Morning Headlines 6/17/21

Walmart Provides Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record

Walmart offers pharmacy customers who receive the COVID-19 vaccine the ability to digitally store their vaccine records via their Walmart.com accounts using technology based on the Vaccination Credential Initiative’s Smart Health Cards standard.

HHS Releases Project US@ Draft Technical Specification Version 1.0 for Comment

ONC releases the Project US@ Draft Technical Specification Version 1.0 for public comment as part of its work to develop a healthcare standard for representing patient addresses.

Ksana Health Secures $2M Seed Round to Launch Advanced Mental Health Monitoring Platform

Behavioral health app startup Ksana Health raises $2 million in seed funding and joins Anthem’s digital incubator.

Stillwater Medical Center Reports Major Computer Outage, Officials Confirm

Stillwater Medical Center (OK) recovers from a computer outage that forced it to cancel appointments and briefly shut down its emergency room.

Morning Headlines 6/16/21

HST Pathways Announces Merger with Clariti Health for Enhanced Patient Price Transparency Resources as Part of its End-to-End Premium Technology Solution

Ambulatory surgery center software vendor HST Pathways acquires patient price transparency vendor Clariti Health.

Tiger Global-backed Bright Health aims for over $14 bln valuation in U.S. IPO

Bright Health, which sells Medicare Advantage insurance in 13 states with claims of technical capabilities, targets its IPO at a $14 billion valuation.

Protenus Raises Series D After Doubling Revenue While Reducing Risk for Health Systems

Healthcare compliance analytics company Protenus raises $21 million in a Series D funding round, bringing its total raised to $57 million.

Morning Headlines 6/15/21

Berenson Capital Acquires Interactive Digital Solutions

Private equity firm Berenson Capital acquires Interactive Digital Solutions, a video collaboration and telehealth software vendor known for its MedSitter patient-monitoring technology.

MRO Announces Acquisition of Clinical Data Interoperability Company FIGmd

Release-of-information vendor MRO acquires Figmd, a health data aggregation, analytics, and registry company based in Illinois.

Kipu Announces Strategic Investment from TCV – Appoints Paul Joiner as CEO and Rick Pharr as COO

Behavioral health EHR vendor Kipu names Paul Joiner (Availity) CEO and Rick Pharr (WebPT) COO alongside an unspecified investment from TCV.

Morning Headlines 6/14/21

Chief Operating Officer of Network Security Company Charged with Cyberattack on Medical Center

A federal court indicts the COO of Atlanta-area Internet of Things security vendor Securolytics, claiming that he launched a 2018 cyberattack against Gwinnett Medical Center (now Northside Hospital Gwinnett) for personal financial gain.

Joint DOD-VA Medical Center Will Be Major Test for Electronic Health Record Interoperability

Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (IL), a joint facility used by both the VA and DoD, will be the first test of interoperability between their respective Cerner implementations.

Mount Sinai Health System Launches Elementa Labs, A Virtual Incubator Program

Mount Sinai Innovation Partners has launched a virtual incubator program to help health IT and biotechnology startups develop their products leveraging Mount Sinai Health System’s resources and expertise.

Morning Headlines 6/11/21

Iodine Software Acquires ChartWise Medical Systems

Healthcare AI vendor Iodine Software acquires clinical data improvement software and services company ChartWise Medical Systems.

Cerner to Eliminate Abut 500 Jobs From Its Global Workforce

Cerner will eliminate 500 positions, though it still plans to hire 2,600 people by the end of the year.

TCS Healthcare Announces Acquisition of DataSmart Solutions

Population health management software vendor TCS Healthcare Technologies acquires DataSmart Solutions, which sells predictive risk analytics software.

Transcarent Raises $58 Million in Series B Funding to Accelerate Consumer-Directed Health and Care Experience for Self-Insured Employers

Transcarent raises $58 million in a Series B funding round, increasing its total to $98 million.

Morning Headlines 6/10/21

Datavant and Ciox Health Announce Merger, Creating the Largest Neutral and Secure Health Data Ecosystem

Ciox Health announces its intent to merge with Datavant in a deal valued at $7 billion.

Monogram Health Closes $160M Series B Funding to Fuel Acceleration of Next Generation Kidney Care Model

Kidney care company Monogram Health raises $160 million in a Series B funding round led by TPG Capital.

Nuvolo Secures Additional Funding for Series C From Mayo Clinic

Workplace management software vendor Nuvolo wraps up a $32 million Series C funding round with an additional investment from Mayo Clinic.

Morning Headlines 6/9/21

LetsGetChecked Announces $150 Million Series D Fundraise to Grow Comprehensive Virtual Care Capabilities

At-home testing company LetsGetChecked raises $150 million in a Series D funding round, increasing its total to $260 million.

VA to Wrap Health Records Review ‘In a Few Weeks,’ Secretary Says

VA Secretary Denis McDonough says governance, transparency, and management issues will be top priorities for the department as the review of its Cerner roll out concludes.

New Mountain’s Ciox Nears Merger With Datavant

Bloomberg reports that health information management vendor Ciox is preparing to merge with Datavant, which uses AI to help its healthcare customers secure, match, and share health data.

Definitive Healthcare Announces Confidential Submission of Draft Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering

Healthcare market intelligence vendor Definitive Healthcare, which acquired HIMSS Analytics in 2019, prepares to go public.

HHS to issue timeline for health care data sharing guidance in coming months

HHS will soon share the timeline for the release of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).

Morning Headlines 6/8/21

One Medical Announces Agreement to Acquire Iora Health

Membership-based primary care company One Medical will acquire Iora Health, which offers similar services for seniors, for $2.1 billion.

Clinical AI Technology Leader Mendel Raises $18M in New Capital

Mendel will use an $18 million Series A funding round to further scale technology that uses AI to make sense of unstructured health data from health records and medical literature.

Craneware to Raise GBP140 Mln to Help Fund Sentry Acquisition

RCM vendor Craneware will acquire Sentry Data Systems, a hospital pharmacy procurement, revenue cycle, and compliance solutions business, for $400 million.

Morning Headlines 6/7/21

SAIC to Acquire Federal Health IT Company Halfaker and Associates

SAIC will acquire government health IT contractor Halfaker and Associates for $250 million in cash.

UF Health still investigating ‘cybersecurity event’ related to Central Florida servers

UF Health Central Florida’s two hospitals go back to paper following a May 31 ransomware attack.

Carbon Health dives into digital diabetes care with virtual clinic acquisition

San Francisco-based primary and urgent care company Carbon Health marks its first foray into chronic condition management with the acquisition of digital diabetes clinic Steady Health.

Morning Headlines 6/4/21

Ascension lays off 92 remote IT workers in Indiana

Ascension begins its layoff of 651 remote IT employees with 92 Ascension Technologies workers in Indiana, whose jobs will be moved to an offshore outsourcer.

UPMC Forms Realyze Intelligence to Drive Patient Care with AI

UPMC and its commercialization arm launch Realyze Intelligence, which mines structured and unstructured EHR data to identify patients who could benefit from interventions.

We at MedMatica and Santa Rosa, are incredibly proud to announce that we have joined CareCloud.

CareCloud acquires Santa Rosa Staffing, which was formerly part of Santa Rosa Consulting, from MedMatica Consulting Associates for $10 million in cash.

CentralReach Acquires Behaviorsoft, a Fast-Growing End-To-End EMR Platform Catering to the Needs of Small Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy Providers

Behavioral EHR vendor CentralReach acquires Behaviorsoft, which offers EHR/PM solutions for small applied behavior analysis therapy practices.

The Future of Our Workplace: Flexibility to Manage Work and Life at Cerner

Cerner will offer its employees a hybrid working environment in the fall, with individual teams choosing their own time frames for returning to in-office work.

Morning Headlines 6/3/21

Ensemble Health Partners Acquires Digital Patient Communications Platform, Odeza, to Transform Patient Experience

RCM vendor Ensemble Health Partners acquires automated patient engagement software company Odeza.

Nation’s leading social care network Aunt Bertha raises $27MM to deepen social impact, expand products

Digital social services referral company Aunt Bertha raises $27 million in a funding round led by Warburg Pincus, bringing its total funding to $49 million.

Privia Health Reports First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

After going public in April, Privia Health reports a slight increase in Q1 revenue to $213.6 million.

Morning Headlines 6/2/21

CompuGroup Medical acquires VISUS Health IT

CompuGroup Medical acquires Germany-based PACS and healthcare content management vendor Visus Health IT.

147,000+ May Have Had Personal Information Compromised in Cyberattack: Scripps Health

Scripps Health (CA) begins notifying patients that their data may have been compromised in the May 1 ransomware attack that forced its IT systems offline for several weeks.

Healthcare tech firm Clarity Informatics sold to fast-growing firm

Clarity Informatics, whose back office software is used by 80% of GPs in England, is acquired by medical practice software vendor Agilio Software.

GPs warn over plans to share patient data with third parties in England

Doctors in England warn the public about NHS Digital’s plan to extract the medical data of 55 million people in de-identified form to a database that will be made available for third-party research and planning.

Morning Headlines 5/31/21

Web Doctor Babylon Is Said to Near $3.5 Billion SPAC Deal

Virtual care company Babylon Health is in talks to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Alkuri Global Acquisition Corp.

Health-tech company Doximity files for IPO and says doctors will get up to 15% allocation

Physician networking site Doximity, which introduced a telemedicine service last year, files IPO paperwork that includes allocating up to 15% of its shares to physician members.

Epic Systems requiring workers to return to office July 19, resuming in-person customer meeting

Epic employees will return to its Wisconsin headquarters in a part-time capacity beginning July 19, while fully vaccinated customers will be invited to its on-campus users conference in late August.

Morning Headlines 5/28/21

Change Healthcare Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2021 Financial Results

Change Healthcare reports Q4 results as it prepares to be acquired by OptumInsight: revenue flat, adjusted EPS $0.42 versus $0.42.

HSE staff asked to turn on computers but it will ‘take weeks to get back online’

Ireland’s health service asks employees to turn on their 80,000 computers to automatically install a ransomware decryption key that a cyberattacker reportedly provided at no cost, but says it will still take weeks to return systems to normal.

Digital Health Company Pack4U Secures $20 Million in Private Equity Funding to Optimize Prescribed Medication

Prescription delivery and remote patient monitoring company Pack4U raises $20 million in a private equity financing round.

Morning Headlines 5/27/21

Google cuts a deal to help develop health algorithms using patient data

Google will build custom algorithms for national hospital chain HCA Healthcare using data culled from 32 million annual patient interactions.

IG Says VA Underestimated Health Records Project Costs by Up to $2.6B

A new analysis finds that the VA will likely end up paying between $1 billion and $2.6 billion more than the original $16 billion estimated for its EHR project due to unaccounted-for physical infrastructure costs.

Press Ganey Acquires SPH Analytics

Healthcare advisory and analytics firm Press Ganey acquires healthcare measurement and analytics company SPH Analytics.

Twilio invests in adaptive communications platform Hyro

Automated healthcare communications startup Hyro raises $10.5 million in a Series A funding round.

CoverMyMeds brand grows as owner McKesson unites four health IT units

The local business paper reports that McKesson has brought its four prescription technology businesses into one operating unit under the CoverMyMeds brand.

Morning Headlines 5/26/21

Iodine Software acquires physician engagement platform Artifact Health

AI-powered revenue cycle company Iodine Software acquires Artifact Health, which offers a physician engagement and patient documentation query technology platform.

Weight-Loss App Noom Gets $540 Million in Silver Lake-Led Round

Weight loss coaching app vendor Noom raises $540 million in new funding, valuing the company at $3.7 billion as it expands into stress management, sleep, diabetes, and hypertension.

Scripps enters fourth week of ransomware attack

Scripps Health CEO Chris Van Gorder says the May 1 attack on the hospital’s computer systems was ransomware, and that its EHR and patient portal systems should be back up by the end of the week.

Bassett Healthcare Network and Optum Launch Strategic Relationship to Advance Quality Care and Improve Experiences for Patients in Central New York

Bassett Healthcare will give 500 employees the opportunity to transition to Optum as the vendor prepares to enhance the health system’s analytics, and IT and RCM systems.

Morning Headlines 5/25/21

Zocdoc says ‘programming errors’ exposed access to patients’ data

Appointment-booking website Zocdoc fixes a software glitch that improperly allowed current and former employees of doctor and dental offices to access patient data.

Recuro Health Acquires SupDoc: Expands Digital Care Platform, Enhances Virtual Primary Care and Behavioral Health Solutions

Virtual care company Recuro Health acquires chat-based telemedicine startup SupDoc.

Clinigence Holdings Announces the Signing of a Binding Letter Of Intent to Acquire Procare Health

Population health analytics company Clinigence Health acquires ProCare Health, a managed services organization serving four IPAs in California.

CHS Makes Bold Move Acquiring Healthcare Division From Selent and Associates, Inc.

Complete HealthCare Solutions, a health IT developer, reseller, and services company, acquires the healthcare division of Selent and Associates, including Computerized Business Systems and medicalbillingsoftware.com.