Morning Headlines 10/29/19

Exclusive: Google owner Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

Fitbit shares rise 27% on the news that Alphabet has made an offer to acquire the company.

Facebook will now remind you to get flu shots and medical checkups

Facebook launches a Preventive Health tool that will remind users to get vaccines, checkups, and tests based on their demographic profiles.

Federal prisons shopping for EHR system

The DoJ’s Federal Bureau of Prisons issues an RFP for an EHR that can handle the physical, mental, and dental care of nearly 200,000 inmates.

Morning Headlines 10/28/19

VitalHub Corp. Announces Agreement To Acquire Oculys Health Informatics Inc.

Mobile healthcare system VitalHub acquires startup Oculys Health Informatics, which offers a hospital operations dashboard, for $4.2 million.

Cerner Corporation (CERN) CEO Brent Shafer on Q3 2019 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Cerner says it will no longer offer full revenue outsourcing services after a mutual agreement to end its contract with Adventist Health leads to a $170 million reduction in revenue.

Vocera Announces Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Vocera announces Q3 results: revenue up 6%, adjusted EPS $0.23 vs. $0.20.

Morning Headlines 10/25/19

Cerner Reports Third Quarter 2019 Results

Cerner reports Q3 results: revenue up 7%, adjusted EPS $0.66 vs. $0.63, meeting analyst expectations for both.

Northwell Health launches LabFly in Manhattan, Queens, first health system app to facilitate blood draws at home or work

Northwell Health works with health IT vendor MphRx to develop an app that lets patients schedule blood draws from their home or office.

Ransomware and data breaches linked to uptick in fatal heart attacks

A study finds that mortality rates among heart attack patients increase at hospitals that have experienced a data breach, with as many as 36 additional deaths per 10,000 heart attacks occurring annually at the hundreds of hospitals studied.

Augmedix Announces Additional $19 Million in Series B Funding

Tech-enabled remote documentation company Augmedix raises $19 million in a funding round that brings its total raised to $82 million.

Morning Headlines 10/24/19

AVIA Raises $22 Million in New Funding Round to Propel Service Expansion

Digital health innovation network and consulting firm Avia raises $22 million in a funding round led by First Trust Capital Partners.

Viz.ai Raises $50 Million Series B Round to Bring AI Powered Synchronized Stroke Care to More Patients

Viz.ai will use a new $50 million investment to expand the availability of its AI-powered, stroke-detection software.

DXC Technology Increases Presence in Conway Creating a Global Center of Excellence in Medicaid Services and Adding 1,200 Tech Jobs

IT and consulting services company DXC Technology will bring 1,200 new jobs to its facility in Conway, AR.

Amazon acquires start-up Health Navigator, its first health-related purchase since PillPack

Amazon will offer newly acquired Health Navigator’s symptom-checker and triage chatbot service to its employees as part of its Amazon Cares virtual clinic pilot.

Morning Headlines 10/23/19

Leading Talent Solutions Provider ettain group Acquires Global Employment Solutions and Leidos’s Commercial EHR Consulting Business

Recruitment and consulting firm Ettain Group acquires Leidos Health, announced in parallel with Ettain parent company NMS Capital’s sale of its Ettain stake to A&M Capital.

Medicomp Systems Secures Patent for its Method of Displaying Clinically Relevant Information Within Physician Workflows

USPTO awards Medicomp Systems a patent for its Quippe platform technology that identifies and filters relevant clinical data for presentation to clinicians at the point of care.

Clinical Trial Technology Startup SignalPath Announces Successful Close of $18M Series B Funding Round

Clinical trials platform vendor SignalPath raises $18 million in a Series B funding round.

Agfa Gevaert expects multiple bids for healthcare IT unit: sources

Reuters reports that digital imaging company Agfa has begun accepting bids for its health IT business.

Morning Headlines 10/22/19

UPMC moving forward to make former South Side hospital into an IT hub

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will turn a shuttered outpatient center into an IT center.

Cleveland Clinic, American Well Partner to Launch Digital Health Company

Cleveland Clinic will expand its relationship with American Well to include a new digital health company, The Clinic, that will offer patients access to Cleveland Clinic providers through American Well’s technology.

Humana and Microsoft announce multiyear strategic partnership to reimagine health for aging populations and their care teams

Humana will use Microsoft tools including Azure Cloud, Azure AI, and Azure API for FHIR to develop predictive analytics, natural-language understanding capabilities, and on-demand and virtual medical services for its members and their providers.

Partners HealthCare Creates New Investment Funds to Accelerate Innovation in Medicine

Partners HealthCare funnels $80 million into two new investment funds that will support young companies that develop new technologies and medications based on inventions originating from Partners researchers.

Morning Headlines 10/21/19

Cerner to Acquire AbleVets Further Expanding Strategic and Technical Expertise in U.S. Federal Health Market

Cerner acquires healthcare security-focused government IT contractor AbleVets for undisclosed terms.

Mission Health data breach: e-commerce site contained ‘malicious code’ for 3 years

HCA-owned Mission Health (NC) notifies an unspecified number of consumers that its online store contained malicious code that was sending their payment information to an unauthorized person from March 2016 through June 2019.

Norton Healthcare, UofL Physicians & School of Medicine partner together for the kids

Norton Healthcare, UofL Physicians – Pediatrics and the University of Louisville School of Medicine will integrate their EHRs as part of a new partnership that will take effect in February.

Tower Health cutting 32 Pottstown Hospital jobs

Tower Health (PA) will eliminate jobs at two of its hospitals in a move that representatives say supports its recent Epic installation and the enhanced technology now available on its nursing units.

EverCommerce To Integrate AllMeds and iSalus Healthcare

EverCommerce will integrate subsidiaries ISalus Healthcare and AllMeds, both of which provide healthcare technology to physician practices, and open a new facility in Tennessee later this year.

Morning Headlines 10/18/19

Microsoft and Nuance join forces in quest to help doctors turn their focus back to patients

Nuance and Microsoft will co-develop ambient sensing and conversational AI software to enable physicians to pay more attention to their patients instead of on administrative tasks.

Google appoints former Obama health official Karen DeSalvo to new chief health officer role

Google hires Dell Medical School professor and former National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD as its first chief health officer.

More than 190,000 without power as nor’easter lashes Maine

A Nor’easter takes down the EHR and other systems Thursday morning at hospitals that are part of Northern Light Health in Maine.

Change Healthcare kicks off process for Connected Analytics unit

Change Healthcare is reportedly looking to sell its Connected Analytics unit, which markets Ansos staff scheduling software, in a deal that could value the unit at between $250 million and $330 million.

Morning Headlines 10/17/19

NFL, players taking strides to address pain management

The NFL is rolling out a prescription drug monitoring program as part of its more focused efforts on monitoring pain management and medications.

I Ran the VA Under President Trump Until He Fired Me. Our First Trump Tower Meeting Was a Job Interview Unlike Any Other

Former VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD releases “It Shouldn’t be This Hard to Serve Your Country,” a book about his 13 months working in the Trump Administration.

VFW Post 6786 First Site in Innovative Initiative Giving Veterans Access to VA Health Services Close to Home

The VA launches a multi-site pilot program that will give veterans access to telemedicine services using Philips technology at local VFW Posts.

Morning Headlines 10/16/19

Northwell Health extends partnership with comprehensive Allscripts Sunrise™ platform through 2027

Northwell Health extends its Allscripts Sunrise contract through December 2027.

Cerner workers to become Adventist Health employees

Cerner will lay off 350 California employees following Adventist Health’s decision to bring its revenue cycle operation back in house from Cerner RevWorks.

Introducing AncestryHealth®: Actionable Health Insights for You and Your Family

Family history vendor Ancestry launches AncestryHealth, which will sell a $149 profile of genetic screening results that are matched to specific medical health conditions, plus a costlier membership-based service that provides deeper screening and quarterly screening updates.

Queensland Health’s IT problems can be overcome, new eHealth head says

In Australia, the new head of EHealth Queensland says its struggling Cerner implementation can be turned into a showcase project, but urges all of the state’s health bodies to help in getting new sites live while optimizing existing ones.

Morning Headlines 10/15/19

Parsley Health Launches New Digital Services on Tail of $26M in Series B Raise

Membership-based primary care company Parsley Health raises $26 million and launches an online version of its brick-and-mortar practice.

Claus Torp Jensen Has Been Appointed First Chief Digital Officer and Head of Technology for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Former CVS Health CTO Claus Jensen joins Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (NY) as its first chief digital officer and head of technology.

Prairieville pediatrics clinic working with FBI, notifying patients after computer attack

Magnolia Pediatrics (LA) alerts patients to an August ransomware attack that infiltrated the practice through its unnamed IT vendor, which wound up paying the ransom.

Morning Headlines 10/14/19

Centra begins issuing bills after almost three-month hiatus

Centra (VA) resumes billing and collections after a three-month hiatus caused by glitchy Cerner software that hospital officials say led to rejected claims, delayed billing, incorrect bills, and prematurely sending patients to collections for lack of payment.

UCSF Launches Artificial Intelligence Center to Advance Medical Imaging

Researchers at UC San Francisco’s new Center for Intelligent Imaging will work with Nvidia’s AI computing technology to develop new solutions for radiology.

Topcon Healthcare Selected to Ease Transition for IBM® Merge Eye Station and Merge Eye Care PACS Customers

IBM Watson Health Imaging will discontinue support for its Merge Eye Station digital imaging technology and Merge Eye Care PACS by the end of 2020.

Morning Headlines 10/11/19

MEDNAX Reaches Agreement to Sell MedData Business to Frazier Healthcare Partners

Mednax will sell its MedData RCM software and services business to private equity firm Frasier Healthcare Partners for between $250 million and $300 million.

Relatient Acquires Everseat, A Leading Patient Self-Scheduling and Waitlist Software Company

Patient engagement vendor Relatient acquires patient self-scheduling and waitlist software developer Everseat.

Persivia Secures $15 Million Growth Financing from Petrichor Healthcare Capital Management

Care coordination, analytics, and value-based care software company Persivia raises $15 million in a Series C funding round.

Harris Healthcare Acquires Connecture, Inc.

Harris Computer’s healthcare group acquires Brookfield, WI-based insurance enrollment technology vendor Connecture.

Morning Headlines 10/10/19

This startup just raised $8 million to help busy doctors assess the cognitive health of 50 million seniors

BrainCheck raises $8 million in a Series A funding round that will enable it to further develop its cognitive assessment software for seniors.

Marathon Health and General Atlantic Announce Strategic Partnership

General Atlantic acquires onsite health center and technology company Marathon Health from Goldman Sachs.

Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2020

The ECRI Institute includes alert fatigue, cybersecurity risks, and medication errors from dosing discrepancies in EHRs on its list of top HIT hazards for 2020.

Morning Headlines 10/9/19

WellSky to Acquire ClearCare, Solidify Position in Personal Care Market

WellSky will acquire ClearCare, a San Francisco-based developer of cloud-based management software for home care agencies.

One Medical, the health clinic chain backed by Alphabet, has hired banks ahead of an IPO

Membership-based primary care company One Medical reportedly hires several banks to help it prepare for an IPO next year.

Cerner CEO Unveils Next-Generation Cognitive Platform in Health Conference Keynote

Cerner CEO Brent Shafer reveals details about “Project Apollo,” new cloud-based technology that will leverage the company’s previously announced partnership with AWS.

Morning Headlines 10/8/19

Private Medicare plan Devoted Health says it is the first to cover Apple Watch as a benefit

Devoted Health becomes the first Medicare Advantage plan to subsidize the Apple Watch purchases of its 4,000 members.

Livongo Awarded Diabetes Contract for Eligible Population for Approximately 5.3 Million Beneficiaries Through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

Livongo’s stock jumps 18% on the news that it has signed a two-year contract with the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to offer its remote diabetes monitoring and coaching program to eligible beneficiaries.

Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Publishes Humana Study on Health Care Spending

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Humana determine that 25% of healthcare spending – between $760 billion and $935 billion per year – can be characterized as wasteful.

Morning Headlines 10/7/19

DCH Hospital System pays Russian hackers in ransomware attack

DCH Health System in Alabama agrees to pay Russian hackers after an October 1 ransomware attack forced it to divert patients and revert to paper processes.

3 lawyers defending Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes say they haven’t been paid in over a year and would like to quit

Court documents reveal that attorneys defending ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a civil suit filed by former Theranos patients have asked to withdraw from the case because they haven’t been paid in over a year.

MUHC computer crash caused by two successive malfunctions

Hardware malfunctions in the sub-basement data center of $1.3 billion “superhospital” McGill University Health Centre in Montreal cause its computers and back-up system to crash.

A hospital’s ‘Wall of Shame’ used private records to mock disabled patients. Now officials are apologizing.

St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center (ME) officials apologize for a semi-secret collage kept by employees that mockingly showcased pictures and details of patients with disabilities.