Morning Headlines 8/25/22

Amazon is shutting down its telehealth service, Amazon Care

Amazon decides to shut down Amazon Care, its employer-focused virtual care company, after determining that it is not a “complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers” the retail giant has been targeting.

Firmament Backs Healthcare Revenue Integrity Technology Platform Panacea Healthcare Solutions

Firmament makes an undisclosed investment in Panacea Healthcare Solutions, a revenue cycle software and services company that recently acquired competitors Holliday & Associates and First Healthcare Compliance.

Epic’s Judy Faulkner dresses as Amelia Earhart for global conference

Epic announces a new Cosmos “look-alikes” feature that will enable providers to diagnose rare diseases more quickly using its database of 149 million patients.

Morning Headlines 8/24/22

Babylon Disrupted the UK’s Health System. Then It Left

Struggling Babylon Health cancels its last NHS contract eight years early, saying that the projects aren’t profitable enough to continue in a cost-cutting environment.

HITRUST Selected for TEFCA Security Certification

The Sequoia Project selects HITRUST as the certifying body for organizations looking to prove compliance with TEFCA security requirements for designation as Qualified Health Information Networks.

Sanford breaks ground on transformative Virtual Care Center

Sanford Health (SD) begins construction on a 60,000 square-foot Virtual Care Center that will serve as a hub for the health system’s virtual clinics and telemedicine services.

Morning Headlines 8/23/22

Signify Health stock surges 32% on reports Amazon is bidding for the company

The shares of home healthcare company Signify Health jump on the news that Amazon is reportedly interested in acquiring the company, along with CVS Health and UnitedHealth.

Recuro Health’s Acquisition of Competitive Health Adds End-to-End Integrated Benefits to its Digital Medical Home and Portfolio of Digital Health Solutions

Virtual care company Recuro Health acquires Competitive Health, which offers digital health programs to employers.

Akili wraps up $1B deal with Palihapitiya-led SPAC

Akili Interactive, which has developed an FDA-approved video game to treat children with ADHD, goes public via a merger with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp.

Morning Headlines 8/22/22

VA data shows Oracle Cerner EHR hit with nearly 500 major incidents since initial rollout

VA data obtained by FedScoop under the Freedom of Information Act shows that the VA has had at least 45 days of Oracle Cerner downtime and 498 major incidents since its first rollout in September 2020.

Alpha II, LLC Accelerates Revenue Cycle Management Solutions with Acquisition of Health EFilings

RCM software vendor Alpha II acquires Health EFilings, which offers analytics and automated MIPS reporting.

Russian hackers plan to release data stolen from McKinney hospital onto dark web

Methodist McKinney Hospital (TX) refuses to pay hackers to retrieve 360 gigabytes of data stolen in a recent ransomware attack.

Morning Headlines 8/19/22

Upfront acquires PatientBond; expands capabilities for market-leading personalized patient access and engagement platform

Patient engagement and access platform vendor Upfront acquires PatientBond, which offers patient relationship solutions.

Idaho Health Data Exchange files for bankruptcy, with $4 million owed to creditors

The Idaho Health Data Exchange has filed for bankruptcy after accumulating $4 million in debt since launching in 2009, despite receiving an $8 million federal grant in May.

Impact Advisors Acquires Chicago-Based C2 Healthcare

Impact Advisors acquires business intelligence consulting firm C2 Healthcare.

Motivo Health closes $14M Series A to solve shortage of mental health therapists

Motivo Health, which has developed an online marketplace to help aspiring mental health therapists obtain licensure, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round.

Morning Headlines 8/18/22

Eir Partners invests in ClaimLogiq, the Leader in Healthcare SaaS Payment Integrity Solutions

Eir Partners announces a growth recapitalization investment in ClaimLogiq, a payer-focused payments company that recently acquired natural language processing-enabled medical claims and coding vendor SyTrue.

AliveCor Announces Series F Financing to Help Expand Offerings to Key Healthcare Industry Stakeholders

Heart health technology vendor AliveCor secures an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series F round led by GE Healthcare.

KeyCare Expands Nation’s Only Virtual-First Care Platform Built with Epic via $24M Series A Investment

Epic-enabled virtual care startup KeyCare, launched by health IT veteran Lyle Berkowitz, MD raises $24 million in a Series A funding round.

Morning Headlines 8/17/22

CDC to regain control of US hospital data after Trump-era seizure, chaos

CDC will regain control of hospital-reported COVID-19 data when the government’s contract with TeleTracking ends on December 31.

Intelerad Acquires PenRad Technologies, Inc., Expanding Breast Imaging and Lung Screening Capabilities

Enterprise medical imaging vendor Intelerad acquires PenRad Technologies, which offers productivity tools for breast imaging and lung screening.

SpendMend Acquires Pharmacy Procurement Software Pioneer, Trulla

Hospital cost management system vendor SpendMend acquires Trulla, which sells pharmacy procurement software.

Morning Headlines 8/16/22

NextGen Healthcare Announces Intention to Become a Qualified Health Information Network

NextGen becomes the first ambulatory-focused vendor to apply to become a TEFCA-enabled Qualified Health Information Network.

Babylon Denies Acquisition Rumors

UK-based digital healthcare company Babylon denies it is contemplating putting itself up for sale as it wrestles with sinking share prices after going public nearly one year ago.

CareHarmony Secures $15 million in Series A Funding Led by Maverick Ventures

Chronic disease management software and services company CareHarmony raises $15 million in a Series A funding round.

Morning Headlines 8/15/22

Digital health unicorn Truepill conducts third round of layoffs in 2022

Truepill, which offers white-labeled, API-connected virtual pharmacy and telehealth solutions as well as home diagnostic kits, reportedly conducts its third round of layoffs this year.

Growth Report: Oracle Cerner continues to expand client relationships

Oracle Cerner announces it executed 161 new, extended, or expanded contracts from April to June 2022, including 11 new clients.

Signify Health to lay off 489 people, including 45 in Connecticut

Signify Health, the value-based home health provider reportedly being pursued by CVS Health, notifies the State of Connecticut’s Department of Labor that it will lay off 489 people beginning October 1.

Morning Headlines 8/12/22

GHX Launches Lumere Consulting Services to Accelerate the Clinically Integrated Supply Chain

Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) Lumere launches a consulting service to help hospitals with their cost-saving and clinical variation programs.

Abridge Secures $12.5M in Funding and Launches Enterprise Solution to Combat Physician Burnout in Healthcare and Help Patients Stay on Top of Their Health

AI-powered medical documentation vendor Abridge raises $12.5 million in Series A funding.

Peraton to Serve as Defense Health Agency’s Enterprise Information Technology Services Integrator

The Defense Health Agency’s Military Health System awards a subsidiary of government contractor Peraton a 10-year, $2 billion contract for digital transformation services.

Morning Headlines 8/11/22

Biofourmis Raises Additional Funding from Intel Capital in Series D Extension and Names Top Healthcare Leaders to its Board

Intel Capital invests $20 million in analytics-powered virtual care company Biofourmis, extending its Series D round to a final $320 million.

Kansas City Medical Information Technology Company Agrees to Pay $1.8M to Resolve Racial Discrimination Alleged by US Department of Labor

Cerner will pay $1.86 million to 1,870 job applicants to resolve federal allegations that it discriminated in hiring black and Asian applicants between 2015 and 2019.

VHA Launches New Playbook Outlining Digital Health Care Needs For Patients

The Veterans Health Administration publishes a Digital Healthcare Playbook to help the private sector better understand what the VA wants in future healthcare technology systems and devices, and to serve as an internal review of its current software utilization.

Morning Headlines 8/10/22

Availity to Acquire Diameter Health, A Leader in Clinical Data Interoperability

Health information network management company Availity will acquire Diameter Health, which specializes in data optimization and interoperability, marking its second acquisition of the year.

CPSI Announces Second Quarter 2022 Results

CPSI announces Q2 results: revenue up 21%, EPS $0.21 versus $0.42, with shares down 15% in the past 12 months.

Tens of thousands of tablets VA distributed for telehealth appointments go unused

An audit of the Veterans Health Administration’s video connect program – budgeted at $14.5 million – finds that 51% of the 41,000 patients who were loaned tablets for telehealth appointments in 2021 never used them for that purpose.

Morning Headlines 8/9/22

Netsmart Announces the Skilled Nursing Industry’s Only Data Analytics Solution with a Complete View of Claims, MDS, and Staffing

Netsmart acquires Zimmet Healthcare’s Core Analytics offering for skilled nursing facilities.

HHS Awards Nearly $90 Million to Community Health Centers to Advance Health Equity through Better Data

HHS awards nearly $90 million to 1,400 health centers across the country to help them improve data collection and reporting.

EirSystems Announces Close of Seed Financing Round to Advance Software for Preventing Prescription Abuse

Tennessee-based e-prescribing startup EirSystems secures seed funding in a round led by Solas BioVentures.

Morning Headlines 8/5/22

WVU Medicine’s partnership with DHS is ending

Davis Health System (WV) and WVU Health will end their partnership due to Davis Health’s decision to implement Cerner, rather than adopt WVU Health’s cost-prohibitive Epic system.

Allscripts Announces Second Quarter of 2022 Results

Allscripts announces Q2 results: revenue up 7%, adjusted EPS $0.18 versus $0.18, beat revenue expectations, but falling short on earnings.

Atropos Health Announces $14M Series A, Taps Co-founder as CEO

Atropos Health, which offers a digital consultation service for providers, raises $14 million in a Series A funding round.

Veritas completes merger of RCM firms Coronis and MiraMed

Veritas Capital merges recently acquired RCM vendors Coronis and MiraMed Global Services to offer providers end-to-end RCM software and services.

Morning Headlines 8/4/22

Homeward Secures $50 Million in Series B Funding to Improve Access to High-Quality Healthcare in Rural Communities

Rural hybrid care company Homeward raises $50 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $70 million.

CareTrack Health Secures $2.5 Million Investment from Hybrid Capital Partners

Patient adherence software vendor CareTrack secures $2.5 million from Hybrid Capital Partners.

Athenahealth Implements DrFirst’s Digital Engagement Solution to Encourage Patients to Follow Prescribed Treatment Plans

Athenahealth integrates DrFirst’s RxInform patient medication notification software with its EHR to improve medication adherence.

Morning Headlines 8/3/22

Lyniate Merges with CareCom, Further Extending Capabilities of Interoperability Leader

Lyniate acquires Denmark-based clinical terminology management vendor CareCom.

Hawley Calls for FTC Review of Amazon’s One Medical Acquisition

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) asks the FTC to review Amazon’s planned acquisition of One Medical, which he says gives Amazon too much power to push non-prescription blood pressure medications at Whole Foods that are based on One Medical patient data.

VA names functional champion for electronic health record modernization program

The VA tasks David Massaro, MD – formerly an executive within the VHA’s Office of Health Informatics – with coordinating the development and implementation of the agency’s EHR modernization program across its offices.

Morning Headlines 8/2/22

Carequality Interoperability Framework Expands To Allow Federal Participation

Carequality expands its interoperability framework to allow the participation of federal agencies, courtesy of updated agreements with existing member EHealth Exchange.

PE-backed Zelis buys Spectrum’s Payer Compass

Healthcare payment company Zelis Healthcare acquires healthcare pricing solutions business Payer Compass, which gears its services toward employers and payers, for $180 million.

Oracle Cuts Workers in US Customer Experience Unit

Confirming earlier reports, Oracle lays off staff in its marketing and customer experience divisions as it buckles down on revitalizing Cerner’s work with the VA.