Who Allegedly Commandeered E-Prescribing Privileges of Doctors Charged with Criminal Sale

A district attorney in New York charges a Florida man with stealing the e-prescribing credentials of multiple doctors, which he then used to illegally issue and sell tens of thousands of prescriptions for narcotics across multiple states.

Russian National Sentenced for Involvement in Development and Deployment of Trickbot Malware

Vladimir Dunaev is sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a wave of Trickbot ransomware attacks that extorted millions of dollars from hospitals, schools, and businesses between 2016 and 2022.

ApolloMed and Bass Medical Group to Forge a Value-Based Healthcare Partnership

Bass Medical Group will use a $20 million investment from ApolloMed, as well as the physician network optimization company’s value-based care and operational technology and services, to expand its value-based care arrangements in California.

Morning Headlines 1/29/24

Concerns over new laws that could end use of WhatsApp in the NHS

UK doctors warn that patient care will suffer under new laws that would limit their use of messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal for clinical use.

Core systems restored at Bluewater Health: CEO

Ontario’s Bluewater Health restores systems that have been down since an October 23 cyberattack, which affected five hospitals that had formed an IT shared services group.

Isaac Health Raises $5.7M in Seed Funding

Virtual and at-home brain health and memory care company Isaac Health raises $5.7 million in seed funding.

Morning Headlines 1/26/24

PC3 Health relocating in Jeffersontown with multimillion-dollar investment, adding high-paying jobs

Physician Care Coordination Consultants will use a $2.5 million investment to relocate its Louisville, KY headquarters, doubling its office footprint and hiring 21 new FTEs.

HHS releases voluntary cybersecurity goals for health care

HHS publishes voluntary Cybersecurity Performance Goals for healthcare, which are broken down into 10 “Essential” and 10 “Enhanced” goals.

Swift Medical Announces New Financing Round to Further Enhance Its AI-Based Wound Care Technology

Toronto-based digital wound care company Swift Medical will use $8 million in new funding to enhance its technology’s data security, interoperability, and device capabilities.

Morning Headlines 1/25/24

Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. Announces Planned Corporate Rebrand as Astrana Health

Tech-enabled practice management and optimization company Apollo Medical Holdings will rebrand to Astrana Health next month.

Health2047 Portfolio Company Heal Security Launches from Stealth with $4.6 Million Raised

Heal Security, a healthcare cybersecurity software startup spun out of the American Medical Association’s Health2047 venture arm, raises $5 million.

Mercy Iowa City and Altera Digital Health reach agreement

After months of legal wrangling, Mercy Iowa City and Altera Digital Health resolve to dissolve their software implementation agreement dating back to March 2021.

Morning Headlines 1/24/24

Top Harvard cancer researchers accused of scientific fraud; 37 studies affected

Top researchers at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, including its CEO and COO, are accused of falsifying published research articles by Photoshopping scientific graphics.

Turquoise Health Raises $30M Series B Financing, Expanding Healthcare Pricing Platform Offerings

Healthcare pricing transparency company Turquoise Health raises $30 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $55 million since launching in 2021.

Medicare Telehealth Trends Report

CMS reports that telehealth usage by Medicare users has dropped nearly back to pre-pandemic levels through mid-2023.

EqualizeRCM Invests in TrilogyRCS, a Hospital RCM Company

Texas-based EqualizeRCM acquires competitor TrilogyRCS.

Morning Headlines 1/23/24

Amazon Pharmacy is Piloting A Consultation Program With One Medical, Further Bolstering Amazon’s Healthcare Ecosystem

Amazon reportedly offers One Medical providers access to virtual consults with Amazon Pharmacy pharmacists as part of a pilot project geared towards improving outcomes for high-risk patients.

CMS Announces Model to Advance Integration in Behavioral Health

CMS will test a new technology-enabled Innovation in Behavioral Health Model that is designed to help community-based practices better coordinate behavioral healthcare with physical and social care services.

Ransomware gang claims responsibility for Christmas attack on Massachusetts hospital

The Money Message ransomware group claims that it has stolen 600GB of data from Anna Jaques Hospital, and that it has information related to parent system Beth Israel Lahey Health.

Morning Headlines 1/22/24

HHS-OIG Issues Notice of Exclusion to Founder and CEO of Theranos, Inc.

HHS OIG bans Theranos founder and federal inmate Elizabeth Holmes from participating in federal healthcare programs for 90 years, the same exclusion it gave to former Theranos President Sunny Balwani.

Hospital IT help desks targeted by sophisticated social engineering schemes

The American Hospital Association warns that offshore hackers are impersonating hospital revenue cycle employees to have their passwords reset by the hospital IT help desk, using stolen information about the employee to answer security questions.

Steward Healthcare’s financial issues could spell catastrophe for the state

Massachusetts regulators worry that Steward Health Care’s financial problems may force it to close hospitals, with the resulting loss of jobs and access to care.

Morning Headlines 1/19/24

Our Acquisition of Summa Health

General Catalyst signs a letter of intent to acquire Akron-based non-profit health system Summa Health, pointing out that the acquisition shouldn’t be considered as “another private equity deal” because it will not focus on cost reductions or a quick flip.

West Coast health tech company bringing dozens of jobs to new River Market headquarters in KC

Health data interoperability platform vendor Hart will move its headquarters from California to Kansas City, MO.

New database of more than 83,000 surgical outcomes aimed at advancing research and training artificial intelligence algorithms now online

UCLA Health creates Medical Informatics Operating Room Vitals and Events Repository (MOVER), a de-identified database of 83,000 surgical outcomes from UCI Medical Center’s Epic and former SIS system that approved researchers can use at no cost to test AI algorithms.

Visibly Launches Real-Time Video Consultations Through Merger With EyecareLive

Online vision testing company Visibly acquires EyecareLive, which offers a similar test along with video visits with optometrists.

Morning Headlines 1/18/24

Netsmart’s owners explore a sale valuing it at $5 bln

The owners of Netsmart reportedly prepare to put the company up for sale, eyeing a valuation of over $5 billion.

PointClickCare Acquires CPSI Subsidiary, American HealthTech

Post-acute care technology company PointClickCare acquires post-acute care EHR vendor American HealthTech from CPSI.

CMS Finalizes Rule to Expand Access to Health Information and Improve the Prior Authorization Process

CMS publishes the Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule, which enacts firm timelines for select payers to issue prior authorizations, and mandates the implementation by certain payers of HL7 FHIR APIs to improve data exchange between providers and payers.

Morning Headlines 1/17/24

Apple to Remove Blood-Oxygen Sensor From Watch to Avoid US Ban

Apple will remove pulse oximetry technology from its Watch to avoid the possibility of having the product banned from importation into the US if Apple loses a pending patent appeal.

Care enabler 98point6 buys telehealth Bright.md

98point6 acquires Bright.md’s 17 telehealth customers and hires six of its employees.

HCAP Partners Leads Investment in Apprio

RCM and patient eligibility and enrollment software vendor Apprio secures an unspecified amount of funding from private equity firm HCAP Partners.

Innovaccer Acquires Cured, Accelerating Growth of the Intelligent Healthcare Experience Platform

Healthcare analytics vendor Innovaccer acquires Cured, which offers healthcare digital marketing software.

Mayo Clinic Diet Announces the Beta Launch of Mayo Clinic Diet Medical Weight Loss Rx Program

Mayo Clinic adds an Amwell-powered telehealth component to its Mayo Clinic Diet weight loss program so that select participants can access prescription weight-loss drugs.

Morning Headlines 1/16/24

Harbor Health Secures $95.5 Million in New Funding to Expand and Enhance Primary & Specialty Care Services in Central Texas

Texas-based hybrid healthcare provider Harbor Health raises $95.5 million, bringing its total raised to more than $218 million.

IT failure caused weekend chaos at Sussex hospitals

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust in England recovers from a power outage-induced IT and phone systems failure over the weekend that forced its facilities to divert ambulances and revert to downtime procedures.

Quantum Radiology cyber attack: Former and current employees data targeted

A radiology practice in Sydney, Australia, tells patients a November data breach was caused by an unspecified IT issue, all the while dealing with harassing phone calls and texts from the breach’s perpetrators.

Morning Headlines 1/15/24

Towards Conversational Diagnostic AI

A Google-created AI system called AMIE that was optimized for diagnostic dialog outperforms primary care doctors in synchronous text chat with patient actors.

Broadwest’s luxury hotel to host Oracle’s larger-than-anticipated health care summit

Oracle pushes its Health Summit back from February to April and moves it to Nashville, where it will also build a new campus using $175 million in economic incentives.

Law firm that handles data breaches was hit by data breach

A law firm that specializes in business security incidents is itself hit by hackers, exposing the identity, medical, and insurance information of 637,000 people that it had collected from its security incident clients.

Morning Headlines 1/12/24

Artisight to Scale and Advance AI-driven Smart Hospital Platform with Oversubscribed $42 Million Series B Round

Artisight, which offers a smart hospital platform, raises $42 million in a Series B funding round.

New Veradigm Leadership Provides Outlook on Business and Strategy, and Refreshed Financial Estimates for Fiscal 2023

Veradigm lowers its FY2023 revenue and earnings guidance below consensus estimates, noting in an SEC filing that it doesn’t yet know when it will file overdue financial reports for the last three quarters and year-end of FY2023 or convene its annual meeting of shareholders.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise to buy Juniper Networks in $14 bln deal

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise will acquire AI-enabled enterprise networking and security technology company Juniper Networks for $14 billion.

Graphium Health Acquires The ABG Anesthesia Data Group Strengthening Anesthesia Quality and Safety Initiatives

Anesthesia healthcare technology vendor Graphium Health purchases The ABG Anesthesia Data Group, which specializes in qualified clinical data registries management.