Morning Headlines 8/28/18

Verscend Technologies, Inc., Completes Acquisition of Cotiviti Holdings, Inc.

Verscend Technologies wraps up its $4.9 billion acquisition of healthcare payments vendor Cotiviti, with Verscend President and CEO Emad Rizk, MD maintaining his role over both businesses.

After planting its flag with remote staff, tech company CDW wants to bring its office culture to Nashville

Hardware, software, and IT services company CDW opens a new office in Nashville to better cater to its healthcare customers.

Humana To Establish Center For Digital Health And Analytics In Boston

Humana opens Studio H in Boston to focus on developing digital health products and analytics for internal use, plus senior-focused healthcare solutions.

Morning Headlines 8/27/18

Genevieve Morris resigns from VA-focused CHIO role

Genevieve Morris, a key leader of the VA’s Cerner implementation, turns in her resignation less than two months into the job.

23andMe will no longer let app developers read your DNA data

Home genetic test vendor 23andMe will turn off API access to its anonymized data sets, telling developers that they can access company-generated reports but not the underlying data.

Epic Systems Corp. to draw huge crowd for its annual Users Group Meeting, starting Monday

Epic expects to host 8,000 users and 9,000 of its own employees at UGM this week.

This firm already microchips employees. Could your ailing relative be next?

Three Square Market is developing medical microchips with GPS tracking and voice activation aimed at dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.

Hospital’s coordination center brings patients more efficient care

Staff at Yale New Haven Hospital’s Capacity Coordination Center credit Epic dashboards with helping ambulances avoid overcrowding area hospitals during a K2 overdose crisis that saw 114 calls come in over a two-day period.

Morning Headlines 8/24/18

Your Office Doctor Is Getting a Big Push From Private Investors

New Enterprise Associates will invest $165 million in Paladina Health, an employer-focused primary care company acquired from DaVita in June for $100 million.

Cerner and Duke Clinical Research Institute Collaborate on Cardiac Risk App

Cerner and Duke Clinical Research Institute develop an atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk calculator app that estimates 10-year and lifetime risk using basic patient information that can be used during a PCP or cardiologist visit.

Mediware® Acquires Rock-Pond Solutions

Mediware buys Rock-Pond Solutions, an Arkansas-based provider of business intelligence and analytics for home infusion, home medical equipment, and specialty pharmacy businesses.

Morning Headlines 8/23/18

The Man Who Used To Run Medicaid Has A New Idea To Make It Better

Former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt launches The Medicaid Transformation Project to help 17 hospitals improve care for Medicaid patients – efforts that will be aided by digital health firm Avia.

hc1.com Expands Focus on Precision Health Solutions, Completes Series B Round

Healthcare CRM and analytics firm HC1 wraps up a Series B funding round with $10 million from Health Cloud Capital.

Montgomery General Hospital Signs for MEDITECH Expanse with Subscription-Based MaaS Model

Montgomery General Hospital (WV) will become the first to launch Meditech’s cloud- and subscription-based EHR when it goes live in September.

Morning Headlines 8/22/18

Paul Singer, Doomsday Investor

A New Yorker article describes the hostile shareholder attack launched last year on Athenahealth by activist investor Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, noting how the firm often uses questionably ethical tactics to pressure recalcitrant CEOs of targeted companies.

Alphabet-backed One Medical is in talks to raise more than $200 million 

CNBC reports that primary care group One Medical is discussing a possible $200 million fund raise from a private equity firm that will also buy $100 million of existing shares.

NCPDP Takes Ownership of NIST ePrescribing Testing Tool

NCPDP takes ownership of NIST’s ERx Validation Suite, an ONC-approved e-prescribing testing tool.

Recondo Acquires Reseller Client Base from Optum

Recondo takes over the contracts of customers who had purchased a subset of its EmpoweredPatientAccess patient access solutions from The Advisory Board Company via a reseller agreement.

How Facebook — yes, Facebook — might make MRIs faster

Facebook’s AI team works with New York University’s medical school to develop an algorithm that could speed up the MRI process.

Morning Headlines 8/21/18

VA, Walgreens collaborate to improve care coordination for Veterans

The VA gives its providers the ability to automatically view the immunization and medication histories of those patients who are also Walgreens pharmacy customers.

SOC Telemed Acquires JSA Health, Becomes Largest Acute TelePsychiatry Provider in the U.S.

Acute virtual care company SOC Telemed acquires behavioral health telemedicine vendor JSA Health for an undisclosed sum.

Audacious Inquiry Announces Promotion of Scott Afzal to President

Healthcare software, services, and strategy company Audacious Inquiry promotes Scott Afzal to president.

Amazon hires a star cardiologist to help its push into health

MIT lecturer and cardiologist Maulik Majmudar, MD joins Amazon in an unstated role.

Morning Headlines 8/20/18

Anthem $115 Million Data Breach Settlement Approved by Judge

Anthem settles its huge 2015 data breach for $115 million, of which it will make $15 million available to reimburse the resulting out-of-pocket expenses of its 19 million customers who were represented in the class group.

Mayo Medical Laboratories, National Decision Support Company team up to develop CareSelect™ Blood, a comprehensive approach to patient blood management

Mayo Clinic and National Decision Support Company develop CareSelect Blood, which offers 100 Mayo-maintained transfusion guidelines integrated into EHR ordering workflows.

Choosing Wisely Clinical Decision Support Adherence and Associated Inpatient Outcomes

A Cedars-Sinai study finds that failing to use available real-time clinical decision support was associated with a 7.3 percent increase in encounter cost, a 6.2 percent increase in length of stay, and a higher incidence of readmission and complications.

Morning Headlines 8/17/18

Cerner to take over MCHS IT department

Cerner ITWorks will take over the IT department of Medical Center Health System (TX) beginning September 10.

Google is reportedly developing an AI assistant that recommends workouts and meal plans

Google is developing an AI-powered wellness assistant for smart watches that will proactively encourage users to make healthy choices based on their appointments, recorded activities, reminders, and location.

Black Book Releases 2018 State of Healthcare IT Consulting Report, Triple Digit Growth Projected for High Demand Expertise

A Black Book report on health IT consulting predicts firms will rake in $53 billion by the end of this year, with the bulk of that coming from software implementation, optimization, integration, and support.

Morning Headlines 8/16/18

HHS awards $125 million to support community health center quality improvement

HHS will award $125 million in grants to 1,352 community health centers to help them improve care access and outcomes, and advance their use of health IT.

Best Buy Acquires GreatCall, A Leading Connected Health Services Provider

Best Buy acquires GreatCall, which offers emergency response services and digital health devices for seniors, for $800 million.

Kindbody Purchases Cloud-Based Software From IVFqc

Women’s health and fertility care company Kindbody purchases the IVFqc cloud-based EHR and billing software assets of Althea Science.

Morning Headlines 8/15/18

Alphabet puts another $375 million into Josh Kushner’s Oscar Health, just months after previous investment

Alphabet invests $375 million in data- and technology-focused insurance startup Oscar, following participation by two Alphabet subsidiaries in a funding round a few months ago that valued the company at over $3 billion.

Geisinger and Merck Unveil New Applications Developed to Help Improve Patient Communication and Care Delivery

Geisinger and Merck launch a patient-caregiver communication, and medication reconciliation and adherence app, both of which will use SMART on FHIR to connect to EHRs.

Sansoro Health Raises $8M to Accelerate Electronic Health Record Interoperability

Digital health-EHR integration platform vendor Sansoro Health raises $8 million in a Series B investment round, increasing its total to $14 million.

Morning Headlines 8/14/18

Watson Health: Setting the Record Straight

IBM SVP John Kelly rebuts a Wall Street Journal article that called Watson Health’s effectiveness in oncology into question, saying that, “To suggest there has been no patient benefit is to ignore both what we know The Wall Street Journal was told by a number of physicians around the world and these institutions’ own public comments.”

Microsoft, Amazon, Google, IBM, Oracle, and Salesforce issue joint statement for healthcare interoperability

Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Salesforce pledge to break down barriers to interoperability at the CMS Blue Button 2.0 Developer Conference in Washington, DC.

Staffers are fleeing as central Maine hospital system is roiled by turmoil

Central Maine Healthcare EVP David Tupponce admits the health system’s Cerner EHR has been a big contributing factor to high physician turnover.

Google DeepMind’s AI can detect over 50 sight-threatening eye conditions

A study conducted at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London reveals that DeepMind’s algorithms can detect over 50 eye conditions with 94-percent accuracy.

Morning Headlines 8/13/18

IBM Has a Watson Dilemma

The Wall Street Journal posts another critical review of IBM Watson Health for oncology, saying that “the diagnosis is gloomy” for Watson’s ability to improve cancer treatments.

Cory Wiegert Named New CEO of CancerLinQ LLC

CancerLinQ, a non-profit data initiative of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, hires Corey Wiegert (IBM Watson Health) as CEO.

Lawmakers Decry Trump “Cronyism” at the VA

Legislators call for VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to provide unredacted copies of his correspondence with President Trump’s informal VA advisors following ProPublica’s piece on the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” and its influence on VA politics and programs.

FDA allows marketing of first direct-to-consumer app for contraceptive use to prevent pregnancy

In an agency first, the FDA approves marketing of the Natural Cycles birth control app as part of its fast-track approval program for digital health devices.

Morning Headlines 8/10/18

Pathways To Success: A New Start For Medicare’s Accountable Care Organizations

CMS Administrator Seema Verma summarizes the 600-page, just-published proposed rule that would overhaul the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

Amazon has plans to open its own health clinics for Seattle employees 

Amazon will open primary care clinics for employees at its Seattle headquarters with a pilot getting underway this year.

Connecting to Epic: Un-Users Group Meeting

Epic will hold its first Un-Users Group Meeting at its Verona campus on September 26, with an agenda aimed at non-Epic using provider leaders who want to exchange information with Epic customers.

UnitedHealth in second round of bidding for athenahealth

UnitedHealth Group, Bain Capital, and TPG are among the second-round bidders in the running to acquire Athenahealth.

Morning Headlines 8/9/18

CVS Health’s MinuteClinic Introduces New Virtual Care Offering

CVS Health adds MinuteClinic-branded virtual consults from Teladoc to its CVS Pharmacy app.

Northwestern Medicine lays off 60 IT workers after launch of new electronic medical records system

After hiring “hundreds” to implement its Epic system, which went live in March, Northwestern Medicine (IL) reorganizes and lays off 60 IT employees.

OpenEMR security flaws could have exposed millions of patient records

OpenEMR patches nearly 20 security vulnerabilities brought to its attention by a team of Project Insecurity researchers.

Morning Headlines 8/8/18

Digital health start-up Zocdoc is wrestling with a price change that could cripple doctors

Doctor appointment booking service Zocdoc postpones its announced pricing changes after practices complain about being charged for each booked appointment instead of paying just an annual fee.

Bluetree Network, an Epic consultant firm, adds staff, branches out

Bluetree Network moves to a 15,000-square-foot office in Madison, WI as it expands headcount to an eventual 450 and annual revenue to $55 million.

GoodRx valued at about $2.8 billion after Silver Lake investment, sources say

Prescription discount card vendor GoodRx takes a private equity investment that values the company at $2.8 billion.

Tenet shares dive 15% as company reveals subsidiary sale still in process

Tenet Healthcare misses its self-imposed deadline concerning the sale of subsidiary Conifer Health Solutions, sending shares tumbling by over 15 percent during Tuesday trading.

Morning Headlines 8/7/18

Careexpand to Transition Its Full-Service Chronic Care Management Business to Chronic Care Management, Inc.

Chronic Care Management acquires Careexpand’s CCM assets for an undisclosed amount.

Apple records keep on expanding

Apple Clinical & Health Informatics Lead Ricky Bloomfield announces that several new health systems have joined the company’s health record project, including Texas Health Resources and UCLA Health (CA).

In a first for Michigan, Henry Ford Health signs direct contract with GM

Henry Ford Health (MI) signs its first direct contract with an employer, touting Epic’s MyChart as a patient perk for GM employees.

Morning Headlines 8/6/18

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) Q2 2018 Results

Allscripts will sell its joint venture stake in behavioral technology vendor Netsmart.

LRHC taking steps to seek new electronic health records software

Lexington Regional Health Center (NE) gets board approval to replace its unnamed EHR vendors, explaining that it can’t deal with poorly integrated integrated inpatient, ambulatory, and ED systems and such systems hurt its recruiting efforts.

SmartER Acquires ConciergeStat

Patient engagement software company SmartER acquires care coordination tech vendor ConciergeStat for an undisclosed amount.