Morning Headlines 5/16/13

House Spending Panel Backs Joint Defense-VA Electronic Health Record

The House Appropriations Committee approves the VA’s requested 2014 budget line item of $252 million for an integrated electronic health record, then adds another $92 million, but mandates that no money be released except for an open architecture system that will serve as the sole EHR for the VA and DoD.

Physician adoption of health information technology: Implications for medical practice leaders and business partners

A Deloitte survey of US physicians finds that 75 percent believe that Meaningful Use holds promise for improved efficiency but that reduced costs resulting from the use of EHRs is inflated and that ultimately care will cost more, not less.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reports gain in excess revenue

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reports operational income losses attributed to problems with its Epic implementation after spending $13 million directly on Epic and $8 million on implementation expenses. The hospital also reports $26 million in lost margin due to volume disruptions during initial go-live and post go-live optimization. Baptist was already scheduled to complete a staff reduction of 950 employees by June 30, but will now implement additional immediate cost-cutting measures. Moody’s has downgraded its long-term debt rating.

Expert predicts ‘meaningful use fatigue’ in 2015

Laura Kreofsky, principal at Impact Advisors and director of Sutter Health’s Meaningful Use program, discusses the need for organizations to operationalize Meaningful Use-related projects by moving them from small project teams to increasingly stretched IT departments. Due to this shift, she predicts widespread organizational "MU fatigue" by 2015.

Morning Headlines 5/15/13

Compuware subsidiary Covisint files for IPO to raise $100 million

Detroit-based Covisint, which provides cloud-based business platforms for a variety of industries including HIE technology for the healthcare market, files for a $100 million IPO.

Why VC’s Shortchange Healthcare IT—And How to Change It

Athenahealth’s Jonathan Bush contributes an article looking at funding trends in health IT and a perceived lack of opportunity for innovative startups in that space.

Medicare Fraud strike force charges 89 individuals for approximately $223 million in false billing

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force executes operations in eight cities that result in charges against 89 individuals, including doctors and nurses, for their alleged participation in Medicare fraud involving $220 million in false billings.

Exam Room Computing & Patient-Physician Interactions

The American Medical Association releases a study on the use of computers in the examination room and its effect on patient satisfaction. The study found that patients’ attitudes toward the computer were heavily influenced by the physicians’ attitude toward it. The more positive they perceived their doctor’s attitudes, the more likely respondents were to indicate a preference for computer use in the exam room.

McKesson Announces Nationwide Expansion of its Million Dollar EHR Software Give-Away Program, McKesson Gives Back

McKesson expands its McKesson Gives Back program nationally. The program, launched in 2011, donates McKesson Practice Choice EHR systems to small physician practices that operate in underserved and underinsured communities.

Morning Headlines 5/14/13

Report: Global health IT market to hit $56.7 billion by 2017

A recent analysis of the global health IT market forecasts an annual growth rate of seven percent driving the $40.4 billion industry as high as $56.7 billion by 2017.

Winners Announced for New York Patient Portal

The New York eHealth Collaborative’s Patient Portals for New Yorkers contest has concluded with Mana Health taking first place honors. Mana Health’s portal includes secure e-mail communication with providers, an audit trail of patient chart accesses, and a clean and intuitive layout.

Medical Association Backs Bills to Cut Red Tape

Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that will allow providers to start swiping patients driver’s licenses to collect identification information for claims processing. The change is supported by the Texas Medical Association, which has suggested in statements that automating the recording of demographic information will free up a significant amount of time for clinic staff.

Dangers found in lack of safety oversight for Medicare drug benefit

ProPublica releases an online tool that displays individual physician prescribing behaviors in easily understood graphics intended to highlight how far from "typical" a physician’s prescribing practices fall for their specialty. The underlying data comes from four years of Medicare Part D 2007-2010.

Morning Headlines 5/13/13

Cash-strapped hospital bosses employ American IT expert on a salary of £25,000 A MONTH…and even picked up his bar tab and his laundry bill

In England, Rotherham NHS Hospital is being criticized for spending $40,000 a month on consultants in hopes of salvaging a struggling $60 million Meditech implementation.

District Medical Group Partners with Medical Scribe Program to Optimize Electronic Medical Record

Phoenix, AZ-based District Medical Group hires scribes to support physician documentation in its transition to an EMR. The scribes has improved physician workflow and eliminated transcription costs.

UPMC Q3 operating income down by half

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reports a nearly 50 percent drop in Q3 revenue compared to the same time last year. The drop-off would have been closer to two-thirds lost had UPMC not picked up a $53 million return on its 2006 investment in dbMotion, which sold to Allscripts this March for $235 million.

Tampa Stakes its Claim to Lead Healthcare into the Future

In an effort to attract jobs, Tampa is developing a city-wide program to embrace technology and best practices to reduce overall healthcare costs, generally the second highest cost for businesses after payroll. The program is being offered in lieu of the traditional tax breaks offered as an incentive by most cities.

Morning Headlines 5/10/13

Allscripts swings to first-quarter profit loss

Allscripts releases Q1 results: a $11.6 million loss on the quarter resulting in a -$0.07 EPS compares to a $5.8 million profit and $0.03  EPS for the same period last year. The stock was down 10 percent in after hours trading but is up 47 percent on the year.

Philips, Al Faisaliah Medical Systems officially open Philips Healthcare Saudi Arabia

Philips announces the opening of a joint venture with Al Faisaliah Medical System to market Philips solutions in Saudi Arabia.

HHS Releases Hospital Data on Charge Variation to Promote Transparency

HHS releases hospital charge data to promote cost transparency.

Accenture Eight-Country Survey of Doctors Shows Significant Increase in Healthcare IT Usage

A recent study highlights electronic medical records utilization trends across eight countries. The United States is leading all nations in the adoption of EHRs and nears the top of HIE adoption.

Morning Headlines 5/9/13

Athenahealth and MIT H@cking Medicine Announce Winners of Hack-a-thon

MIT and athenahealth co-hosted a hack-a-thon this past weekend and have announced a winner of among the 20 teams that competed. Top honors and $5,000 went to Project MIST, which came up with a hardware prototype that helps glaucoma patients overcome aiming difficulties and more easily administer their eye drops.

Geisinger Gives Patients Access to Doctors’ Notes

Danville, PA-based Geisinger Health System will give patients complete access to their physician notes within the health systems patient portal in an effort to increase patient engagement. The decision follows a pilot program that showed promising results.

The National Progress Report on e-prescribing and Safe-Rx Rankings: Year 2012

More than 40 percent of prescription were transmitted electronically in 2012, according to a recently released study from Surescripts.

Memorial ‘still on path’ to join MaineHealth despite Maine Med’s financial problems

Conway, NH-based Memorial Hospital’s CEO Scott McKinnon reports that MaineHealth’s recent Epic problems are not enough to derail Memorial Hospital from joining MaineHealth. In earlier interviews, McKinnon had cited working under a system-wide Epic platform as a primary reason for joining MaineHealth.

Morning Headlines 5/8/13

McKesson 4th-Quarter Net Down 50% Amid Lower Revenue, Higher Costs

McKesson reports a fourth quarter profit of $259 million, down from $521 million a year earlier. Revenue was down 3.4 percent, missing analysts’ expectations. The technology solutions sector saw revenue increase 6.2 percent over the year, with a gross annual revenue of $913 million. Stock ended flat on the day and was up 1.5 percent in after hours trading.

A Bold New Vision for Meditech

John Halamka, MD, CIO of BIDMC, reports his initial impression of plans for Meditech 6.1 which he says will be a cloud-hosted system based on standards, Web-centric and mobile-enabled, with both inpatient and outpatient capabilities, complete with analytics, a PHR, and care management tools.

The discriminatory cost of ICD-10-CM transition between clinical specialties: metrics, case study, and mitigating tools

A study published in JAMIA finds that transitioning to ICD-10 will be difficult and disproportionately costly to specialists. The study found that only 60 percent of ICD-9 codes have a direct ICD-10 equivalent, while the other 40 percent will require clarification.

UCSF Creates Center for Digital Health Innovation, Names Director to Lead It

UC San Francisco will create a Center for Digital Health Innovation to lead the institution away from "disease-based treatment approaches" and toward "individualized precision medicine." The new Center will be run by UCSF Medical Center CMIO Michael Blum, MD.

Raleigh clinic says X-rays were stolen, may have included patient information

A Raleigh, NC clinic alerts patients that X-rays were stolen and patient information may have been compromised when a sham scanning and archiving company stole the x-rays for their silver content and then disappeared.

Morning Headlines 5/7/13

Greenway Reports Fiscal 2013 Third-Quarter Results

Following lowered year-end forecasts that caused a 22 percent one-day drop in stock price last week, Greenway sees an additional 2.8 percent drop after releasing its Q3 earnings report. The company suffered a $2.8 million net loss from operations over the quarter due to fewer one-time system sales and lower training and consulting revenue. Shares closed at $11.94, $0.11 higher than their 52-week low.

Electronic Health Information Exchange Governance Framework Released

ONC releases its regulatory framework for health information exchanges. It establishes a common foundation and spells out regulatory exchange conditions for public and private HIEs to align with.

CHIME Calls For One-Year Extension of Stage 2 Meaningful Use

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives sends a letter to six Republican senators recommending a one-year extension to Stage 2 Meaningful Use before progressing to Stage 3.

ATA kicks off its annual meeting with a call for Mercy

The American Telemedicine Association kicked off its annual meeting in Austin, TX with Mercy Health President and CEO Lynn Britton giving the keynote address, in which he spoke of about telemedicine and the return on investment Mercy Health realized from its initiatives.

Morning Headlines 5/6/13

Two Cerner live sites go to tender

In England, two NHS hospitals release an RFP seeking a replacement for their Cerner systems.

AMA says EHRs create ‘appalling Catch-22’ for docs

Steven Stack, MD, chair of the AMA board of trustees. spoke at a CMS listening session on billing and coding within an EHR system. He questioned the government’s mandating the use of EHRs while simultaneously orchestrating a witch hunt over cut-and-paste fraud accusations associated with physician documentation. Sack points to the generic, nearly uniform output of EHR documentation systems for causing a false perception fraud.

TriZetto Corporation Announces Reorganization of Leadership Team

TriZetto announces an executive reorganization as CEO Trace Devanny departs immediately leaving an empty seat that will be temporarily filled by TriZetto board member Vicky Gregg. An executive search is underway for a permanent replacement for Devanny. Jude Dieterman, formerly EVP and COO, has been promoted to the newly created role of president.

Govt moves to roll out ambitious e-health plan

The health department in India has issued an RFP for its recently announced e-health plan, which calls for each citizen to have a health card to hold demographic data and an integrated EHR that will automate hospital processes and bring all information into a centralized state health information system.

Morning Headlines 5/3/13

Financial woes at Maine Medical Center

Maine Medical Center suffers a $13.4 million operating loss in the first half of the fiscal year, a situation CEO Richard Petersen calls a first in recent history. Petersen pointed to declining inpatient and outpatient volumes and an Epic install which is causing issues with billing. The remaining rollout of Epic is on hold until the situation is resolved. The system has also initiated a hiring freeze, cancelled unnecessary travel, and reduced overtime in an overall effort to save $15 million during the second half of the fiscal year.

March 2013 EHR Incentive Program Update

Almost half of all eligible providers have now received EHR incentive payments according to the most recent CMS update.

Post–Acute Care Riddled With Challenges and High Expectations

KLAS evaluates health IT vendors working in the post-acute care market following an ACO-driven surge in interest. HealthMEDX was the top rated vendor.

Hospital Execs Forecast Higher IT Spending

A survey of hospital executives finds that 43 percent say their largest anticipated investment for the coming year will be in health IT.

Morning Headlines 5/2/13

Trinity Health, Catholic Health East complete merger deal 

Trinity Health Systems and Catholic Health East have completed a merger that will make the new 79-hospital organization the second largest not-for-profit system in the country. Interim CEO Judith Persichilli recently said that the new organization will choose which EHR can best support their needs. Trinity uses Cerner, while Catholic Health East runs Meditech.

Project seeking ways to detect diabetes

New York University, NYU Langone Medical Center, and Blue Cross will collaborate on a project to develop machine-learning algorithms to identify cases of undiagnosed diabetes and to predict pre-diabetes.

The Defense-VA-Vendor Conference Nobody Wants You To Know About

The VA and DoD are holding a joint conference with EHR vendors to discuss the stalled iEHR project. The meeting will feature high-ranking speakers from both departments as well as representation from any vendor that expresses an interest in attending. The press has been explicitly prohibited from attending.

Finalists Announced!

The New York eHealth Collaborative’s Patient Portal For New Yorkers project announces nine finalists in its search for a statewide integrated patient portal. The finalists were selected by public voting and will pitch their products to a live audience and a panel of judges.

Morning Headlines 5/1/13

Texas lawmaker introduces bill to ban ICD-10 implementation

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) introduces H.R.1701, "Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2013," which would prohibit HHS from replacing ICD-9 with ICD-10. The bill has no co-sponsors and has been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means for further consideration.

Nuance shares sink on profit drop

In Q1, Nuance’s net income drops to $110.4 million, down from $138.8 million last year. EPS $0.34 vs $0.43. Shares dropped 19 percent by the close of trading Tuesday. The company also announced a $500 million share buyback plan today as hostile corporate takeover specialist Carl Icahn continues to build his stake in the company, which now stands at 10.7 percent.

Case study: Breach increases risk of fraud

A case study examining the 2012 Utah Department of Health data breach that compromised 780,000 individuals found that in 2010, one in 10 individuals who received a data breach notification became a victim of fraud, but that in 2012, that number jumped to one in four.

Senators urge Obama to help resolve veterans claims backlog

A bipartisan group of 67 senators sent a letter to President Obama asking that he take direct action in resolving the VA’s backlog of veteran disability claims.

Morning Headlines 4/30/13

Greenway Revises Fiscal 2013 Outlook

Greenway revises its full-year 2013 outlook, lowering total revenue from $145-$150 million to $132-$134 million and revising its EPS forecast from a profit of $0.10 to a loss of $0.13. The stock dropped 22 percent by the closing bell.

Hospital to adopt new record system 

Samaritan Albany General Hospital on Thursday will become the second facility of five-hospital Samaritan Health Services to go live on Epic. The entire health system is scheduled to be implemented by the end of the summer.

athenahealth Hosts Health Care Hack-a-Thon

Athenahealth and MIT partner to host a hackathon at the company’s Watertown, MA headquarters on May 4-5. The event brings together innovators from science, medicine, and health IT to pitch disruptive solutions to the problems faced in healthcare. Judges from Harvard University, Blueprint Health, and others will select the winners.

Patient satisfaction with health care hits two-decade high

A recent American Customer Satisfaction Index report finds that heath care satisfaction has reached 80 on a scale of 100, up 1.9 percent from the previous year, the highest satisfaction scores have climbed in 20 years.

Morning Headlines 4/29/13

Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2013 Results

CPSI announces Q1 results: net income increased 23 percent to $6.9 million on $49.5 million in total revenue, EPS of $0.63.

Providence lays off 132 people in Washington state 

Providence Health & Services announces layoffs for 150 employees as a result of an Epic install that it says will streamline processes and reduce the need for certain positions.

Cybertheft heists $1 million from Leavenworth hospital

Hackers have stolen more than $1 million from Leavenworth WA-based Cascade Medical Center by accessing the hospital’s Automated Clearing House account.

UNM Hospital stands by its outsourcing decision

Sen. Tim Keller of Albuquerque, NM is asking UNM Hospital to halt its recently announced plan to outsource transcription services to Nuance and eliminate 50 local jobs. The hospital says that the move will save more than $500,000 a year and that all affected employees have been offered jobs with Nuance.

Morning Headlines 4/26/13

Cerner profit up as support, maintenance grows

Cerner reports Q1 results with a $110 million profit, up from $88 million, on $680 million in revenue. EPS $0.62 vs. $0.51. Support, maintenance and services revenue increased 16%, but system sales revenue dropped 12%.

Certification for electronic health record product revoked

ONC has revoked the EHR certification status of two EHRs, Santa Fe Springs Cali-based EHRMagic-Ambulatory and EHRMagic-Inpatient, after complaints from customers led auditors to discover that the platforms did not have the minimum required functionality and should never have passed certification tests in the first place.

Doctor: ‘I gave up on health care in America’

A family practice doctor from Colorado unwilling to comply with Meaningful Use requirements moves to Australia where he reports making $100,000 more than he made practicing in Colorado and with a much lighter schedule.

Nuance Communications Taps Goldman for Advice as Icahn Amasses Stake

Nuance has turned to Goldman Sachs for strategic guidance as billionaire Carl Icahn, known for his penchant for hostile corporate takeovers, continues to amass the company’s outstanding stock. Icahn currently holds a 9.3 percent stake in the company.

Morning Headlines 4/25/13

FDA Device Surveillance to Tap Phone App

The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System will be revamped in part by launching a smartphone app for streamlined adverse event reporting by physicians.

Electronic health records key to patient care quality improvement

In England, a survey of physicians reveals that 94 percent believe that patients should have at least some access to their electronic medical records, but only 34 percent like the idea of full access. Physicians also overwhelmingly support allowing patients to update standard sections of their own electronic records, including demographics, family history, allergies, and home medications.

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to Invest Up to $68 Million to Develop a National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network

PCORI has committed $68 million in funding to support the development of a national infrastructure to advance patient-centered clinical research that enables efficient participation from broad patient populations.

athenahealth Marketplace Brings Shopping to Health Care IT

athenahealth launches a marketplace of bolt-on pfferings for its cloud-based practice solution from a variety of vendors, including Experian Healthcare, InHealth Clinical Documentation Solutions (ICDS), NHXS, iTriage, and Entrada.

Morning Headlines 4/24/13

Pentagon Resists Administration’s Mandate For An Open Source Health Records System

A leaked Pentagon memo reveals that President Obama’s administration has repeatedly recommended that DoD implement a more cost effective open source system like VistA, but that the Pentagon has resisted due to "an incorrect assumption that modernizations based on open systems, as opposed to proprietary commercial systems, will take too long."

CMS Listening Session: Billing and Coding with Electronic Health Records

CMS and ONC will hold a meeting to discuss the increase in code levels billed for some Medicare services associated with EHRs and appropriate coding in an increasingly electronic environment.

Bennet, Burr, Harkin, Alexander Release Draft Bill to Improve Safety of Nation’s Drug Supply

Bipartisan senators unveiled a draft bill calling for a uniform standard for drug tracking that would result in an interoperable, unit level drug product tracing.

Doctors-In-Training Spend Very Little Time at Patient Bedside, Study Finds

A recently published Johns Hopkins study finds that medical students are spending just 12 percent of their time with patients and more than 40 percent of their time on the computer. Researchers say residents spend significantly less time with patients now than they did before 2003, when hospitals were first required to limit the number of consecutive working hours for trainees.