Morning Headlines 6/9/16

Connecture buys exchange competitor ConnectedHealth

Connecture, a technology company that builds online health insurance marketplaces, acquires ConnectedHealth, a benefits technology platform that helps employers chose health plans. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Will genetic tests help prevent chronic diseases?

Cerner launches a one-year pilot study that will help determine whether patient’s genetic data can play a motivating role in promoting behavior change.

Three more Phoenix VA officials fired in aftermath of wait-time, retaliation probes

The VA has formally fired three more administrators within the Phoenix VA Health Care System. Lance Robinson, assistant director at the Carl Hayden VA Medical Center; Brad Curry, the chief of Health Administration Service; and Dr. Darren Deering the hospital’s chief of staff were all terminated for “negligent performance of duties and failure to provide effective oversight."

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Are Associated With Sustained Reductions In Opioid Prescribing By Physicians

A Health Affairs study correlates the use of prescription drug monitoring programs with a 30 percent reduction in the rate of prescribing Schedule II opioids, a change that continued in the second and third years following the launch of the program.

Morning Headlines 6/8/16

Cerner’s Burke: Patterson is ‘fully engaged’

Cerner President Zane Burke reports that CEO Neal Patterson remains fully engaged in day-to-day operations as he undergoes cancer treatments.

Theranos Says Only One Percent of Results Affected; Some Doubt Tests

Theranos says that less than one percent of its blood test results have been voided or corrected, a clarification on earlier reports that it would need to cancel or amend tens of thousands of results.

‘Silicon Valley arrogance’? Google misfires as it strives to turn Star Trek fiction into reality

Verily, Google’s life science business unit, comes under fire as a number of its high profile projects flounder, including a cancer-detecting wristband and glucose-sensing contact lenses.

Back to Meditech: Delta Regional Hospital to Deliver Quality Care at a Lower Cost with Meditech 6.1

325-bed Delta Regional Hospital (MS) will implement Meditech, replacing Cerner.

Morning Headlines 6/7/16

Dr Farzad Mostashari Explains the New ACO Benchmarking Rule

Former national coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD comments on newly published ACO benchmarking rule.

Biden unveils launch of major, open-access database to advance cancer research

Vice President Biden announces formation of the Genomic Data Commons, an open-access cancer database that will help researchers collaborate and share information, as part of the administration’s Cancer Moonshot.

Forbes’ 2016 List Of America’s Richest Self-Made Women

Judy Faulkner comes in third on Forbes’ list of America’s richest self-made women, with a net worth of $2.4 billion.

Geisinger researchers profile overdose patients and predictors of death

Researchers at Geisinger Health System analyze EHR data of 2,000 patients admitted to the hospital for drug overdoses to create a risk algorithm capable of predicting which patients are most likely to die and experience other serious complications from their drug abuse.

Morning Headlines 6/6/16

McKesson Considers Separation of Information-Technology Unit

McKesson may sell its health IT business unit to focus efforts on its core drug distribution business. The business unit is valued at an estimated $5 billion. 

Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Did Not Just Lose $4.5 Billion

Fortune’s Dan Primack argues that Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes never should have been listed as a billionaire by Forbes because her worth was based entirely on her ownership stake in a company whose value was set by “a small group of outside investors.”

Pioneering Data-Sharing Network Created to Accelerate Cancer Precision Medicine Development

Intermountain Healthcare, Stanford Cancer Institute, and Providence Health & Services launch a data-sharing network that will transmit genomic data from cancer research to help oncologists develop more effective treatment plans.

Potential Patient Information Breach at ProMedica Bixby and Herrick Hospitals

ProMedica Bixby and Herrick hospitals (MI) informs 3,500 patients that their records were breached after an internal investigation found that seven employees were accessing patient records without justification.

Morning Headlines 6/3/16

From $4.5 Billion To Nothing: Forbes Revises Estimated Net Worth Of Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes

Forbes lowers its estimate of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ net worth to zero, down from $4.5 billion.

Redskins: Laptop containing player data was stolen

The Washington Redskins have confirmed that the medical records of thousands of NFL players have been compromised after a laptop belonging to one of the teams athletic trainers was stolen in April.

A Foundation for Discovering Clinical Health IT Applications

ONC awards Boston Children’s Hospital a total of $275,000 in grants to lead the development of an online app store for FHIR apps.

Equation Acquired by MedAssets-Precyse

Equation, a financial and clinical healthcare analytics vendor, is acquired by MedAssets-Precyse for an undisclosed sum.

Morning Headlines 6/1/16

Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among US Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2015

ONC reports that 84 percent of US hospitals had adopted a basic EHR by 2015, up from just 9.4 percent in 2008, though pediatric and psychiatric specialty hospitals still trail with 55 percent and 15 percent adoption, respectively.

Pontiac General Hospital Selects OpenVista Healthcare IT Platform

Pontiac General Hospital (MI) will implement Medsphere’s OpenVista EHR, a commercialized version of the VA’s open source Vista EHR.

Local health departments brace for funding loss amid Zika standoff

In July, the CDC will cut $45 million in emergency public health funding from health districts in all 50 states after Congress fails to pass a bill to fund Zika-related work .

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center completes recruitment for pediatric migraine study using Curelator Headache

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (OH) will use an app designed by digital health startup Curelator to research migraine triggers in adolescents.

Morning Headlines 5/31/16

Jawbone has stopped producing its fitness trackers and sold the remaining inventory to a third party

Jawbone stops manufacturing its line of UP fitness trackers but makes no announcement suggesting that it will exit the market entirely.

Doctors Test Tools to Predict Your Odds of a Disease

The Wall Street Journal profiles Norwell Health’s (NY) use of a clinical decision support tool that scrubs EHR data and predicts which condition the patient being treated most likely has before lab or imaging tests are ordered.

A New Way to Report College Sexual Assault

The New York Times profiles Callisto, a startup that hopes to improve sexual assault reporting on college campuses with a website that lets college students file sexual assault reports online.

Intel backs AI-powered analytics startup Lumiata in $10M funding round

AI startup Lumiata raises a $10 million Series B fund from Intel Capital. The company is building algorithms to quantify and manage risk within population health programs.

Morning Headlines 5/30/16

US IPO Week Ahead: Billionaire doctor back with another IPO

Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, will bring NantHealth public this week in a $91 million offering.

Court Rules Companies Cannot Impose Illegal Arbitration Clauses

A federal appeals court ruled against Epic on Thursday, deciding that companies cannot force their employees to sign arbitration agreements that prevent them from filing lawsuits against their employer.

Nanaimo doctors say electronic health record system unsafe, should be shut down

In Canada, providers at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital are unhappy with the recent $174 million Cerner go live, returning to paper charts in both the ICU and ER “out of concern for patient safety.”

Stung by Yelp Reviews, Health Providers Spill Patient Secrets

ProPublica reports that doctors, dentists, and other clinicians are responding to negative Yelp reviews left by unhappy patients inappropriately, sometimes posting confidential patient information within their responses.

Morning Headlines 5/27/16

Epic Systems Takes Out Troll Patent on Abstract Idea

Epic wins a patent infringement lawsuit filed by patent troll Preservation Wellness Technologies. Epic argued, and a judge agreed, that the patent in question vaguely described “unpatentable subject matter” related to managing and sharing medical records.

CMS’s Andrew Slavitt talks with MMS about MACRA

In an interview with Massachusetts Medical Society, CMS Acting Administrator Andrew Slavitt discusses MACRA and interoperability, saying, “If you are a customer of a piece of technology that doesn’t do what you want, it’s time to raise your voice. We’re doing everything we can to make sure that the technology vendors stop focusing on meeting the regulations, so they can start focusing on their customers and their users.”

Upgrading the Certified Health IT Product List: Understanding Corrective Action Information

ONC updates its Certified Health IT Product List to include information on vendors that have at any point fallen out of compliance with certification requirements.

The Fraudulent Claims Made By IBM About Watson and AI

Cognitive science expert Roger Schank, PhD calls out IBM for marketing Watson as a cognitive computer, calling the company and its advertisements fraudulent.

Morning Headlines 5/26/16

Congressional panel asks DOJ to investigate creation of Cover Oregon

The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has asked the Justice Department and the Oregon State Attorney’s office to launch criminal investigations into the mishandled launch of Oregon’s health insurance exchange, Cover Oregon.

Evaluating the impact of a computerized surveillance algorithm and decision support system on sepsis mortality

Huntsville Hospital (AL) reduces sepsis-related mortality by 53 percent after implementing an early warning sepsis surveillance system.

To Cut Wait Times, VA Tries MinuteClinics In Northern California

In an effort to reduce appointment wait times for veterans, the VA partners with CVS to offer urgent care services to veterans in San Francisco. The VA will integrate patient records with CVS MinuteClinic and all care provided will be free for veterans.

Flatiron Health and the FDA Embark on Cancer Research Collaboration

Oncology software vendor Flatiron Health will collaborate with the FDA to research the use of immunotherapies in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Morning Headlines 5/25/16

Soon-Shiong: Why I’m investing $70.5M in Tribune

Healthcare billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong invests $70.5 million in Tribune Publishing, parent company of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, making him the second-largest shareholder, holding 12.9 percent.

New Clarification – $6.50 Flat Rate Option is Not a Cap on Fees for Copies of PHI

HHS clarifies that providers may charge a flat fee of $6.50 for patient record requests, or continue calculating a request fee based on allowable labor costs for either a specific request or for an average request.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reveals the Apple Watch’s ‘holy grail’

Tim Cook reports that Apple is “really focused” on health and that Apple Watch is the company’s plan for entering the market.

Founder and Former Practice Fusion CEO Unveils New Company – iBeat

Former fired Practice Fusion founder and CEO Ryan Howard launches a new company, iBeat, which will develop a wearable heart monitor.

Morning Headlines 5/24/16

Q&A: Meditech founder Pappalardo says invention was ‘my overall destiny’

Neil Pappalardo, Meditech founder and lead creator of the MUMPS programming language, discusses his early life, his recent health, and his plans for the future of the company in a Modern Healthcare interview.

Making the Comprehensive Shared Care Plan a Reality

Leaders from HHS co-author a New England Journal of Medicine article calling for the use of shared care plans to improve care coordination.

MGH to build Down syndrome portal

Massachusetts General Hospital will launch a “virtual clinic” to improve care for people with Down syndrome that do not have access to local specialists.

San Juan County warns of data breach

San Juan County (NM) warns patients being treated in its drug and alcohol treatment program that 12,000 records were compromised when hackers accessed a computer at the treatment center.

Morning Headlines 5/23/16

Hackers demand ransom payment from Kansas Heart Hospital for files

Kansas Heart Hospital (KS) pays hackers an undisclosed sum to restore access to its system after being hit with a ransomeware attack only to have hackers refuse to restore access and demand even more money.

Hospital Uses Fake Phishing Emails in Security Training; Will Move to Gamification

Administrators at  Lawrence General Hospital (MA) are testing network security by sending phony phishing scam emails to employees to see how often the embedded links are clicked.

athenahealth Appoints New CFO

Athenahealth promotes Karl Stubelis to CFO, replacing outgoing Kristi Matus, who has decided to leave the company effective May 31.

St. Luke’s Epic Electronic Medical Record Implementation is a Success

St. Lukes University Health Network (PA) goes live on Epic across its six hospitals without incident.

Morning Headlines 5/20/16

Theranos throws out all Edison blood test results from 2014 and 2015

Theranos issues tens of thousands of corrected lab test results from samples processed on its proprietary Edison analyzer between 2014 and 2015.

#FHIR and the Gartner Hype Cycle

Grahame Grieve, architect of HL7’s FHIR protocol, says that FHIR is being overhyped and denounces the idea that FHIR will solve interoperability.

ITelagen Acquires Planet Logic to Provide World-Class Cloud Hosting Solutions

ITelagen, an EHR hosting and support vendor, acquires competitor Planet Logic.

Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust appoint Cerner as preferred supplier for major Electronic Patient Record programme

In England, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust chooses Cerner Millennium.

Morning Headlines 5/19/16

Statement from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security

In a letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, CHIME addresses the threat cyberattacks pose to healthcare organizations, saying “. Even the largest healthcare delivery organizations, with the greatest investment in security programs, may still fall victim to bad actors as we have seen with some of the largest retail organizations, financial institutions and even the federal government suffering large-scale breaches.”

Rating hospitals by the stars: The feds’ latest plan to measure quality is the most controversial

The Washington Post outlines the industry concerns that led to CMS delaying the implementation of its new star rating system for hospitals.

Obamacare Rates Rise in New York, and So Does Political Risk

Insurers in New York are requesting premium increases averaging 17 percent in New York. Alan Murray, CEO of New York insurer CareConnect, says, “If these requests aren’t approved, you are going to see more carriers leaving the market.”

ER docs sue HHS over out-of-network payments

The American College of Emergency Physicians is suing HHS over a provision of ACA that allows insurers to underpay for out-of-network emergency medical services.

Morning Headlines 5/18/16

VA edges closer to rollout of new health record platform

The VA reports that the Enterprise Health Management Platform, its Vista web overlay, will be up and running by the end of the summer.

New $1.2b Partners computer system brings prescription for frustration

The Boston Globe highlights employee frustrations with Partners Healthcare’s newly implemented $1.2 billion Epic system.

This health-care trend could make your hospital stay $2,000 more expensive

Edith Ramirez, chair of the FTC, argues that consolidation in the healthcare industry is eliminating needed competition and driving up the cost of care.

Hackers hold DeKalb Health computer systems hostage

A ransom ware attack at DeKalb Health (IN) has forced the hospital to implement downtime operating procedures and divert EMS to other facilities.

Cerner Faces Another Lawsuit Over Its Overtime Policy

Help desk workers at Cerner have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that they are required to work 48 hours a week but are not paid overtime.

Morning Headlines 5/17/16

Pfizer to Buy Anacor for $4.5 Billion

Pfizer announces that it will buy Anacor Pharmaceuticals for $4.5 billion, a 55 percent premium on Friday’s closing share price.

Giving New Doctors the Tools They Need

In a New York Times op-ed, a Harvard Medical School resident describes medical education as predicated on memorization and insufficient and outdated. He argues, “In an era of big data, Google and iPhones, doctors don’t so much need to know as they need to access, synthesize, and apply.“

Federal survey finds ‘troubling’ online behavior that could impact medical record sharing

A Census Bureau survey of 41,000 households finds that the recent uptick in data breaches across industries has made consumers shy away from online services over privacy concerns.

Exploring Concordance of Patient-Reported Information on PatientsLikeMe and Medical Claims Data at the Patient Level

A study evaluating the accuracy of self-reported medical data shared on PatientsLikeMe compared self-reported multiple sclerosis diagnosis with claims data and finds that the information collected on the site was largely accurate.