Morning Headlines 5/13/19

Patient health information needs to be readily accessible

David Brailer, MD, PhD – the country’s first National Coordinator – urges support for HHS’s proposed interoperability rules.

$6 million billing loss leads to another internal investigation in Escambia County EMS

Escambia County, Florida launches an investigation into its emergency medical services to figure out who authorized the purchase of billing software from ESO Solutions, glitches from which forced the county to write off $6 million before it was turned off for good.

Littlejohn to take majority stake in Outcome Health

Private investment firm Littlejohn acquires a majority stake in point-of-care patient education and marketing company Outcome Health, which is continuing to recover after investor lawsuits, layoffs, and media scrutiny over its sales tactics.

After burning through $1 billion, Jawbone’s Hosain Rahman has raised $65 million more

Failed wearables company Jawbone rises from the ashes as Jawbone Health with a $65 million investment that will propel its subscription-based, clinical-grade wearables offering.

Morning Headlines 5/10/19

Novant Health launches digital health and engagement business division

Novant Health (NC) forms a digital health and engagement division to enhance its ability to virtually connect with patients from anywhere at any time.

LetsGetChecked Announces $30 Million in Series B Financing

Home health testing and companion app company LetsGetChecked raises $30 million in a Series B round led by LTP.

DocuTAP and Practice Velocity Merge to Form Experity, Establishing a New Market Leader in Urgent Care and On-Demand Healthcare

Practice Velocity and DocuTap name Practice Velocity CEO David Stern head of their newly combined company, Experity.

Morning Headlines 5/9/18

Harris Healthcare Group Acquires Uniphy Health to Extend Its Suite of Clinical Solutions

Harris Computer Systems acquires clinical communication and collaboration software company Uniphy Health.

Audax Private Equity Announces Recapitalization of the Chartis Group

Audax Private Equity acquires the Chartis Group, a Chicago-based consulting, analytics, and technology firm, from RLH Equity Partners for an undisclosed sum.

Elizabeth Holmes’s Possible Defense in Theranos Case: Put the Government on Trial

Court documents reveal lawyers for Elizabeth Holmes are considering mounting a defense that accuses Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou of exerting undue influence on the regulatory process, leading agencies like CMS to issue biased findings against the company.

Morning Headlines 5/8/19

Allscripts electronic health records unit receives grand jury subpoena

The Practice Fusion unit of Allscripts has been served a criminal grand jury subpoena regarding EHR certification and anti-kickback statute compliance, according to company SEC filings.

Providing excellent patient care remains Astria Health’s highest priority

Astria Health (WA) files Chapter 11 bankruptcy, blaming its financial situation on its EHR conversion and hiring of a revenue cycle management company that failed to meet agreed-on accounts receivables collection targets.

UMMS scandal: Medical system board chairman, two others resign as additional contract revealed

The board chair and two board members of University of Maryland Medical System resign over a no-bid software contract with Real Time Medical Systems, whose founder and CEO is former UMMS board member and donor Scott Rifkin, MD.

DispatchHealth Closes On $33 Million in Growth Financing Led by Echo Health Ventures

House call company DispatchHealth raises $33 million to further invest in its mobile app and logistics software, and expand services to more Medicare patients.

Google says its AI can spot early-stage lung cancer, in some cases better than doctors can

Google shares early data from a project with the National Cancer Institute and Northwestern University showing that its AI can detect early-stage lung cancer with equal or better accuracy than radiologists.

Morning Headlines 5/7/19

Kaiser Permanente Launches Social Health Network to Address Social Needs on a Broad Scale

Kaiser Permanente will leverage social services coordination software from Unite Us as part of a new Thrive Local network that will connect members with community-based services.

DirectTrust Reports Record First Quarter Results in Direct Secure Messaging as Traffic Migrates into Trust Bundles, Messaging Use Expands Beyond Referrals

DirectTrust reports several Q1 accomplishments, including 49% increases in both participating organizations and messages sent.

Tennessee Diagnostic Medical Imaging Services Company Pays $3,000,000 to Settle Breach Exposing Over 300,000 Patients’ Protected Health Information

OCR fines Touchstone Medical Imaging (TN) $3 million for potential HIPAA violations related to a 2014 incident in which one of its FTP servers was left unsecured, enabling uncontrolled access to PHI even after the server was taken offline.

Arizona changes medical records law after Republic’s story about student’s fight

Inspired by the story of a student who couldn’t move forward with life-saving surgery because of an inability to access her medical records, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey passes a law requiring providers closing up shop to to give patients access to their files or face a $10,000 penalty and the denial of future facility licenses.

Morning Headlines 5/6/19

U.S. doctors use medical records to fight measles outbreak

Doctors like those at NYU Langone Health are using EHRs to identify patients in measles outbreak areas who have not received the measles vaccine.

Grahame Grieve Named 2019 Glaser Award Recipient

UTHealth’s School of Biomedical Informatics names interoperability expert Grahame Grieve winner of the 2019 John P. Glaser Health Informatics Innovator Award.

Direct Recruiters and Sister Company Direct Consulting Associates to Integrate

Hospital IT staffing and consulting firm Direct Consulting Associates will roll into sister company Direct Recruiters.

A short thread on the real source of the uBiome fiasco. Hint: it wasn’t venture capital’s pressure for aggressive growth.

The former “citizen-scientist in residence” of UBiome – the microbiome testing vendor raided by the FBI after complaints of insurance overbilling – shares Theranos-like warning signs.

CareCloud raises $33M from inside investors

EHR and practice management vendor CareCloud raises $33 million, bringing its total raised to over $150 million.

Morning Headlines 5/3/19

Allscripts announces first quarter 2019 results

Allscripts announces Q1 results: revenue flat, adjusted EPS $0.16 vs. $0.15, beating on earnings but falling short of revenue expectations.

CirrusMD Announces $15 Million in Series B Funding and New Plans to Improve Care Delivery For Veteran Population

CirrusMD raises $15 million in a Series B funding round, and announces that its chat-based telemedicine software will be implemented at three VA medical centers.

Insiders describe aggressive growth tactics at uBiome, the health start-up raided by the FBI last week

UBiome places its co-CEOs on administrative leave as the company deals with fallout from an FBI raid and highly questionable business practices that included pressuring doctors to approve its tests and billing payers multiple times without patient consent.

Morning Headlines 5/2/19

Capsule Technologies Acquires Bernoulli Health

Medical device integration and patient monitoring company Capsule Technologies acquires clinical surveillance software vendor Bernoulli Health.

Teladoc Health Reports First Quarter 2019 Results

Teladoc exceeds analyst expectations, posting $129 million in revenue for the quarter, 4 million new members, and a 75% increase in visits.

AMN Healthcare to Acquire Advanced Medical

AMN Healthcare Services will acquire Advanced Medical Personnel, which offers healthcare staffing services that include telemedicine positions, for $200 million.

VA, DoD Electronic Health Records Still Aren’t Compatible, and Lawmakers Are Angry

Despite a decade’s worth of promises and billion-dollar expenditures, lawmakers continue to express outrage over the combined inabilities of the DoD and VA to merge EHR systems.

Morning Headlines 5/1/19

Health Catalyst Aims to Raise $150 Million to $200 Million in IPO

The Wall Street Journal reports that Health Catalyst expects to raise up to $200 million in its IPO.

MEDITECH Announces Professional Services

Meditech launches a professional services division that will include quality initiatives, physician consulting, performing interoperability assessments, and lending expertise to analytics and population health projects.

Philips’ Q1 core profit misses estimates on bleak sales

Philips announces poor Q1 revenue and earnings that strong growth in China could not offset.

Morning Headlines 4/30/19

CareDx Agrees to Acquire OTTR Complete Transplant Management

Transplant patient-focused molecular diagnostics company CareDx acquires organ transplant patient tracking software vendor OTTR for $16 million.

HealtHIE Nevada, Nevada Hospital Association and Collective Medical Announce Collaboration to Reduce Avoidable Readmissions

The Nevada Hospital Association will leverage data and services from HealtHIE Nevada and Collective Medical to help its member hospitals better identify and support vulnerable patients at risk for readmission.

Michael J. Fox Foundation and 23andMe Launch Fox DEN, a Data Platform Combining Patient-Reported Outcomes and Genetic Information in Parkinson’s

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and 23andMe develop the Fox Insight Data Exploration Network to enhance the foundation’s online clinical study with improved analytics and data access.

Morning Headlines 4/29/19

Notification of Enforcement Discretion Regarding HIPAA Civil Money Penalties

HHS announces that it will use its discretion to set maximum annual HIPAA fines based on level of culpability, reducing the amount for those with no knowledge from $1.5 million to $25,000.

uBiome, the health start-up just raided by the FBI, had been double billing insurers

The FBI raids the San Francisco office of UBiome, which sells questionably useful AI-powered microbiome test kits for gut health and women’s health that are ordered by its own telemedicine doctors.

The future of health to have new home

Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic break ground in Phoenix on the Health Futures center, which will house a medical technology accelerator, research labs for biomedical engineering and informatics, and nursing programs.

Tech Billionaires Give $200 Million to Mass. General Hospital

InterSystems founder Terry Ragon and his wife Susan donate $200 million to Massachusetts General Hospital to endow a vaccine research center, piggybacking onto their $100 million donation 10 years ago to fund AIDS vaccine research.

Morning Headlines 4/26/19

Cerner Reports First Quarter 2019 Results

Cerner reports Q1 results: revenue up 8%, adjusted EPS $0.61 vs. $0.58, meeting expectations for both.

Scientific wellness startup Arivale closes abruptly in ‘tragic’ end to vision to transform personal health

Seattle-based genetic testing and health coaching startup Arivale shuts down and lays off its 120 employees without warning.

28 Health Systems Commit to Transforming Behavioral Health in Hundreds of Communities Nationwide

Twenty-eight health systems join the Medicaid Transformation Project to improve the delivery of behavioral healthcare services through the use of digital tools.

Morning Headlines 4/25/19

CPSI to Acquire Get Real Health to Expand Patient Engagement Solutions

Community healthcare EHR company CPSI will acquire patient engagement vendor Get Real Health for $11 million.

FTC Charges Surescripts with Illegal Monopolization of E-Prescription Markets

The FTC sues Surescripts for allegedly monopolizing the e-prescribing market, specifically in the areas of routing and eligibility.

Tencent-backed China online healthcare venture raises $250 million

Online Chinese healthcare company Tencent Trusted Doctors raises $250 million, bringing its valuation to $1 billion.

A machine learning device, meant to monitor the chronically ill, moves into homes

FDA approval will help move Current Health’s continuous monitoring device from the hospital setting into patient homes.

Morning Headlines 4/24/19

Censinet Launches Industry’s First Third-Party Risk Management Platform Designed Exclusively for Healthcare Providers

Censinet launches its health system vendor management platform and raises $7.8 million in a Series A funding round.

Job cuts expected at major Belfast employer

Athenahealth will lay off about 200 employees across its offices as part of a reorganization that will integrate it with Virence Health.

Bain Considers Options for Waystar Including Sale

Bloomberg reports that Bain Capital is considering putting Waystar, the RCM vendor created from the 2017 merger of Navicure and ZirMed, up for sale.

Hartford HealthCare, Trinity, UConn to launch Hartford medtech accelerator

Hartford HealthCare will partner with Trinity College and the UConn School of Business to create a 12-week MedTech Accelerator program that will launch from Trinity’s campus this fall.

Morning Headlines 4/23/19

Kindbody Raises $15M Series A To Reinvent Modern Women’s Health Care

Women’s healthcare company Kindbody raises $15 million in a Series A round that brings its total funding to $22 million.

ESO Takes Over Emergency Medical Services Performance Improvement Center (EMSPIC) from the University of North Carolina

Emergency medical services software company ESO takes over North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia state EMS data systems from the EMS Performance Improvement Center at the University of North Carolina.

Artificial intelligence can diagnose PTSD by analyzing voices

An NYU School of Medicine study finds that an AI tool can differentiate between the voices of veterans with our without PTSD with 89% accuracy.

Global public health expert and primary care physician to lead Ariadne Labs

Harvard professor and Brigham and Women’s Hospital primary care physician Asaf Bitton, MD succeeds Atul Gawande, MD as executive director of the university and hospital’s joint innovation center in Boston.

Morning Headlines 4/22/19

HHS Announces Next Steps in Advancing Interoperability of Health Information

HHS opens Draft 2 of its Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement for public comment.

Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement – Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE)

ONC will open a four-year, $900,000 per year funding opportunity for a non-profit to serve as the Recognized Coordinating Entity to oversee TEFCA’s Common Agreement for qualified Health Information Networks.

Latest phases at Cerner’s Innovations Campus steam ahead

Phase 3-4 construction at Cerner’s $4.5 billion Innovations Campus in Kansas City adds 777,000 square feet.

Health and education start-ups say recruiting has gotten easier in wake of Facebook, Google scandals

Startups in Silicon Valley, particularly those with a social mission, are finding it easier to recruit disenchanted talent from big tech companies like Facebook and Alphabet that have suffered from scandal-induced negative press.

Morning Headlines 4/19/19

IBM cutting Watson for Drug Discovery

IBM halts sales of Watson for Drug Discovery due to low demand.

Elizabeth Holmes’ Failed Theranos Was Just Granted 5 New Patents In 2019

CB Insights reports failed blood-testing company Theranos was awarded five new patents in March and April, all filed between 2015 and 2016.

Northwell Health opens Emergency Telepsychiatry Hub, reducing ER wait times

Northwell Health (NY) opens an Emergency Telepsychiatry Hub to serve EDs in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County.