Morning Headlines 4/24/18

Former VA CIO optimistic that IT initiatives will move forward

Former acting VA CIO Scott Blackburn downplays speculation that his departure, as well as that of former VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD will hinder the agency’s progress on purchasing and implementing a new Cerner EHR – a contract he expects will be signed within the next couple of months.

Hacker Group Is Targeting Healthcare For Corporate Espionage, Symantec Warns

Symantec reports that a new hacker group called Orangeworm is conducting industrial espionage through custom malware attacks on medical imaging software.

Defense Electronic Health Records Program Seeks Help Organizing Influx of Data

The Defense Health Agency looks for vendors capable of consolidating and migrating data from its enterprise storage systems as it moves to the new MHS Genesis EHR.

Feedback on New Direction Request for Information (RFI) Released, CMS Innovation Center’s Market-Driven Reforms to Focus on Patient-Centered Care

CMS looks for additional feedback on direct provider contracting, which would enable Medicare patients and providers to bypass an administrative middleman in an effort to lower costs and improve care.

Morning Headlines 4/23/18

Beaumont, Henry Ford rethink the ICU

Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak (MI) redesigns its ICU to display data from Epic and monitors in a big-screen graphical format that increases real-time data visibility with fewer clicks.

Switching programs, MultiCare Spokane hopes to streamline medical records for patients

MultiCare Spokane (WA) will switch to Epic on June 1, putting the region’s largest health systems on the same EHR system.

An E.R. That Treats You Like a V.I.P.

Concierge ED business models take hold, catering to affluent families willing to pay thousands of dollars annually to gain access to VIP emergency rooms that — unlike hospitals that prioritize patients by acuity — get them in and out quickly by seeing only a handful of patients each day.

Epic Systems and MEDITECH Rise Atop Black Book 2018 Survey of Inpatient EHR Client Satisfaction Joining Cerner and CPSI

A survey of 3,000 hospital EHR users finds that two-thirds of hospitals don’t use patient information from outside their own EHRs because it’s not available within their workflows.

Morning Headlines 4/20/18

Tulare hospital’s creditors lining up in court

Healthcare Conglomerate Associates – former management company of Tulare Regional Medical Center (CA) – attributes its past struggles with payroll to glitches in the Cerner system it implemented in 2016. Parent organization Tulare Local Healthcare District filed for bankruptcy last fall.

New CHCF Investment Streamlines Care Coordination in the Safety Net

California Health Care Foundation’s innovation fund invests an unspecified amount in Collective Medical.

Comcast and Independence Health to partner on new health care platform

Comcast and Philadelphia BCBS insurer Independence Health will launch a health technology platform for consumers that will focus on patient communication and education, and telemedicine.

Morning Headlines 4/19/18

Warnings of $100M Overpayment Prompt Recommendation to Void Contract

The State of Illinois Procurement Board finds evidence of a conflict of interest in the $62 million University of Illinois Hospitals EHR implementation contract awarded to Epic, prompting the board to refer the matter to the state’s ethics commission for a public hearing.

Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on new efforts to enhance and modernize the FDA’s approach to medical device safety and innovation

The FDA includes cybersecurity as part of its new Medical Device Safety Action Plan, emphasizing the need to shore up device vulnerabilities that could compromise patient safety.

Kyruus Raises $10 Million to Fuel Continued Growth

Provider data management and scheduling software vendor Kyruus raises $10 million, bringing its total funding to $72 million.

Morning Headlines 4/18/18

UNC Health Care Achieves Highest Rank Possible in Three Health IT Categories

UNC Health Care (NC) announces that it has achieved HIMSS Stage 7 for inpatient, ambulatory, and analytics, of which neighboring Duke Health was the first trifecta winner.

Livongo Health Acquires Retrofit

Livongo Health acquires 80-employee, Chicago-based Retrofit, which provides online programs for weight management and disease prevention.

Greenway Health adds 104 jobs at Tampa headquarters, thanks to $520,000 in state and local incentives

Greenway Health has added 104 jobs at its Tampa headquarters as it closed offices in Lake Mary, FL, Birmingham, AL, and Atlanta.

VA loses its CIO, creating further uncertainty for EHR modernization

Interim VA CIO Scott Blackburn, who was heavily involved in its plan to implement Cerner, resigns for unspecified reasons.

Morning Headlines 4/17/18

CMS Paid Practitioners for Telehealth Services That Did Not Meet Medicare Requirements

An OIG analysis finds that CMS erroneously paid out $3.7 million for telemedicine claims that did not meet Medicare requirements.

Pentagon wants to spot illnesses by monitoring service members’ smartphones

DARPA awards a $5.1 million contract to KryptoWire to develop the Warfighter Analytics using Smartphones for Health program.

HealthInsight and Qualis Health Announce Formal Merger Agreement

Healthcare consulting firms HealthInsight and Qualis Health announce formal merger plans.

Nokia’s Health division is up for sale (again) and Nest is interested

Google-backed Nest expresses interest in purchasing Nokia’s consumer health division, which includes the Withings assets acquired for $190 million in 2016.

Morning Headlines 4/16/18

CHS lays off dozens of corporate employees

Nashville-based hospital chain Community Health Systems lays off at least 70 corporate IT employees. Rumors suggest data center and deployment areas were hit hard.

GE Healthcare IT unit carveout backed by US$850m in loans

Veritas Capital has arranged $850 million in leveraged loans to support its acquisition of GE Healthcare’s IT business for $1.05 billion.

CVS Hires Doctor From Health Startup in Sign of Medical Ambition

CVS Health hires the chief medical officer of Iora Health as CMO for its MinuteClinic division, further fueling rumors of its interest in providing services to Medicare Advantage patients as part of its proposed merger with Aetna.

Physician turned entrepreneur begins work with new patients: Union-Tribune and L.A. Times

Billionaire NantHealth CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD outlines his plans to take over ownership of The Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and several Southern California-based community papers in a $500 million deal expected to close later this month.

Medical records of Texas Health patients may have been exposed in data breach

Texas Health Resources notifies 4,000 patients of a data breach involving email accounts last October.

Morning Headlines 4/13/18

FDA permits marketing of artificial intelligence-based device to detect certain diabetes-related eye problems

IDx receives FDA clearance to market its AI-based diabetic retinopathy diagnostic system to PCPs, giving them access to a tool that assesses patients without need for physician analysis.

This Woman’s Apple Watch Helped Detect Her Severe Thyroid Problem

Twenty five year-old Heather Hendershot’s Apple Watch alerts her to an abnormally high resting heart rate – a lone symptom that led to a diagnosis of and hospital stay for hyperthyroidism.

Committed to proactively addressing the security concerns of our customers

Philips warns that security vulnerabilities in its ISite and IntelliSpace PACS products could affect patient confidentiality and system integrity, some of which could expose systems to remote attacks using publicly available exploits.

Morning Headlines 4/12/18

Apple’s iOS 11.3 electronic health record initiative ‘might be overhyped’

At an AMIA briefing on Capitol Hill, Geisinger Health System (PA) Chief Clinical Informatics Officer Alistair Erskine, MD points out that Apple’s Health Record app initiative is more limited than headlines suggest, given that it excludes Android users and does not yet give users access to their full medical records.

Epic won’t protest Coast Guard move to Cerner

Epic will not protest the Coast Guard’s decision to move on from its failed $60 million Epic implementation and join the DoD’s $4.3 billion Cerner contract.

Livongo Health Raises $105 Million

Livongo Health raises $105 million in a Series E funding round and announces it will work with Cambia Health Solutions to develop and market new consumer-friendly digital health offerings for those with chronic conditions.

Morning Headlines 4/11/18

Theranos Lays Off Most of Its Remaining Workforce

Theranos lays off most of its remaining employees following SEC fraud charges and ahead of a likely bankruptcy filing, leaving around 20 employees.

Mayo Clinic offers 400 transcriptionists buyout packages

Mayo Clinic offers voluntary separation packages to 400 transcriptionists as technology replaces them even before it goes live on Epic.

Veterans Affairs on course to top agency health IT spending

Analysts attribute projected growth in federal health IT spending to VA and DoD investments in new EHR software and related network and infrastructure upgrades.

Allscripts Care Management Joins With CarePort Health to Build Next Generation Care Coordination Solutions

Allscripts repositions its care and referral management system under CarePort, the outcomes technology vendor it acquired in October 2016.

Morning Headlines 4/10/18

After botched acquisition, Coast Guard joins Pentagon electronic health record system

The Coast Guard will implement MHS Genesis, joining the DOD’s 10-year, $4.3 billion contract with Cerner.

Google is teaming up with the largest doctor group for a medical data challenge

The AMA and Google launch the Health Care and Interoperability Innovation Challenge to uncover new ways of monitoring and sharing health data between chronic disease patients and physicians using mobile technology.

Specialist-Centric Systems Lead Small Physician Practice EHR Satisfaction, Black Book Survey

Seven vendors – each with specialty-focused EHRs that offer RCM, coding, and practice management tools – score highest for customer satisfaction in Black Book’s latest market analysis.

Morning Headlines 4/9/18

Trump taps new director for office on Medicare reforms

The White House hires Landmark Health CEO Adam Boehler as director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

Netsmart to Acquire Change Healthcare Home Care and Hospice Solutions

Netsmart will acquire Change Healthcare’s home care and hospice solutions, integrating them into its HIE, analytics, referral management, and mobility technologies.

Roche completes acquisition of Flatiron Health

Roche wraps up its $1.9 billion deal with New York City-based oncology EHR and research company Flatiron Health, which will continue to operate as its own business entity.

Morning Headlines 4/6/18

Jamie Dimon Lays Out JPMorgan-Amazon-Berkshire Health Care Priorities

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon provides shareholders high-level details about the employee healthcare venture the company is undertaking with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway.

Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data

Facebook reveals it considered embarking on a research project with several hospitals that would have combined anonymized patient data with its user data to pinpoint patients in need of care.

London doctors protest over NHS smartphone ‘video appointment’ service

GPs in London protest NHS England’s decision to offer patients text-based care via the Babylon Health-powered GP at Hand app, the use of which automatically de-registered users from their local NHS surgery.

Morning Headlines 4/5/18

Welltok Raises $75 Million in Funding

Consumer health tech company Welltok raises $75 million in a second Series E round, bringing its total funding to $252 million.

One vets group wants President Trump to rethink acting pick

Several veterans groups express a lack of confidence in acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie and his ability to keep the yet-to-be signed Cerner contract on track.

SCI Solutions Acquires DatStat to Lead Digital Patient Engagement

Care coordination software company SCI Solutions acquires patient engagement vendor DatStat for an undisclosed sum.

Morning Headlines 4/4/18

Dismal result for former tech darling Orion

Orion Health Group announces poor annual results and implementation of a cost-saving restructuring as it reorganizes into three business units – Rhapsody, population health, and hospitals.

Microsoft alleges CHS copyright infringement

Microsoft is suing Community Health Systems (TN) for breaching its software licensing contracts.

State Department Looks Into New EHR

The State Department issues an RFP for a new EHR after efforts to collaborate with the Coast Guard on an Epic implementation failed.

Morning Headlines 4/3/18

GE Sheds Health IT Assets for $1B, Doubles Down on A.I. and Devices

Veritas Capital will acquire GE Healthcare’s Value-Based Care Division – including ambulatory care, RCM, and workforce management assets – for $1 billion.

St. Charles’ new $79.5 million record system going online

St. Charles Health System (OR) brings its “slightly under budget” Epic system online after a two-year implementation process.

Insurers will study blockchain to fix their provider lists

UnitedHealth Group, Optum, Humana, Quest Diagnostics, and Multiplan embark on a pilot project to determine if blockchain technology can streamline the process of verifying and updating their provider lists.

Merged Aurora Health Care, Advocate Health Care consider clinic expansion near Foxconn

Advocate Aurora Health co-CEO and co-President Jim Skogsbergh says the newly merged entity’s biggest priority will be converting Advocate facilities to Epic – a three-year project with an as yet undisclosed cost.

Morning Headlines 4/2/18

23andMe Plans To Hire 200 People In 2018. Here’s How To Be One Of Them

23andMe plans to hire 200 employees this year as it looks to expand its consumer genetic testing and research capabilities.

Did Shulkin get fired or resign? This is why it matters

The White House insists that VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD resigned, disputing Shulkin’s own account of being fired.

Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?

Patent filings from Amazon and Google suggest that their digital assistants could do a lot more than obey pre-programmed commands, suggesting potential uses to monitor conversations for ad-serving ideas and body sounds for potential medical situations.

Accolade Announces $50 Million in Financing, Supports Solution Innovation and Growth to More than 1.1 Million Members

Personalized health and benefits solution vendor Accolade raises $50 million in a Series F funding round, increasing its total to $217 million.