Morning Headlines 6/19/14

Launching Aledade

Former National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD, announces today that he is launching a new startup dedicated to helping primary care physicians form ACOs. The new venture is backed with a $4.5 million seed investment from Venrock.

What should Congress do to help medical innovation?

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a roundtable meeting next Tuesday to discuss the implications data-driven population health programs have on individual patient privacy rights.

Oregon takes steps toward lawsuit over defunct health exchange website

Oregon is reportedly preparing to file a lawsuit against Oracle Corp over its failed $134 million health insurance exchange.

FDA Proposes Rules for Listing Risks on Social Media

The FDA has issued long awaited regulatory guidelines for drug manufacturers and medical device makers that use social media for marketing purposes.

Morning Headlines 6/18/14

Nuance Communications Explores Possible Sale

Nuance executives are reportedly looking to sell the speech recognition company and are actively holding meetings with potential suitors, including Samsung. Activist investor Carl Icahn, who has amassed a 19 percent stake in the company and is now the single largest shareholder, is likely pushing for the sale through his two recently placed board representatives.

Digital woes hamper Alexian Brothers’ shift to new Medicaid program

Alexian Brothers cancels its plans to form an ACO, saying that connecting the various ambulatory EHRs within its market would be too difficult to manage.

Medtronic buys Covidien for $42.9 billion

Medical device maker Medtronic buys rival Covidien for $42.9 billion, a 29 percent premium over the company’s closing stock price Friday. The deal will allow Medtronic to move its headquarters to Ireland, where it will enjoy a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate, far lower than the 35 percent federal tax rate in the US.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally

A Commonwealth Fund study finds that the US has the most expensive health system in the world, but underperforms compared to other countries on most quality, access, efficiency, and equity measures.

Morning Headlines 6/17/14

VA Seeks Proposals for New Scheduling Technology

The VA will issue an RFP for commercial scheduling software to replace its existing VistA scheduling system which, in the fallout of the VA waitlist scandal, has been heavily criticized as being outdated and unfit for use.

Major medical records breaches pass 1,000 milestone as enforcement ramps up

The HHS “Wall of Shame”, which lists all organizations that have had major data breaches, passes the 1,000 breach mark this month. One in 10 US residents is estimated to have had their health data compromised as a result of major data breaches.

Google Wants To Collect Your Health Data With ‘Google Fit’

Google will return to the consumer health space with a new Android-based platform called Google Fit. Google Fit captures health data from activity trackers and medical devices and consolidates it into a centralized platform. The move comes despite Google’s past failures in the consumer health space. Google launched Google Health in 2008, a service with a remarkably similar business model, only to shutter it in 2011 due to an overwhelming lack of consumer interest. The unveil pf Google Fit will take place during next week’s Google I/O developer conference.

ACA triggers big drop in Minnesota’s uninsured rate

The uninsured rate has dropped 41 percent in Minnesota, to below five percent, since September’s ACA enrollment period began. Research lead Julie Sonier said, “We have never seen anything like the change that we have seen between last fall and May 1st of this year.”

Morning Headlines 6/16/14

Cumberland Consulting Group Acquires Cipe Consulting Group

Nashville,TN-based Cumberland Consulting Group acquires Cipe Consulting Group, a Seattle-based firm that specialized in EHR and Revenue Cycle projects.

Is Meaningful Use Becoming the Next ICD10?

Eric Boehme, associate director of informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, questions the future of the EHR Incentive Program after MU Stage 2 is delayed, ONC National Coordinator, Farzad Mostashari, CMS Administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, and the HSS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius all resign, and ONC’s stimulus funding begins to dry up.

Lack of input, training created problems with Athens Regional electronic records system

A local paper reports that two Cerner VP’s and the hospital’s own CMO are blaming the IT department at Athens Regional Health System for its failed $31 million implementation, saying that IT-led installs are atypical and that the clinicians that would ultimately be the primary end users should have made many of the decisions that were being made by IT leadership.

Beware Bad Data About Hospitals

Johns Hopkins’ patient safety expert Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD publishes an editorial on the unregulated and often confusing state of hospital quality data.

Morning Headlines 6/13/14

ONC’s Chief Privacy Officer Tenders Resignation

Joy Pitts, the ONC’s first Chief Privacy Officer, resigns after four years of service.

Healthcare authentication software provider Imprivata sets terms for $75 million IPO

Imprivata reports that it will raise $75 million in its upcoming IPO by offering 5 million shares at a price of $14 to $16 per share.

KeyBanc Downgrades Computer Programs and Systems (CPSI) to Underweight

Analysts downgrade CPSI stock due to increased small market competition. Healthland is seen as a stronger market presence, and Epic is encroaching on the territory through its Community Connect program.

NHS waiting list passes 3m for first time in six years

In England, the NHS appointment wait list has passed 3 million patients for the first time in six years, though it managed to meet its goal of providing 90 percent of patients with appointments within 18 weeks.

Morning Headlines 6/12/14

Q&A: Karen DeSalvo on Meaningful Use, ONC Reorg

National Coordinator for health IT Karen DeSalvo, MD, sits down with Scott Mace of HealthLeaders Media to discuss EHR usability, ONC’s restructure, and the future of Meaningful Use.

Group Of Electronic Health Record Vendors To Become Officially Interoperable

CommonWell, the EHR vendor interoperability alliance, will begin rolling out data sharing functionality to its customer base this summer.

AMDIS and CHIME Form Strategic Alliance to Further Adoption and Transformation of Health IT

CHIME and The Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems announce a strategic partnership in which AMDIS will serve as a physician informatics advisor for CHIME, while CHIME will serve as a health IT advisor for AMDIS.

Morning Headlines 6/11/14

IBM Joins Forces with Epic to Bid for Department of Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization Contract

IBM announces that it will partner with Epic in the pending DoD EHR vendor search, naming IBM CMIO Keith Salzman, MD, MPH and 22-year Army doc, as project lead.

Intermedix Corporation Acquires T-System’s Physician Billing Division

T-System sells its ED billing solution to Intermedix, stating in a press release that it would focus its efforts on ED clinical and coding workflow.

Taxpayers Face Big Medicare Tab for Unusual Doctor Billings

The Wall Street Journal analyzes CMS payment data and finds that 2,300 physician practices earned $500,000 or more by repeatedly billing for a single procedure. One doctor in California billed Medicare $2.3 million for a non-invasive cardiac procedure that he describes as “exercise while lying on your back.” Though he is not a cardiologist, his practice performed the procedure more times than all of the cardiologists at the Cleveland Clinic combined.

Alliance for Connected Care

The Alliance for Connected Care writes a letter to incoming HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell asking that she use her authority to relax telehealth reimbursement regulations.

Morning Headlines 6/10/14

Hospital Giant Uses Data to Vet Treatment Options

UPMC reports that it will expand its patient centered medical home program after the pilot program generated $15 million in savings over the course of a year.

FDA details high-level meeting with Apple: “Moral obligation to do more” with health, innovative sensors

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request, the FDA publishes details on its meetings with Apple earlier this year, which focused on health apps and the regulation of sensor-laden consumer devices.

Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

Wired covers the continued behind-the-scenes effort to rebuild Healthcare.gov, and the culture clash that develops when CMS bureaucrats are partnered with Silicon Valley temp workers to tackle a job with enormous political undertones.

Morning Headlines 6/9/14

Cleveland Clinic Chief Out of Running for V.A.

Dr Delos Cosgrove, CEO of Cleveland Clinic, has withdrawn his name from consideration as the next secretary of the VA.

Moody’s downgrades Lifespan Rhode Island Obligated Group (RI) to Baa2; outlook negative

Moody’s has downgraded Lifespan’s (RI) bond rating based on a "multi-year trend of declining operating performance," but notes that the rating could go up once it finishes its Epic implementation.

Global IT company launches Manchester base

Allscripts is opening a new office in Manchester, England where it will house 100 employees working to help build its UK presence.

Tech expert Stack chosen as next AMA president-elect

Modern Healthcare notes that Dr. Robert Wah, the incoming president of the AMA, is a health IT expert, as is his 2015 replacement Dr. Steven Stack.

Morning Headlines 6/6/14

Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A 10-Year Vision to Achieve an Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure

ONC publishes a 10-year plan for delivering on nationwide health IT interoperability. The plans objectives are divided into three year, six year, and 10 year milestones and culminates with the realization of “a learning health system.”

Senate confirms Sylvia Mathews Burwell as new secretary of HHS

Sylvia Mathews is officially confirmed as the next secretary of HHS, replacing the departing Kathleen Sebelius.

Telehealth scheme set to be rolled out to 300,000 households

The NHS will distribute 300,000 iPads and iPhones to seniors with chronic diseases to support a new telehealth initiative that’s earlier pilot project resulted in a 70 percent reduction in hospital admissions.

eCQM Library: Annual Updates

CMS publishes its annual update to the electronic clinical quality measures for eligible provider. Reporting on the measures is required for providers participating in Meaningful Use and the Physician Quality Reporting System, though providers are free to report on any eCQM version.

Morning Headlines 6/5/14

GOP questions health software regulator’s authority

Fred Upton (MI), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Joe Pitts (PA) and Greg Walden (OR) send a letter to Karen DeSalvo, MD, questioning the ONC’s authority to levy certification fees on EHR vendors, as its 2014 budgetary documents suggest it will.

Grand Jury: Ventura County, Calif., Mishandled Electronic Health Records Transition

A California Grand Jury report finds hospital leadership at fault in Ventura County Health Care Agency’s troubled Cerner rollout, claiming the organization failed to hire a project manager or create an implementation project plan.

Proteus Digital Health raises $120M, names HP veteran as CFO

Proteus Digital Health, a startup building ingestible sensors that track medication adherence, raises a $120 million investment and names former HP CFO Steve Fieler as its CFO.

Economic Outlook, Spring 2014: Healthcare trends from the C-suite

A new Premier survey finds that only 59 percent of health executives are satisfied with their organization’s EHR system.

Morning Headlines 6/4/14

Cleveland Clinic CEO being considered for VA post

The White House has approached Toby Cosgrove, MD as a possible candidate to run the VA. Cosgrove is the CEO of Cleveland Clinic and a Vietnam War veteran.

Tucson area’s largest health network racks up nearly $30 million in losses

The University of Arizona Health Network has run $32 million over budget on its Epic implementation, which it attributes to a two-month go-live delay, and funding for additional training and support.

Sebelius: Open federal data here to stay

At Health Datapalooza, Kathleen Sebelius reports that HHS has released more than 1,000 datasets as part of its effort to open access to health data to the public.

Net Health buys ReDoc, expands into rehab market

Net Health acquires ReDoc, a Nashville-based EHR vendor focused on the physical, occupational, and speech therapy markets.

Morning Headlines 6/3/14

Health. An entirely new way to use your health and fitness information.

Apple unveils its long awaited health app, duly named "Health." The app centralizes health data from third-party fitness apps, activity trackers, and medical devices. Epic was named during the unveil as a partner that would help integrate the the app’s data with existing health IT infrastructures.

Successful Results from CMS ICD-10 Acknowledgement Testing Week

CMS reports that during its March ICD-10 testing week, 127,000 claims were submitted from 2,600 providers and that 89 percent were accepted, down from Medicare’s 95-98 percent average for ICD-9 claims, but still deemed a successful test week by CMS.

FDA launches openFDA to provide easy access to valuable FDA public data

The FDA is opening its database of adverse drug events and medication error reports as part of a new data sharing program called OpenFDA. The FDA hopes that researchers and software developers will use the data to create new consumer tools.

Morning Headlines 6/2/14

Pivoting for the Future

National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo, MD, publishes an internal memo Friday announcing an internal reorganization of the ONC. She explains, "This functional realignment will improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of ONC by combining similar functions, elevating critical priority functions, and providing a flatter and more accountable reporting structure. In addition, this realignment will support our focus on developing and implementing an interoperability roadmap, supporting care transformation, and establishing a framework to support appropriate use of health data to further meaningful consumer engagement, system-level quality and safety of care, improvements in the public’s health, and advancements in science."

UPMC: ID theft scam affects all 62,000 workers

After months of denying the extent of its employee records data breach, UCPM finally admits that all 62,000 of its employees were likely exposed. Employees are being offered free credit monitoring services to compensate. The breach has resulted in 800 fraudulent tax returns being filed thus far.

State won’t tap federal grants for new exchange

Maryland will build a new health insurance exchange to replace the one that the state was forced to abandon. Health Secretary Joshua M. Sharfstein reports that there is enough money left over from the federal funding provided to develop the original site to pay for the $50 million replacement.

JRMC gets new records system

25-bed Jamestown Regional Medical Center (ND) goes live on its new Epic system which, through a partnership with Sanford Health, will replace HMS at a cost of $1.2 million.

Morning Headlines 5/30/14

Veterans Health Administration: Interim Report

The VA OIG releases an interim report on the patient waitlist improprieties at the Phoenix VA which confirms whistleblower accusations that scheduling delays were being hidden.  Rapid Response Teams that have been conducting unannounced inspections of VA’s across the nation have confirmed "that inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic throughout VHA." The report goes on to explain that senior managers within the VA receive bonuses and salary increases based in part on their hospital’s wait list performance.

Athens Regional chief information officer resigns

Athens Regional Medical Center’s struggling Cerner implementation claims its second victim as VP/CIO Gretchen Tegethoff resigns. Athens’ CEO stepped down last week.

Quality Systems, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2014 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results

Quality Systems, the parent company of NextGen, reports its Q4 results: revenue reached $115.2 million for the quarter, up four percent. Net earnings climbed to $5.1 million, up from a net loss of $4.1 million during the same period last year. EPS $0.12 vs. $0.24, missing earnings estimates and pushing stock prices down four percent Thursday.

Fitch Affirms MetroHealth’s (OH) Revs at ‘A-‘; Outlook Revised to Stable

Fitch Ratings affirms the "A-" rating on MetroHealth’s outstanding debt, in part based on the organizations ability to remain profitable despite a challenging payor mix. MetroHealth managers attributes their success, in part, to its implementation of Epic.

Morning Headlines 5/29/14

I.R.S. Bars Employers From Dumping Workers Into Health Exchanges

The IRS issues a ruling clarifying that employers are still required to provide health insurance for employees and cannot just give them a tax-free stipend and send them to the health insurance exchanges.

Trust your doctor, not Wikipedia, say scientists

A group of researchers compared clinical information about certain diseases published on Wikipedia with information published in peer-reviewed journals and found that Wikipedia articles on medical conditions have erroneous information 90 percent of the time.

Federal pain research database launched

The NIH, AHRQ, CDC,and FDA have co-developed a database called the Interagency Pain Research Portfolio designed to centralize pain management research findings.

Big Data Offers Promise of Big Changes in Health Care, but Hurdles Remain

A report from the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation concludes that while big data projects may one day help transform healthcare, there are a host of real world challenges that are preventing meaningful cost reductions or improvements in care quality.

Morning Headlines 5/28/14

MGMA ACA Exchange Implementation Survey Report May 2014

In a survey of MGMA members, 90 percent report that they have already started seeing patients carrying insurance acquired through an ACA insurance exchange. 56 percent reported no change in their practice’s patient population size as of yet, but nearly half expect to see at least a slight increase in patient volumes by the end of the year.

Bidding opens for £240m health data sharing cash

In England, the NHS unveils a new $400 million grant pool to support local health data sharing projects. To qualify, hospitals must submit a business case that includes documentation on how the proposed project will generate at least a fifty percent return on investment.

Cerner will buy up to $317 million of its shares

Cerner’s board approves a $100 million increase to its share buyback plan, pushing the upper threshold of the approved buyback plan to $317 million.