Morning Headlines 12/17/19

Bankrupt uBiome preliminarily sells patents for 1% of the poop-testing startup’s original valuation

Once valued at $600 million, bankrupt microbiome-testing startup UBiome auctions off its patents and intellectual property for $7 million to a consumer DNA testing company.

CMS Made an Estimated $93.6 Million in Incorrect Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Payments to Acute-Care Hospitals, or Less Than 1 Percent of $10.8 Billion in Total Incentive Payments

An OIG audit finds that, because of inaccurate hospital calculations, CMS paid out $93.6 million in incorrect Medicare EHR incentive payments to acute-care hospitals between 2013 and 2017.

Evaluating Improvements and Shortcomings in Clinician Satisfaction With Electronic Health Record Usability

A study of 70 EHR vendors with the most Meaningful Use attestations finds that physician satisfaction with EHRs is diminishing for nearly half of the products.

Morning Headlines 12/16/19

NJ’s largest hospital system forced to pay ransom in cyber attack

Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest health system, admits that it has paid a ransomware hacker to regain access to its computer systems.

GV Backs Kindbody As The Company Expands Employer Benefits Offering

Fertility clinic and technology company Kindbody secures financing from the former Google Ventures, bringing its total funding to $32 million and enabling it to further scale its direct-to-employer service.

US health insurance firm Cigna is using AI to check if patients are taking their medications but experts fear the controversial scheme may be used to cancel policies or avoid paying out

Privacy experts are concerned that Cigna’s new AI-powered medication adherence monitoring program will be used for the benefit of the payer’s bottom line rather than improved patient care.

VirTrial Acquires SnapMD and Bolsters Virtual Care Management Platform

Virtual clinical trial company VirTrial acquires telehealth vendor SnapMD.

Morning Headlines 12/13/19

Partners HealthCare Launches Digital Health Initiative

Partners HealthCare (MA) will spend $100 million on a five-year digital health initiative focused on developing self-service technologies for patients.

Senate confirms Trump’s nominee to lead FDA

The Senate confirms MD Anderson Chief Medical Executive Stephen Hahn, MD to lead the FDA.

Caresyntax to Acquire Operating Room Analytics Provider, Syus

Surgical automation and software vendor Caresyntax acquires OR analytics company Syus alongside a $45 million funding round.

BJC outsources IT services, cuts 200 jobs

BJC HealthCare (MO) lays off 200 employees as it outsources some IT services to an unnamed managed service provider.

NextGen Healthcare Announces Agreement to Acquire OTTO Health

NextGen acquires telemedicine vendor Otto Health.

Morning Headlines 12/12/19

Bridge Connector Increases Total Financing to $25 Million with Investment From Jeff Vinik & Axioma Ventures

Bridge Connector will use its $25 million in financing to help scale a new integration platform-as-a-service that connects health data systems without the need for code.

Proteus Digital Health plans hundreds of job cuts, facilities closures

Proteus Digital Health’s previously announced restructuring will include eliminating 292 jobs and closing several facilities by January 18.

U.S. Justice Department to review Google’s deal for Fitbit: source

The DoJ will look into Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit for possible antitrust violations.

Morning Headlines 12/11/19

Google snaps up chief medical officer of health device maker AliveCor, weeks after buying Fitbit

Former AliveCor CMO Jacqueline Shreibati, MD joins Google Health’s clinical research team.

McKesson Appoints Nancy Flores as Executive Vice President, Chief Information and Chief Technology Officer

McKesson names Nancy Flores (Johnson Controls) EVP, CIO, and CTO.

ESO Acquires Clinical Data Management to Extend Product Portfolio in Trauma Registry Market

Emergency medical services technology company ESO acquires trauma registry software vendors Clinical Data Management, Lancet Technology, and Digital Innovation.

CommonWell Health Alliances Announces New Executive Director

Former Philips VP Paul Wilder joins CommonWell Health Alliance as executive director.

Morning Headlines 12/10/19

etectRx Announces U.S. FDA Clearance of Novel Ingestible Event Marker

EtectRx’s smart pill system receives FDA clearance after news breaks of competitor Proteus facing financial difficulties.

Alleged billion-dollar fraud scheme leads to guilty plea by former Outcome Health exec

Former Outcome Health EVP Ashik Desai pleads guilty to wire fraud and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors.

For Concussion, MS, Other Neurologic Disorders, Telemedicine May Be as Effective as Office Visit

A retrospective analysis of 101 telemedicine studies finds virtual visits may be just as effective as in-person visits for several neurological conditions.

Morning Headlines 12/9/19

Hackensack Meridian’s ‘core clinical systems’ back online after week-long disruptions

Hackensack Meridian Health (NJ) brings its clinical systems back online after a downtime of several days, rumored to be the result of a ransomware attack.

Partners reports stellar financial results as it preps for rebrand

Partners HealthCare, soon to be renamed to Mass General Brigham, cites Epic’s more accurate coding as part of the reason it took in $484 million of operating income in its most recent fiscal year.

Digital health start-up once worth $1.5 billion is racing to keep lights on as investors flee

Once valued at $1.5 billion, “smart pill” medication management company Proteus struggles to stay afloat after a $100 million funding round falls through.

NHS gives Amazon free use of health data under Alexa advice deal

In England, NHS gives Amazon the option to use its clinical content in the development of future products and services as part of its contract for an Alexa skill that offers medical advice culled from the NHS website.

Morning Headlines 12/6/19

Premier considers sale with banks

Premier is reportedly arranging talks with several potential acquirers in seeking a sale of the company.

Stephanie Reel to retire as chief information officer of university, health system

Stephanie Reel, CIO/vice provost for IT at Johns Hopkins University and SVP/CIO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, will retire on July 1, 2020 after a 30-year Hopkins career.

Former Outcome Health employees plead not guilty to felony charges in alleged $1 billion scheme to defraud pharma clients

Two former Outcome Health analysts plead not guilty to charges of felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

VA launches National Artificial Intelligence

The VA establishes the National Artificial Intelligence Institute to research and develop AI solutions that will improve healthcare for veterans.

Morning Headlines 12/5/19

Waystar Acquires Recondo Technology, Gains Best in KLAS Patient Access and Business Office Technology

RCM vendor Waystar acquires Recondo Technology, which specializes in automated revenue cycle software and services.

Kalispell hospital sued over data breach

A former patient sues Kalispell Regional Healthcare (MT) for failing to adequately protect his PHI from a ransomware attack that occurred in May.

Houston virtual health care company receives investment from GE for its $13M series B

Virtual care monitoring company Decisio wraps up a $13 million Series B funding round with an investment from GE Healthcare.

ENT and Allergy Associates® Announces the Formation of QMMS USA, LLC

ENT and Allergy Associates (NY) launches QMMS USA to provide its 46 clinics and other practices with billing, practice management, and health IT, among other back-office services.

Morning Headlines 12/4/19

Dr. John Halamka named president of Mayo Clinic Platform

John Halamka, MD will join Mayo Clinic as president of a new initiative that will use technology and data to improve care and extend the clinic’s global reach.

Health System Sues Software Co. For ‘NotPetya’ Cyberattack

Heritage Valley Health System (PA) sues Nuance for negligence that resulted in the system becoming the victim of a ransomware attack in the summer of 2017.

A letter from Larry and Sergey

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will step down from their respective roles within parent company Alphabet as part of management streamlining that will see Google CEO Sundar Pichai take on the additional role of Alphabet CEO.

Morning Headlines 12/3/19

Amazon Transcribe Medical – Real-Time Automatic Speech Recognition for Healthcare Customers

AWS unveils a healthcare-focused version of its transcription service for cloud customers that converts dictated medical notes or multi-party conversations to text in real time.

Agfa-Gevaert Group enters into exclusive negotiations for the sale of a part of its HealthCare IT activities to Dedalus Holding S.p.A. – Regulated information

Italy-based Dedalus Holding will acquire Belgium-based Agfa’s health IT business, including its HIS and Integrated Care solutions, in Q2 2020.

Cerner Achieves 500th Patent With Voice-Assisted Technology

Cerner’s 500th patent pertains to voice-assisted technology that captures verbal interactions, then extracts relevant information and presents it on a physician’s mobile device.

Dexcom glitch kept parents of children with diabetes in the dark over their conditions this weekend

Blood glucose monitor maker Dexcom recovers from a server overload that has prevented updates and alerts from reaching users.

Morning Headlines 12/2/19

Qld Health risks patient admin system failure after halting overhaul

In Australia, an auditor’s report warns that Queensland Health’s decision to push back replacement of its 30-year-old corporate information system places it at risk since the system hasn’t been vendor supported since 2015.

‘Black hole’ of medical records contributes to deaths, mistreatment at the border

The Department of Homeland Security’s inadequate software and sloppy paper record-keeping has caused treatment delays and lapses of care for migrants in its custody.

Doctors and techies are clashing at digital health companies, and one start-up exec is seeking a fix

A CNBC report finds that doctors working at digital health companies are sometimes seen as the unwelcome voice of reality in calling out product or company flaws that impact health.

Morning Headlines 11/28/19

Ransomware detected in Great Plains Health computer network

Great Plains Health (NE) cancels some services and reschedules others in the wake of a ransomware attack discovered Monday night.

Sands agrees to meet with Allscripts chief

Allscripts CEO Paul Black will meet with Bahamian Health Minister Duane Sands, MD to discuss the government’s unfulfilled $18 million contract with the software company.

OCR Secures $2.175 Million HIPAA Settlement after Hospitals Failed to Properly Notify HHS of a Breach of Unsecured Protected Health Information

Sentara Hospitals (VA) will pay OCR $2 million to settle potential HIPAA breach notification violations related to its failure to notify all patients impacted by a billing-related breach in 2017.

Morning Headlines 11/27/19

MUSC says one of its spinoff companies has saved it millions in pharmacy costs

Medical University of South Carolina says drug purchasing software that was developed by one of its IT network engineers is saving it millions by looking for the best price in the supply chain at any given moment.

Amazon launches medication management features for Alexa

Amazon works with Omnicell to give Alexa users in Ohio the ability to set up medication reminders and request prescription refills from Giant Eagle Pharmacy.

Deep 6 AI Raises $17M Series A Led by Point72 Ventures to Accelerate Clinical Trial Recruitment

Patient-matching clinical trial software vendor Deep 6 AI raises $17 million.

GE Healthcare Expands Intelligent Health Ecosystem with Launch of Edison Developer Program to Ease AI Adoption for Providers

GE Healthcare launches the Edison Developer Program to give developers access to algorithms and applications based on its Edison intelligence platform.

Activist Starboard Value reportedly takes stake in CVS Health

Activist investor Starboard Value takes an undisclosed stake in CVS Health and enters into talks with its management.

Morning Headlines 11/26/19

U.S. charges former Outcome Health executives in $1 billion fraud

Prosecutors charge former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah and former president Sharha Agarwal with fraud in a 26 count-indictment related to a six-year scheme during which they billed clients for ads that never ran and inflated revenue.

MD Revolution, Inc. announces strategic acquisition of Falcon Care, LLC to expand Care Management services and appoints Kyle Williams CEO

Medicare care management and patient engagement company MD Revolution acquires competitor Falcon Care.

Former Kaiser Permanente CTO Mike Sutten Joins Innovaccer as Chief Digital Officer

Former Kaiser Permanente CTO and SVP Mike Sutten joins Innovaccer as chief digital officer.

WELL Health to Acquire Trinity Healthcare Technologies, Canada’s Second Largest OSCAR Provider

Canadian primary care and software company Well Health Technologies acquires open source EHR vendor Trinity Healthcare Technologies for $5.4 million.

Morning Headlines 11/25/19

110 Nursing Homes Cut Off from Health Records in Ransomware Attack

Nursing home IT vendor Virtual Care Provider is hit by ransomware, taking down electronic patient records, Internet service, email, billing, and phone systems across 80,000 PCs and servers running hundreds of nursing homes in 45 states.

Google-linked fund seeds Berkeley medical AI startup

Google’s venture fund invests $4 million in radiology workflow optimization software company Rad AI.

Hospital Computer Firm Insists – We Did Our Job

Allscripts defends its work on an $18 million software implementation in the Bahamas that has resulted in no applications live after three years and $8 million in payments.

USDA Invests in the Expansion of Rural Education and Health Care Access

The USDA announces $42.5 million in grants for 133 distance learning and telemedicine projects in 37 states and two territories.

Morning Headlines 11/22/19

Modernize public health surveillance to ease doctors’ reporting burden

The American Medical Association adopts a policy that calls for increased state and local funding to modernize public health IT systems.

VA insists it’s ready for initial EHR deployment at first go-live site in March

The Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, WA is hiring 108 more employees to cover anticipated productivity losses during its Cerner go-live on March 28.

Tools to help healthcare providers deliver better care

Google Health lead David Feinberg, MD attempts to clarify the company’s HIPAA-compliant work with Ascension, pointing out that the health system is piloting an interface concept he first mentioned at the HLTH Conference last month.