Morning Headlines 3/15/23

Denied by AI: How Medicare Advantage plans use algorithms to cut off care for seniors in need

Medicare Advantage plans are using “unregulated predictive algorithms under the guise of scientific rigor” to cut off payment for the treatment of seniors.

Tegria RCM to Adopt Acclara Brand

Tegria rebrands its RCM business as Acclara, naming Tegria RCM managing director Lincoln Popp CEO.

Google introduces Open Health Stack for developers

Google unveils Open Health Stack, an open source program that offers healthcare app developers a FHIR-based Software Developer Kit for Android, design guidelines, and analytics.

VA sprint team outlines 4 key issues leading to EHR rollout problems

The VA publishes an EHRM Sprint Report acknowledging that, while the Oracle Cerner implementation “has not met Veteran or VA expectations,” the VA itself is to blame for failing to standardize processes and fix issues that arose in its initial deployments.

Morning Headlines 3/14/23

U.S. FDIC shifts SVB deposits to new bridge bank, names CEO

The FDIC transfers all deposits of Silicon Valley Bank to a new bridge bank headed by former Fannie Mae CEO Tim Mayopoulos.

1 big thing: Iron offers a virtual hand to OB-GYNs

Iron Health, which helps women’s healthcare providers connect their patients with primary and specialty care, and virtual services, raises $4.5 million in a seed funding round.

Notice of Florida Medical Clinic System Cyberattack

Florida Medical Clinic announces that an early January ransomware attack compromised 94,000 patient files, though no financial data was breached.

Morning Headlines 3/13/23

Silicon Valley Bank has collapsed. Here’s what we know.

Silicon Valley Bank, a major player in tech company financing, collapses and is taken over by federal regulators in the biggest US bank failure since 2008.

Top House Republican wants to end VA’s Oracle Cerner EHR contract and ‘claw back the money’

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), chair of the VA’s subcommittee on technology modernization, says he would like to cancel the VA’s Oracle Cerner contract, claw back some of the money that the company has been paid, and focus instead on improving the VA’s legacy VistA system.

Mental health startup exposes the personal data of more than 3 million people

Virtual mental health startup Cerebral notifies HHS that its use of pixel tracking has inadvertently exposed the information of 3.2 million users to third parties.

Gauge Capital Announces Strategic Investment in Streamline Healthcare Solutions

Behavioral health EHR vendor Streamline Healthcare Solutions secures growth capital funding from Gauge Capital.

Morning Headlines 3/10/23

Oracle Announces Fiscal 2023 Third Quarter Financial Results

Oracle reports Q3 results: revenue up 18%, adjusted EPS $0.68 versus $0.84, beating earnings expectations but falling just short on revenue.

Biden 2024 budget calls for IT spending boosts at VA, Social Security, GSA and CISA

President Biden’s proposed $6.8 trillion 2024 budget includes $1.9 billion for the continued roll out of the VA’s Oracle Cerner EHR.

The founder of Elemy raised more than $200 million to provide better autism therapy for kids. Now he’s ditching patient care to chase billions selling healthcare software.

Elemy, which raised over $300 million to open clinics to treat children with autism, has pulled out of 11 of the 14 states it covered and conducted layoffs as it transitions to selling software to clinicians to command a higher investor valuation.

Morning Headlines 3/9/23

Melinda French Gates’s Pivotal Ventures backs women’s health clinic Tia

Women’s care company Tia, which operates virtual and in-person clinics in three states, secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Pivotal Ventures.

Wave Life Secures $6M Investment to Increase Mental Health Access For Gen Z

App-based mental health and wellbeing startup Wave Life raises $6 million in a seed funding round.

Fifth Third Announces Acquisition of Big Data Healthcare, a Payments Company Serving National Health Systems, Physicians

Fifth Third Bank acquires Madison, Wisconsin-based healthcare payments technology vendor Big Data Healthcare.

Morning Headlines 3/8/23

Gang leaks Lehigh Valley Health Network cancer patient photos as part of data hack

BlackCat hackers post pictures of Lehigh Valley Health Network (PA) cancer patients on the dark web after the health system refused to meet the group’s ransomware demands last month.

Virtual Education Center Provides Health Information to Patients

The Defense Health Agency launches a six-month pilot of its Virtual Education Center, a tool offering validated health information to patients and providers that will eventually be integrated with the MHS Genesis EHR.

Best Buy will set up in-home hospital care through a new deal with Atrium Health

Best Buy will set up in-home virtual care systems for Atrium Health in a three-year deal that will enable the health system to remotely monitor up to 100 patients.

VA expects its legacy EHR to be ‘around for a long time’ as it troubleshoots replacement

VA officials tell members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Subcommittee on Technology Modernization that its legacy VistA system will be utilized for at least another five to 10 years while the new Oracle Cerner EHR is implemented across the department’s remaining facilities.

Morning Headlines 3/7/23

Transcarent To Acquire Part Of AI-Powered 98point6 In $100 Million Healthtech Deal

Transcarent will acquire virtual primary care company 98point6’s AI-powered chatbot technology, among other assets, in a deal CEO Glen Tullman says could be worth up to $100 million.

Cybersecurity incident impacts Houston Healthcare’s operations

Houston Healthcare (GA) works to restore its computer systems after a cybersecurity incident March 3 forced it to use established back-up processes and downtime procedures to continue caring for patients.

WeightWatchers to Acquire Sequence, a Digital Health Platform for Clinical Weight Management

WeightWatchers will acquire Sequence, a telehealth company specializing in chronic weight management, in a deal valued at $132 million.

Morning Headlines 3/6/23

Epic Systems to add 1,700 jobs as it expands its Wizards Academy campus in Verona

Epic will add 1,700 employees to its current headcount of 11,600 in the next 12 months, housing them in two new office buildings that it will build within its Harry Potter-themed Wizards Academy complex.

MUSC invested $15M into RMC partnership; CEO says system focused on quality

The Medical University of South Carolina invests $15 million in its management of Regional Medical Center, which will include expanding telemedicine services and switching the hospital over from Cerner to Epic.

#StopRansomware: Royal Ransomware

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency release a Cybersecurity Advisory to help healthcare providers protect their networks from the Royal ransomware variant.

Morning Headlines 3/3/23

Joint Statement of Chair Khan, Commissioner Slaughter, Commissioner Wilson, and Commissioner Bedoya Regarding Amazon.com, Inc.’s Acquisition of 1Life Healthcare, Inc.

The FTC warns Amazon that it will be monitoring its use of patient data following its acquisition of primary care provider One Medical, noting that it will judge pre-acquisition privacy promises by the standard of a “reasonable consumer” rather than that of a HIPAA expert.

Bright Health Group Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results

Health insurer Bright Health – fresh off layoffs, the exiting of most lines of business, an impending delisting of shares on the NYSE, and a $1.4 billion loss in 2022 – warns that it has overdrawn its credit and expresses doubt that the company can continue as a going concern.

Fertility player Kindbody gets $100M at $1.8B valuation

Fertility-focused provider Kindbody will use $100 million in new funding to open 10 additional clinics, and acquire virtual health and fertility companies.

FTC moves to ban BetterHelp from sharing mental health data for ad targeting

Online counseling company BetterHelp will pay $7.8 million back to consumers to settle FTC charges that it shared health data with third parties for advertising purposes.

Morning Headlines 3/2/23

Veradigm Inc. Update on 4th Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2022 Reporting of Results

Veradigm adjusts its 2023 revenue projections after discovering that a compliance software error has caused incorrect revenue reports over the last six quarters.

Press Ganey Announces Collaboration With Epic to Advance Integration of Patient Experience Insight Into Electronic Medical Records

Epic will incorporate Press Ganey’s patient experience data into its MyChart patient portal and Cheers CRM.

VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy to depart

VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy will step down from his post, which has included oversight of the department’s troubled EHR modernization program.

Agilon health Announces Acquisition of MphrX, a Leading Healthcare Technology Company

Agilon Health, a physician network development company, acquires FHIR-enabled health data vendor MphrX for $45 million.

Morning Headlines 3/1/23

Local Leaders Announce Plan to Strengthen Health Services in Imperial County

UC San Diego Health considers sharing its EHR with El Centro Regional Medical Center as part of its proposal to temporarily take over operational, clinical, and financial management of the financially troubled hospital.

BetterNight Raises $33M Growth Financing Round led by NewSpring.

Virtual sleep care provider BetterNight raises $33 million in a funding round led by NewSpring.

Vouched raises $6.3 million to expand its AI driven identity verification offering to telemedicine and healthcare providers

Vouched will use $6 million in new funding to market its AI-powered identity verification software to virtual and in-person healthcare providers.

Morning Headlines 2/28/23

Cerebral to Cut 15% of Staff in Fresh Round of Layoffs

Cerebral lays off 15% of its staff, part of the direct-to-consumer telemedicine company’s year-long plan to reorganize and streamline its services.

CodaMetrix Closes $55M Series A to Autonomously Power Medical Coding, Boost Health System Revenue Cycles

Automated coding technology vendor CodaMetrix raises $55 million in a Series A funding round led by SignalFire.

Top-Rated Practice Management Systems Align Tech to Transitioning Medical Office Operations, Black Book Annual Physician Survey

Practice management software end users give EClinicalWorks, ModMed, NextGen, and Veradigm top customer satisfaction marks in Black Book’s latest annual survey.

HHS Announces New Divisions Within the Office for Civil Rights to Better Address Growing Need of Enforcement in Recent Years

HHS OCR renames its Health Information Privacy Division to the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division as part of a reorganization that will better enable the office to more effectively respond to complaints.

Morning Headlines 2/27/23

Biden Proposal Would Ban Online Prescribing of Certain Drugs

The White House proposes a crackdown on telehealth-related prescribing of some medications when the COVID public health emergency ends on May 11.

Gebbs Healthcare Solutions Acquires CPa Medical Billing

Medical billing and coding vendor Gebbs Healthcare Solutions acquires CPa Medical Billing, which offers RCM technologies and services to FQHCs and physician groups.

Vytalize Health Closes $100M to Support Value-Based Care Transformation

Value-based primary care optimization company Vytalize Health secures $100 million in funding, bringing its total raised to $175 million.

Morning Headlines 2/24/23

Teladoc (TDOC) Reports Q4 Loss, Tops Revenue Estimates

Teladoc Health reports a $13.7 billion loss for FY 2022, and mixed revenue and earnings results for Q4, prompting the company to consider near-term layoffs and restructuring.

Premier Inc. Acquires 100 Top Hospitals Program

Premier Inc. acquires the “Top 100 Hospitals” program from Merative, formerly IBM Watson Health, which it will integrate with its PINC AI technology and services brand.

Chartis Establishes the Chartis Center for Burnout Solutions

Chartis acquires DES Health Consulting, whose workforce assessment tool will be offered as the Chartis Center for Burnout Solutions.

Morning Headlines 2/23/23

New Releases: SDOH Toolkit and Learning Forum Sessions for the Health IT Community

ONC publishes the “Social Determinants of Health Information Exchange Toolkit” to serve as a resource for healthcare stakeholders as they consider incorporating social determinants of health into the design of health IT systems.

Scoop: Olive AI plans to divest second major business line

Healthcare automation vendor Olive AI reportedly considers selling its payer-facing prior authorization business.

Amazon closes deal to buy primary care provider One Medical

Amazon closes its $3.9 billion acquisition of membership-based primary care provider One Medical, which has 200 clinics in 26 markets.

Morning Headlines 2/22/23

AGS Acquires Offshore Patient Access BPO Unit from Availity

AGS Health acquires the India-based patient access outsourcing business of Availity, which adds 200 team members to AGS Health’s 11,000 RCM experts.

Ventra Health Announces Acquisition of Deras Global

RCM services provider Ventra Health acquires Deras Global Services, a Philippines-based provider of RCM services for hospital-based physician specialties.

Aledade Adds More Than 450 New Practices for 2023, Making It the Largest Network of Independent Primary Care in the Country

Independent primary care practice management company Aledade acquires value-based care analytics vendor Curia for an undisclosed sum.

Morning Headlines 2/21/23

LVHN reports cyberattack from suspected Russian ransomware group

Lehigh Valley Health Network (PA) refuses to pay the ransom demanded by the Black Cat group, which launched a cyberattack on an LVHN computer system that supports one of its physician practices.

Winners revealed in VA’s $20M Mission Daybreak Grand Challenge to reduce Veteran suicides

The VA awards a combined $11.5 million to the 10 winners of its Mission Daybreak Grand Challenge, which aims to discover new suicide-prevention solutions including those that incorporate digital health.

Scribes linked to 27% lower burnout rate in primary care

Primary care physicians who use scribes report lower levels of burnout, improved workflow satisfaction, and less time spent documenting in the EHR.