Morning Headlines 10/21/22

Health system data breach due to Meta Pixel hits 3 million patients

Advocate Aurora Health joins other large health systems in notifying millions of patients that their information was potentially exposed via the Meta Pixel website user tracker.

CitiusTech Announces Investment and Strategic Partnership from Bain Capital Private Equity

Digital health technology and consulting company CitiusTech secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Bain Capital.

Connective Health Announces the Completion of its Seed Funding Round

Connective Health, a Boston-based clinical summary and predictive insights startup, wraps up its seed funding round with financing led by Activate Venture Partners.

Morning Headlines 10/20/22

Over 41,000 VA Patients Warned of Delayed Care Due to Troubled Electronic Records System

The VA notifies 41,000 patients that their care may have been delayed due to problems with the department’s Oracle Cerner-powered EHR, further implementations of which have been delayed.

EngagedMD Raises $11MM in Funding Round Led by MonCap for Growth in the Fertility Space and Beyond

EngagedMD, which offers patient education and informed consent technologies for fertility practices, raises $11 million.

HHS Office for Civil Rights probes ‘hacking/IT incident’ at Defense Health Headquarters

The HHS Office for Civil Rights investigates a cybersecurity incident at Defense Health headquarters that may have impacted 1,279 people.

Morning Headlines 10/19/22

Inbound Health Launches to Enable Partners to Build and Scale Hospital and Skilled Nursing Facility-at-Home Care Models

Minnesota-based Allina Health and Flare Capital Partners launch Inbound Health, which will help other health systems develop tech-enabled, home-based care programs.

BioIntelliSense Acquires AlertWatch® Clinical Intelligence Engine to Expand its Comprehensive Portfolio of Continuous Patient Monitoring Solutions

Remote patient monitoring technology vendor BioIntelliSense acquires Alert Watch, which offers data aggregation for clinical monitoring.

Redi.Health Secures Financing to Accelerate Availability of Health Management Platform for Patients with Chronic Diseases

Chronic disease patient support app developer Redi.Health raises $3.7 million in seed funding.

Morning Headlines 10/18/22

Cityblock Health Creating 140 New Jobs

Cityblock Health will bring 140 jobs to Indiana when it begins providing tech-enabled care for MDwise members in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.

Eyenuk secures $26 Million Series A funding to accelerate global access to AI-powered eye-screening technology

AI-powered eye-screening software company Eyenuk raises $26 million in a Series A round, bringing its total funding to $43 million.

Vanta lands $40M to automate cybersecurity compliance

Multi-vertical cybersecurity company Vanta raises $40 million in a Series B extension that brings its total raised to $203 million.

Morning Headlines 10/17/22

CHOP spinout Bainbridge Health raises $3.35M

Infusion pump data management vendor Bainbridge Health, a spinoff from Children’s Healthcare of Philadelphia, raises $3.35 million.

Redox Sets the Stage for Composable Healthcare, Expands Internationally

Redox expands into Canada and offers API Actions, which describes specific data models as concepts that developers can more readily understand.

Custom Health Acquires Health in Motion Network

Personalized medication management company Custom Health acquires Health in Motion Network, which has developed wearables data aggregation and tracking software for patients.

Morning Headlines 10/14/22

Walgreens Boots Alliance Accelerates Full Acquisition of CareCentrix

Walgreens will buy the remaining shares of care coordination and benefit management platform vendor CareCentrix for $392 million, with the total acquisition cost amounting to $722 million.

CommonSpirit Update

CommonSpirit Health, which operates 142 hospitals in 21 states, confirms that its continued downtime that started October 3 was caused by a ransomware attack.

Data Dimensions Announces Acquisition of Providerflow to Revolutionize Medical Bill Payments for Clearinghouse

Property and casualty EDI vendor Data Dimensions acquires Providerflow, whose platform manages electronic claims attachments and requests from patients and third parties.

VA extends EHR delay to June 2023 after review finds more system problems

The VA announces that it will push back further Oracle Cerner EHR deployments by an additional six months to give the department more time to troubleshoot issues that have impacted patient care and user satisfaction.

NeuroFlow Closes $25M Growth Investment

Behavioral health assessment and triaging platform vendor NeuroFlow secures a $25 million growth investment.

Morning Headlines 10/13/22

WELL Health to Acquire EMR, Billing and Clinical Assets from CloudMD

Well Health Technologies, a Canadian health IT vendor and clinic operator, acquires medical record and billing software along with three clinics from CloudMD Software & Services.

Nextech Announces Acquisition of TouchMD, Enhancing Specialty Practice Patient Experience

Specialty practice EHR and practice management software company Nextech acquires TouchMD, a visual consultation, marketing, and imaging software vendor.

Noom lays off more employees amid CFO departure

Weight loss coaching app company Noom announces its second round of layoffs this year, several months after raising $540 million.

Morning Headlines 10/12/22

Brave Health Secures $40M in Series C Funding to Expand Access to Mental Health Services for Medicaid Populations

Medicaid virtual mental health provider Brave Health raises $40 million in a Series C funding round.

Milliman IntelliScript® Acquires OneRecord

Insurer risk assessment technology vendor Milliman IntelliScript acquires API-based EHR records retrieval system vendor OneRecord.

Redesign Health lays off 67 employees a month after raising $65 million

Healthcare startup development company Redesign Health lays off 20% of its staff in a restructuring move that affects its engineering, product, marketing, and recruiting departments.

Morning Headlines 10/11/22

Post-pandemic, Telemedicine startups are evolving — this one just raised $6M for its hybrid approach

Specialty health and wellness telemedicine vendor Index Health raises $6 million in a seed funding round.

Patients’ private details published after cyber attackers stole data on up to 450,000 people

In New Zealand, hackers notify Pinnacle Midlands Health Network that they’ve uploaded the stolen data of 450,000 patients to the dark Web.

InStride Health Providing Virtual Pediatric Anxiety/OCD Treatment Launches with Support from McLean Hospital and Leading Healthcare Investors

Pediatric virtual mental healthcare company InStride Health launches with $26 million in funding.

Morning Headlines 10/10/22

Seattle-area patients frustrated by days of system outages at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health facilities

Nearly a week into CommonSpirit Health’s IT incident, patients are growing frustrated by the lack of digital access that has prevented timely care coordination and prescription refills.

VA’s electronic health records system hit with pharmacy module outage

Oracle Cerner engineers resolve an application package coding issue that caused the VA’s EHR pharmacy module to go down for 11 hours last week.

Nebraska Hospital Association, UNMC announce data collaboration

The Nebraska Hospital Association and the University of Nebraska Medical Center prepare to launch an initiative that will give researchers access to the hospital’s de-identified claims data.

Morning Headlines 10/7/22

Call it data liberation day: Patients can now access all their health records digitally 

Federal rules take effect that will enable patients to obtain all of their medical records in digital format upon request.

CMS Asks for Public Input on Establishing First, National Directory of Health Care Providers and Services

CMS solicits feedback on the idea of developing a national directory of healthcare providers and services.

Alleva Raises $12 Million Series A Led By Ankona Capital

Behavioral health IT vendor Alleva raises $12 million in a Series A funding round.

Nordic Consulting Acquires Healthcare Consulting Company Hygeian

Nordic Consulting acquires Hygeian, a healthcare consulting and staffing firm that serves customers in the UK and Middle East.

Morning Headlines 10/6/22

PatientPoint Acquires Rendia to Accelerate Expansion into Ophthalmology Specialty

Patient engagement vendor PatientPoint acquires eye care-focused competitor Rendia for an undisclosed sum.

Drummond Group Introduces Pediatric Health IT Certification Program

Drummond Group, the certifying body for ONC’s Health IT Certification Program, launches a Pediatric Health IT Certification program to help health IT vendors advance pediatric EHR capabilities.

TPG seals $2.2B deal for ClaimsXten

Private equity firm TPG acquires Change Healthcare’s ClaimsXten business for $2.2 billion as part of the terms of UnitedHealth’s acquisition of Change.

Morning Headlines 10/5/22

Paper charts, canceled appointments at VMFH clinics, hospitals as network outage drags on

Computer networks remain offline at numerous facilities within the multi-state CommonSpirit Health system due to an unspecified IT security incident that occurred Monday.

Epic overhauls popular sepsis algorithm criticized for faulty alarms

STAT reports that Epic now recommends that its sepsis prediction model be trained on a hospital’s own data before clinical use, and that the company has changed its definition of sepsis onset to a more commonly accepted standard.

Smile CDR Rebrands to Smile Digital Health

Clinical data repository vendor Smile CDR rebrands to Smile Digital Health to reflect its expanded focus on health data and integration.

The Way Forward for Mental Healthcare: A Message from Dr. David Mou, CEO, Cerebral

Cerebral CEO David Mou, MD vows to enhance the online mental healthcare company’s clinical safeguards and patient identification verification protocols and software, among other changes, in response to scrutiny around its prescribing, marketing, and patient identity verification practices.

Morning Headlines 10/4/22

CTG Acquires Eleviant Tech to Accelerate Digital Transformation Strategy and Portfolio Innovation

CTG acquires Eleviant Tech, a digital transformation company specializing in mobile, cloud, robotic process automation, and AI across multiple verticals including healthcare.

Optum and Change Healthcare Complete Combination

UnitedHealth finalizes its $8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, which it will merge with its Optum business.

EHNAC and CARIN Alliance Announce New CARIN Code of Conduct Accreditation Program

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission and the CARIN Alliance, a collaborative focused on consumer-directed health data exchange, launch an accreditation program to bring the CARIN Code of Conduct and EHNAC’s criteria review process to healthcare stakeholders.

Morning Headlines 10/3/22

Major in the United States Army and a Maryland Doctor Facing Federal Indictment for Allegedly Providing Confidential Health Information to a Purported Russian Representative to Assist Russia Related to the Conflict In Ukraine

Federal prosecutors indict US Army Major Jamie Lee Henry and his wife, Anna Gabrielian, for conspiracy and disclosing the health information of military personnel to assist Russia with its war against Ukraine.

Talkspace investor demands appointment of CEO, plan to stabilize stock price

Investor Firstime Ventures calls for therapy app vendor Talkspace to appoint a permanent CEO, share its long-term plan, and address rumors of a potential sale.

Grow Therapy Raises $75 Million to Expand Access to Affordable Mental Healthcare

Tech-enabled mental healthcare company Grow Therapy raises $75 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $90 million.

Careviso Raises Over $17 million in Series B Funding to Enhance Transparency and Access for Diagnostic Testing

Patient access and transparency technology vendor Careviso raises $17 million in a Series B funding round.

Morning Headlines 9/30/22

Cerebral Treated a 17-Year-Old Without His Parents’ Consent. They Found Out the Day He Died.

The Wall Street Journal exposes lax patient identification verification at Cerebral, an online prescription drug company that has come under fire in recent months for potentially violating the Controlled Substances Act.

VA ‘not confident’ EHR issues preventing future rollouts are resolved following Oracle fix

VA Secretary Denis McDonough says it’s too soon to tell if an August EHR update by Oracle Cerner has finally fixed an “unknown queue” problem that caused thousands of clinical orders to disappear in an unmonitored inbox, causing patients to miss follow-up appointments.

Kahun Secures $8M Round for its ‘XAI’ Engine for Clinical Reasoning

Israel-based clinical assessment chatbot startup Kahun raises $8 million in a seed funding round.

Morning Headlines 9/29/22

InterWell Health Enhances Capabilities to Transform Kidney Care with Addition of Acumen Physician Solutions

Kidney care company InterWell Health acquires Acumen Physician Solutions, which offers EHR and practice management software for nephrologists.

New Mental Health Company Led by Consumer Brand Industry Veterans to Revolutionize Mental Health Care Delivery for Seniors

Tech-enabled, senior-focused mental healthcare startup Rippl launches with $32 million in seed funding.

10 Healthcare Organizations Band Together to Urge HHS to Postpone Information Sharing Compliance Deadlines

Citing a lack of guidance on best practices and potential enforcement, plus a lack of preparedness on the part of some smaller vendors, provider organizations band together to urge HHS to give stakeholders an additional year to comply with the information-sharing compliance deadline, currently scheduled for October 6, 2022.