Morning Headlines 4/7/16

Allergan, Pfizer call off proposed $160B merger

Pfizer backs out of its plan to acquire Allegran and move its headquarters to Ireland for tax reasons after the Treasury Department put new rules in places to make tax inversions less lucrative.

National Health IT Coordinator Says Technology Can Help Unblock Patient Data Access

National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD discusses health data portability, information blocking, and cloud technology in a Wall Street Journal interview.

Better Health Care: A Way Forward

Former National Coordinator David Blumenthal writes a JAMA op-ed on improving access, cost, and quality of care.

It’s Time To Stop Pretending Patients Don’t Care About Their Medical Records

Fast Company discusses barriers to expanding patient access to their medical information after an informal internet survey finds that 77 percent of patients are very interested in having access to the information.

Morning Headlines 4/5/16

New York’s Epic EHR ‘go-lives’ please officials, staff

Two NYC Health & Hospitals facilities are live with Epic after an April 1 go-live that a spokesman for the health system went well, explaining, “There were minor issues, but they were dealt with right away.”

Theranos Devices Often Failed Accuracy Requirements

A newly released CMS inspection report confirms that Theranos’ proprietary blood testing analyzer, Edison, failed internal quality control tests 29 percent of the time, while its California lab was also cited for doing tests with unqualified personnel and storing samples at the wrong temperatures.

Proteus Digital Health Presents Interim Results at ACC From a Randomized Controlled Clinical Study of Proteus Discover

Proteus Digital Health announces interim results from an RCT study of its smartpill technology, finding that its smartpill technology improves blood pressure control in hypertension patients significantly. 85 percent of patients using the smartpill achieved their target blood pressure within four weeks, while only 33 percent of participants in a control group receiving traditional care were able to do the same.

AMA taking bigger role in key IT initiatives

Michael Hodgkins, MD, CMIO of the American Medical Association, discusses interoperability and his role on the board of the Sequoia Project, formerly Healtheway.

Morning Headlines 4/4/16

Ransomware and Recent Variants

The US Department of Homeland Security issues a ransomware alert focused on the recent increase in healthcare-focused attacks. Alvarado Hospital Medical Center (CA) and Knings Daughters Health (IN) are both hit with new ransomware attacks.

Fitch Affirms Baptist Health Care’s Rev Bonds at ‘A-‘; Outlook Stable

Fitch affirms the A- bond rating of Baptist Health Care Corporation (FL) but notes that EHR-related training costs will impact profits.

e-MDs Finalizes Acquisition of Software Technology Assets from McKesson

e-MDs completes its acquisition of McKesson ambulatory products Practice Choice, Medisoft, Medisoft Clinical, Lytec, Lytec MD, and Practice Partner.

Trades executed – or killed – by final medical opinion

A Cincinnati paper discusses the medical review process involved in baseball contracts, highlighting the MLB-wide EHR that went live in 2010 and houses medical information on every player from every team in one centralized, online database.

Morning Headlines 3/31/16

MedStar Health Update Regarding Computer Downtime

MedStar restores access to its major clinical systems 48 hours after a malware attack crippled the systems network.

It’s game over for the robot intended to replace anesthesiologists

Johnson & Johnson announces that it is pulling the plug on its anesthesiology robot Sedasys because of poor sales.

Analysis of clinical decision support system malfunctions: a case series and survey

A study published in JAMIA analyzing clinical decision support malfunctions at Brigham and Women’s Hospital concludes that malfunctions occur frequently and often go undetected. 93 percent of surveyed CMIO’s reported having experienced a CDS malfunction.

Details of Anthem’s massive cyberattack remain in the dark a year later

A year after a cyberattack that left the medical information of 78 million people exposed, the FBI is still investigating the attack and little new information has come to the surface.

Morning Headlines 3/29/16

Dell will unload IT services unit to Japan’s NTT Data

Dell will sell its IT services unit to NTT Data for $3.05 billion, money it will use to finance its $67 billion acquisition of EMC.

Google’s bold bid to transform medicine hits turbulence under a divisive CEO

Verily, Google’s life science business, has lost a dozen senior members of its team in the last year.  Former employees say that CEO Andrew Conrad is divisive and impulsive and has created a challenging work environment for staff.

Theranos Results Could Throw Off Medical Decisions, Study Finds

A study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai finds that Theranos cholesterol results were lower than Quest and LabCorp results by an average of 9.3 percent, enough to influence medical decisions.

House tentatively OK mandatory prescription drug monitoring

In Arizona, legislators are working on a bill that will establish a prescription monitoring program within the state’s HIE.

Protecting Employees’ Health Data

The New York Times calls for limits on employer access to employee health information, citing concerns that it could make workers vulnerable to discrimination.

Morning Headlines 3/28/16

Statement from Joseph Maldonado, MD, President, Medical Society of the State of New York

The president of the Medical Society of the State of New York asks for two exceptions to the new requirement that all prescriptions be written electronically. The first would exempt providers that write less than 25 prescriptions per year, and the second would reduce documentation requirements when technical problems temporarily force providers back to paper.

Dell Services Builds Momentum with Multiple $100M+ Deals

Dell Services signs $100 million deals with Dubai Health Authority and BCBS of Rhode Island.

Hackers Steal Data On 1.5 Million Verizon Enterprise Customers

Verizon loses 1.5 million customer records to hackers who are attempting to sell the information online for $100,000.

Morning Headlines 3/25/16

Raju to explain financial plan to Council, defend records system

NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Ram Raju claims the April 1 Epic go-live was a self-imposed deadline that he would be comfortable moving if needed, clarifying that he would not be fired for making that decision.

The Evolving EPCS Landscape 2016: A Prescription for Stopping Opioid Abuse

DrFirst publishes a paper on e-prescribing of controlled substances in the US, noting that while 82 percent of retail pharmacies are EPCS enabled, only 5.8 percent of providers are setup for EPCS.

Providers must release all of patient data to patients, families

The Ohio Supreme Court rules that any patient data kept by a health care provider must be released to patients and family members on request. Officials at Aultman Hospital argued that only patient data held within the medical records department was required to be turned over.

Thomas Health System Selects Parallon as its Meditech 6.1 Partner

Thomas Health System (WV) selects Meditech 6.1, upgrading its legacy Meditech Magic system and replacing its Cerner/Siemens Soarian system.

Morning Headlines 3/24/16

Allscripts is buying stake in Netsmart Technologies

Allscripts and private-equity firm GI Partners will pay a combined $950 million to acquire behavioral health software vendor Netsmart Technologies as part of a new joint venture. Allscripts will pay $70 million in cash and merge its home health software business into the new venture, resulting in a company with an annual revenue of $250 million.

Opportunities and Challenges in Advancing Health Information Technology

During testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD discussed ONC’s interoperability roadmap and the agency’s efforts to help expand the use of alternative payment models.

New HIPAA audits will target healthcare industry’s business partners

The HHS Office for Civil Rights announces that the next round of privacy and security audits will target business associates and insurers.

In Its First Year, Has Apple’s ResearchKit Revolutionized Medical Research?

Fast Company recaps ResearchKit’s first year in operation, highlighting some of the successes and barriers to growth researchers are seeing with the framework.

Morning Headlines 3/23/16

Methodist Hospital Contains Cyber Attack

Methodist Hospital (KY) contains the ransomware attack on its network and restores access to end users. Hackers were not paid a ransom, and an FBI investigation is ongoing.

Hackers Take Aim At Two More Southern California Hospitals

Hackers attack two Prime Healthcare Services hospitals in Southern California hospitals, Chino Valley Medical Center and Desert Valley Hospital. Administrators refuse to say whether a ransom was demanded, but say patient safety has not been compromised and that steps are being taken to restore full user access.

23andMe Enables Genetic Research for ResearchKit apps

Apple partners with genetic testing vendor 23andMe to integrate consumer genome information into ResearchKit apps.

Call for Papers: Special Focus Issue on Safety of Health IT

JAMIA publishes a call for submissions about the safety of all types of healthcare IT systems for an upcoming special issue.

Morning Headlines 3/22/16

CareKit Is Apple’s Ambitious New Health Monitoring and Tracking Tool

Apple unveils CareKit, an open-source app development platform that extends functionality found in ResearchKit and HealthKit, but designed to help hospitals and patients track medical treatments and share medical information between providers.

FCC auction will scramble patient-monitor airwaves

Despite objections from the medical community, the FCC will move ahead with plans to auction off rights to airwaves within the 600MHz spectrum, a frequency band once reserved almost exclusively for wireless medical telemetry systems.

Petition Calls for Unique Patient Identifier Solution

AHIMA starts a Whitehouse.gov petition calling for the development of a voluntary national patient ID system and the removal of the federal budget ban prohibiting HHS from participating in this effort.

Scripps Health moves to reduce workforce, expenses

Scripps Health (CA) reports a 12 percent increase in operating costs for fiscal year 2015, and announces cost saving measures that includes cutting 100 jobs and restructuring its management team.

Morning Headlines 3/21/16

FBI investigating cyber-attack at Methodist Hospital in Henderson

Methodist Hospital (KY) is the latest victim of a ransomeware attack, forcing the hospital to operate on a backup system while the FBI investigates and administrators decide how to restore access to patient records.

Poor Country, Top Doctors

India-based 32-hospital chain Narayana Hrdayalaya is profiled for its efforts to bring down the cost of healthcare so that quality care is accessible to all, not just the wealthy. The health system performs CABG’s for just $2,600 and insurance for just $3.60 per year.

Private Dell mostly makes PCs – and its sales of those are down

Analysis of Dell financial records shows that the company still makes 65 percent of its revenue from hardware sales, and that the company booked a net loss of $1.1 billion.

Cerner Trails campus construction reaches top of first two towers

Cerner holds a “topping out” ceremony as the first of two towers in its new $4.45 billion campus reached its peak height Friday.

Morning Headlines 3/18/16

Improper disclosure of research participants’ protected health information results in $3.9 million HIPAA settlement

OCR announces two breach settlements stemming from stolen, unencrypted laptops. The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research will pay a $3.9 million fine, while North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota will pay $1.5 million.

Hospital exec quits, compares $764M upgrade to Challenger disaster

Charles Perry, MD, the CMIO of Queens and Elmhurst Hospital Centers resigns over concerns about the upcoming NYC Health + Hospitals Epic go-live. He compared the project to the Challenger space shuttle launch of 1986 and called for a delay to prevent patient harm.

McKesson Falls After Saying It Will Cut 1,600 Jobs in US

McKesson lays off 1,600 employees, or four percent of its US workforce, after losing several key customers.

Now There’s Proof: Docs Who Get Company Cash Tend to Prescribe More Brand-Name Meds

A ProPublica report finds that doctors who receive payments or gifts from pharmaceutical companies are two to three times more likely to prescribe a brand-name drug instead of a generic alternative.

Morning Headlines 3/17/16

VA moves to fire three hospital executives in Phoenix scandal

Two years after the Phoenix VA scheduling scandal came to light, the VA has formally proposed firing three more executives from the hospital: Darren Deering, MD,  the hospital’s chief of staff; Lance Robinson, the hospital’s associate director; and Brad Curry, chief of health administration service.

Organizations urge 90-day MU reporting period for 2016

CHIME and 32 other organizations ask CMS to shorten the MU reporting period for 2016 from 365 days to 90 days.

Google vet Alan Warren is Oscar Health’s new CTO

Allen Warren, former Google CTO and senior VP of engineering leaves his position to take a job as the CTO at tech-savvy insurer Oscar Health.

CHIME, HeroX Patient ID Challenge Gains Momentum

More than 200 companies have registered to participate in the $1 million CHIME National Patient ID Challenge.

Morning Headlines 3/16/16

Hospital data breach patients to receive settlement checks

St. Joseph Health (CA) settles a class action suit from 31,000 patients whose personal health information was left unsecure and accessible over the Internet. The health system will pay $15 million, of which $7.5 million will go to lawyers and $242 will be distributed to each patient.

NTT seen offering $3.5bn for Dell’s IT services ops

Japan-based NTT Data is expected to offer $3.52 billion to buy Perot Systems IT service business from Dell.

NYC’s $764M medical records system will lead to ‘patient death’: insiders

The New York Post cites anonymous insiders warning that NYC Health + Hospitals’ $764 million Epic system, scheduled to go live April 2, will crash and eventually cause patient harm and death.

Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks – security firms

Executives at four security firms suspect that Chinese-government supported hackers are behind the recent rise in increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks.

Morning Headlines 3/15/16

ACA setbacks dampen Intermountain’s finances

Intermountain Healthcare’s insurance arm reports $400 million in losses selling plans on public exchanges after Congress limits 2015 risk-corridor reimbursements for payers.

ICD-10 to add thousands of new diagnosis and procedure codes in FY 2017

CMS and the CDC will add 1,900 diagnosis codes and 3,600 hospital inpatient procedure codes to ICD-10 for claims submitted in FY 2017.

21st Century Oncology Notifies Patients of Data Security Incident, Offers Protection

National cancer care provider  21st Century Oncology notifies 2.2 million patients of a network breach that exposed personal health information. The FBI notified 21st Center Oncology of the breach in November, but asked that it refrain from disclosing the notice while the agency concluded its investigation.

HealthSpot’s assets are up for sale

Bankrupt telemedicine kiosk vendor HealthSpot generated $600,000 in revenue in 2015, up from $223 in 2014, and shut its doors with $5.17 million in assets and $23 million in liabilities. It is now accepting offers to purchase its remaining assets.

Morning Headlines 3/14/16

Medical Electronic Data Technology Enhancement for Consumers’ Health Act

The Senate HELP committee passes the MEDTECH Act, a bill that limits FDA oversight on EHRs and other medical software.

UnitedHealthcare launches a smaller, ‘very, very different’ insurer

UnitedHealthcare subsidiary Harken Health will begin selling individual insurance plans in Atlanta and Chicago that offer unlimited primary care visits with no co-pays if subscribers use Harken-owned health centers.

The World’s Most Innovative Research Institutions

HHS takes fourth place on Reuters list of Top 25 Global Innovators working in Government. The VA was also named, coming in at 12th place.

Global Center out to reduce vacancy

Cleveland-based Global Center for Health Innovation will work with Colliers to fill  20,000 feet of remaining vacant space. The building, whose major tenant is HIMSS, was a taxpayer funded project designed to boost tourism in the city, but has yet to live up to expectations.

Morning Headlines 3/11/16

EPAS labeled a dud by South Australian doctors forced to use it

In Australia, doctors at Port August Hospital write a letter to the CEO demanding that its $315 million Allscripts system be shut down, outlining 37 problems including a number of patient safety issues.

Paying It Forward- A Veteran’s Journey to HIMSS16

HIMSS tells the story of  Kevin Phillips, a homeless veteran that was invited to attend the conference and participate in the Veterans Career Services program, but got stranded in Chicago on a layover and, with no money to rectify the problems he was facing there, began walking back home to Fort Wayne, IN. Local police found the man and helped him continue his journey to the conference.

GE Electronic Medical Record added to Gold-medal Medical Services at Rio 2016 Olympic Games

GE announces that its Centricity Practice Solution has been chosen as the official EHR of the 2016 Olympics. Clinicians working the event will use the software to document and coordinate care for athletes.

American Workers Rank Last In Problem-Solving Skills With Technology

Americans rank last among 18 industrialized nations for technical problem-solving skills in the workforce.