Morning Headlines 7/3/23

Santa Monica-based Headspace meditation app maker lays off 15% of employees

Mental health and meditation app Headspace Health lays off 181 employees, its second round of job cuts since December.

LIJ Forest Hills Hospital to implement telehealth pilot program for burn patients

Northwell Health’s Forest Hills Long Island Jewish Hospital launches a tele-burn virtual consult service, giving on-site providers the ability to virtually consult with specialists at Staten Island University Hospital’s Regional Burn Center.

Mountain View Hospital restores clinical functions; culprit behind cyberattack still unknown

Mountain View Hospital and Idaho Falls Community Hospital and its partner clinics restore their clinical systems after a cyberattack forced them offline over a month ago.

Morning Headlines 6/30/23

Optimum Healthcare IT Acquires eCloud Managed Solutions

Staffing and consulting services company Optimum Healthcare IT acquires ECloud Managed Solutions, a cloud adoption and digital transformation firm based in Milton, GA.

RxLightning opens 8,000-square-foot New Albany headquarters

Specialty medication enrollment software startup RxLightning opens an office – its first – in Indiana after having been a remote-only company since its launch in 2020.

HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Investigation with iHealth Solutions Regarding Disclosure of Protected Health Information on an Unsecured Server for $75,000

IHealth Solutions will pay $75,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations related to the 2017 unauthorized transfer of PHI from an unprotected server.

Morning Headlines 6/29/23

Regulations to govern use of AI in health records could come later this year

ONC hopes to finalize a rule later this year that will require EHRs that use predictive solutions like AI and algorithms to provide end users with an explanation of how that technology works, as well as a description of the data used.

Blueprint Raises $9 Million Series A to Help Therapists Deliver Higher Quality Care in Less Time

Blueprint, which offers mental health providers patient tracking and outcomes assessment technologies, raises $9 million in a Series A funding round.

Cleveland Clinic to open first telehealth hub at new Mentor Hospital

Cleveland Clinic prepares to open a new hospital in Ohio that will offer patients in each of its 57 rooms the ability to access telehealth services from off-site specialists.

Morning Headlines 6/28/23

Revolutionizing Medical AI Development: Flywheel Announces $54 Million in Series D Funding led by Novalis LifeSciences and NVentures

Medical imaging and AI company Flywheel raises $54 million in a Series D investment round.

Riverside Partners’ Portfolio Company UnisLink Acquires HST

RCM and population health management company UnisLink acquires RCM vendor Healthcare Support Technologies.

BeeKeeperAI Raises $12.1 Million Series A to Accelerate AI Development on Privacy Protected Healthcare Data

BeeKeeperAI, a San Francisco-based AI development and deployment support startup, announces $12 million in new funding.

THL explores sale of healthcare IT firm Nextech

THL Partners considers selling specialty practice-focused health IT vendor Nextech in a deal that could be worth $1.5 billion.

Morning Headlines 6/27/23

Amazon delays virtual care service’s unveiling after senators raised privacy concerns

Amazon postpones the launch of its Amazon Clinic expansion by three weeks after lawmakers raised concerns about the company’s privacy practices.

Clarivate snaps up former Cerner employees, plans move into OP office

Clarivate, a global data, insights, analytics, and workflow solutions company, hires 40 former Cerner employees as it prepares to move into a new office in Overland Park, KS.

US Virgin Islands to test data interoperability program ahead of new health information exchange

The US Virgin Islands Office of Health Information Technology will work with CRISP Shared Services to launch a pilot interoperability program as it prepares to build out infrastructure for its first HIE

Morning Headlines 6/26/23

Babylon Announces Update on Take Private Proposal

UK-based digital health company Babylon will merge with brain technology vendor MindMaze in a take-private transaction.

AvoMD Raises $5M to Combat Clinician Burnout With No-Code Clinical App Building Platform

AvoMD, developer of a no-code platform that allows clinicians and hospitals to turn existing and new clinical evidence into their own point-of-care clinical pathway apps, closes $5 million in seed funding.

UNC Health Piloting Secure Internal Generative AI Tool for Teammates with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service

UNC Health will launch an internal chatbot next month, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, that allows employees to access reference materials, documents, and training libraries by asking questions.

Morning Headlines 6/23/23

Tennessee attorney general says seeking clinic’s transgender patient records part of fraud probe

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, which compelled Vanderbilt University Medical Center to turn over the medical records of transgender patients to support its fraud investigation, has also demanded that VUMC provide copies of its physician contracts, their resumes, and their W2 and 1099 tax forms.

Jesse Jones: New charges for some MyChart messages

University of Washington Medicine will begin charging patients for answering MyChart messages that require more than 10 minutes  – including requests to complete medical forms or for referrals – at prices ranging from $7 for Medicaid patients to $98 for those without insurance.

VA official expects Oracle Cerner to deliver on $10B EHR contract despite layoffs

A VA EHR executive says that it continues to expect Oracle Cerner to deliver on newly strengthened contractual requirements even though the company’s recent significant layoffs reportedly include experienced members of its clinical teams.

ChatGPT and the clinical informatics board examination: the end of unproctored maintenance of certification?

ChatGPT passes the clinical informatics board exam, raising questions about how the unproctored, multiple-choice test will be used to evaluate proficiency.

Morning Headlines 6/22/23

AccurKardia Announces Final Closing of $2.7 Million Series Seed Round

AccurKardia, which sells AI-powered clinical-grade ECG interpretation software, completes a $2.7 million seed funding round.

AMA announces organizations selected for grants to research EHR use

The American Medical Association awards $589,000 in grants to nine organizations that will study EHR use for solutions that can prevent clinician burnout, enhance care, and improve workflows.

‘You’re not God’: Doctors and patient families say HCA hospitals push hospice care

An NBC News report says that publicly traded hospital operator HCA Healthcare used an algorithm to identify hospitalized inpatients who were likely to die, then pushed them into palliative or hospice care to improve hospital performance measures that are tied to executive bonuses.

Doctors urge ‘pause’ on Federated Data Platform bidding amid Palantir data security concerns

Doctors in England call for the government to pause the tender process for a new $600 million national federated data platform, saying that frontrunner Palantir is a private US company with ties to US security agencies that would discourage participation and that the procurement process favors the company because of its lobbying efforts and the waiving of procurement procedures during the pandemic.

DexCare Closes $75M in Series C Funding, Led by ICONIQ Growth, to Accelerate Market Expansion of its Care Access Platform

Providence spinout DexCare, which offers a customer acquisition and healthcare navigation system, raises $75 million.

Morning Headlines 6/21/23

Vanderbilt turns over transgender patient records to state in attorney general probe

VUMC notifies some of its patients that it has sent their medical records to the state’s attorney general, whose office is conducting an investigation into billing state-insured patients for transgender care services.

Creating the world’s largest medical imaging library – Gradient Health closes $2.75M round

Raleigh, NC-based Gradient Health, which offers developers a library of 350 million medical images for AI training, raises $2.75 million.

Caraway Secures $16.75M Series A Funding

Virtual care company Caraway – which offers mental, physical, and reproductive health services in six states, primarily to women aged 18-27 — raises $16.75 million in a Series A funding round.

Morning Headlines 6/20/23

How Palantir is helping hospitals with tasks that used to require spreadsheets and whiteboards

A CNBC report looks at Cleveland Clinic’s work with Palantir’s AI software to manage resource allocation.

CareRev Plans to Cut Roughly a Third of Staff

Healthcare shift-bidding platform vendor CareRev will reportedly lay off one-third of its corporate workforce, about 100 employees, following the departure of CEO Will Patterson over claimed conduct issues.

Biden picks North Carolina’s former health chief, Mandy Cohen, to run CDC

As previously speculated, the White House will name Aledade EVP Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH as new CDC director effective with the resignation of Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH on June 30.

Morning Headlines 6/19/23

Optum health startup incubator on ice

Optum dissolves its Startup Studio incubator after three years and 100 health companies incubated.

Amazon called to account – on health data

Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) express concern to Amazon President and CEO Andy Jaffy that the company’s virtual Amazon Clinic may be collecting and sharing health data from customers.

Hackers claim responsibility for Norton Healthcare ‘cyber event’ as Louisville patients await answers

The BlackCat ransomware group claims responsibility for last month’s attack on Norton Healthcare (KY), the effects of which are still impacting the health system’s network and services.

Morning Headlines 6/16/23

Oracle Cerner cuts more jobs, focusing on roles with VA, federal contracts

Oracle conducts another round of layoffs in the former Cerner business, according to employee reports on Reddit and LinkedIn.

Snooping in Medical Records by Hospital Security Guards Leads to $240,000 HIPAA Settlement

Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital (WA) pays $240,000 to settle allegations that several of its security guards accessed without permission the medical records of 419 patients.

Veradigm’s plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq receives approval

Nasdaq gives Veradigm another extension to submit its annual and quarterly reports, with the company expecting to file Form 10-K on September 18, 2023 rather than June 14.

Morning Headlines 6/15/23

BurstIQ Acquires Business Intelligence Platform from Olive AI

Healthcare analytics vendor BurstIQ acquires Olive AI’s business intelligence solution, now known as LifeGraph Intelligence.

Hackensack Meridian Health Invests in Canary Speech, Company with AI Software to Assess Anxiety, Wellness in Spoken Words

Hackensack Meridian Health (NJ) invests in speech analysis technology startup Canary Speech through its Bear’s Den accelerator program.

Apixio and ClaimLogiq Merge to Create a Leading Connected Care Platform

Healthcare analytics vendor Apixio acquires ClaimLogiq, which offers health plan claims technology.

Healthcare Triangle Maintains Compliance with Nasdaq Listing Requirements as Nasdaq Resolves Delisting Determination Error

Healthcare Triangle regains its Nasdaq compliance after the financial services organization determined the health IT vendor had been de-listed in error.

Morning Headlines 6/14/23

American College of Gastroenterology and American Gastroenterological Association Invest in Oshi Health to Accelerate Adoption of Hybrid Digestive Health Care

Shortly after the close of a $30 million funding round, virtual digestive care provider Oshi Health announces investments from the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Gastroenterological Association’s GI Opportunity Fund.

Oracle beats on top and bottom lines as cloud revenue jumps

Oracle reports Q4 results: revenue up 17%, adjusted EPS $1.67 versus $1.54, beating Wall Street expectations for both and sending shares to an all-time high.

Penn State Health enhancing access to primary care through subscription-based virtual service

Penn State Health launches a subscription-based virtual primary care service, initially available to employees and Penn State College of Medicine students and their dependents.

Morning Headlines 6/13/23

An Illinois hospital is the first health care facility to link its closing to a ransomware attack

St. Margaret’s Health will close its doors this week after failing to overcome staff shortages, the lingering effects of the pandemic, and a 2021 ransomware attack that prevented it from submitting claims to payers for nearly three months.

Oracle beats quarterly revenue estimates on cloud services demand

Oracle attributes its 17% increase in Q4 revenue to demand for cloud products by companies deploying AI, coupled with the boost its Cerner acquisition has given it against competitors like Microsoft and Amazon.

Iowa invests $1.5 million in innovative Centers of Excellence to boost rural health care access

The State of Iowa’s Centers of Excellence program offers providers the opportunity to qualify for grant funding that will enable them to invest in new technology.

Morning Headlines 6/12/23

A Message From Our CEO: Cityblock’s Next Chapter

Cityblock Health, a tech-enabled primary and behavioral healthcare provider serving Medicaid and Medicare patients, will lay off 155 employees.

Pomelo Care collects $33M for maternal and newborn VBC

Pomelo Care, a virtual clinic specializing in pregnancy and newborn care, raises $33 million.

23andMe to cut roughly 9% of workforce, or about 75 employees

Consumer genetics and research company 23andMe will eliminate 75 jobs in early 2024 as part of a restructuring plan it estimates will save $13 million.

Morning Headlines 6/9/23

Carta Healthcare Secures $25 Million in Series B Funding with Additional Investments from Memorial Hermann Health System and UnityPoint Health

Carta Healthcare, which offers registry data abstraction and analytics, closes a $25 million Series B funding round.

Loopback Analytics Announces Strategic Growth Investment by PSG

Specialty pharmacy analytics vendor Loopback Analytics secures funding from PSG Equity.

US medi-tech firm plans ‘major UK campus’ on edge of Bristol

Epic will build a campus in Bristol, England to house its 350 employees there along with others in the UK.

No staff cuts at Spokane VA due to budget deficit, regional director says after visiting Mann-Grandstaff

Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center will not be required to reduce staffing or services to address its expected $35 million budget shortfall that was mostly caused by its problematic implementation of Oracle Cerner.

Laudio Announces $13 Million Series B for its AI Solution that Drives Productivity and Reduces Burnout in Health Systems

Healthcare workforce software vendor Laudio raises $13 million in Series B funding, brining its total raised to $25 million.