Morning Headlines 3/18/24

Veradigm Announces Initial Financial Guidance for Fiscal 2024

Veradigm reports that, despite having its shares delisted, its fundamentals are healthy and that it anticipates a small growth in GAAP revenue and a small decrease in earnings.

Lurie Children’s Hospital reactivating patient portal after network outage

Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago begins bringing its MyChart patient portal back online after a ransomware attack took it and other systems offline six weeks ago.

AHA Urges More Congressional Action to Help Providers Affected By Change Healthcare Cyberattack

The American Hospital Association tells the Senate Finance Committee that it cannot support budget proposals that call for the federal government to impose financial penalties on hospitals that have been the victim of cyberattacks.

Morning Headlines 3/15/24

UnitedHealth unit Change Healthcare’s pharmacy network back online

UnitedHealth Group reports that Change Healthcare’s pharmacy network is up and running, with nearly all pre-incident claim volume flowing.

From Wait Times to Real-Time: Assort Health Secures $3.5 Million to Scale First Generative AI for Healthcare Call Centers

Assort Health, which has developed healthcare call center software powered by AI, announces $3.5 million in funding.

Zephyr AI Raises $111 Million in Series A Financing

Precision medicine software vendor Zephyr AI secures $111 million in a Series A funding round, bringing its total raised to $129.5 million.

Morning Headlines 3/14/24

Anatomy IT Expands Healthcare Specialties Expertise with Acquisition of Managed IT Services Leader

Anatomy IT acquires Manta HealthTech, which offers managed IT services to medical, dental, optometry, and veterinary care providers.

HHS Office for Civil Rights Issues Letter and Opens Investigation of Change Healthcare Cyberattack

The HHS Office of Civil rights launches an investigation into the Change Healthcare attack to determine if patient data was breached and what, if any, HIPAA violations have been committed by Change and parent company UnitedHealth Group.

Lurie Children’s Hospital investigating claims that stolen data was sold online

Lurie Children’s Hospital (IL) investigates claims made by the Rhysida ransomware group that it sold data stolen from the hospital.

Biden budget cuts funding for health record refresh amid ongoing program ‘reset’

Proposed fiscal year 2025 budgeting for the VA does not include any new funding for the continued roll out of the department’s stalled EHR modernization program.

Morning Headlines 3/12/24

Linus Health Acquires Aural Analytics

Cognitive assessment software vendor Linus Health acquires Aural Analytics, which offers clinical-grade speech analytics.

Access, a Leader in Information Management Services, to Significantly Accelerate Its Digital Solutions Strategy with Acquisition of Triyam, an Innovative Data and Software Business

Information management services company Access acquires healthcare data conversion, migration, and archiving vendor Triyam.

Divurgent Announces Formal Expansion into the Canadian Healthcare Market

Virginia Beach-based healthcare technology consulting firm Divurgent announces its expansion into Canada.

R1 RCM Forms Special Committee to Evaluate Strategic Alternatives

R1 forms an advisory committee to consider the acquisition offer made by majority shareholder New Mountain Capital, a deal that would value the technology and services company at $5.8 billion.

Morning Headlines 3/11/24

UnitedHealth Group Update on Change Healthcare Cyberattack

UnitedHealth Group hopes to restore Change Healthcare’s electronic payments systems by March 15 and its medical claims platform the week of March 18.

MPath Health Raises $1.1 Million to Improve Cancer Screening and Save Lives

MPath, an automated cancer screening technology startup that got its start at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, announces $1.1 million in new funding.

Emory Healthcare transforms clinician access to health records with Epic and MacBook Air

Emory Healthcare goes live on Epic on MacBook Air via Epic’s just-announced native Hyperspace app that is available in the Mac App Store.

VA, DoD launch new EHR at joint site — a major milestone for each agency’s rollout

DoD goes live on Oracle Health in the Lovell FHCC that it operates in conjunction with the VA.

Morning Headlines 3/8/24

First round bids collected for Netsmart, sources say

The private equity owners of Netsmart are reportedly reviewing first-round bids for the company that could value it at $5 billion.

Patients struggle to get lifesaving medication after cyberattack on a major health care company

The Change Healthcare hack is preventing pharmacists from processing manufacturer co-pay assistance cards and prescription discount cards.

PreemptiveAI Emerges From Stealth With a Groundbreaking Biomedical Foundation Model For Health Prediction

Seattle-based health prediction and monitoring startup PreemptiveAI launches with $6.4 million in funding.

Morning Headlines 3/7/24

Healthy Together Acquires Kinsa Health To Build AI Illness Forecasting & Expand Into New Markets

Health and human services software vendor Healthy Together acquires Kinsa Health, which offers AI-powered epidemiological prediction models using consumer smart thermometers as well as healthcare demand forecasting.

BrainCheck Secures $15 Million to Fuel Expansion and Adoption of its Next Generation Digital Cognitive Assessment and Care Planning Platform

Cognitive health technology company BrainCheck announces $15 million in new funding.

Carenet Health Acquiring Health Dialog, Enhancing Clinical Team and Advancing Insights-driven Platform Dedicated to the Business of Healthcare

Healthcare consumer engagement company Carenet Health acquires the majority of population health management business Health Dialog from Rite Aid, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last October.

Limbic nets $14M for AI mental health triage

Limbic AI, which offers mental health triage and support tools, raises $14 million in a Series A funding round.

Morning Headlines 3/6/24

‘Exit scam’ – hackers that hit UnitedHealth pull disappearing act

The BlackCat ransomware group appears to have shut down its infrastructure, leading some cybersecurity experts to predict that the hackers will begin operating under a new name.

HHS Statement Regarding the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare

HHS says that it has made clear that Change Healthcare owner UnitedHealth Group needs to do everything it can to ensure provider continuity of operations, and that it “is taking direct action” to support providers who are experiencing cash flow problems as a result of the downtime.

Whistleblower Accuses Aledade, Largest US Independent Primary Care Network, of Medicare Fraud

A whistleblower lawsuit accuses primary care practice network Aledade of rigging its coding software to overbill Medicare by inflating diagnoses to earn higher payments.

VA budget bill maintains EHR funding but imposes additional ‘reset’ oversight

Lawmakers propose a fiscal year 2024 budget package that includes $1.3 billion for the VA’s continued rollout of its Oracle Health EHR, with a contingency that 25% of that funding be tied to transparency with Congress about efforts to address ongoing performance issues.

Morning Headlines 3/5/24

Hackers Behind the Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack Just Received a $22 Million Payment

Cybersecurity analysts surmise from underground forum chatter and evidence of a Bitcoin deposit that Change Healthcare may have paid a $22 million ransom to the BlackCat ransomware group on March 1.

Direct Recruiters, Inc. and INNOVA People Merge to Launch Healthcare and Tech Staffing Divisions

Starfish Partners companies Direct Recruiters and Innova People will merge their healthcare and technology staffing divisions to create Innova Healthcare and Innova Tech staffing practices.

Cybersecurity Matter

Lurie Children’s Hospital (IL) announces that it has restored its Epic EHR and other key systems after a January 31 ransomware attack forced them offline.

Kaiser to Lay Off Dozens of Bay Area Employees

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals will lay off several dozen IT workers in California’s Bay Area.

Morning Headlines 3/4/24

Change Healthcare cyberattack outage could persist for weeks, UnitedHealth Group executive suggests

Change Healthcare executives hint that the company’s ransomware-crippled data exchange systems could remain down for weeks, as the financial and operational impact on provides ripples throughout the industry.

WebMD Health Corp. Acquires Healthwise, Incorporated’s Operating Assets, Building on Leadership in Member and Patient Engagement Solutions

WebMD acquires the assets of Healthwise, the non-profit provider of patient educational resources.

State is taking an ‘important step’ for planned EHR, as key lawmaker moves to speed it up

The State Department’s Bureau of Medical Services is, after a 10-year delay, finally working towards digitizing its paper-based medical record-keeping system.

Larry Ellison’s Cancer Software Startup Project Ronin Is Closing

Project Ronin – which offered oncologists and their patients a platform to plan, personalize, and manage their care journey – shuts down after running out of money due to sales challenges.

Morning Headlines 3/1/24

AHA Letter to HHS on Implications of Change Healthcare Cyberattack

The American Hospital Association asks HHS for help with the Change Healthcare attack, requesting better communication and transparency from Change, help with payments that will be delayed, pausing of citations related to wait times, enforcement discretion for the lack of ability to create good faith estimates, and added flexibility in e-prescribing regulations.

Trinity Capital Inc. Provides $25 Million Growth Capital to Moxe Health

Healthcare interoperability vendor Moxe Health receives $25 million in growth capital.

Salvo Health raises $5M to expand GI Provider Enablement for Wraparound Care

Virtual gastrointestinal clinic Salvo Health raises $5 million, bringing its total raised to $15.5 million.

The Sequoia Project and HL7 Enter Strategic Collaboration to Advance FHIR Implementations Nationwide

The Sequoia Project and HL7 will collaborate to accelerate the adoption of FHIR standards in the US.

Morning Headlines 2/29/24

Redi Health nabs $14M for patient medication support

Medication adherence and patient engagement app startup Redi Health raises $14 million in a Series B funding round.

Ransomware gang claims they stole 6TB of Change Healthcare data

The BlackCat ransomware group says it has stolen 6 terabytes of data from Change Healthcare’s network, including product source code.

CHI RPM Transforms as VitalCare Sync, Revolutionizing Remote Patient Monitoring with Decades of Clinical Expertise

Pennsylvania-based Cognitive Healthcare International RPM rebrands to VitalCare Sync.

Morning Headlines 2/28/24

Veradigm to Acquire ScienceIO

Veradigm will acquire healthcare AI company ScienceIO for $140 million.

Military health records system Genesis out of action ‘intermittently,’ agency says

Several Defense Health Agency hospitals in Japan and Alaska have reported intermittent MHS Genesis outages lasting for several hours on Tuesday.

Outages from cyberattack at UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare extend to seventh day as pharmacies deploy workarounds

Change Healthcare parent company UnitedHealth Group says 90% of the nation’s pharmacies have set up electronic workarounds to handle prescription processing while they wait for Change’s systems to come back online.

Ransomware gang seeks $3.4 million after attacking children’s hospital

The Rhysida ransomware group attempts to sell data stolen from Lurie Children’s Hospital (IL) on the dark web for a total of $3.4 million.

Morning Headlines 2/27/24

B.well Connected Health Secures $40M to Power The Connected Health Ecosystem

B.well Connected Health raises $40 million in a Series C funding round, more than doubling the consumer-focused health data aggregator’s total raised since launching in 2015.

Reveleer Secures $65 Million in Financing to Drive Strategic Expansion and Enhance Product Offerings

Payer and provider data and analytics company Reveleer announces $65 million in new funding.

R1 RCM majority shareholders consider taking company private

R1 RCM shares jump on the news that majority shareholder New Mountain Capital has offered to acquire it in a deal valued at $5.8 billion.

Change Healthcare / Optum Network Connectivity and Additional Recommendations

The Health-Information Sharing and Analysis Center publishes a Threat Bulletin on the Change Healthcare cyberattack that includes details on its possible connection to recent ConnectWise ScreenConnect vulnerabilities and suggested mitigation steps.

Morning Headlines 2/26/24

Abridge scores $150M Series C as race to save doctor’s appointment heats up

AI clinical documentation company Abridge raises $150 million in a Series C funding round.

UnitedHealth subsidiary Change Healthcare down for a fourth day following cyberattack

Change Healthcare continues efforts to recover from a cyberattack that parent company UnitedHealth Group suspects is the brainchild of a “nation-state,” according to its Thursday filing with the SEC.

Tuned Secures $3.2M Seed Extension to Scale Hearing Health Benefits for Modern Workforce

Employer-focused digital hearing health company Tuned raises $3.2 million in an investment round led by Unum Group.

Morning Headlines 2/23/24

Dario and Twill Join Forces to Shape the Future of Digital Health

DarioHealth, which offers digital solutions for the management of chronic conditions, will acquire mental health and wellness app company Twill.

CPSI To Rebrand as TruBridge Inc.

CPSI will rebrand to TruBridge, the RCM, business management, consulting, and managed IT services subsidiary it created in 2017.

HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Settles Second Ever Ransomware Cyber-Attack

Greenridge Behavioral Health will pay $40,000 and implement a corrective action plan to settle HIPAA-related charges stemming from a 2019 ransomware attack on the practice that exposed the PHI of 14,000 patients.

Morning Headlines 2/22/24

Fabric announces $60M Series A led by General Catalyst

AI-powered healthcare enablement software vendor Fabric raises $60 million in a Series A funding round.

US health tech giant Change Healthcare hit by cyberattack

Change Healthcare works to recover from an unspecified cybersecurity issue that has compromised the ability of some pharmacies to fill prescriptions.

Elektra Health seeded $3M for virtual menopause care

Virtual menopause care company Elektra Health announces $3.3 million in extended seed funding, with UPMC Enterprises leading the round.

HealthSnap Closes $25 Million Series B Funding Amidst Continued Triple Digit Growth of Remote Patient Monitoring and Chronic Care Management Platform

HealthSnap, a remote patient monitoring and chronic care management company based in Miami, raises $25 million in a funding round led by Sands Capital.