Morning Headlines 10/18/23

Aspirus and St. Luke’s Move Closer to Affiliation

Aspirus Health (WI) will acquire St. Luke’s (MN), pending the signing of a definitive agreement that calls for Aspirus to implement Epic and its other standard systems at St. Luke’s within 24 months of closing.

Reimagine Care Announces Investment from Memorial Hermann to Help Transform the Cancer Care and Recovery Experience

Reimagine Care, a provider of virtual and at-home cancer care, secures funding from Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System.

Sharecare confirms receipt of unsolicited proposal from Claritas Capital

Atlanta-based digital health and wellness company Sharecare considers an acquisition proposal from private equity firm Claritas Capital.

Morning Headlines 10/17/23

Streamline Health Executes Strategic Restructuring, Provides Corporate Update

RCM vendor Streamline Health Solutions announces layoffs, the loss of a legacy customer, and management changes including a new CEO.

Rite Aid Takes Steps to Accelerate Transformation and Position Company for Long-Term Success

Rite Aid files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and names a new CEO as part of its corporate restructuring strategy.

Healthcare payments startup Waystar makes IPO filing public

Waystar goes public with its IPO filing, announcing plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq alongside a bump in quarterly sales.

Morning Headlines 10/16/23

Sphere Announces Agreement to Divest Commercial Division

Sphere will sell its Commercial Division to commerce enablement company NMI, allowing it to sharpen its focus on core business such as its TrustCommerce healthcare gateway, Health IPass patient engagement solutions. and Qgiv digital fundraising platform for non-profits.

VA’s new artificial intelligence centers will focus on iteration in AI testing process, agency official says

The VA will establish four new AI centers to test and apply new AI solutions at partner VA medical centers.

Walgreens plans to close some 60 VillageMd clinics

Walgreens will close 60 of its drugstore-attached VillageMD clinics as it pursues $1 billion in cost reductions following a Q4 loss that is the first in its 122-year history.

Morning Headlines 10/13/23

Access Healthcare Acquires Envera Health

RCM vendor Access Healthcare acquires Envera Health, which offers patient engagement solutions.

Twenty-Three Hospitals in North Dakota Form New Network to Strengthen Rural Healthcare

Nearly two dozen independent hospitals in North Dakota form the Rough Rider High-Value Network to achieve economies of scale; better coordinate care; and improve efficiencies through collaborative IT, health information exchange, and telemedicine.

WellSky Acquires Corridor, Expands Commitment to Offering Best-in-Class Coding, Revenue Cycle Management Services for Post-Acute Industry

WellSky acquires Corridor, which offers coding and RCM services to post-acute care organizations.

Prevounce Health Extends Series A to $7M to Grow Remote Care Management Solutions

Remote patient monitoring and chronic care management company Prevounce Health announces $7 million in Series A funding.

OptimizeRx Announces Agreement to Acquire Medicx Health for $95 million to Expand its Omnichannel Reach to Consumers

OptimizeRx acquires healthcare consumer-focused marketing and analytics software vendor Medicx Health for $95 million.

Morning Headlines 10/12/23

Evernorth Acquires Bright.md Technology Platform, Enhances MDLIVE’s Virtual Care Experience for Patients and Clinicians

Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services subsidiary acquires and will incorporate Bright.md’s asynchronous virtual care technology and clinical assets into its MDLive telehealth service.

FDA Establishes New Advisory Committee on Digital Health Technologies

The FDA will create a Digital Health Advisory Committee to help the agency better understand the benefits, risks, and clinical outcomes associated with digital health technologies.

Health tech company in bankruptcy cuts 20 jobs, names new CEO

UpHealth Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection several weeks ago, lays off 20 employees and names a new CEO as part of its cost-reduction efforts.

Morning Headlines 10/11/23

Commons Clinic Announces $19.5M Series A Financing to Unseat Specialty Care Incumbents With its New Model for Spinal Care, Orthopedics, and Pain Management

Los Angeles-based Commons Clinic, which offers value-based specialty care for orthopedics, raises $19.5 million in a Series A round.

Leading Remote Health Care Company Optimize Health Completes $18 Million Series B Financing

Remote patient monitoring and chronic care management vendor Optimize Health raises $18 million in a Series B funding round.

Sutter Health Announces Cutting-Edge Innovation Center to Revolutionize Patient Care & Elevate the Healthcare Experience

Sutter Health (CA) will open an innovation center by the end of 2024 that will offer collaborative space for technology partners to incubate new products and services.

Morning Headlines 10/10/23

Main Street Health Announces $315M Financing Round to Expand Into 26 States

Main Street Health, a practice management company focused on helping rural primary care providers transition to value-based care, announces $315 million in funding and expansion into eight additional states.

Venture capital firm General Catalyst wants to buy a health system

General Catalyst launches Health Assurance Transformation Corp. to acquire health systems that will serve as testing grounds for new care delivery and workflow optimization technologies.

UC Davis Health, NODE.health, and Leading Health Systems launch VALID AI

University of California health systems and partners including hospitals, payers, nonprofits, and vendors launch the VALID AI collaborative to promote best practices for generative AI in healthcare.

Morning Headlines 10/9/23

VA to share health info with private-sector medical systems

The VA and 13 health systems pledge to share data to improve veteran healthcare.

LGI Healthcare Solutions Acquires Boston Software Systems.

Canada-based health IT company LGI Healthcare Solutions acquires healthcare automation vendor Boston Software Systems.

DEA extends pandemic telehealth rules for prescribing controlled substances

The DEA will continue to allow providers to prescribe select controlled substances via telemedicine through the end of next year.

New Generative AI-Native Health Company RhythmX AI Announces Precision Care Platform for Doctors to Deliver Hyper-Personalized Care to the Right Patient at the Right Time

Investment firm SAIGroup funds and launches RhythmX AI, which analyzes longitudinal data to make recommendations to doctors.

Morning Headlines 10/6/23

Alpha II, LLC Announces Strategic Acquisition of RCxRules

RCM technology vendor Alpha II acquires RCxRules, which provides revenue cycle automation.

US mental health startup Headway raises $125 million at $1 billion valuation

Headway, which connects patients to in-network therapists, raises $125 million a Series C round that values the company at $1 billion.

Nonprofit service provider Blackbaud settles data breach case for $49.5M with states

Blackbaud will pay $49.5 million to settle claims brought by 50 attorneys general pertaining to a 2020 ransomware attack affecting 13,000 nonprofits including hospitals, universities, and religious organizations.

Netsmart Advances Substance Use Disorder Solution Offerings Through Acquisition of Netalytics

Behavioral health IT vendor Netsmart will acquire Netalytics, an addiction treatment and practice management company based in South Carolina.

Morning Headlines 10/5/23

Athelas + Commure: Merging to Create a $6B Healthcare Infrastructure Company

Remote patient monitoring and RCM vendor Athelas acquires Commure, parent company of PatientKeeper, and announces an undisclosed amount of funding from General Catalyst.

ProHealth Care and Optum Launch Strategic Relationship to Enhance the Health Care Experience for ProHealth Patients

Optum will take over the RCM, IT, informatics, analytics, and inpatient care management operations of ProHealth Care in Wisconsin.

Cortica Closes $40 Million Series D Extension Led by CVS Health Ventures, LRVHealth, and Other Strategic Investors, Bringing Round Total to $115 Million

Tech-enabled autism and neurodivergent care company Cortica raises $115 million in an extended Series D funding round led by CVS Health Ventures.

Morning Headlines 10/4/23

UC San Diego Awarded $9.5 Million to Enhance Cybersecurity in Health Care

University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers will use a $9.5 million award from the HHS-affiliated Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to develop protocols and solutions that can prevent or reduce the severity of ransomware attacks.

Automated healthcare? Plenful emerges from stealth with $9M to streamline medical admin

Pharmacy-focused workflow automation startup Plenful launches with $9 million in funding.

AHIMA Acquires HCPro

The nonprofit American Health Information Management Association acquires for-profit HCPro, which offers educational and compliance-related RCM resources for healthcare professionals.

Morning Headlines 10/3/23

Health Data Analytics Institute (HDAI) Announces $31 Million Funding Round to Scale Predictive Risk Platform

Health Data Analytics Institute raises $31 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total raised to nearly $50 million.

‘Restructuring historical financial obligations’: Heywood Hospital files for bankruptcy

Heywood Healthcare (MA) files for Chapter 11, citing operational and business challenges that have included a “costly and lengthy” EHR implementation.

Providence Unveils Praia Health, Its Fourth Incubated Technology

Providence’s Digital Innovation Group announces GA of its Praia Health patient identity and engagement software.

Morning Headlines 10/2/23

AHA Responds to Senate RFI on Health Data Privacy

The American Hospital Association asks Congress to withdraw HHS OCR’s December 2022 rule that prohibits hospitals from tracking their website users using third-party technology.

Biogen shutters digital health group, nixes Apple study, as part of cost cuts

Biotech firm Biogen shuts down Biogen Digital Health and lays off 150 employees as the company cuts costs and restructures.

Syra Health Corp. Announces Pricing of Upsized Initial Public Offering

Digital health vendor Syra Health launches an IPO in an effort to raise $6.7 million.

Large Michigan healthcare provider confirms ransomware attack

McLaren Health Care confirms it was the victim of a ransomware attack, and is working to determine if any stolen data has been posted to the dark web.

Morning Headlines 9/29/23

Hospital execs to Lamont, lawmakers: Seal the Yale-Prospect deal

Two hospitals ask the state to expedite their acquisition, with a recent cyberattack leaving them unable to pay bills, but Yale New Haven Health is questioning whether it wants to buy hospitals that use such outdated technology.

Nuance Announces the General Availability of Dragon Ambient eXperience Copilot to Further Improve Healthcare Experiences, Outcomes, and Efficiency

Nuance renames DAX Express to DAX Copilot.

Federal Budgetary Effects of the Activities of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation

CBO says that CMMI, which tests new payment models and was projected to produce savings when it was formed in 2010, actually increased federal spending by $5.4 billion through 2020.

Morning Headlines 9/28/23

Virgin Pulse and HealthComp Announce Intent to Merge to Create Comprehensive Employer Health Platform

Member engagement and wellness app vendor Virgin Pulse will merge with HealthComp, which provides health benefits administration.

Nuance Announces the General Availability of Dragon Ambient eXperience Copilot to Further Improve Healthcare Experiences, Outcomes, and Efficiency

Microsoft-owned Nuance renames DAX Express — which creates clinical documentation using conversational, ambient, and generative AI — to DAX Copilot.

Tendo to Acquire MDsave, Creating Leading Platform for Patient Engagement and Shoppable Care

Patient engagement software vendor Tendo will acquire healthcare marketplace operator MDsave for $150 million.

Morning Headlines 9/27/23

Datavant Leads in Health Data Exchange: Surpasses Digital Connections to 70,000 Hospitals And Clinics, Acquires Healthjump

Datavant acquires Healthjump.

CommonSpirit Unaudited Financial Report

The140-hospital system says that last year’s ransomware attacked cost it $160 million and it still doesn’t know how much its insurer will pay.

Newcastle Hospitals says computer error lost patient letters

The hospital says a computer system caused 24,000 patient letters, some including clinical results and recommendations, to remain unsent.

Important information to know: Nuance Communication data breach

WVU Medicine announces that the information of some radiology patients was exposed in a breach of Nuance Communications.

Morning Headlines 9/26/23

Costco members now have access to $29 online healthcare visits

Costco partners with Sesame to offer members in all 50 states same-day virtual primary care visits for $29, a lab panel and virtual follow-up for $72, and online mental health visits for $79.

Collaborative Intelligence to catalyze the digital transformation of healthcare

Authors recommend using AI for collaborative intelligence in which humans work in concert with algorithms and are responsible for ensuring their accuracy, completeness, and freedom from bias, with technology evaluated as part of the work it assists rather than on its own.

ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak

Open AI announces that it is rolling out ChatGPT capabilities to conduct voice conversations and analyze photos.