Morning Headlines 11/20/18

The health care venture from Amazon, Berkshire and JP Morgan just hired its first female exec, and she comes from a big insurance company

The ABJ health initiative hires Dana Safran (BCBS of Massachusetts) as head of measurement, leading analysts to surmise the still-unnamed joint venture will focus heavily on health data analytics.

Update on our Smart Lens program with Alcon

Citing insufficient consistency in measurements, Verily shuts down its four-year smart contact lens project with the eye-care division of Novartis, which sought to help diabetics manage their disease through tear-based glucose measurement.

Information on Medicare Telehealth

CMS reports that telemedicine utilization by Medicare beneficiaries increased 50 percent between 2014 and 2016, with members in rural areas making up the bulk of visits for mostly mental health and chronic conditions.

Morning Headlines 11/19/18

The 25 most valuable US startups that failed this year

Business Insider lists “The 25 Most Valuable US Startups that Failed This Year,” including four health technology companies that raised a combined $1.1 billion.

The Chopraj Group Launches Imperativ, Inc., Delivering Unique Artificial Intelligence For Healthcare

Industry long-timer and neurosurgeon Gopal Chopra, MBBS, MBA launches healthcare AI company Imperativ.

CommonWell Health Alliance Announces General Availability of Carequality Connection

CommonWell announces GA of its connection to Carequality two years after the organizations announced a connectivity agreement.

Morning Headlines 11/16/18

Lawmakers balk at $350M addition to VA’s health record deal

John Windom, director of the VA’s EHR modernization efforts, says during a congressional hearing that an additional $350 million in personnel costs will be part of the Cerner project’s already $16 billion budget.

Surescripts Prescription Price Transparency Tool Realizes Massive Provider Adoption, Achieves Breakthrough In Healthcare Market

Surescripts announces that its Real-Time Prescription Benefit tool has increased prescriber count 40-fold, and has been used 30 million times within EHRs to look up patient-specific drug price and alternative information.

HIPAA Privacy: Request for Information on Changes to Support, and Remove Barriers to, Coordinated Care

HHS OCR issues an RFI to solicit the public’s views on whether HIPAA rules prevent or discourage providers, payers, and patients from sharing information for care coordination and case management.

Morning Headlines 11/15/18

Mount Sinai Technology Spinout RenalytixAI Completes Initial Public Offering, Raising $29 Million to Combat Kidney Disease

RenalytixAI raises $29 million in an IPO that will be used to fund the launch of AI-enabled applications for the early detection of kidney disease and transplant management.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health teams with Philips on Tele-ICU program

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (NH) will use technology from Philips to develop a tele-ICU program, initially focusing on medical, surgical, and neurology ICUs.

Introducing Veradigm™ Providing Next Generation Healthcare Solutions for Today’s Healthcare Challenges

Allscripts rebrands its Payer & Life Sciences Division to Veradigm, offering clinical workflow, research, and analytics software and services to providers, payers, and health IT and life sciences companies.

Morning Headlines 11/14/18

‘We ran out of money’: High-profile startup seeking to connect patients with clinical trials shuts down

Driver, whose technology matches cancer patients with clinical trials, runs out of cash and shuts down just two months after its high-profile launch.

The new Google Health unit is absorbing health business from DeepMind, Alphabet’s AI research group

Alphabet will move its London-based DeepMind healthcare AI subsidiary under the newly formed Google Health, which will be led by former Geisinger CEO David Feinberg.

LeanTaaS Secures $15 Million in Series C Investment to Accelerate Growth of Its Healthcare Operations Platform

Smart scheduling and throughput technology vendor LeanTaaS raises $15 million in a Series C funding round, increasing its total to $39 million.

Morning Headlines 11/13/18

Veritas Capital Will Acquire Athenahealth for $5.7 Billion

Veritas Capital and Elliott Management subsidiary Evergreen Coast Capital will acquire Athenahealth for $5.7 billion.

FHIR Server for Azure: An open source project for cloud-based health solutions

Microsoft Healthcare releases an open-source project on GitHub to help developers build FHIR-based services and apps in the cloud.

Manatt Adds Prominent Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur

Healthcare venture fund expert Lisa Lisa Suennen will join Manatt Phelps & Phillips as head of its digital and technology businesses (including its healthcare consulting arm), and the firm’s venture capital fund.

Rapid Escalation of Practice Acquisitions Drives Hospital Systems to Merge Hosts of Physician Technology Platforms by 2021, Black Book Survey

Forty percent of hospital-based respondents plan to replace acquired physician practice EHR and PM systems, with Allscripts being the most recommended integrated solution.

Morning Headlines 11/12/18

Veritas Capital, Elliott clinch $5.5 billion acquisition of Athenahealth

Reuters reports that Veritas Capital and Elliott Management will acquire Athenahealth for $135 per share.

Corporate America’s blockchain and bitcoin fever is over

Executives of S&P companies are dropping their references to blockchain in earnings calls, with buzzword-dropping down 80 percent as shareholders stopped believing the hype and share prices stopped increasing.

Hackers stole income, immigration and tax data in Healthcare.gov breach, government confirms

CMS notifies 75,000 Healthcare.gov customers – mostly brokers and agents – that the recent data breach did not expose financial or personal health information. 

Morning Headlines 11/9/18

Google has hired Geisinger’s David Feinberg to lead its health strategy

Google will hire Geisinger President and CEO David Feinberg, MD, MBA to develop its healthcare strategy across its business units.

GetWellNetwork Acquires HealthLoop

Bedside patient engagement company GetWellNetwork acquires HealthLoop, a Silicon Valley-based developer of automated messaging for follow-up care.

Patel to succeed Johnson in Health IT leadership role

Chief Health Information Officer Neal Patel, MD, MPH will replace Chief Informatics Officer Kevin Johnson, MD, MS as head of health IT efforts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (TN) as of January 1.

Tabula Rasa HealthCare Acquires Cognify an Integration HealthCare Technology Company

Medication safety technology vendor Tabula Rasa HealthCare acquires Cognify, which offers solutions to support the federal PACE program.

Morning Headlines 11/8/18

Focused on Customer Success, Greenway Health Announces the Appointment of Kimberly O’Loughlin to President

After six months with the company as COO, Greenway Health promotes Kimberly O’Loughlin to president.

FDA launches new digital tool to help capture real world data from patients to help inform regulatory decision-making

The FDA will use data collected directly from patients through its new open-source MyStudies app to inform future drug development and medication and device safety efforts.

Mobile Telehealth Company Medici Acquires DocbookMD

Healthcare messaging and virtual visit company Medici acquires competitor DocbookMD from Scrypts for an undisclosed amount.

Morning Headlines 11/7/18

Identifying Electronic Health Record Usability And Safety Challenges In Pediatric Settings

A review of EHR-related pediatric medication events in three hospitals that use Cerner or Epic finds that EHR usability contributed to 36 percent of the reports, while 18 percent appear to have caused patient harm.

Premier Inc. Agrees to Acquire Stanson Health to Integrate Data-Enabled Clinical Decision Support Capabilities within EHRs

Premier will acquire clinical decision support vendor Stanson Health for up to $66.5 million in cash.

Phonak teams up with Microsoft to improve access to hearing care over distance

In what might be the first use of teleaudiology, hearing aid manufacturer Phonak will offer access to hearing care professionals to perform online fitting and tuning via its remote support app.

Morning Headlines 11/6/18

ResMed to Acquire MatrixCare, Expands Out-of-Hospital SaaS Portfolio into Long-Term Care Settings

Connected health vendor ResMed will acquire LTPAC EHR and quality software vendor MatrixCare for $750 million.

Social Determinants Of Health: Holy Grail Or Dead-End Road?

A Forbes article says that addressing social determinants of health can’t improve health outcomes on its own, calling for improving food literacy, enhancing the respectful relationship between patients and providers, and addressing poverty and the lack of economic opportunity that often override health needs.

Exact Sciences signs deal with Epic Systems, hikes sales, widens losses

Madison, WI-based cancer screening test vendor Exact Sciences will implement Epic for “order entry all the way through revenue cycle and customer care.”

Cancer Society Executive Resigns Amid Upset Over Corporate Partnerships

American Cancer Society EVP/Chief Medical Officer Otis Brawley, MD resigns after negative reaction to the organization’s commercial partnerships with companies with questionable health credentials, such as Herbalife International, Long John Silver’s, and the Tilted Kilt bar chain.

Morning Headlines 11/5/18

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) Q3 2018 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Allscripts executives comment on the potential sale of Netsmart and its plan to increase margins for the former McKesson EIS business, but fail to directly answer a question about plans of its biggest client Northwell Health and make no mention of its Avenel EHR that was announced at HIMSS18.

OpenText to Acquire Liaison Technologies, Inc.

Information management technology vendor OpenText will acquire competitor Liaison Technologies for $310 million in cash.

Like clockwork: How daylight saving time stumps hospital record keeping

Users describe how they work around Epic’s inability to handle documentation entries between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. when clocks are moved back at the end of daylight saving time.

Why Doctors Hate Their Computers

Atul Gawande, writing about his experience with Epic’s go-live at Partners HealthCare, says EHRs were supposed to increase the mastery of doctors over work, but have actually increased work’s mastery over doctors. He quotes an Epic executive’s description of “the Revenge of the Ancillaries,” where the go-live allowed non-doctors to influence their workflow in unproductive ways. He also notes that EHRs have made the problem list nearly worthless and that Epic’s In Basket is “clogged to the point of dysfunction.” He also quotes Partners Chief Client Officer Gregg Meyer, who reminds that Epic is for the patients, not the doctors, and is at least mildly enthusiastic about using scribes. 

Morning Headlines 11/2/18

The VA Shadow Rulers’ Signature Program Is “Trending Towards Red”

ProPublica highlights the political power struggles and leadership mismanagement surrounding the VA’s no-bid, $10 billion Cerner project, prompting the software vendor to preemptively warn veterans groups of negative media coverage.

McKesson says Chairman/CEO Hammergren to retire, succeeded by Tyler

McKesson CEO John Hammergren will retire on March 31, 2019, to be replaced by President/COO Brian Tyler.

NextGen Healthcare Inc (NXGN) CEO Rusty Frantz on Q2 2019 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

NextGen Healthcare CEO Rusty Frantz reports Q2 results that beat earnings expectations but fall short on revenue, adding that the company is making a push to upgrade the 50 percent of its clients that are on older product versions.

Allscripts stock drops as quarterly results miss Street view

Allscripts reports Q3 results: revenue up 16 percent, EPS $-0.20 vs. –$0.16, missing Wall Street expectations for both.

Morning Headlines 10/31/18

Healthcare tech startup 98point6 raises $50M, led by Goldman Sachs, to expand its ‘virtual clinic’

Seattle-based 98point6 raises $50 million to expand its chat-powered “virtual primary care” unlimited service that costs a flat $20 per year for the first year, then $120 in following years.

Secret report raises questions about Queensland’s medical records system

In Australia, a report blames Cerner for May 2017 outages at seven Queensland Health hospitals, refuting the health system’s initial claim that the downtime was caused by ransomware.

EXCLUSIVE: Cincinnati executive launches tech firm to prevent suicide

Mason, OH-based Clarigent Health will commercialize technology developed by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital that assesses suicide risk by analyzing conversations between patients and their therapists or doctors.

LabCorp Enables Health Records on iPhone

LabCorp adds support for Apple Health Records, which will allow patients to send their lab results to their IPhones.

Morning Headlines 10/30/18

Carrot Inc. Raises $25 Million to Commercialize Pivot, the Company’s Digital Health Solution for Smoking Cessation

Carrot secures $25 million to develop a digital smoking cessation program that will incorporate a breath sensor, app, coaching, and drug therapy.

New mobile assessment saves brain cells during stroke

Mayo Clinic’s Center for Connected Care in Jacksonville, FL launches a telemedicine project that will give physicians access to stroke patients en route to the hospital.

Forget Watson, the Red Hat acquisition may be the thing that saves IBM

Analysts speculate that IBM’s $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat may signal a Watson wind-down and a return to enterprise software and services.

Morning Headlines 10/29/18

Epic chops down App Orchard fees

Epic will reduce its fees for listing third-party software in its App Orchard.

Individuals Charged With Defrauding Non-Profit Health-Care System

A federal grand jury indicts a former IT employee of Catholic Health Initiatives for allegedly issuing $72 million in phony purchase orders to a co-conspirator’s IT consulting firm for integration services, then splitting the take.

Cerner (CERN) Q3 2018 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

The company expects its DoD and VA business to drive growth as financially-challenged providers and lack of regulatory incentives reduce private sector market urgency.

HHS CTO’s office to support Indian Health Service IT modernization study

The CTO’s office at HHS will support consulting firm Emerging Sun in a research project focused on updating the Indian Health Service’s Resource and Patient Management System.

Morning Headlines 10/26/18

Bid process ‘stunning’: Management of multimillion-dollar Nova Scotia health records contract questioned

In Canada, the 16-month bidding process for Nova Scotia’s province-wide EHR project comes down to the wire, with Meditech, Epic, Evident, and Harris Healthcare Group failing to make the final cut.

Cerner (CERN) Q3 Earnings Match Estimates

Cerner reports Q3 results: revenue up 5 percent, adjusted EPS $0.63 vs. $0.61, meeting earnings expectations but falling slightly short on revenue.

AWS Opioid Crisis Council Committed to Help Solve the Opioid Epidemic

Shortly after the passage of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, Amazon stresses its commitment to combatting the opioid epidemic via new Alexa capabilities and AWS endeavors.

Black Book™ Announces Eighth Annual Revenue Cycle Management Technology and Outsourcing Solutions Top Client-Rated Honors

Optum360, Waystar, and TruBridge take top spots for customer satisfaction and client experience across multiple categories in Black Book’s latest RCM survey.