Morning Headlines 3/4/14

TELUS Health Acquires British Columbia-Based Electronic Medical Record Provider Med Access Inc.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based TELUS Health acquires Med Access Inc., an ambulatory EHR vendor that services 2,000 physicians across Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Impact of Patient Portal Secure Messages and Electronic Visits on Adult Primary Care Office Visits

A new study published in Telemedicine and e-Health follows 2,357 patients for three years following a patient portal implementation and finds that rolling out secure messaging has no impact on total volume of office visits.

Saudi Arabia is Building a Massive Nationwide eHealth Network

Saudi Arabia publishes a 10-year eHealth strategy that calls for an integrated national-wide health information network that will connect 3,500 healthcare facilities, representing 70,000 beds.

Morning Headlines 3/3/14

VA and DOD Need to Support Cost and Schedule Claims, Develop Interoperability Plans, and Improve Collaboration

The General Accounting Office analyzes the VA/DoD decision to abandon its iEHR development program last February. The resulting report suggests that the departments cancelled the project without ever evaluating the impact it would have on the overall cost and timeline of their interoperability goals.

How the Medical Establishment Got the Treasury’s Keys

Uwe E. Reinhardt, an economics professor at Princeton, dissects the formation of Medicare and the subsequent battles for payment reform fought between the federal government and healthcare providers.

McKesson Announces Further Changes to Corporate Governance and Compensation Practices

McKesson CEO John Hammergren voluntarily reduces his pension’s total value from $159 million to $114 million following outrage from shareholders.

Greenway Extends Patient Engagement Service with Acquisition of PeopleLYNK

Greenway acquires PeopleLYNK, a patient engagement tool that automates the process of sending patient reminders, lab results, prescription notifications, and clinical alerts.

Morning Headlines 2/28/14

Intermountain to Miss 2014 Meaningful Use Attestation Deadline, Citing Safety Concerns

Intermountain Healthcare CIO Marc Probst says the organization is not planning to attest for meaningful use Stage 2 in 2014, forgoing a sizable incentive payment and triggering penalties in 2016 from CMS.

ICD-10 deadline won’t be delayed, Tavenner tells HIMSS

During a press conference at HIMSS CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced that there would be no deadline extensions for either ICD-10 or meaningful use Stage 2, but that it would be more flexible with hardship exemption applications from providers that are unable to meet Stage 2 MU on time.

NY startups make the case for funding HIE

New York’s 10 independent and disconnected regional health information exchanges are applying for $65 million in state funding to connect to the Statewide Health Information Network of New York, or SHIN-NY.

Oracle pulls 100 programmers from unfinished Cover Oregon health insurance exchange

Oracle, the main contractor responsible for the failed Oregon health insurance exchange, has reassigned 100 of the 165 programmers working on the project even though the site is still non-operational and plagued with bugs.

Morning Headlines 2/27/14

Top healthcare groups petition HHS for meaningful-use extensions

50 influential healthcare groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, send a letter to HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking that MU stage 2 be delayed due to a lack of EHR vendors meeting 2014 edition certification standards.

Framework for I.T. Regulation Slated to Reach Congress in March

Representatives of the FDA, ONC and FCC all promise that the now overdue report on a risk-based regulatory framework for health I.T will be published as a draft version by the end of March

Congress wants to kick the FDA out of digital health with this new bill

A new bill has been introduced in Congress that would remove the FDA’s regulatory authority over all but "high risk" digital health technologies.

Health law cybersecurity challenges

An AP report shows that more than two-thirds of state-run health insurance exchanges were rated as having "high risk" security vulnerabilities just after their launch.

Morning Headlines 2/26/14

Carequality Launches Significant Industry-Wide Effort Focused On Achieving Interoperability Between Existing and Emerging HIE Networks

HealtheWay, formerly known as the Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange, partners with Epic, Meditech, eClinicalWorks, Greenway, CVS, Walgreens, UnitedHealth Group, Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, and others to create a wide-reaching health information exchange.

Cleveland Clinic, Dell collaborate on EHR service

Dell and Cleveland Clinic announce a partnership to offer EHR consulting services for hospitals implementing Epic.

A New One-Stop Shop for eHealth

CMS launches eHealth University at HIMSS14, a website designed for providers that consolidates information on various health IT programs and requirements.

Morning Headlines 2/25/14

Introducing the Blue Button Connector

On opening day at HIMSS, ONC unveils the Blue Button Connector, an open-source website created to help patients view and download a centralized patient record that houses information from all contributing Blue Button partners.

CMS, ONC foretell aligned initiatives

ONC suggests that it may combine various incentive programs, as Karen DeSalvo explains "HHS is working to harmonize its various programs to create a more seamless and streamlined way to capture the info necessary for VBP and ACOs,” said national coordinator referring to value-based payments and accountable care.”

Practice Fusion Strikes Medical Device Deals to Offer Docs Real-Time Data

Practice Fusion announces a new partnership with AliveCor and Diasend that will allow it to integrate ECGs, insulin levels, and glucose levels into the ambulatory EHR in real-time. 

U.S. Veterans Health Administration Leverages New Nuance Cloud-Based Dragon Medical Solution to Optimize Physician Experience

The VA will implement Nuance’s cloud-based speech recognition system.

Morning Headlines 2/24/14

3M to Acquire Treo Solutions

3M announces that it will acquire Treo Solutions, a data analytics and business intelligence company that caters to healthcare payers and providers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Deloitte announces the launch of ConvergeHEALTH

Deloitte invests $150 million in a new business unit called ConvergeHEALTH that will focus on developing data analytics solutions and services for healthcare.

Next edition of electronic health record technology certification criteria issued

ONC publishes its proposed 2015 EHR certification standards. The new standards are voluntary, meaning that vendors are not required to support them and providers are not required to implement them in order to predicate in Meaningful Use.

HIMSS 14 Coverage: ONC’s Fridsma Says ‘Jury Still Out’ on Stage 2 Progress

Doug Fridsma, MD and chief science officer for ONC, states during his pre-HIMSS keynote speech on Sunday that, while the nation’s health systems are making good progress toward achieving the EHR adoption requirements outlined in stage 1 MU, "the jury is still out" on meeting stage 2 requirements.

Morning Headlines 2/21/14

Allscripts announces fourth quarter and 2013 results

Allscripts reports Q4 2013 results: bookings are up 53 percent year-over-year, but revenue remained flat. Adjusted EPS of $0.08 vs. $0.16, meeting analysts estimates.

Sixteen Health Information Organizations Join Forces As Founding Members Of The Mid-States Consortium Of Health Information Organizations

16 HIEs in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states announce that they will work together to advance interoperability in the region.

Mayo Clinic physicians spin out a digital health company & secure $1.1M

A group of physicians from the Mayo Clinic are launching a startup called Ambient Clinical Analytics that will offer mobile-based tools for physicians including surveillance alerts and an EMR viewer that uses analytics to filter the most pertinent information about the patient to the forefront.

Epic opportunity: The software giant is positioning Dane County for an economic breakthrough

A local paper covers the economic impact Epic is having on the Madison community, citing the $60k – $100k average salaries and quickly growing employee base. The Madison planning chief estimated that Epic could hit 10,000 employees by 2018.

Morning Headlines 2/20/14

About-face: CMS to conduct ICD-10 end-to-end testing

CMS reverses its original position on ICD-10 testing, announcing that it will conduct end-to-end testing with a group of chosen practices prior to the October 1 switchover.

QUEST: High-performing hospitals: 5-year collaborative findings

Premier Inc. claims that its 350 hospital members have collectively prevented 136,000 deaths and saved $11.6 billion over the last five years by setting aggressive quality improvement goals and benchmarking against top performers.

Mostashari to join Get Real Health board

Farzad Mostashari, MD accepts a position on the board of Get Real Health, a PHR developer from Rockville, MD.

Triple-S fined $6.8M for HIPAA issue

A San Juan, PR-based insurance company is hit with a $6.8 million in fines from federal, state, and local agencies all stemming from a HIPAA violation that was triggered when the hospital sent out 13,000 letters with Medicare numbers visible from the outside. It was the organization’s second large breach, it failed to notify affected patients within the 60-day window, and it submitted vague and incomplete responses during the investigation.

Morning Headlines 2/19/14

SANS-Norse Report Reveals that Cyberattacks Are Causing an Epidemic of Compromises at Healthcare Organization

A investigation of network security within the healthcare industry finds that 94 percent of healthcare organizations have been cyberattacked. Small practices are the most common target, but hospitals, payers, and pharmaceutical organizations have all been breached.

Analysis Of Duplicative CT Scans Shows Conservative Cost Savings Of $1.3 Million To Western New York Health System

In Western New York, the regional HIE is credited with saving $1.3 million during its first six months in operation, based on a measured reduction in CT scans.

Paying Doctors to Shun Hospitals

Bloomberg Business reports that of the 367 active ACOs in operation, more than half are practice-based and do not include a hospital. One ACO executive explained "Hospitals, they want to do your robotic surgeries, your heart catheterizations, your PET scans, your MRIs — all the expensive items. We actually felt that hospitals were part of the problem.”

Cerner Corporation (CERN) Hits New Lifetime High Today

Cerner stock hit a lifetime high of $61.43 today. Shares are up 6.3 percent year-to-date.

Morning Headlines 2/18/14

The Reliability of Teledermatology to Triage Inpatient Dermatology Consultations

A study published in JAMA finds that practice-based dermatologists can effectively provide dermatology consults for inpatients at local hospitals via a remote connection. The study found that remote dermatologists concurred with in person dermatologists 95 percent of the time when recommending a biopsy. The study also found that remote dermatologists were generally the more conservative of the two groups when differences in opinion surfaced.

Medical Device Reporting: Electronic Submission Requirements

The FDA posts a final rule to the Federal Register stating that all adverse events stemming from medical devices are to be reported in an electronic format moving forward rather than on paper.

Seven Leading Health Organizations Join Optum Labs Research Collaborative

Optum Labs, a big-data healthcare collaborative created by UnitedHealth Group and the Mayo Clinic, adds seven new partners to its program including: Tufts Medical Center, Boston University School of Public Health, and Pfizer Inc. The mission of the group is to uncover insights that result in improved outcomes and reduced costs.

HIMSS Analytics Honors 51 Clinics of Northeast Georgia Physicians Group with Stage 7 Ambulatory Awards

HIMSS recognizes 51 clinics within the Northeast Georgia Physicians Group with its Stage 7 Ambulatory Award. The clinics integrate with the Northeast Georgia Health System on a multi-vendor platform and perform data analytics that provides population health analytics, predictive alerting, and identifies care gaps to be addressed during each encounter.

Morning Headlines 2/17/14

How VA is driving telemedicine

In 2013, the VA used its increasingly popular telehealth platform to deliver care for 600,000 veterans, accounting for a total of 1.7 million episodes of care.

Researchers develop smartglasses that help surgeons see cancerous cells

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are testing smartglasses that help surgeons as they remove cancer tumors by highlighting the affected cells with a glowing blue pigment. Researchers hope the glasses will help surgeons remove all cancer cells during the first surgery, reducing the need for secondary procedures.

New hospital to open without state-of-the-art medical record system

In Vermont, state legislators are disappointed its new 25-bed state-run psychiatric hospital will open without a modern EHR in place after project planners were unable to come to a deal to enhance its incumbent EHR system. Planners also tried but were unable to reach an agreement with Fletcher Allen Health System which offered a hosted Epic system at an upfront cost of $3 million and $600,000 annual maintenance. The state will issue an RFP for a new system which is not expected to go live until at least a year after the hospital opens.

The Valley Hospital Moves Forward with MEDITECH’s 6.1 EHR

The Valley Hospital (NJ) decides to upgrade from Meditech Magic to 6.1 instead of choosing other finalist Epic, giving the company a win in a bed size (450) that usually goes to Epic or Cerner.

Morning Headlines 2/14/14

RECs surpassed their goals to increase EHR adoption

As the Regional Extension Center program turns four years old, ONC posts a HealthIT.gov blog suggesting that they have "far exceeded" their goal of supporting 100,000 physicians with their health IT adoption goals.

25 Highest Rated Companies Hiring Interns in 2014; Facebook Debuts at #1

Epic is the fifth-best company to intern for according to a Glassdoor survey of US companies.

House Members Urge HHS To Overhaul Medicare Audit System

A group of 111 lawmakers urges HHS director Kathleen Sebelius to fix the Medicare claims audit system, citing a backlog of 460,000 claims and other institutional issues.

Morning Headlines 2/13/14

The Cost of Implementing ICD‐10 for Physician Practices

A study published by the American Medical Association predicts that ICD-10 conversion costs will end up at least three times higher than originally predicted, with a typical medium size practice investing $200,000 – $800,000. The study includes the cost of purchasing or upgrading an EHR system.

Creators Still in Demand on Health Care Website

The federal government is negotiating with CGI, the now notorious Healthcare.gov contractor, for several months of continued technical support while its replacement, Accenture, gets up and running. Meanwhile, Accenture is aggressively recruiting the CGI employees who had worked on the Healthcare.gov project.

Congressional panel investigates stimulus funds after TX hospital boss indicted

Representative Michael Burgess (TX) has launched an inquiry into the audit process in place for the EHR Incentive Program after last weeks news that the former CIO of Shelby Regional Medical Center defrauded CMS of $800,000 by attesting to MU without actually implementing and using the necessary technologies.

Top HIE vendors of 2014 named

Black Book names the top HIE vendors of 2014, with Covisint, ICA, Cerner, Allscripts, and Infor all taking top spots in their respective segments.

Morning Headlines 2/12/14

Physician outcry on EHR functionality, cost will shake the health information technology sector

Medical Economics publishes a survey of 1,000 US physicians in which 45 percent of respondents say patient care is worse since implementing an EHR and 79 percent of respondents report that they do not believe that EHRs have been worth the resources, cost, and effort of adopting them.

Medical Information Technology, Inc: Investor Insert

Meditech reports that it will delay its Q3 SEC filing while it sorts out a revenue recognition issue that goes back more than a decade, but that its auditors just now caught. The company says that customers will not be affected and that, other than possibly hiring new auditors, its future plans remain the same.

Behind the ballooning medical e-records cost

A local news outlet covers Hawaii Health Systems Corporations struggling Siemens implementation. The behind-schedule project was originally budgeted to cost $50 million, but is now projected to cost $109 million.

Welcome to the NIST EHR-Randomizer application

CMS and ONC launch a new web-based tool called the EHR randomizer that will allow providers to demonstrate cross-vendor health information exchange capabilities required in MU2.

Morning Headlines 2/11/14

Why the EHR Market Is Poised for Disruption

An EHR market analysis from CIO.com concludes that both the inpatient and ambulatory EHR market’s are poised for disruption and consolidation.

Key number in today’s Castlight IPO filing

Castlight Health discloses its financial performance in an updated IPO filing, revealing multi-million dollar net losses during each of the past two years. The new financial data raises into question Castlight’s hope of a $2 billion public valuation.

EHR-based screening program for AAA cuts the number of at-risk men by more than half

A study conducted by researchers at Kaiser Permanente finds that by implementing EHR-based clinical alerts, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening rates can be significantly improved. The alerts prompted providers to order a screening anytime an unscreened 65-75 year-old male with a history of smoking was seen. The alerts led to a system-wide reduction of unscreened patients from 51.74 percent to 20.26 percent.

Stage 3 MU now in the making

The ONC’s MU workgroup will submit its draft recommendations for Stage 3 on February 14th.

Morning Headlines 2/10/14

athenahealth Management Discusses Q4 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

athenahealth holds its Q4 earnings call, during which CEO Jon Bush discusses plans to start marketing products to hospitals, and outlines future projects for integrating services with Epocrates.

Leading Pharmacies and Retailers Join Blue Button Initiative

The BlueButton+ network grows to include data from a number of major retail pharmacies including Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, and Kroger.

CMS extends 2013 EHR attestation deadline for EPs, certain hospitals

CMS extends Meaningful Use 2013 attestation for EPs by one month. The new deadline is March 31, 2014.