Morning Headlines 7/29/13

The Hidden Surcharge Americans Pay for Hospital Errors

The Leapfrog Group releases a free online calculator that estimates how much hospitals end up adding to medical bills to account for their medical error-related losses.

Slow Ideas

Atul Gawande, renowned surgeon and public-health researcher, writes a piece in the New Yorker that discusses the inconsistent pace that innovation and technology is adopted in healthcare.

Barnaby Jack Dead: Celebrated Hacker Dies At 36

Barnaby Jack, the San Francisco-based hacker who grew famous exposing security vulnerabilities within medical devices, passed away late last week. Barnaby Jack’s work led to countless security improvements in the medical device field.

Aintree NHS saves £1m a year with electronic patient records

In England, Aintree University Hospital HNS reports that after implementing CCube Solutions’ document scanning and management system they were able to save $1.5 million per year in costs associated with maintaining a paper-based system.

Cerner Corporation (CERN) Management Discusses Q2 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Cerner hosts its Q2 earnings call, assuring investors that while Q2 revenue was down slightly due to lackluster results from its technology resale operations, the company is still forecasting a $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion full year revenue.

Morning Headlines 7/26/13

Healthcare Information Technology and Healthcare Information Services: 2013 Mid-Year Review

Healthcare Growth Partners releases its mid-year M&A review for the health IT market. Mergers and acquisitions were down 29 percent year to date due to a significant increase to capital gains taxes effective January 1, 2013. However, investment activity is up 16 percent and continues at a record pace.

Are We Asking Too Much of Our CIOs?

Harvard Business Review analyzes the expanding role of the modern CIO, asking if managing the mountain of new responsibilities is a realistic expectation from one person.

The World’s Most Outrageous Pension Deal?

McKesson CEO John Hammergren’s $154 million pension is scrutinized in a Forbes article that calls it "utterly absurd." Harvard Law School professor Jesse Fried, who notes that Hammergen is also the highest-paid CEO, says "Hammergren has pulled down hundreds of millions in compensation. Even without the pension, it would be very hard for him to spend all his money before he died."

McKesson beats on earnings, falls short on revenue

McKesson reports Q1 results: net income of $424 million on $32 billion in sales drove EPS to $1.83, vs. $380 million and EPS of $1.58 for Q1 last year. Revenue and EPS both fell short of analyst predictions.

Morning Headlines 7/25/13

CIOs Call on CMS to Extend Meaningful Use Stage 2

During a Health IT Standards Committee meeting this week, a group of CIOs calls for a one-year delay in MU Stage 2 requirements. They argue that EHR vendors will not deliver Stage 2-certified software updates in time to implement, validate, and train end users.

Partnership to tie LOINC and SNOMED

The Regenstrief Institute (which maintains the LOINC code set) and the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (which maintains SNOMED codes) announce a long-term agreement to link the two medical terminology code sets. The decision was made to bring more efficiency to the health information exchange process.

NIH commits $24 million annually for Big Data Centers of Excellence 

NIH commits $96 million to establish eight data centers of excellence, where researchers will develop innovative approaches, methods, and software solutions for data analysis and data sharing.

CommonWell Health Alliance Welcomes New Members CPSI and Sunquest to Support and Advance Interoperability Initiatives 

CommonWell Health Alliance announces the addition of CPSI and Sunquest Information Systems to the interoperability program.

Morning Headlines 7/24/13

Black Book’s Satisfaction Index Resolves Highest Ranked Vendors in the "State of the EHR Replacement Market" Study, Eight Firms Share Distinction of the Top 1%

In a recent poll of dissatisfied ambulatory EHR users, 81 percent of respondents reported that they will replace their original EHR solutions within the next 12 months. Practice Fusion, Care360 Quest, Vitera, Cerner, Greenway, ChartLogic, GE Healthcare, and athenahealth were the vendors respondents identified as most likely to win replacement business.

Federal Health IT Strategic Plan Progress Report

ONC publishes a progress report on its Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for 2011-2015. The report outlines the milestones ONC has accomplished thus far in pursuit of its original goals.

World first computer saving lives

In Australia, a new decision support system implemented in the ED of The Alfred Hospital results in a 21 percent reduction in medical errors during a 33-month trial period.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to Host 3rd Annual Symposium on the Meaningful Use of Complex Medical Data

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will hold its third annual symposium addressing big data analytics and emerging use cases in medicine.

Morning Headlines 7/23/13

HHS auditors target upcoding of Medicare bills via EHRs
 
Federal regulators conduct targeted audits of hospitals following months of speculation that EHR usage may be contributing to fraudulent upcoding.

A Better Online Diagnosis Before the Doctor Visit

The Wall Street Journal covers the online symptom checker market, including a website called Isabel that was able to suggest the correct diagnosis in 48 of 50 complex cases.

Colorado HIE enlists more hospitals

Colorado’s health information exchange now connects 50 percent of the state’s hospitals, including all of those with over 100 beds.

2013 First Half Trends Report – Healthcare Industry

A report on mergers and acquisitions within the healthcare / pharma information technology industry finds that deals are down 16 percent overall for the first half of 2013. However, transaction values are up 58 percent compared to the second half of 2012, from $5 billion to $8 billion.

Morning Headlines 7/22/13

Quality Systems, Inc. 8-K filed 7/17/2013

Quality Systems, Inc., parent company of NextGen, files an SEC 8-K form that includes language suggesting that it may be looking to be acquired.

athenahealth Management Discusses Q2 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Jonathan Bush discusses athenahealth’s poor Q2 performance on an earnings call held Friday.

New Medicaid computer system doesn’t end errors

New Hampshire’s new $90 million Medicaid computer system has bogged down reimbursement processing significantly, resulting 40 percent of claims being suspended pending further analysis. Meanwhile, some providers say they aren’t getting paid properly.

Veterans in Data Breach Suit Suffered No Harm, Government Argues

In a class action lawsuit filed against Department of Veterans Affairs over a stolen laptop containing sensitive patient information, the federal government is defending itself by arguing that since there is no proof that the thieves ever accessed the data, there is ultimately no proof that an improper disclosure actually took place.

Morning Headlines 7/19/13

Athenahealth Slips To Loss In Q2; Backs FY13 Outlook

Athenahealth reports a $12.4 million net loss, or -$0.34 per share in its Q2 results. Despite the poor performance, the company stands by its year end-forecast.

Data show electronic health records empower patients and equip doctors

CMS releases a report touting standout metrics of the EHR incentive program. It says EHRs have sent 190 million prescriptions and 13 million patient reminders electronically.

Bill sets timeline for health records sharing

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) proposes a bill that would set concrete milestones and a firm timeline for the VA/DoD EHR project.

Hospital Denied Access to Its Own Records

Milwaukee Health Service is suing Atlanta-based Business Computer Applications, demanding that the company restore access to its electronic medical records. Milwaukee Health scrapped BCA’s Pearl EMR and migrated to GE Centricity, but BCA says it has not been fully paid.

Morning Headlines 7/18/13

Quality Systems to Nominate New Directors to Board

Quality Systems, Inc. parent company of NextGen, has announced that it will add three new directors to its board to avoid a proxy fight initiated by activist investor Clifton Group. The deal will send Clifton Group nominees James C. Malone, Peter M. Neupert, and Morris Panner to the board. In exchange, the Clifton Group will withdraw both its call for the current board to be replaced as well as its series of bylaw proposals that would have been up for vote at the next shareholder meeting on August 15.

EHR Industry Insiders Predict the Demise of Hundreds of Competitors in Black Book Replacement Market Survey

An EHR replacement trends report predicts a 50 percent reduction in the crowded field of EHR vendors by 2017 or the implementation Meaningful Use Stage 3. The study polled 880 EHR consultants, analysts, managers, and support team members on the state of affairs in what it calls the "Year of the Great EHR Switch."

Sen. Hatch calls for pausing meaningful use program

In a finance oversight meeting with Farzad Mostashari, MD, Senator Orrin Hatch proposed a pause to the Meaningful Use program to evaluate whether the program may have "set the bar too low." He says the program should be judged not by how much incentive money has been spent, but on demonstrable improvements in patient care.

PeaceHealth making cuts to close $130 million budget gap

Vancouver, WA-based PeaceHealth is targeting $130 million in spending cuts to account for reduced reimbursement rates and a planned $350 million EHR implementation that will take place across its health system over the next few years. Cost-saving strategies will include voluntary furloughs, early retirement, reduced travel, leaving vacant positions unfilled, and consolidating the number of contractors.

Morning Headlines 7/17/13

Effect of Electronic Health Records on Health Care Costs: Longitudinal Comparative Evidence From Community Practices

A study funded by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that EHR adoption does not lead to cost savings. However, using ambulatory EHRs in community practices did modestly slow cost growth.

Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations succeed in improving care, lowering costs

CMS has released quality and cost performance data on the Pioneer ACO program which, it says saw quality improvements across the board and cost reductions at a majority of participating organizations. Still, seven organizations have announced that they will switch to the Medicare Shared Savings ACO program and an additional two sites have confirmed that they will leave the ACO model altogether.

U.S. News names its ‘Best Hospitals’ list

Johns Hopkins Hospital reclaims the top spot on the Best Hospitals list after its 21-year streak at number one was broken last year by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Electronic Medical Records: Friend or Foe?

A union nurse working at McLaren Macomb Hospital (MI) criticizes the usability of EHRs, McKesson’s Paragon in particular. She says the value of EHR systems is clear to the union, but hospital administration has a responsibility to provide an EHR sophisticated enough to handle both the legal compliance needs and the needs of the clinicians and patients.

Morning Headlines 7/16/13

Personal health record vendor MyMedicalRecord announces that it is on the verge of securing a patent for what is essentially e-prescribing technology. The patent describes "providing a user with the ability to access and manage prescriptions online by providing features that include sending prescriptions to a pharmacy, accessing prescriptions from a pharmacy, scheduling prescription refills, sending reminders regarding prescription refills including by text or email, and identifying adverse drug interactions by analyzing prescription medications."

Morning Headlines 7/15/13

Practice Fusion raising $60M, sources say

Ambulatory EHR freeware vendor Practice Fusion is rumored to be within days of announcing $60 million in new funding from an undisclosed New York-based investment firm.

Sutter’s New Electronic System Causes Serious Disruptions to Safe Patient Care at E. Bay Hospitals

Nurses with the California Nurses Association working at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center (CA) have gone on strike, citing patient safety concerns with the hospital’s newly implemented Epic system. Alta Bates, a Sutter Health facility, becomes the third health system to fall victim to an EHR-related nursing strike in the past few months after Affinity’s nurses hit the pavement in June over what they called a "hurried" Cerner implementation and Martin General Hospital (CA) nurses went on strike in May to delay a upcoming McKesson implementation. Sutter Health is reportedly spending $1 billion on a system-wide Epic implementation.

Athenahealth soars on Ascension deal

Athenahealth stock rose 20 percent Friday after the company announced a deal with Ascension Health Network worth as much as $42 million. Athena will implement its practice management solution to more than 4,000 Ascension providers.

Do Clinical Trials Work?

An op-ed in the New York Times questions the validity of clinical trials for new medications.The use of Avastin to slow the development of aggressive brain tumors is discussed. Researchers have not been able to link Avastin to improved survival rates through clinical trials despite growing anecdotal evidence that suggests a relationship does exist.

Morning Headlines 7/12/13

Defense and VA to Congress on Health Records: It’s The Data, Not The Software

Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall reports to a House Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing that the DoD and VA will create a new shared platform that will allow the two departments to pass key clinical information from separate EHRs. The new plan replaces the original iEHR plan that promised a single, integrated EHR for approximately 200 VA and DoD hospitals nationwide. The iEHR program was originally expected to cost between $4 billion and $6 billion but the budget soon ballooned to $28 billion, which is more than CMS is projected to spend on the entire Meaningful Use program.

Allscripts jumps on better 2Q contract booking

Allscripts shares rise more than 16 percent this week when the company reports an increase in contract bookings for the second quarter. The recently announced five-year managed IT contract extension with North Shore-LIJ Health System helped boost the numbers.

Fort Worth hospital reports huge data breach

A Fort Worth, TX hospital is notifying hundreds of thousands of patients cared for during the 1980s that their personal health information may have been exposed after microfiche pages containing names, addresses, birth dates, health information, and in some cases Social Security numbers are found in a local park.

HIMSS Workforce Survey, July 2013

HIMSS publishes the results of its first annual healthcare IT workforce survey, which finds that 85 percent of surveyed organizations had done at least some hiring this year compared to just 13 percent that had experienced layoffs. The most common positions being filled are for clinical application support staff and help desk staff. Seventy-nine percent of respondents say they will add staff next year.

Morning Headlines 7/11/13

The University of Texas at Austin and Jericho Systems Launch National Pilot to Advance Patient Control Over Shared Medical Records 

An ONC-approved pilot program at the University of Texas at Austin will explore advanced patient control over shared medical records via a simulated exchange using eHealth Exchange specifications. The pilot’s goal is to add transparency to the PHI exchange process by allowing patients to review requests to view their PHI.

North Shore-LIJ Extends Allscripts Outsourcing Agreement Through 2020

Sixteen-hospital network North Shore-LIJ extends its managed IT contract with Allscripts through 2020, a deal that will result in $400 million in revenue for Allscripts over the life of the contract.

Mount Sinai honored for electronic records system

Mount Sinai Hospital was named a HIMSS Stage 6 hospital last week, just three months after its $120 million Epic go-live.

Morning Headlines 7/10/13

Stinger Medical Merges with Enovate

Stringer Medical, which manufactures mobile workstations, has merged with its primary competitor Evnovate, resulting in the largest mobile workstation producer in the country.

Health Information Technology in the United States 2013

Since 2010, EHR adoption has tripled in the US, with 42 percent of hospitals and 38 percent of eligible providers successfully attesting to Stage 1 Meaningful Use .

CMS mulls payment policy changes on chronic care, telehealth

CMS is considering paying paying primary care physicians for chronic care management services without requiring an in-person patient visit, suggesting that telehealth services may finally become reimbursable.

OFT probe could ratchet up pressure on health IT providers

In England, the Office of Fair Trading is investigating health IT vendors that intentionally limit interoperability to gain strategic advantage.

Morning Headlines 7/9/13

Study: Remote Patient Monitoring Adoption Poised For Robust Growth, Says Spyglass Consulting Group

A new study compiling the opinions of more than 100 healthcare leaders working in organizations that provide telehealth services finds that remote patient monitoring solutions are positioned for strong short-term growth, driven by ACOs beginning to formulate population health strategies and hospitals looking to proactively control 30-day readmission rates.

A shorter wait in the ER is just a click away at hospitals with startup’s virtual waiting service

Health IT startup InQuicker is making inroads working to reduce ED wait times. The company has developed an online waiting service similar in functionality to OpenTable. The software, which is accessed from the hospital’s website, allows patients with non-life-threatening conditions to check in from home and wait there during the time they would normally spend in the waiting room.

Brookings finds healthcare jobs soaring over other industries

The Brookings Institution releases a report on job growth that places healthcare ahead of all other sectors, realizing a 22.7 percent employment growth rate over 10 years compared to an average 2.1 percent from all other industries. Across the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the US, healthcare accounted for more than one in every 10 jobs.

JRMC Formally Announces Agreement with Sanford Health

Jamestown Regional Medical Center (ND) has partnered with 35-hospital network Sanford Health in order to have Sanford’s Epic EHR installed at JRMC. In addition to the EHR agreement, Stanford will help expand oncology services offered at Jamestown. The 25-bed hospital will otherwise continue to operate as an independent critical access hospital.

Morning Headlines 7/8/13

Outsourced UPMC workers protest cuts

Transcriptionists at Pittsburgh’s UPMC protest the decision to outsource their jobs to Nuance. The workers were offered remote positions with Nuance, but at a significant pay cut.

ONC Patient Safety Webinar

ONC will hold a meeting on its recently announced patient safety plan this Wednesday, July 10, at 3:45pm EDT.

Low sign-up for Australian eHealth records

In Australia, the highly publicized national patient portal is criticized after the one-year anniversary of its launch passes with only two percent of the Australian population having created accounts.

Open Letter to Chuck Hagel: DoD still doesn’t know what the hell they are doing

VistA expert Tom Munnecke publishes an open letter to Chuck Hagel in which he explains why implementing VistA would be a logical choice for the DoD and why a commercial solution would be an expensive mistake. He uses England’s NPfIT failure as an example of what can go wrong when a national strategy is centered around integrating multiple systems and points to the NHS’s recent decision to evaluate the use of VistA as a single, integrated solution as validation of that approach.

Morning Headlines 7/5/13

May 2013: EHR Incentive Program

May marks the slowest growth in eligible professional attestation since June 2011, netting just 892 new EPs and moving total attestation rates from 55.3 percent to 55.4 percent.

Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards: Achieving an Integrated Digital Care Record

In England, the NHS issues a report which confirms that it is evaluating the implementation of VistA to meet its health IT goals in an open source environment.

Lawmakers release comments on call for ‘reboot’ of Meaningful Use program

Six Republican senators have released the public comments they solicited in April regarding a request to HHS to publish a written plan for how it is implementing the HITECH Act.

Indiana FSSA notifying clients of potential information breach

A computer glitch that caused medical records to be erroneously printed and mailed to the wrong patients is being blamed for a massive personal data breach in Indiana that has impacted as many as 187,000 patients.