Morning Headlines 5/16/23

Personalized Care Company Validic Acquires Trapollo

Digital health company Validic acquires Cox Communications subsidiary Trapollo, which offers technology and services that help healthcare organizations care for patients at home.

Practice Perfect Acquires an Ownership Stake in Clinical Billing Solutions to Provide Revenue Cycle Management Services

Practice Perfect acquires Clinical Billing Solutions, and will integrate the RCM vendor’s software and services with its EHR and practice management system for outpatient rehabilitation clinics.

Cascade Health Announces Venture Funding Round to Build Intelligent Platform for Healthcare Transparency

Healthcare pricing transparency startup Cascade Health raises $1.7 million to further scale its AI-powered chatbot designed to answer patient questions about procedure pricing and insurance coverage.

Morning Headlines 5/15/23

Prognos Health Raises $23 Million

Real-world healthcare data marketplace operator Prognos Health raises $23 million in growth equity.

HC3: Sector Alert – Veeam Backup & Replication Latest Threat Actor Target

The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center warns organizations that hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities within Veeam Backup & Replication software.

Just-launched initiative aims to capitalize on Kansas City’s promise as a global leader in health tech, renews call for KC investment

Digital Health KC launches to encourage health technology professionals, especially those who worked for Cerner or other Kansas City-based companies, to return to the area.

Morning Headlines 5/12/23

Amino Health Secures $80 Million in Financing to Accelerate Growth and Product Innovation

Amino Health, whose platform guides members to cost-effective providers, raises $80 million in financing.

Lavita AI Raises $5M Seed Financing to Launch the First Patient-Driven Health Information Marketplace to Accelerate Life Sciences Innovation

Lavita, whose health data marketplace platform allows people to control and monetize their digital health information for purposes such as clinical trials recruitment, raises $5 million in seed funding.

Richmond University Medical Center suffers ransomware attack; unclear if patient info compromised

Richmond University Medical Center (NY) works to recover from a ransomware attack that has caused network outages for the last week.

Meta punts pixel tool responsibility, says privacy fault is on providers

Meta files a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the company of privacy violations for sharing the medical data of users with advertisers via its Facebook Pixel website tracking tool.

Morning Headlines 5/11/23

Shares in Babylon fall sharply on news of moves to take private

London-based virtual care vendor Babylon Health will revert to a privately-run company as part of a debt restructuring plan and new funding arrangement with Albacore Capital.

VA Pharmacists Don’t Trust new EHR System, Survey Finds

VA pharmacists surveyed by the House Veterans’ Affairs Technology Modernization Subcommittee say they don’t trust the new Oracle Cerner system in use at their facilities, causing them to work in a constant state of hypervigilance.

Norton Healthcare Network Update

Norton Healthcare (KY) works to restore systems impacted earlier this week by a cyberattack on its computer network.

Morning Headlines 5/10/23

Aegis Ventures and Northwell Holdings Launch Optain, an Advanced AI Company That Uses Photos of the Eye to Detect and Prevent Early Stage Disease

Ascertain, a joint venture between Aegis Ventures and Northwell Holdings, invests $12 million to launch Optain, an AI-enabled company focused on early disease detection and prevention via retinal imaging.

Lucem Health Announces Series A Funding Round

Clinical AI development startup Lucem Health raises $7.7 million in a Series A funding round led by Mayo Clinic, Mercy, and Grainger Management.

My Health Record modernisation to cost $429m

Australia will spend $290 million in a two-year project to modernize its My Health Record system, which will include a new national repository and increased connection to GPs and pharmacies.

Morning Headlines 5/9/23

NextGen Healthcare says hackers accessed personal data of more than 1 million patients

NextGen notifies over 1 million patients of a data breach in which hackers stole personal information by gaining access to its NextGen Office EHR and practice management software using stolen customer credentials.

Healthcare firm Premier explores strategic alternatives

Premier shares rise on the news that it has formed a special committee to consider strategic alternatives including a sale of part or all of the company, partnership opportunities, or recapitalization.

CareCloud Reports First Quarter 2023 Results

CareCloud attributes a 15% drop in Q1 revenue to a dip in professional services revenue, the absence of COVID-related RCM services, and customer migrations away from Meridian Medical Management, which CareCloud acquired in 2020.

Morning Headlines 5/8/23

Constellation Software hit by cyber attack, some personal information stolen

The ALPHV group of ransomware hackers say they have breached Constellation Software, whose software groups include healthcare-focused Harris Computer, and are threatening to publicly post 1 TB of its data if it fails to pay the ransom.

Zyter Health and Casenet TruCare Introduce New Brand, Representing the Organization’s Continued Dedication to Value-Based Care

Home health, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring company Zyter Health rebrands to Zyter|TruCare after acquiring Casenet and its TruCare care management software solutions from Centene in 2021.

Mayo Clinic Platform expands its distributed data network to partner to globally transform patient care

Mayo Clinic Platform extends its Connect de-identified clinical data network to University Health Network in Canada, Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Brazil.

Morning Headlines 5/5/23

Pediatric Mental Health Provider Brightline Cuts 20% of Its Workforce for the Second Time in 6 Months

Virtual youth and family mental health provider Brightline lays off 20% of its employees on top of the 20% that it let go in November 2022.

Inbox Health Raises $22.5 Million Series B

RCM vendor Inbox Health raises $22.5 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $43 million since launching in 2017.

WA gov invests $100m in electronic medical record rollout

The Western Australian government will allocate $100 million towards the first phase of an enterprise EHR roll out, beginning with Perth Children’s Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

Morning Headlines 5/4/23

Statement from the DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications

The DEA announces that it will temporarily extend COVID-era emergency telehealth flexibilities, giving telemedicine prescribers of controlled substances the continued ability to prescribe certain medications after an initial virtual visit.

Centene to divest AI platform Apixio

Centene will sell its AI-powered, value-based platform vendor Apixio, which it acquired in December 2020, to New Mountain Capital.

Murfreesboro Medical Clinic & SurgiCenter Faces Critical Infrastructure Attack 

Murfreesboro Medical Clinic & SurgiCenter in Tennessee remains closed as it works to bring systems back online after an April 22 cyberattack.

Morning Headlines 5/3/23

Apple vs. Masimo court battle ends in mistrial; jury 6-1 in favor of Apple

The trade secrets lawsuit that medical technology vendor Masimo brought against Apple ends in a mistrial, with Masimo reportedly planning to file for a retrial.

Cue Health Implements Cost Reduction Plan, Lays off 326 Employees

App-enabled at-home and point-of-care testing company Cue Health will lay off 326 employees beginning next month as part of a new cost-reduction plan.

Medical College of Georgia expanding its reach to more rural areas

The Medical College of Georgia’s Center for Telehealth will use $1 million in new funding to offer its services and training to more rural hospitals throughout the state.

Morning Headlines 5/2/23

VMG Health Acquires BSM Consulting, a Healthcare Consulting Firm

Healthcare strategy and advisory firm VMG Health acquires BSM Consulting, which offers practice management consulting and compliance services to ambulatory surgery centers and ophthalmology and medical aesthetic practices.

Morgan Health Announces $25 Million Investment in Kindbody, Expanding Access to Fertility and Family-Building Care

Tech-enabled fertility care provider Kindbody raises $25 million in a funding round led by Morgan Health, bringing its total raised to $306 million.

Medical Consulting Group and Corcoran Consulting Group Announce Merger

Ophthalmology-focused Medical Consulting Group acquires Corcoran Consulting Group, which specializes in revenue cycle services for eye care professionals.

Morning Headlines 5/1/23

Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum

Researchers find that licensed healthcare professionals preferred ChatGPT 3.5’s responses to patient questions over those that were written by doctors 80% of the time, judging the computer responses to be more empathetic.

VA’s health record ‘reset’ has budget fallout

VA Secretary Denis McDonough tells a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that the agency will need to tweak its $1.86 billion EHR Modernization program budget request by $400 million due to its suspension of new implementations.

CUSP Citizen Petition to Protect Patients

The Center for US Policy petitions FDA to declare Bamboo Health’s NarxCare software a misbranded medical device that should be recalled, claiming that its opioid risk score for patients is being used inappropriately to prevent pain patients from obtaining appropriate opioids.

Morning Headlines 4/28/23

EVisit + Bluestream Health

Virtual care platform vendor EVisit acquires Bluestream Health, which offers digital front doors and virtual workflow tools.

Teladoc (TDOC) Reports Q1 Loss, Tops Revenue Estimates

Teladoc Health reports Q1 results: revenue up 11%, EPS –$0.37 versus –$0.47, beating analyst expectations for both.

McMorris Rodgers Calls for Termination of Oracle Cerner Electronic Health Record System

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) calls for the VA to terminate its contract with Oracle Cerner, calling it a “complete failure” that has harmed patients and employee morale.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions Acquires Human API

LexisNexis Risk Solutions acquires Human API to create a seamless method of delivering health records for life insurance underwriting and care coordination.

Morning Headlines 4/27/23

UK’s TympaHealth sounds out $23M to expand its hearing diagnostics startup

London-based TympaHealth will use $23 million in new funding to begin marketing its digital ear and hearing healthcare platform to primary care providers, retailers, and pharmacies in the US.

VA’s new EHR hits another outage, as agency reconsiders FY 2024 request for project

The VA’s Oracle Cerner system experiences a nearly four-hour outage when one of its databases became unresponsive due to a failed background process.

Amazon closing Halo health division, lays off staff while offering hardware refunds

Amazon announces that it will shut down its Halo health wearables division at the end of July.

Morning Headlines 4/26/23

Tegria Acquires Meditech hosting and services firm Sisu Healthcare IT Solutions

Tegria acquires Sisu Healthcare IT Solutions, which offers Meditech-certified hosting and services.

Virtual nursing startup raises $1.5M to pivot and address hospital staffing crisis

Nurse Disrupted will use $1.5 million in new funding to expand its virtual nursing services to hospitals.

GE HealthCare Technologies Non-GAAP EPS of $0.85 beats by $0.06, revenue of $4.71B beats by $80M

GE HealthCare reports Q1 results: revenue up 8%, adjusted EPS $0.85 versus $0.96, beating expectations for both but sending shares down 9%.

GoodRx Expands Executive Team With New Interim CEO

GoodRx co-founders Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek transition from co-CEOs to chief mission officer and chairman, respectively, upon the appointment of Scott Wagner (GoDaddy) as interim CEO.

Morning Headlines 4/25/23

CompuGroup Medical Buys Majority Stake in German Digital Healthcare Platform m.Doc

Germany-based CompuGroup Medical acquires patient communication software vendor M.Doc, also based in Germany, for an undisclosed sum.

ClaimsXten Becomes Lyric, Welcomes Raj Ronanki as Chief Executive Officer

Claims payment and editing software business ClaimsXten rebrands to Lyric and names Raj Ronanki (Elevance Health) CEO seven months after its sale by Change Healthcare to TPG for $2.2 billion.

Children’s Mercy Kansas City, GE HealthCare Launch Nation’s First Pediatric Hospital Operations Center to Improve Patient Care

Children’s Mercy Kansas City opens a 6,000 square-foot Patient Progression Hub, which uses AI-powered technology from GE HealthCare to monitor patient flow, manage staffing, and coordinate care.

Morning Headlines 4/24/23

VA suspends rollout of Oracle Cerner electronic health record system as part of major ‘reset’

The VA pauses its Oracle Cerner implementation indefinitely until issues at its live sites are resolved, and stresses that “everything is on the table” as it negotiates the scheduled five-year extension of the original 2018 contract.

Oracle Appoints Seema Verma to Lead Oracle Life Sciences

Oracle hires former CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH as SVP/GM of life sciences, which includes leading the Oracle Cerner Enviza business.

Electronic Health Information Exchange:Use Has Increased, but Is Lower for Small and Rural Providers

An analysis from the US Government Accountability Office points out that TEFCA may help small and rural providers overcome some barriers that keep them from exchanging health information at the rate of their larger, more metropolitan counterparts.