Morning Headlines 2/26/16

Obama Administration Announces Key Actions to Accelerate Precision Medicine Initiative

The White House releases an update on its Precision Medicine Initiative, detailing commitments from 40 private organizations that will work on the project, largely on efforts to improve cybersecurity and data sharing as researchers work to build a one million participant research cohort.

NIH Taking First Steps on Huge Precision Medicine Project

As part of the Precision Medicine Initiative, the NIH will issue a grant to Vanderbilt University and Google’s life science business Verily to fund a pilot project to learn how best to recruit cohort participants and collecting their data.

Epic, the Cold Hard Facts

HIStalk and Peer60 publish survey results of C-level executives from Epic-using organizations, asking straight-forward questions written by Mr. H.

This Vet Filmed Himself Trying To Get A Doctor’s Appointment At VA. It Wasn’t Pretty

A video of Army veteran Dennis Magnasco trying  to schedule an appointment at his local VA clinic, but being unable to get through to an actual human, goes viral after his employer, Rep. Seth Moulton (D- Mass) shares the story on social media. The attention garnered Moulton several additional co-sponsors to his Faster Care for Veterans bill, which would allow veterans to self-schedule appointments using an app.

Morning Headlines 2/25/16

Dr. Robert Califf Wins Senate Confirmation to Run FDA

In an 89-4 vote, Robert Califf, MD, a cardiologist and clinical researcher from Duke University, has been confirmed by the Senate as the next FDA commissioner.

CommonWell Announces National Deployment of Interoperability Services to the Post-Acute Market

CommonWell will begin offering integration services in the post-acute care market in 2016, noting in its announcement that CommonWell members Brightree, Cerner, and McKesson have agreed to deploy the new services.

Google’s DeepMind AI group unveils heath care ambitions

Google announces that it has teamed up with researchers from the NHS to co-develop a version of its DeepMind AI platform focused on developing healthcare applications.

WebMD sees opening to tap into telehealth space

WebMD CEO David Schlanger says on its most recent earnings call that the company would likely enter the telehealth space, through either an acquisition or a partnership.

Morning Headlines 2/24/16

ResMed to Acquire Brightree for $800 Million

ResMed, a sleep apnea medical device manufacturer, will acquire Brightree, a software vendor focused on the clinical and business needs of home health and hospice markets, for $800 million.

Our Next Chapter for Standards and Technology: Introducing the ONC Tech Lab

ONC introduces the ONC Tech Lab, a group that will focus on standards coordination, development of testing tools, pilot project coordination, and health IT innovation.

eClinicalWorks Enters Acute Care Market

eClinicalWorks announces that it will develop a cloud-based acute care EHR with an anticipated general release sometime in 2017.

Oscar Health Gets $400 Million And A $2.7 Billion Valuation from Fidelity

Tech-savvy insurance startup Oscar Health raises a $400 million private equity investment from Fidelity on a $2.7 billion valuation. The company plans to expand to three or four new states per year as its works to grow its membership level to one million subscribers within the next five years.

Morning Headlines 2/23/16

Coalition of Healthcare Leaders Urges 6 Key Reforms

A coalition of payers, providers, patient advocates, and vendors has issued a report calling for legislative action to help the US health system improve six key issues, including interoperability, care coordination, and patient engagement.

Tenet Swings to Loss Amid Charges

Tenet reports Q4 results: revenue was up slightly to $5.03 billion, adjusted EPS $0.35 vs. $1.03, beating estimates on both. The company recorded an overall net loss of $97 million.

Speeding Up the Digitization of American Health Care

Former National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, MD and former US CTO Aneesh Chopra, MD co-author a HBR article calling for improvements to the usability of EHRs and “penalties for providers and vendors that slow-walk the digital revolution to protect their economic interests.”

Why DOD cares about hospital network attacks

During a panel discussion, DoD deputy CIO Richard Hale calls for improved network cybersecurity at DoD hospitals and an increased emphasis on identifying and prosecuting hackers.

Morning Headlines 2/22/16

Operations postponed at Royal Berkshire Hospital due to IT issues

In England, surgeries had to be rescheduled at Royal Berkshire Hospital after malware infected the hospital’s Windows XP pathology system.

Schedule 13G: Computer Program and Systems, Inc.

Francisco Partners buys an additional 2 million shares of CPSI, bringing its total ownership in the company to 14.6 percent.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Paul M. Black on Q4 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

During Allscripts earnings call, CEO Paul Black notes that Q4 bookings of $1.1 billion topped its 2011 record and beat bookings from Q4 2014 by 20 percent.

The Big Mega HIT Purchasing Report

Peer60 releases a report on HIT purchasing trends, finding that population health management and patient engagement solutions are the top purchasing priorities for healthcare executives. 23 percent of respondents reported that their organization plans to switch EHR vendors, with Epic leading in mindshare.

Morning Headlines 2/19/16

IBM to buy data company Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 bln

IBM acquires Truven Health Analytics from Veritas Capital for $2.6 billion. Truven will join the IBM Watson business unit.

Allscripts Announces Fourth Quarter 2015 and Full-Year Results

Allscripts announces Q4 results: revenue climbed one percent to $346 million but missed analyst forecasts, EPS $0.09 vs. –$0.01.

Cerner  Q4 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

In its earnings call, Cerner executives note that the company would have met its bookings guidance but two major deals failed to close by the end of Q4. The company also reports that new business is growing, with 36 percent of its Q4 bookings coming from new clients.

Somerville man accused of plotting attack against Children’s Hospital

A Massachusetts man has been arrested while trying to flee to Cuba for his role in coordinating a denial-of-service attack against Boston Children’s Hospital as part of the hacker group Anonymous.

Morning Headlines 2/16/16

Theranos Files Plan to CMS for Fixing California Lab Problems

Late Friday, Theranos submitted its proposed plan of correction to CMS after being granted a one week extension to submit the documents.

Interoperability Form and Function: Interview with Doug Fridsma

AMIA President and CEO Douglas Fridsma, MD discusses the path forward for interoperability in a recent interview.

State tells Boston Children’s Hospital to slow down

State regulators in Massachusetts have asked Boston Children’s Hospital to prove that its $1 billion expansion plans will not undercut efforts to reduce healthcare spending in the state.

Morning Headlines 2/15/16

New records system takes bite out of Partners earnings

Partners Healthcare (MA) reports net profits of $13 million, down from $74 million last year. The health system blamed the drop in earnings on unexpected costs associated with its $1,2 billion Epic install.

Hack Attack: Hollywood hospital victim of cyber attack

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (CA) reports that its network has been  infected with ransomware, with the hackers demanding $3 million to restore access.

NHS will monitor Facebook for comment about hospitals, says new CQC head

In England, the NHS will begin reviewing patient complaints about hospitals posted on Facebook as a source of “early intelligence” that may signal potential problems.

In America, the art of doctoring is dying

A Washington Post opinion piece by a retired internist describes the art of medicine as dead, noting that medical students today are trained to focus on technology and testing, and “know little to nothing about how medicine was once practiced.”

Morning Headlines 2/12/16

CommonWell Health Alliance Membership Continues to Expand Across the Care Continuum

CommonWell Health Alliance announces seven new members:eClinicalWorks, HIMSS, ImageTrend, lifeIMAGE, Mana Health, MediPortal, and Modernizing Medicine.

Electronic Health Record Adoption and Rates of In-hospital Adverse Events

A retrospective study analyzing 2012-2013 patient visits finds that “fully electronic EHR” use is associated with a 17 to 30 percent decrease in adverse events for patients with cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, or for surgical patients.

Insurer Centene ends search for missing hard drives

Insurer Centene announces that it found the six missing hard drives containing PHI from 950,000 patients that went missing last month.

US News Withdraws Rankings of 2 Children’s Hospitals

US News has removed Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital (TX) and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital (NY) from its annual ranking of children’s hospitals after discovering significant errors in the data submitted by the hospitals.

Morning Headlines 2/10/16

Justification For Other Than Full and Open Competition

Leidos is awarded a $51 million contract to host its recently purchased Cerner EHR system.

Senate Health Committee Unanimously Passes Alexander, Murray Legislation to Improve Health Information Technology for Patients, Doctors, Hospitals

The Senate passes the Improving Health Information Technology Act, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Alexander explains, “Our goal is to make our country’s electronic health record system something that helps patients rather than something that doctors and hospitals dread so much that patients are not helped”

Cerner Launches Developer Experience For SMART on FHIR Applications

Cerner launches a developer platform that will give third-party developers an opportunity to code with its SMART on FHIR API within a sandbox environment.

Skagit Regional Health approves $316 million budget; adds jobs

Skagit Regional Health (WA) will spend $72 million implementing Epic over the next 10 years.

Morning Headlines 2/5/16

Health IT & Health Information Services: 2015 Year-End Market Review

Healthcare Growth Partners publishes its annual market review, noting that “at this point in the market cycle, health IT behaves more like a policy-based economy than a market-based economy.”

Athenahealth, Inc. Q4 Earnings Retreat 21 percent

Athenahealth reports Q4 results: revenue of $257 million compared to $213 million during the same quarter last year, adjusted EPS $0.45 vs. $0.58, missing analyst estimates on revenue but beating on earnings.

Head Of California Exchange Scolds UnitedHealth For Blaming Woes On Obamacare

California health insurance exchange executive director Peter Lee criticizes UnitedHealth for blaming Obamacare exchanges for its financial losses, explaining “Instead of saying we screwed up, they said Obamacare is the problem and we may not play any more. It was giving an excuse to Wall Street and throwing the Affordable Care Act under the bus.”

Top 20 Employee Benefits & Perks

Glassdoor ranks Epic 16th on its list of Top 20 Employee Benefits and Perks, citing the company’s policy of granting a paid four-week sabbatical to employees after five years of employment.

Morning Headlines 2/4/16

Practice Fusion Lays Off 25% Of Workers To Create Positive Cash Flow

Practice Fusion confirms that it has laid of 25 percent of its workforce, across all divisions, in an effort to become cash positive.

Bipartisan Senate bill seeks to expand telemedicine services

A group of bipartisan senators introduce the CONNECT for Health Act, a bill aimed at expanding telemedicine services through expanded Medicare benefits.

2016 Clinical Analytics for Population Health Management Market Trends Report

A Chilmark report predicts that the data analytics market will grow as more health systems shift to value-based reimbursement models.

Healthcare: For here or to go?

An Accenture report predicts that startups working in the on-demand healthcare market will see investment levels quadruple by 2017, growing to nearly a billion dollars in annual investment.

Morning Headlines 2/3/16

White House To Request $1 Billion For Cancer ‘Moonshot’

President Obama will ask Congress to back his recently announced Cancer Moonshot project with $755 million for  cancer research. Congress already approved $195 million in research funding for 2016, bringing the projects total budget to nearly $1 billion over the next two years.

Aetna Reports Surge in Profit and a Dark Spot

Aetna reports Q4 results: revenue of $15 billion contributed to a 38 percent increase in profit, EPS $0.91 vs $0.65, missing on earnings but meeting revenue expectations. Like UnitedHealth, the company noted that its public exchange business was losing money.

Roper Industries Misses Q4 Street Views On EPS, Revenues

Roper Industries, parent company of Sunquest, reports Q4 results: revenue was flat at $943 million compared to $946 million during the same quarter last year, EPS $1.82 vs. $1.85, missing analyst estimates for both.

Theranos continues to dodge opportunities to validate its inventions

Theranos indefinitely delays its promise to allow its partner Cleveland Clinic to independently verify its technologies, while also confirming that it would not publish data to validate its tests before securing FDA approval for them.

Morning Headlines 2/2/16

Athenahealth Names Prakash Khot as Chief Technology Officer

Athenahealth hires Prakash Khot as its new CTO. Khot was previously the CTO of Kaseya, and spent several years with Salesforce prior to that, where he rose to the position of SVP of Engineering, overseeing big data and analytics development.

American Heart Association, IBM Watson Health and Welltok Team Up to Transform Heart Health

American Heart Association announces a strategic partnership with IBM Watson and patient engagement vendor Welltok to develop employer-focused solutions to improve heart health.

Certification Frequency and Requirements for the Reporting of Quality Measures under CMS Programs; Extension of Comment Period

CMS issues a 15-day extension to the public comment period for its RFI seeking input on certification and testing of EHR products used for quality measure reporting.

Defining Value in Health Care: CMS Releases Updated Benchmarks for ACOs

Aledade publishes a blog analyzing the recent CMS update to ACO benchmarks.

Morning Headlines 2/1/16

New Proposal to Give Providers and Employers Access to Information to Drive Quality and Patient Care Improvement

A proposed rule by CMS will allow qualified entities to sell de-identified Medicare and private payer claims data to providers, employers and other groups interested in using the data to support quality improvement projects.

Flint doctor used Epic Systems records to expose lead crisis

The pediatrician who brought the water crisis in Flint, MI credits EHRs for allowing her to quickly calculate the recent rise in lead poisoning among local children, noting “If we did not have Epic, if we did not have (EHRs), if we were still on paper, it would have taken forever to get these results.”

Meditech Form 10-K Annual Report

Meditech reports its 2015 year end results: total revenue was $475 million, down eight percent from 2014, driven down by decreased product revenue. Net income was $70 million.

Quality Systems Beats Q3 Earnings, Lags Revenue Estimates

Quality Systems, parent company of NextGen, reports Q3 results: revenue fell 1.6 percent to $117 million compared to the same quarter last year, adjusted EPS $0.16 vs. $0.16.

Morning Headlines 1/29/16

2015/2016 Best in KLAS Winners: Software and Services

KLAS publishes its annual list of Best in KLAS winners. Epic takes the Acute Care EMR category. Cerner wins Acute Care EMR for community hospitals, while MEDITECH wins the community HIS category.

No patient records involved in possible NCH computer breach

NCH Healthcare System (FL) notifies its employees that two servers being hosted at Cerner’s Kansas City data center have been breached, exposing employee and medical staff credentialing information.

CPSI Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2015 Results and 2016 Guidance

CPSI announces Q4 and year-end results:revenue of  $44 million for the quarter, down 4.5 percent from last year, EPS $0.30 vs. $0.60, missing estimates on both.

MidMichigan Health investing $55M for electronic medical record system

MidMichigan Health selects Epic to replace its existing Cerner and Allscripts EHRs, for a total project cost of $55 million that the health system expects will pay for itself within six years.

Morning Headlines 1/28/16

Theranos’ Deficiencies Put Patient Safety In “Immediate Jeopardy”

CMS has issued a public letter to lab test vendor Theranos warning that deficiencies found during its CLIA recertification and compliance inspection put patients in “immediate jeopardy.” Theranos has 10 days to submit proof that the deficiencies have been corrected, or it could lose its CLIA certificate. 

McKesson Reports Fiscal 2016 Third-Quarter Results

McKesson reports Q3 results: total revenue up three percent to $47.9 billion, EPS $2.71 vs. $2.04. Technology Solutions revenue was down eight percent, to $694 million, compared to the prior year.

Some States Look to Avoid Federal Obamacare Payments

State officials discuss sharing state insurance exchanges after CMS published new rules last year requiring states to pay a three percent user-fee per policy issued over Healthcare.gov.

Adoption of Certified Electronic Health Record Systems and Electronic Information Sharing in Physician Offices: United States, 2013 and 2014

The CDC publishes data from its 2014 National Electronic Health Records Survey, finding that 74 percent of office-based physicians are now using certified EHRs, while 32 percent are sharing patient health information with external providers.