Morning Headlines 8/31/15

Mutual self-interest leads to antitrust concerns

Paul Levy, the former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, publishes a blog calling for an anti-trust investigation into Epic as Partners goes live and pressures affiliated practices to do the same.

Epic traffic jams on tap

A local paper warns Madison residents of the upcoming traffic nightmare that Epic’s UGM conference will bring this week.

A Mouthguard That Could Measure Concussions

Former Arizona State University rugby player Anthony Gonzalez invents a mouth guard that measures impact force and combines that data with the users age, gender, and medical history to predict the likelihood of a concussion.

Morning Headlines 8/28/15

ICD-10 Medicare FFS End-to-End Testing: July 20 through 24, 2015

CMS publishes the latest results from ICD-10 end-to-end testing: 87 percent of submitted claims were accepted, while the remaining rejected claims were attributed to submission errors. There were zero rejected claims associated with CMS systems issues.

Insurers Win Big Health-Rate Increases

Despite assurances from the White House that insurance premiums would remain stable, several states have approved 2016 premium hikes running as high as 36 percent to cover the cost of insuring a higher mix of sick ACA patients than initially anticipated.

A Blood Test and App May Help Identify Patients at Risk of Suicide

Researchers at the University of Indiana School of Medicine and the Indianapolis VA Medical Center have created an app-based mental health survey that, when combined with recent blood test results, can predict a patient’s likeliness to experience suicidal ideation within the next year with a 92 percent accuracy rate.

Administrative Investigation Improper Use of Web-based Collaboration Technology Office of Information and Technology

The VA OIG finds that VA employees, including its former CIO, had been inappropriately using Yammer, an online messaging and file-sharing system without formal VA approval or monitoring.

Morning Headlines 8/27/15

CVS Health to Partner with Direct-to-Consumer Telehealth Providers to Increase Access to Physician Care

CVS announces that it will partner with three national telehealth vendors, American Well, Teladoc, and Doctor on Demand to offer remote visits to patients and to connect its MinuteClinic providers with specialists available for real-time consults.

Fusing Randomized Trials With Big Data: The Key to Self-learning Health Care Systems?

A JAMA article proposes that randomized control trials be fully embedded in EHRs, including functionality to support identifying trial participants, facilitating enrollment, and randomly assigning a treatment.

Recommendations for a National Medical Device Evaluation System

An FDA workgroup tasked with evaluating the agencies approach to post-market surveillance of medical devices publishes a final report recommending that a national, integrated network of registries be established, wherein each registry would be tasked with gathering post-market data about a certain device.

Medicare ACOs Provide Improved Care While Slowing Cost Growth in 2014

CMS publishes ACO performance data for 2014: total Shared Savings Program savings remained flat at $804 million, while Pioneer ACO savings climbed 24 percent to $120 million.

Morning Headlines 8/26/15

Medical Appointment Scheduling System (MASS)

The VA awards Lockheed Martin-owned contractor Systems Made Simple and its software supplier Epic a seven-year contract worth as much as $624 million if all contract options are exercised.

Banner aims to cut costs from UAHN as earnings lag

Banner Health will convert its newly acquired University of Arizona Health Network from its existing Epic systems to Banner’s Cerner platform. UAHN implemented Epic in 2013 at a cost of $115 million.

Pacific Northwest Health Care Organizations Join CommonWell Health Alliance

Five Cerner customers in the Pacific Northwest will begin exchanging health records with local AthenaHealth and Greenway practices through the CommonWell Health Alliance.

Practice Fusion Surpasses 600th Partnership Deal Becoming the Most Integrated Cloud-Based EHR Platform

Practice Fusion announces that it will integrate lab results from Theranos and imaging results from RadNet into its freeware EHR.

Morning Headlines 8/25/15

Inovalon to Acquire Avalere to Drive Strategic Expansion Into Pharma/Life Sciences

Inovalon, a healthcare-focused data analytics vendor, will acquire Avalere Health, a data-focused consulting firm, for $140 million in cash and restricted stocks.

VA’s Backlog of Disability Claims Falls to 8-Year Low

The VA announced this week that its disability claims backlog has dropped 84 percent to 98,000, its lowest point since record-keeping began in 2007.

100 Most Influential People in Healthcare – 2015

Modern Healthcare unveils 2015’s Most Influential People in Healthcare list, which includes: Epic’s Judy Faulkner (#31),  ONC’s Karen DeSalvo, MD (#35), McKesson’s John Hammergren (#73), and Cerner’s Neal Patterson (#99).

July 2015 EHR Incentive Program

CMS publishes the July 2015 Meaningful Use update: 306,000 EPs and 4,400 EHs have attested to MU Stage 1, while 56,000 EPs and 1,500 EHs have attested for Stage 2. $31.3 billion has been paid out to date.

Morning Headlines 8/24/15

Mercy Health expands strategic partnership with Premier to advance population health management

23-hospital health system Mercy Health (OH) announces that it will implement Premier’s integrated pharmacy and care management program in an effort to further improve its population health management initiative.

Docinfo Tool Provides Consumers Physician Licensure, Disciplinary Data

The Federation of State Medical Boards launches an online search tool that presents consumers with licensure and disciplinary information on providers.

FY16 Strategic Planning

John Halamka, MD and CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center posts a blog outlining the strategic objectives facing health IT in 2016. On BYOD and the use of apps in care delivery, he says “The difference between the $2 app and the $2 billion dollar EHR is that the $2 app is easier to use, more convenient and possibly even more useful.”

Google to launch life sciences company

Google co-founder Sergy Brin announces that the life sciences team within Google’s X Lab will spin off to form its own stand-alone business unit within Google’s newly created parent company, Alphabet. The new company will be led by renowned biologist and now CEO Andrew Conrad, PhD.

Morning Headlines 8/21/15

Inside Illumina’s Plans to Lure Consumers with an App Store for Genomes

Illumina, the worlds largest gene sequencing company, forms Helix, a company that will offer free genome sequencing to consumers, and then will monetize that data by selling portions of the genetic information back  to patients incrementally over time as they need it.

ZocDoc Valued at $1.8 Billion in New Funding Round

ZocDoc raises a $130 million funding round on a $1.8 billion valuation, making it one of the most highly valued venture-backed companies in New York.

Electronic medical records systems work, but not together

The Kansas City Star discusses the nations interoperability problems, asking “Why, then, does a windowless office in Truman Medical Center need to scan 2.9 million pages of paper medical records that started out as electronic ones?”

Morning Headlines 8/20/15

National patient identifier struggles for life

CIO.com covers the renewed public interest in establishing a national patient identifier, detailing several non-government efforts to establish an NPI infrastructure, including CHIME’s partnership with HeroX to back its National Patient ID Challenge with a $1 million prize.

$342B wasted each year due to government healthcare benefits data integration challenges

MeriTalk publishes a study estimating that $342 billion is lost each year due to poor integration between the benefits eligibility systems used by different HHS agencies.

Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge 2015

The CDC and HHS launch a competition among providers focused on improving hypertension control by recognizing organizations that demonstrate exceptional hypertension control rates achieved through the use of health IT, integrated team-based care delivery, and effective community outreach programs.

Morning Headlines 8/19/15

4th official leaves amid hospital system’s improper billing probe

NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation CTO Paul Contino becomes the fourth high-ranking IT official to leave since HHC started its now over budget and behind schedule Epic rollout.

U.S. Army Awards Leidos Medical Research Contract

Leidos wins a $900 million contract to support R&D efforts within the US Army’s Medical Research and Material Command.

American software developer to supply patient data system

In Finland, Epic has been selected as the replacement EHR vendor for the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, in a $424 million contract that is budgeted to grow to $635 million in total project costs over 10-years.

How to Know Whether to Believe a Health Study

The New York Times dissects medical research studies, explaining in plain terms how to evaluate often confusing research methodologies and what characteristics to look for in a trustworthy study. The study also weighs the pros and cons of RCTs versus retrospective data analytics studies based on national datasets.  

Morning Headlines 8/18/15

Meaningful use of EHRs by doctors fell in 2014

The number of EPs who successfully attested in 2014 fell 13 percent compared to 2013 rates, with some specialties, like family medicine and internal medicine, seeing decreases as high as 40 percent. Steven Waldren, MD and director of the AAFP’s Alliance for eHealth Innovation, points to the cost of upgrading to a 2014 Edition EHR and Stage 2’s patient engagement requirements as the primary culprits for the drop off.

Why it’s time for the government to be part of the public conversation about health and health care

Susannah Fox outlines the philosophies she will rely on in her new role as HHS CTO.

How the NHS Is Locking Out Britain’s Digital-Health Startups

Bloomberg analyzes the negative impact England’s single-payer market is having on local digital health startups, citing the complex NHS procurement process as a key barrier to entry. UK-based entrepreneurs report that there are more opportunities to grow their companies if they move to the US.

Morning Headlines 8/17/15

Practice Fusion Taps Interim CEO Ahead of Expected IPO

Practice Fusion replaces its founder and CEO Ryan Howard ahead of an expected IPO announcement. New CEO by Tom Langan has only been with the company for a year, and was promoted from his position as chief commercial officer.

Boots, Tesco and Superdrug to get access to NHS medical records

In England, the NHS will begin sending patient summary records to retail pharmacies following a successful 140-pharmacy pilot project that ended this spring.

Top 10 Parkland upgrades: Wi-Fi, new chapel, no fast food

Parkland Hospital (TX) opens its newly constructed hospital, equipped with an interactive patient education system, palm-vein scanners used for patient identification, and a connected ICU that streams 18 points of data from the patient’s monitors to the EHR.

Meet the doctor bringing cheap, 3D printed medical devices to Gaza

Doctors working in the war-torn Gaza strip publish designs to create a 3D-printed stethoscope that costs 30 cents to produce and performs as well as modern commercial alternatives.

Morning Headlines 8/14/15

Premier, Inc. acquires healthcare analytics leader Healthcare Insights

Premier acquires Health Insights for $65 million, a data analytics vendor focused on budgeting, forecasting, and cost analytics.

Outcome-Oriented Metrics and Goals Needed to Gauge DOD’s and VA’s Progress in Achieving Interoperability

A GAO report finds that the DoD and VA are making progress toward interoperability, but cautions that work will not be finished until sometime after 2018.

Healthcare IT: Zombie start-ups and vulture capital

Accenture publishes a report predicting that half of all funded digital health startups will fail within their first two years of launching, contributing to a culture of vulture capitalism in which larger, more established businesses cherry pick technology and talent from failed startups.

Teladoc Announces Second Quarter 2015 Results

Teladoc announces Q2 results: revenue up 78 percent to $18.3 million, EPS –$7.20 vs. -$2.15.

Morning Headlines 8/13/15

Health IT Policy Committee Meeting Data Update

According to new data published at yesterday’s HITPC meeting, electronic information sharing is improving among US hospitals and practices. 76 percent of hospitals are exchanging information with outside provider organizations, up from 41 percent in 2008.

94M records stolen so far this year

Driven by massive data breaches at Anthem, UCLA Health, and others, hackers have stolen the personal medical information of 94 million patients thus far in 2015.

Mostashari’s Aledade to form new ACOs in 7 states

Farzad Mostashari, MD Former national coordinator for health IT and current startup CEO, is in the process of registering new ACOs across seven states.

Google’s Life Sciences division to build a miniature glucose tracker

Google X Labs partners with DexCom to co-develop a miniaturized, disposable continuous glucose monitor. DexCom will pay Google $100 million plus royalties for the rights to exclusively distribute the new CGM.

Morning Headlines 8/12/15

Newport Health Solutions, North Shore-LIJ Sign Letter of Intent to Pursue Joint Venture to Further Develop “Health Connect” Network Technology in NY

North Shore-LIJ Health System (NY) and population health vendor Newport Health Solutions have signed a joint venture agreement to deploy and further develop Newport’s platform across the North Shore-LIJ system, and then collaboratively market the platform commercially.

Health minister says he read riot act to IT leaders over megaproject problems; IBM out, Cerner in

In Canada, British Columbia’s health minister Terry Lake reports that IBM has been fired from the province’s 10-year, $640 million integrated EHR project, and that Cerner has been named as the replacement vendor.

Castlight Health Announces Second Quarter 2015 Results

Castlight Health reports Q2 results: revenue increased 76 percent to $18.5 million but the company still closed out the quarter with an adjusted net loss of $17.6 million and adjusted EPS –$0.19 vs. –$0.21.

UNC Health Care on pace to double budgeted operating income

UNC Health Care reports that it is closing out its fiscal year with $120 million in operating income, 142 percent higher than the $50 million it had forecasted. The health system gives partial credit for the financial turnaround to its now complete Epic implementation, which it says has had a positive impact on its overall financial performance.

Morning Headlines 8/11/15

Booz Allen Hamilton tapped as lead HealthCare.gov contractor, but CMS can’t quit Optum yet

Booz Allen Hamilton will replace Optum as the next lead contractor to maintain Healthcare.gov, winning a five-year contract worth $202 million. Optum will continue on in its role as quality tester while protests from losing bidders for that segment of work are resolved.

How Identity Theft Sticks You With Hospital Bills

The Wall Street Journal correlates increased health data breaches and instances of medical identity theft with the rapid adoption of EHRs across the country in a story that presents both empirical and anecdotal evidence of the cost that poor IT security compliance has on the people who are victims of medical identity theft.

Health IT Policy Committee and Health IT Standards Committee; Call for Applications

ONC is soliciting applications to fill a variety of volunteer positions on its HITPC and HITSC panels. Selected applicants will serve on the panels for three years.

President Obama Hosts the First-Ever White House Demo Day

The Obama Administration hosts the first-ever White House Demo Day, highlighting entrepreneurs working in a variety of industries, including a number of healthcare startups.

Morning Headlines 8/10/15

Statement on FCC Decision to Allow Unlicensed Devices in Dedicated Health Care Spectrum

AHA sends a letter to the FCC criticizing a recent decision to open up new frequency bands for use by unlicensed devices because those frequencies had previously been reserved for use by patient monitoring devices.

Usefulness of Pharmacy Claims for Medication Reconciliation in Primary Care

A comparison between pharmacy claims data and EHR medication lists finds discrepancies between the two data sources 77 percent of the time. Researchers conclude that embedding pharmacy claims data into medication reconciliation workflows within EHRs could help increase medication list accuracy.

MedicineBall is the new Moneyball. WikiLeaks meets the #data scalpel

Healthloop founder Jordan Shlain, MD comments on the recent ProPublica surgeon scorecard publication, saying “the outcomes data feedback loop is in effect; forcing the house of medicine to take a data perspective on its future.”

Texas Health Resources Names New Chief Information Officer

Texas Health Resources names Joey Sudomir as its new CIO. Sudomir has held the position as acting CIO since April, when his predecessor Ed Marx, CHIME’s 2013 CIO of the Year, departed  to join the Advisory Board Company.

Morning Headlines 8/7/15

Watson to Gain Ability to “See” with Planned $1B Acquisition of Merge Healthcare

IBM announces plans to acquire Merge Healthcare for $1 billion, with the goal of integrating Merge’s imaging services with IBM’s Watson initiative so that Watson customers could review diagnostic images with analytical assistance.

Karen DeSalvo nomination moves to the Senate floor

The Senate HELP Committee unanimously approves Karen DeSalvo, MD’s nomination for assistant secretary of HHS, a position she has filled in an interim capacity since last fall. Her nomination will now move to the Senate floor for consideration.

US hospitals urge DOJ antitrust probe of Anthem-Cigna deal

In a letter to the Department of Justice, AHA lobbies for a review of the proposed Anthem-Cigna merger, citing concerns that the shrinking payer market will inevitably reduce competition and drive up insurance costs.

Computer algorithm could aid in early detection of life-threatening sepsis

Researchers from Johns Hopkins have developed a new algorithm that detects early sepsis with an 85 percent accuracy, and without increasing false positives over current methods.