Morning Headlines 10/27/17

President Donald J. Trump is Taking Action on Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis

President Trump declares the opioid epidemic a “public health emergency”, but falls short of declaring a national emergency which would have unlocked immediate funding to help address the situation. Officials assured critics that the administration would be requesting additional funding to support expanded treatment efforts shortly.

How Health Care Providers Can Help End the Overprescription of Opioids

Harvard Business Review covers the opioid epidemic, calling for mandated use of PDMPs and improvements in their integration with EHRs.

Cerner’s busy earnings call: more government deals, stock falls hard, no CEO yet

Cerner reports Q3 results: revenue climbed eight percent to $1.28 billion, adjusted EPS $.52 vs. $0.49, missing on both. Shares fell eight percent in after-hours trading. On its earnings call, COO Michael Nill noted that a new CEO had not yet been identified, but offered some assurances, explaining that “The company is being run by a very solid team. The board is going to take their time and go through that process in a very careful manner.”

CVS Makes Blockbuster Aetna Bid

CVS is reportedly in talks to buy Aetna at a $66 billion valuation, sending share prices up 11 percent in after-hours trading.

Morning Headlines 10/26/17

Cerner EHR implementation at VA to take ‘7 to 8 years’

VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD told the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs that the transition from VistA to Cerner will take seven to eight years, with the first go-live anticipated 18 months after contracts are signed.

CRISPR 2.0 Is Here, and It’s Way More Precise

Published in both Nature and Science, researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard describe a new gene-editing technique that improves on CRISPR-Cas9. The new approach rearranges atoms within a DNA strand to repair mutated chemical bases, rather than cutting and replacing the problematic area of the DNA, resulting in a more precise editing tool that could one day treat a range of inherited diseases, some of which currently have no treatment options.

Judge rejects bid by 18 states to revive Obamacare subsidies

In San Francisco, US District Judge Vince Chhabria upholds President Trump’s executive order stopping cost-sharing subsidy payments to insurers.

Bipartisan health-care bill would reduce deficit by $4B over 10 years

The CBO says the bipartisan Alexander-Murray bill, designed to stabilize the ACA individual marketplaces, would reduce the deficit by nearly $4 billion over the next 10 years.

Morning Headlines 10/25/17

Imprivata Acquires Identity and Access Management Business of Caradigm to Expand its Solutions

Imprivata expands its secure user access product line in acquiring Caradigm’s identify and access management business. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Nuance Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against MModal

Nuance sues rival speech recognition vendor MModal, alleging that MModal products violate six Nuance patents related to speech recognition, computer-assisted physician documentation, and transcription technology.

UCSF Innovators Use EHRs to Track Hospital-Acquired Infection

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine conducted by the UCSF Health Informatics team analyzes the movements of 85,000 hospitalized patients seen over three years by mapping EHR patient location and timestamp data. This information was then compared with hospital acquired infection data in hopes of uncovering unknown transmission hotspots within the hospital. The team did identify that patients who entered a particular CT scanner used in the Emergency Department were more than twice as likely to become infected with C. Diff than the baseline patient population. As a result, ED staff were re-trained on how to properly sanitize the scanner.

Cleveland Clinic CEO sees ‘total restructuring’ ahead for health care business

At the Cleveland Clinic’s 15th annual Medical Innovation Summit, CEO Toby Cosgrove, MD predicts that the shift to value-based care will require a “total restructuring” of the healthcare industry, saying, “I think as we do that we’re going to see the quality improve, we’re going to see the cost come down, and hopefully that will allow us to look after more and more people across the United States. But this is an enormous transition we’ve been at it now nine years, and we’re just beginning to see the effects of this.”

Morning Headlines 10/24/17

Fetter Leaves Tenet Healthcare As CEO

Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter resigns after a two decade career at the health system. His last day will be March 15, 2018, or when a successor is named, whichever comes sooner. Tenet has been exploring strategic options recently, including the potential sale of parts of the company, and has been in the public eye over disagreements with investors over strategy, takeover rumors, and board-level resignations.

Olathe lawmaker’s job as a government strategist raises ethics questions

The Kansas City Star questions the whether a senior government strategist for Cerner should be simultaneously serving as the 15th district Kansas state representative.

Leidos Partnership for Defense Health Supports Advancement of Military Health System through Deployment of MHS GENESIS at Madigan Army Medical Center

Ft. Lewis, WA-based Madigan Army Medical Center goes live on Cerner, the fourth major installation of the DoD’s MHS GENESIS program.

Iowa withdrawing Obamacare alternative plan

Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen announces that the state will withdraw its proposal to revamp policies governing its ACA marketplace for the 2017-2018 enrollment year, despite warnings that without the plan, up to 22,000 Iowans will drop out of the individual insurance market.

Morning Headlines 10/23/17

athenahealth’s CEO Jonathan Bush on Q3 2017 Results

Athenahealth shares jump 8 percent on news of the company’s layoffs and cost reduction plan. In its earnings call, CEO Jonathan Bush attributes slow sales to “lackluster market conditions in the post-Meaningful Use era.”

FirstHealth Computer Network Threatened by Malware Virus

On Tuesday, a ransomware attack at FirstHealth of the Carolinas forces end users onto downtime procedures. Security analysts have identified the malware as a new form of the “WannaCry” virus.

Cleveland Clinic spinoff company executive arrested, charged with defrauding hospital out of $2.8 million

The former CTO of a Cleveland Clinic Innovations spinoff is arrested on fraud charges just nine days after the former director of Cleveland Clinic innovations Gary Fingerhut was arrested in connection with the same scheme.

Morning Headlines 10/20/17

athenahealth Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2017 Results

Athenahealth announces Q3 results: revenue climbed 10 percent to $304.6 million, adjusted EPS $0.56 vs. $0.60, beating earnings expectations but falling short on revenue. In response to activist investor pressure, the company announced a cost-savings program on Thursday that included layoffs for more than 500 of its staff members, amounting to nine percent of its workforce.

Utah audit finds legal violations in university’s deal with Patrick Soon-Shiong

A Utah legislative watchdog committee publishes an investigative report on the University of Utah concluding that it violated state procurement laws when it accepted Patrick Soon-Shiong’s $12 million donation, explaining that it had “allowed the donor’s specifications to steer the contract to his company, which we believe is a violation of Utah Administrative Code.”

JDRF Announces New Initiative to Pave Way for Open Protocol Automated Insulin Delivery Systems

JDFR, a charitable foundation focused on funding type 1 diabetes research, announces a new initiative that will work to establish open protocols for artificial pancreas technology.

IFHS Investigates Cybersecurity Breach Of Clinic’s Computer System

Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic (AK) announces that a ransomware attack breached it servers in August. It does not specify whether it paid a ransom to restore access, but promises a detailed report on the breach will be made public in the coming weeks.

Morning Headlines 10/19/17

Tom Marino, Drug Czar Nominee, Withdraws in Latest Setback for Trump’s Opioid Fight

A 60 Minutes and Washington Post investigative report exposes a multi-year effort by drug distributor lobbyists to push an industry-friendly bill through Congress that ultimately undercut the DEA’s drug distribution enforcement options at the height of the opioid epidemic. Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), President Trump’s Drug Czar nominee, withdrew his name from consideration after the report called him the “chief advocate of the law that hobbled the DEA.”

IBM shares up after earnings beat

IBM reports Q3 results: $19.15 billion in revenue and $3.3o adjusted EPS, beating analyst expectations on both, but marking its 22nd straight quarter without revenue growth. The company’s AI business unit brought in $4.4 billion in revenue, up 4 percent.

Virtual Therapists Help Veterans Open Up About PTSD

Wired covers the use of teletherapy in the treatment of PTSD among veterans.

White House says Trump opposes Senate’s bipartisan Obamacare deal

In a reversal, the White House now says it opposes the bipartisan deal drafted by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patrick Murray (D-WA) that would stabilize ACA marketplaces and restore the payment of cost-sharing subsidies.

Morning Headlines 10/18/17

Trump gives go ahead for Congress to work on bipartisan Obamacare deal

HELP Committee Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Patty Murphy (D-WA) have negotiated a bi-partisan healthcare deal that will grant authorization to continue paying insurers the cost-sharing subsidies that underpin ACA individual markets for the next two years. President Trump has come out in support of the negotiations.

Trump says Obamacare is ‘dead’

Despite failing to either repeal or replace the ACA, President Trump declares a legislative victory just the same, exclaiming “Obamacare is finished, it’s dead, it’s gone. It’s no longer. You shouldn’t even mention it. It’s gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore.”

Vinod Khosla on A.I., Health, and the Future of Working (or Not)

Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla follows up on his now six-year-old blog arguing that doctors would one day be replaced by algorithms with an interview explaining, in more detail, how he sees AI supporting and, in some cases, replacing doctors.

CVS Health and Epic Announce Initiative to Help Lower Drug Costs for Patients by Providing Prescribers with Expanded Visibility to Lower Cost Alternatives

CVS, which runs Epic across its retail pharmacies, will implement Epic’s Healthy Planet population health and analytics platform to study dispensing patterns and medication adherence.

Morning Headlines 10/17/17

Trump says opioid emergency will be declared next week

President Trump indicates that he will formally declare a national emergency over the opioid epidemic as soon as next week.

VA Secretary Shulkin Has White House Interview To Head HHS

VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD heads to the White House to interview for the role of Secretary of HHS.

Apple explored buying a medical-clinic start-up as part of a bigger push into health care

CNBC’s Christine Farr reports that Apple considered entering the healthcare provider space by acquiring Crossover Health, which works with employers to build and run on-site medical clinics. Apple was reportedly in earlier talks with One Medical, but neither deal materialized.

AMA to Unleash a New Era of Patient Care

AMA announces a project to develop a shared framework for organizing health data in collaboration with IBM, Cerner, Intermountain Healthcare, American Heart Association, and American Medical Informatics Association.

Morning Headlines 10/16/17

The CBO predicts Trump’s move to end ObamaCare subsidies will hike premiums, uninsured rate, deficits

President Trump signs an executive order ending the payment of cost-sharing subsidies to insurers to support ACA’s individual markets.

Andy Slavitt to Serve as Special Advisor to General Atlantic

Former CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt accepts a position at private equity firm General Atlantic, where he will focus on healthcare investments in underserved populations.

New London family doctor, 85, says state forced her to give up medical license

An 85-year-old primary care provider in New Hampshire claims she is being forced to retire for refusing to implement an EHR, while the State Board of Medicine says she agreed to surrender her license “in light of an investigation into her record-keeping, prescribing practices, and medical decision-making.”

North Korea behind WannaCry attack which crippled the NHS after stealing US cyber weapons, Microsoft chief claims

Microsoft President Brad Smith blames North Korean hackers for launching the WannaCry cyberattack that infected several NHS hospitals earlier this year. He says, “I think at this point that all observers in the know have concluded that WannaCry was caused by North Korea using cyber tools or weapons that were stolen from the National Security Agency in the United States.”

Morning Headlines 10/13/17

Outcome Health, a hot $5 billion startup, reportedly misled its advertisers

Outcome Health, a Chicago-based healthcare startup, reportedly raised a $500 million funding round on a $5 billion valuation that was based on misleading performance metrics and falsified growth data. The company creates patient education videos intermixed with pharmaceutical ads to be played in doctor’s office waiting rooms.

Trump begins Obamacare dismantling with executive order

President Trump signs an executive order that will create new, non-ACA regulated purchasing options for individuals shopping for health insurance plans. Advocates say sidestepping the ACA marketplaces will free payers to offer lower priced plans that do not comply with ACA protections, while critics say the move is aimed at gutting the ACA individual marketplaces of the younger, healthier demographic needed to sustain a market.

#CHC17 Day 4 Recap

At its annual user conference, Cerner’s President Zane Burke announces that CommonWell services will remain free to Cerner clients for an additional three years, through 2020. The network now holds 60 million patient records.

Doctors Feel Excluded from Health Care Value Efforts

A Harvard Business Review article by two Bain & Company’s healthcare partners argues that providers are not eager to embrace alternative payment models because they have been routinely excluded from the decision-making process.

Morning Headlines 10/12/17

Trump announces Hargan as new acting HHS secretary

Eric Hargan, a Chicago-based lawyer, Bush administration HHS staffer, and member of President Trump’s transition team, has been named acting HHS secretary.

Get Ready for a Showdown! – The Secure API Server Showdown Challenge

ONC announces a FHIR-based development challenge, asking experts to deploy FHIR servers using best practice security standards. The challenge aims to “identify unknown security vulnerabilities in the way open source FHIR servers are implemented.”

Deloitte hack hit server containing emails from across US government

The Guardian reports that a hacker has compromised a Deloitte server containing email data from 350 clients, including the NIH, the State Department, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense.

Former Cleveland Clinic Innovations executive pleads guilty to $2.7 million fraud against hospital system

Gary Fingerhut, the former executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, pleads guilty to fraud charges stemming and will serve between three and five years in prison.

Morning Headlines 10/11/17

Express Scripts to Buy Medical Gatekeeper for $3.6 Billion

Express Scripts announces that it will acquire EviCore Healthcare, a company that preapproves scans and other costly medical tests for health plans, for $3.6 billion.

How the EMR Is Increasing Innovation and Creativity in Health Care

An HBR article argues that ” just as the cell phone, originally designed as a mobile communication device, has been adapted to an unimagined array of additional functions, the EMR is serving as a platform for innovation and creativity.”

King George Hospital staff hail new iPad system making patient care safer and more efficient

In England, King George Hospital is reporting significant time savings and process improvements stemming from the implementation of System C’s Vitalpac, an iPad-based vital signs documentation system.

eClinicalWorks Announces the Support of Patient Access to Physician Notes Through OpenNotes

eClinicalWorks supports OpenNotes by pushing provider documentation directly to its patient portal.

Morning Headlines 10/10/17

CNBC’s Christine Farr reports that Amazon is in the final stages of planning its move into the healthcare space, and is considering selling prescription drugs as an entry point. The tech giant is expected to make a decision on its next steps by Thanksgiving.

Governor Brown Announces Precision Medicine Advisory Committee

California Governor Edmund Brown Jr. announces the formation of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Precision Medicine. The committee will advise the governor on  the use of data-driven tools and analysis to help the State improve health and health care.

Trump to Sign Order Easing Health Plan Rules, Official Says

The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump will sign an executive order this week rolling back health insurance regulations governing ACA’s individual marketplaces.

Federal prosecutors launch investigation of prominent surgeon who double-booked operations

Federal prosecutors are investigating Lenox Hill Hospital’s (NY) Chairman of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at for simultaneously running operating rooms on hundreds of occasions, a practice patients did not know about.

Morning Headlines 10/9/17

eClinicalWorks Announces Strong Sales Growth

eClinicalWorks reports $130 million in Q3 revenue and the addition of 3,750 new providers. It claims to now be “the second most widely used EHR in the country.”

West Suffolk Hospital patient records checked after discharge letter software error

In England, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust stops using Cerner-generated patient discharge letters after a software bug leads to incorrect medication reconciliation information making its way into the letters.

112 Degrees With No Water: Puerto Rican Hospitals Battle Life And Death Daily

NPR profiles the three-quarters of Puerto Rico’s hospitals that remain on emergency power.

PatientKeeper Charge-Note Reconciliation

PatientKeeper announces reconciliation tools to help hospitals find unclaimed inpatient professional fee charges. The company estimates that hospitals typically fail to charge for 10 to 15 percent of their inpatient professional fee charges.

Morning Headlines 10/6/17

Atos acquires 3 key healthcare consulting companies in the US

France-based Atos acquires three US health IT consulting firms: Pursuit Healthcare Advisors, Conduent’s Healthcare Provider Consulting business, and Conduent’s Breakaway Group business.

IBM to Congress: Watson will transform health care, so keep your hands off our supercomputer

IBM is actively lobbying Congress to minimize regulatory oversight of artificial intelligence.

HCH replacing Electronic Health Records system

Hiawatha Hospital Association announces plans to migrate from McKesson Paragon to Athenahealth for its hospital EHR.

Willis-Knighton Health System statement: Board supports CEO James Elrod

Willis-Knighton Health System (LA) Chief Cardiologist Michael G. Futrell, MD resigns following a failed vote of no confidence in the hospital’s 52-years-long CEO James Elrod. The board voted to keep the embattled CEO in place, despite criticism that he has shown “resistance to changing with the times and refusal to upgrade the hospital system’s information systems.”

Morning Headlines 10/5/17

Scott Gottlieb rocketed to the top of FDA. He may keep rising

STAT reports that FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who has earned bipartisan praise of his work thus far, may replace Tom Price as secretary of HHS.

Warren, Hatch, Whitehouse, Baldwin, Cassidy Request that GAO Consider Steps for Federal Agencies to Improve Patient Matching in Upcoming Report

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) write a bipartisan letter to the GAO outlining topics they would like addressed in the 21st Century Cures Act-mandated report on improving patient matching.

In digital health’s biggest year of funding, women CEOs emerge as Q3 2017 winners

Rock Health publishes its Q3 2017 digital health funding report. 2017 has been a record-breaking year for startup investments, with Q3 funding raising $1.2 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to $4.7 billion.

In Puerto Rico, Health Concerns Grow Amid Lack of Clean Water, Medical Care

The Wall Street Journal covers worsening conditions in Puerto Rico as the healthcare delivery network on the island struggles to return to operations.