Morning Headlines 11/16/22

Introducing Amazon Clinic, a virtual health service that delivers convenient, affordable care for common conditions

Amazon officially launches Amazon Clinic, a message-based service that connects customers with Amazon-approved, third-party virtual care services for more than 20 common health conditions.

Cleveland Clinic to soon bill for MyChart messages

Cleveland Clinic will begin billing patients for certain messages sent through its MyChart patient portal that take physicians longer than five minutes to answer and require a certain amount of clinical expertise.

Hackensack Meridian Health Aims to Boost Innovation, Increase Efficiencies and Strengthen Security with Plans to Run Epic on Google Cloud

Epic customers can now move their medical records to Google Cloud.

Morning Headlines 11/15/22

Data breach of pediatricians’ computer network ‘may’ have exposed patient data

Pediatric health IT company Connexin Software, parent company of the Office Practicum brand, notifies over 100 customers and their patients of a data breach in late August.

Maven’s Second Act

Tech-enabled women’s and family care company Maven Clinic raises $90 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total raised to $300 million.

Validic Inc. raises $12 million in its latest funding round

Digital health integration and remote patient monitoring technology vendor Validic secures $12 million in a financing round led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures.

Morning Headlines 11/14/22

Controversial £360m NHS England data platform ‘lined up’ for Trump backer’s firm

England’s The Guardian reports that a $425 million contract for a national shared patient data system is likely to be issued soon to Palantir.

AngelEye Health Announces Series B Funding to Support Company’s Rapid Growth

AngelEye Health, which offers patient and family engagement software for hospital neonatal, pediatric intensive care, and nursery units, raises $20 million in a Series B funding round.

SocialClimb Secures $8.5 Million in Growth Funding from Spring Capital and Resolve Growth Partners

Healthcare marketing and patient relationship management software firm SocialClimb secures $8.5 million in growth funding.

Morning Headlines 11/11/22

Amazon’s leaked ‘Clinic’ would connect patients to telemedicine

Amazon posts and then quickly unpublishes a video on its YouTube page describing Amazon Clinic, an online care program for common conditions.

Northwell Holdings and Aegis Ventures Sign Strategic Collaboration Agreement to Launch Upliv, a Comprehensive Digital Health Company for Menopause

Northwell Holdings and Aegis Ventures launch Upliv, which will offer video consults and care for managing the symptoms of menopause.

CommonSpirit Update

CommonSpirit Health says that access to its EHR and patient portal has been restored for most users following an October 4 ransomware attack.

Virtual care startup Wheel buys GoodRx tech for $20M

Virtual care company Wheel will acquire prescription savings company GoodRx’s virtual care technology for $20 million.

Morning Headlines 11/10/22

Hackers Are Posting Australian Health Insurance Data on the Dark Web

Hackers begin publishing patient data stolen from Australian company Medibank after the insurance company refused to pay the requested ransom.

CitiusTech Acquires Wilco Source, Expands Specialized Salesforce Capabilities for Healthcare & Life Sciences

Healthcare technology and consulting firm CitiusTech acquires California-based Wilco Source, which offers Salesforce consulting and implementation for healthcare and life sciences companies.

Fathom Secures $46M Series B Financing

Medical coding automation vendor Fathom raises $46 million in a Series B funding round.

Morning Headlines 11/9/22

SCP Health Announces Acquisition of Tech-Enabled Patient Engagement Company PreMedex

Clinical staffing and outsourced practice management company SCP Health acquires PreMedex, which offers patient engagement and communication software.

Talkspace Announces Jon Cohen, M.D. As Next Chief Executive Officer

Mental health app vendor Talkspace promotes Jon Cohen, MD to CEO after announcing disappointing Q3 results.

Censinet Announces Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study Co-Sponsored by the American Hospital Association and KLAS Research

Censinet, the American Hospital Association, and KLAS Research launch a healthcare cybersecurity benchmarking study that will allow health systems to compare cybersecurity investments, resources, performance, and maturity versus peers.

Morning Headlines 11/8/22

VillageMD Acquires Summit Health-CityMD, Creating One of the Largest Independent Provider Groups in the US

Walgreens-backed primary care company VillageMD will acquire provider Summit Health for $9 billion.

Emocha Health Relaunches as Scene Health to Support Medication Adherence for Each Individual at the Scene of Their Health

Medication adherence vendor Emocha Health rebrands to Scene Health and launches Panorama, an enhanced Directly Observed Therapy program.

ChristianaCare Creates Business Health Solutions to Offer Its Award-Winning Health Care Services to Employers Regionally and Nationally

ChristianaCare’s new Business Health Solutions unit will offer employers direct virtual primary and behavioral health services, destination surgery programs, and COVID-19 vaccination and symptom-monitoring capabilities. 

Morning Headlines 11/7/22

Roche introduces the navify brand for its digital health solutions at HLTH 2022

Roche, the world’s largest biotechnology company, unifies its 30-solution digital health portfolio under the brand Navify.

Smile Digital Health Expands Product Offering With Alphora Acquisition

Health data and integration vendor Smile Digital Health acquires clinical quality language and metrics company Alphora.

Transcarent Selects Prescryptive Health to Power a New, Different and Better Integrated Pharmacy Experience

Transcarent will use Prescryptive’s prescription intelligence platform to power its Pharmacy Care service, giving members access to Prescryptive’s transparent pricing and network of retail, home delivery, and specialty pharmacies.

Morning Headlines 11/4/22

Modernizing Medicine Agrees to Pay $45 Million to Resolve Allegations of Accepting and Paying Illegal Kickbacks and Causing False Claims

A whistleblower lawsuit that was joined by the Department of Justice said that the company, which is now known as ModMed, falsely attested that its EHR met Meaningful Use criteria and paid kickbacks for referrals.

Red Cross seeks ‘digital emblem’ to protect against hacking

The organization hopes that a digital version of its cross will protect medical and humanitarian services from digital harm during armed conflicts.

Warner Releases Policy Options Paper Addressing Cybersecurity in the Health Care Sector

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) publishes “Cybersecurity is Patient Safety,” a policy options paper.

Morning Headlines 11/3/22

CPSI Announces Business Unit and Executive Leadership Changes

The company announces new leaders following the June retirement of President and CEO Boyd Douglas

CommonSpirit Appoints Daniel Barchi as Chief Information Officer

CommonSpirit Health hires Daniel Barchi from New York-Presbyterian as senior executive VP and CIO.

AeroDPC joins the Hint Health Ecosystem

Hint Health, which sells EHR-integrated membership management and billing software, acquires AeroDPC, which offers an EHR/PM system for direct primary care physicians.

Qualifacts Announces Acquisition of OnCall Health

Behavioral health EHR vendor Qualifacts acquires OnCall, a vendor of telehealth, patient portal, and client engagement technology for behavioral health organizations.

Morning Headlines 11/2/22

Walgreens-Backed VillageMD Said to Explore Deal for Summit

The proposed $10 billion company would operate the 200 primary care offices of Walgreens and the 340 urgent care locations of Summit Health-owned CityMD.

Americans Take Ketamine at Home for Depression With Little Oversight

Psychiatrists express concern that virtual care startups are prescribing ketamine for off-label treatment of serious mental health conditions.

Is the Promise of PROMs Being Realized? Implementation Experience in a Large Orthopedic Practice

Most of a practice’s total knee and total hip patients entered their patient-reported outcomes measures that were then stored in the EHR, but care teams ignored them during visits 99% of the time.

Morning Headlines 11/1/22

Oracle to close North Kansas City World Headquarters Campus, Realization Campus

Oracle will close the former Cerner world headquarters and its Realization Campus, consolidating employees from those locations to its Innovations campus and drastically reducing its Kansas City area footprint.

Moving Standards to Support SDOH Data Capture from the Sandbox to Production

ONC, HL7, and partners launch a group that will pilot the “SDOH Clinical Care FHIR Implementation Guide” as supported by ONC’s USCDI Version 2.

Valera Health Announces $45 Million Growth Equity Financing to Increase Access to Evidence-based Mental Health Services for High Acuity Patients

The virtual high-acuity virtual mental health provider partners with health systems and plans, emphasizing its use of evidence-based treatment plans.

Seattle-area health data analytics company Advata lays off employees

Revenue cycle analytics company Advata, which was formed in June 2022 by Providence in a merger of six companies it owns and operates as a part of Providence-owned Tegria, lays off 32 of its 150 employees.

Morning Headlines 10/31/22

Teladoc Health Reports Third-Quarter 2022 Results

Revenue and earnings beat expectations due to strong performance in its virtual mental health business, sending shares up.

MUSC Health and The MetroHealth System create Ovatient

The non-profit company will provide virtual and in-home care, hoping to match the digitally powered convenience and experience offered by non-traditional providers.

N.L. Crown agency responsible for health care IT flagged ‘extreme’ security risk a year before cyberattack crippled provincial health-care system

Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information has been requesting a move from its 40-year-old Meditech Magic system to Meditech Expanse for reasons that include security.

Morning Headlines 10/28/22

NOAA Could Soon Join the VA’s EHRM Program

A VA official says that the 12,000-employee National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may join the VA’s Oracle Cerner project.

Navina Raises $22M Series B Round to Advance Its Rapid Transformation of Primary Care With AI

AI-powered, primary care patient insights company Navina raises $22 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $44 million.

MHS Genesis Reaches Significant Operational Milestone

Ninety-two military hospitals and clinics are now live on Oracle Cerner-powered MHS Genesis, with half of all DoD providers actively using the system.

Morning Headlines 10/27/22

National Medical Billing Services Announces Acquisition of MedTek

National Medical Billing Services acquires MedTek, which offers RCM software and services to ambulatory surgery centers and other healthcare providers.

Shadowbox closes Series A Funding round with Baleon Capital

Healthcare workflow automation startup Shadowbox raises $6 million in a Series A funding round.

Elion Raises $3.3M in Seed Funding for Digital Health Technology Marketplace

Elion raises $3.3 million to further scale its digital health technology marketplace, which offers buyers evaluations of software and services.

Morning Headlines 10/26/22

Telehealth unicorn Cerebral lays off 20% of staff for ‘operational efficiencies’

Virtual mental health provider Cerebral lays off 20% of its staff, reportedly affecting 400 employees in primarily clinical and care counselor roles.

Electronic Caregiver Announces the closing of an additional $42.5 Million in Funding to Accelerate Expansion

Electronic Caregiver, which offers remote patient monitoring, virtual care, and chronic care management services, raises $42.5 million.

Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), The Global Leader in Orthopedics, Launches Newco Targeting $380B National Musculoskeletal Health Burden

Hospital for Special Surgery announces plans to launch for-profit virtual musculoskeletal physical therapy provider RightMove, which is backed by a $21 million Series A funding round.

VA Awards Oracle Cerner $956M in EHR Modernization Task Orders

The VA awards Oracle Cerner $956 million worth of task orders to continue its rollout.

Morning Headlines 10/25/22

Healthcare tech giant Philips scraps 4,000 staff worldwide

Philips will lay off 5% of its global workforce in an effort to bounce back from its $1.28 billion Q3 loss, brought on in part by the recall of its potentially defective sleep apnea machines.

CISA Warns of Daixin Team Hackers Targeting Health Organizations With Ransomware

The US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency advises the healthcare and public health sector of ransomware attacks and data extortion schemes conducted by the Daixin Team.

Unified Women’s Healthcare acquires Gennev to become the leader in menopause care in the US

Practice management company Unified Women’s Healthcare will acquire Gennev, a digital care company for menopausal women.