Morning Headlines 7/21/25

Humana Simplifies Access to Coverage and Care Information

Humana integrates its health plan information with Epic, which allows patients to track deductibles and access health plan resources from their provider’s MyChart.

Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE

HHS gives the Department of Homeland Security’s ICE agents access to the names and addresses of 79 million Medicaid recipients that will be used to track down those who are living in the US illegally.

American Heart Association Ventures Invests in Auxira Health to Transform Cardiology Care Delivery

Virtual cardiology care delivery startup Auxira Health announces funding from the Studio Red arm of American Heart Association Ventures.

Morning Headlines 7/18/25

Senators reveal how much Lilly, Pfizer paid telehealth companies

A Senate investigation finds that direct-to-consumer telehealth platforms that are operated by drug companies steer patients toward their own drugs.

Ensemble Announces Strategic Revenue Cycle Partnership with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

Ensemble Health Partners will take over Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare’s revenue cycle operations across its six hospitals in Tennessee.

CareCloud Launches AI-Driven, Fully Integrated Dermatology EHR to Streamline Workflows and Enhance Patient Care

CareCloud launches a dermatology EHR with AI-powered charting.

Morning Headlines 7/17/25

E Health Partners acquires Assertus to expand digital health leadership

In Puerto Rico, EHR vendor E Health Partners acquires RCM company Assertus Holdings.

CRMC confirms ransomware attack

Cookeville Regional Medical Center (TN) takes its systems offline while it investigates a ransomware attack first detected Sunday.

Can AI Detect Hidden Heart Disease?

Researchers at Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian develop a highly accurate AI tool that analyzes ECGs to identify patients who should undergo more expensive ultrasound screening for structural heart disease.

Morning Headlines 7/16/25

Abacus and Medicus IT Merge, Creating The Leading Financial Services and Healthcare-focused IT Managed Services Platform

The private equity owner of Abacus Group and Medicus IT will merge the managed services providers into a new company.

OpenEvidence, the Fastest-Growing Application for Physicians in History, Announces $210 Million Round at $3.5 Billion Valuation

AI-powered medical search and clinical decision support company OpenEvidence raises $210 million in a Series B funding round.

Sellers Dorsey Acquires DignifiHealth

Healthcare consulting firm Sellers Dorsey acquires DignifiHealth, which offers value-based care and population health data analytics.

Morning Headlines 7/15/25

FTC Takes Action Against Telemedicine Firm NextMed Over Charges It Used Misleading Prices, Fake Reviews, and Deceptive Weight Loss Claims to Sell GLP-1 Weight-Loss Programs

Online weight-loss prescription delivery company NextMed will pay $150,000 to settle FTC charges related to deceptive and false representation of its products and consumer reviews.

CMS Proposes Physician Payment Rule to Significantly Cut Spending Waste, Enhance Quality Measures, and Improve Chronic Disease Management for People with Medicare

CMS seeks comment on its 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, which, if adopted, could simplify the process of making select services available via telehealth and expand payment policies for digital mental health treatments.

Goldman Sachs Alternatives Leads EvolvedMD’s $34mm Series B Investment

EvolvedMD, which offers primary care providers tech-enabled behavioral healthcare coordination services, raises $34 million in a Series B funding round.

Morning Headlines 7/14/25

KC-area hospital sues Blue KC, says AI-powered insurance denials ignored doctors

AdventHealth Shawnee Mission sues BCBS of Kansas City, claiming that the insurer withheld $2 million in payments using Apixio’s AI chart review technology, which flagged “clinically invalid” physician diagnoses.

Duke Endowment awards $4M to Atrium, funding first rural NC virtual nursing facility

Atrium Health (NC) will use Duke Endowment grant money to implement virtual nursing capabilities at its Stanly hospital, study the effects of a recently implemented AI translation tool, and develop an app and online platform for improved communication between the health system and its virtual clinics in local schools.

Samsung to launch AI health coach beta in US by end-2025

Samsung will roll out a beta version of an AI-powered health coach chatbot in the US by the end of the year.

Morning Headlines 7/11/25

Canopy and Commure Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Staff Safety in Healthcare

Canopy Health drops its May 2025 lawsuit against Commure and will take over customer management of Commure’s Strongline Pro panic button system.

Johns Hopkins Health System Announces the Official Launch of Illustra Health

Johns Hopkins Health System (MD) makes its new Illustra Health suite of population health analytics and implementation services commercially available.

Humanoid robot startup Diligent taps Cruise executives as it looks beyond healthcare

Diligent Robotics, which sells the Moxi hospital robot, hires two executives from a robotaxi firm as it moves into other industries.

Morning Headlines 7/9/25

Samsung Electronics Acquires Xealth, Bridging the Gap Between Wellness and Medical Care

Samsung Electronics will acquire digital health integration company Xealth.

University of Maryland Medical System Announces Spinout of Gallion Health, Developer Of Award-Winning Supply Chain Application

Gallion Health launches out of University of Maryland Medical System’s IHarbor Innovation Center to offer providers cloud-based digital supply chain capabilities.

Naviant Acquires Amitech Solutions to Expand Healthcare and Intelligent Automation Capabilities

Intelligent automation and process consulting company Naviant acquires healthcare services firm Amitech Solutions.

Morning Headlines 7/8/25

CDC data chief announces departure from agency

CDC Chief Data Officer Alan Sim announces his departure from the agency after nearly five years in the role.

VitalHub Announces Acquisition of Novari Health Inc.

Health and human services technology company VitalHub acquires patient flow software vendor Novari Health for $32 million.

VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025

The VA announces that it is on track to reduce its staff by 30,000 by the end of the year without the need for a reduction in force.

Morning Headlines 7/7/25

Blue Stream Academy Joins Agilio Software to Create an Integrated Healthcare Training and Compliance Platform

England-based healthcare software vendor Agilio acquires Blue Stream Academy, which offers healthcare e-learning services.

The Villages Health Announces Strategic Restructuring and Agreement to be Acquired by CenterWell

The Villages Health, which offers healthcare services to the 150,000 residents of The Villages retirement community in Florida, files Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will sell itself to Humana’s CenterWell health services business.

Complete Family Medicine to launch Epic EHR System

Complete Family Medicine, a part of Hannibal Regional Healthcare System (MO), will implement Epic July 9.

Island Health lays off VP, ‘several’ executives, citing financial pressures

In Canada, Island Health lays off a number of executives amidst an organizational restructuring that has also eliminated IT positions related to the health system’s 300-site EHR implementation.

Morning Headlines 7/3/25

Symplr Acquires AMN Healthcare’s Smart Square Scheduling Software, Enhancing AI-Driven Workforce Optimization for Health Systems

Healthcare operations software vendor Symplr acquires AMN Healthcare’s Smart Square workforce scheduling software.

Feeling sick? Use ‘ChatGPT of the NHS’ first, patients to be told

England’s NHS will enhance its patient app with an AI-powered assistant called My Companion that helps users review their health information and explore care options.

Mayo Clinic’s AI tool identifies 9 dementia types, including Alzheimer’s, with one scan

Mayo Clinic researchers develop an AI tool that can identify the brain activity patterns of nine types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, from a single PET scan.

Morning Headlines 7/2/25

VisiQuate Acquires Etyon to Supercharge Insight Automation and Denials Management for Healthcare Providers

RCM technology vendor VisiQuate acquires Etyon, whose technology optimizes revenue cycle workflows.

More than 300 employees cut in Sharp HealthCare layoffs

Sharp HealthCare (CA) lays off 315 employees, with several media outlets reporting IT staff among those affected.

Nordic Capital partners with Arcadia to drive data-focused healthcare innovation

Nordic Capital takes a majority stake in health data insights vendor Arcadia.

Morning Headlines 7/1/25

Premier, Inc. Expands Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Capabilities with Acquisition of IllumiCare

Premier, Inc. acquires IllumiCare, which adds a financial component to clinical decision support, and will market it under its Stanson Health brand.

NHS will use AI in warning system to catch potential safety scandals early

England’s NHS will deploy an AI-powered early warning system that will analyze near real-time data to look for patterns of problems that will trigger urgent inspections.

Steward Health Plans Litigation to Unwind Transfers to Cerberus, Other Insiders

An investigation by the bankrupt Steward Health Care System finds that its former private equity owner and former executive Ralph de la Torre improperly extracted $1 billion from the hospital chain during its insolvency.

Morning Headlines 6/30/25

CMS Launches New Model to Target Wasteful, Inappropriate Services in Original Medicare

CMS announces a six-year pilot in six states to test tech-enabled prior authorization for traditional Medicare, which has traditionally avoided prior authorizations.

CalmWave raises $4.4M for tech that targets non-actionable patient alarms in hospital ICUs

Seattle-based medical device alarm management software startup CalmWave raises $4.4 million in seed funding.

Handspring Raises $12M Series A to Expand High-Quality Mental Health Care for Children and Families

Virtual mental healthcare clinic Handspring announces $12 million in Series A funding.

Morning Headlines 6/27/25

Certify Secures $40M Series B Funding to Continue Building the Healthcare Provider Data Infrastructure of the Future

Provider data management vendor Certify raises $40 million in a Series B funding round.

Arine Raises Series C to Scale AI-Driven Medication Optimization and Power Value-Based Outcomes

Arine, which offers an AI-powered medication optimization platform, raises $30 million in a Series C funding round.

Novo Nordisk says WeightWatchers will sell Wegovy, announces $299 price

Novo Nordisk will make its weight-loss drug Wegovy available to WeightWatchers members through its online prescription service.

Morning Headlines 6/26/25

$40 Million to Obliterate Specialty Drug Paperwork

Mandolin, which uses AI agents to manage specialty drug intake, benefits, prior authorizations, and RCM, raises $40 million in seed and Series A funding.

Best Buy Sells Current Health Back To Co-Founder, Former CEO

Best Buy divests care-at-home technology company Current Health less than four years after acquiring it for $400 million, selling it back to co-founder and former CEO Christopher McGhee.

BlueBriX Announces $15 Million Investment to Scale Agentic AI Workflow Orchestration for Value-Based Care

Health IT vendor BlueBriX announces $15 million in new funding.

Veradigm Provides 2025 Financial & Business Update

Veradigm expects to bring its SEC filings up to date sometime next year, after which it will seek to relist its stock.

Morning Headlines 6/25/25

Abridge Secures $300M Series E Led by a16z to Pioneer a New Paradigm of Care Intelligence

The ambient documentation vendor’s valuation reaches $5.3 billion after its latest investment follows a $250 million round just five months ago.

HHS Secretary Kennedy, CMS Administrator Oz Secure Industry Pledge to Fix Broken Prior Authorization System

HHS lists the details of the pledge by insurers to streamline PAs.

RFK Jr. wants a wearable on your wrist

The HHS secretary wants every American to wear a health tracker within four years.