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.

Morning Headlines 10/4/19

New Associate Benefits Aim to Simplify Health Care and Focus on Appropriate Care

Walmart will pilot several programs across the country to connect its employees to healthcare services that it hopes will offer quality care at more affordable prices.

Epic Systems gearing up for yet another expansion in Verona

Filings with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources show that Epic intends to expand its Verona campus to accommodate another 1,200 employees over the next five years.

abeo Acquires Computer-Assisted Coding Platform, Trusted i10, LLC

Practice management and billing vendor Abeo acquires AI-powered coding company Trusted i10 for an undisclosed sum.

Morning Headlines 10/3/19

22C Capital Announces Investment in Definitive Healthcare

22C Capital joins health data marketing and research firm Definitive Healthcare’s recapitalization with an undisclosed investment.

MEDITECH Announces Collaboration with Google Cloud to Bring EHRs to the Public Cloud

Meditech will offer select EHR software on Google Public Cloud, and will work with Google Cloud to develop native cloud products and APIs.

GraniteOne Health moves forward with Dartmouth-Hitchcock collaboration

In New Hampshire, GraniteOne Health system will leverage Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health’s Epic software and telemedicine expertise once their merger agreement is approved.

Elizabeth Holmes’ attorneys blast prosecution over withholding government documents

Defense lawyers for former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former president and COO Sunny Balwani insist the prosecution is refusing to turn over documents that would clear the pair of any wrongdoing.

Morning Headlines 10/2/19

Northwell, Allscripts to jointly develop next-gen electronic health record

Northwell Health (NY) will work with Allscripts to develop a cloud-based EHR incorporating voice recognition and artificial intelligence.

VA shares electronic health records

Beginning next year, the VA will automatically share health data with community providers using the Veterans Health Information Exchange.

FDA informs patients, providers and manufacturers about potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities for connected medical devices and health care networks that use certain communication software

FDA issues an alert about Urgent/11, a cybersecurity vulnerability found in IPnet third-party software that attackers may exploit to take over medical devices and hospital networks.

All 3 DCH Health System Hospitals Closed to New Patients Due to Ransomware Attack

An early-morning ransomware attack forces DCH Health System (AL) to divert patients from its hospitals.

BREAKING: Bankrupt microbiome-testing startup uBiome is shutting down

After laying off half its staff this summer and filing for Chapter 11 earlier this month, UBiome will cease operations and liquidate assets.

Morning Headlines 10/1/19

Francisco Partners to Acquire Orchard Software

Private equity firm Francisco Partners will acquire laboratory information systems vendor Orchard Software.

ECG Reinforces Client Focus, Joining Siemens Healthineers

Siemens Healthineers subsidiary Siemens Medical USA will acquire ECG Management Consultants from Gryphon Investors.

Alphabet taps former FDA commissioner to oversee health strategy and policy

Alphabet names Robert Califf, MD (Duke Health) to head of strategy and policy for its Google Health and Verily Life Sciences Divisions.

Athenahealth campus is for sale, but it aims to stay put in Watertown – as a tenant

Athenahealth decides to sell its Arsenal-on-the-Charles headquarters outside of Boston, but intends to remain in the area as a long-term tenant.

Morning Headlines 9/30/19

Province gives up on single e-health records provider for doctors’ offices

Canada’s New Brunswick Medical Society will close Velante, the for-profit company it created in 2012 as the sole EHR provider for the province’s doctors, few of whom signed up for the system.

Federal Law Enforcement Action Involving Fraudulent Genetic Testing Results in Charges Against 35 Individuals Responsible for Over $2.1 Billion in Losses in One of the Largest Health Care Fraud Schemes Ever Charged

The Department of Justice charges 35 defendants for fraudulently billing Medicare $2 billion by running phony telemedicine companies whose doctors ordered unnecessary cancer genetic screening tests that were processed by private labs in on the scheme.

March, October Targeted for VA Cerner Implementation

The VA will push back its Cerner go-live date from March to October at several facilities in the Pacific Northwest because of staffing and infrastructure problems.

23andMe, moving beyond consumer DNA tests, is building a clinical trial recruitment business

23andMe will work with clinical trial recruitment startup TrialSpark to offer customers enrollment in clinical trials in their areas.

Baptist Health coding jobs being outsourced to company with locations in US and India

Baptist Health (KY) lays off 37 as it outsources some of its coding jobs to AGS Health.

Morning Headlines 9/27/19

Statement on new steps to advance digital health policies that encourage innovation and enable efficient and modern regulatory oversight

The FDA releases new draft guidance documents that cover the safe and effective use of digital health technologies, using a risk-based framework under its Digital Health Innovation Action Plan that addresses provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.

emids Announces Investment from New Mountain Capital

New Mountain Capital acquires Nashville-based healthcare technology, services, and consulting company Emids.

GoodRx Expands Healthcare Services With Introduction of GoodRx Care

GoodRx acquires telemedicine vendor HeyDoctor, enabling it to add virtual visits to its prescription drug discount website and app.

VA to Pilot New Scheduling System at Same Ohio Facility that Tested the Last Solution

The Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus, OH will become the first VA facility to replace Epic scheduling with Cerner next April.

Trump Administration Puts Patients Over Paperwork by Reducing Healthcare Administrative Costs

CMS releases the Omnibus Burden Reduction Final Rule to scale back regulatory requirements that the agency projects will save providers 4.4 million hours and $8 billion over the next 10 years.

Morning Headlines 9/26/19

WELL Health Announces Agreement to Acquire EMR Service Provider OSCARwest

Canadian primary care and software company Well Health Technologies acquires consulting firm OSCARwest EMR Services.

How Best Buy plans to expand into home healthcare services, remote monitoring to help seniors age in place

Best Buy expects to take in $50 billion in revenue by 2025, a move that will be driven in large part by a more aggressive push into senior-focused home healthcare services.

AI-Powered Digital Health Company Eko Closes $20 Million Series B to Continue the Fight Against Heart Disease

Digital stethoscope and ECG technology company Eko raises $20 million in a funding round led by Artis Ventures.

UK HealthCare resumes diverting ambulance patients to other hospitals

After a similar situation several days ago, UK HealthCare once again diverts ambulance patients due to unspecified issues with its computer system.

Morning Headlines 9/25/19

Amazon launches Amazon Care, a virtual medical clinic for employees

Amazon launches a Seattle-area pilot of Amazon Care, a virtual primary care clinic for its employees that includes a nurse house call option.

Ping An Good Doctor Has Become the First Online Healthcare Platform with More Than 300 Million Registered Users

China’s Ping An Good Doctor – which offers online consultations, hospital referrals, appointments, second opinions, and prescription delivery – reaches 300 million registered users, which represents one in three internet users in China.

Request for Information (RFI) For Patient Access to Health Data Issued by the New York eHealth Collaborative

New York EHealth Collaborative issues an RFI for patient-facing software that can access and aggregate patient medical records and support patient-provider messaging.

Provider groups ask Congress for help on info blocking

CHIME, AMIA, MGMA, AHIMA, AMA and two other groups ask Congress to modify ONC’s proposed implementation of the information blocking provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.

Morning Headlines 9/24/19

Software issue fixed, UK HealthCare no longer diverting patients

UK HealthCare resumes normal operations after a software update caused its patient registration system to crash at three hospitals for several hours on Monday.

Heal makes first acquisition to expand its doctor house calls into NYC

App-based house call and telemedicine company Heal acquires New York City-based Doctors on Call for $15 million.

Fitbit’s 2-day surge hits 19% on reports the company is seeking a sale — and its bankers are eyeing a Google takeover (FIT)

Fitbit’s stock increases on the news that it has engaged investment bank Qatalyst Partners to advise it on a sale, with Alphabet named as a potential suitor.

Morning Headlines 9/23/19

CCH responds to ransomware attack

Campbell County Health (WY) goes on diversion and transfers some patients out after a Friday ransomware attack.

Former hospital employee accused of gaming drug dispensing systems

A former hospital pharmacy technician is charged with stealing 13,000 doses of controlled substances after she found a bug in its automated dispensing cabinet that allowed her to withdraw doses for inactivated nursing unit names.

Senior Healthcare Executives Bet on RubiconMD, Join Leadership Team

E-consult company RubiconMD names Fred Ronnau (CareAllies) CTO and Sarah Alexander (Lumeris) COO.

Morning Headlines 9/20/19

Texas Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown Results in Charges Against 58 Individuals

The Justice Department charges 58 people in Texas, including three EHR hackers, for participating in Medicare fraud schemes and operating pill mill clinics that doled out 6.2 million pills at a cost of $66 million.

Queensland Health headaches continue as suppliers aren’t paid on time

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles takes heat for spending $92 million on supply ordering software that crashed hours after launch.

Telemynd Readies Plan For Mini IPO

Behavioral telehealth and analytics company Telemynd hopes to raise over $8 million in an IPO of its common stock.

Morning Headlines 9/19/19

Robin Healthcare Raises $15 Million to Build Digital Assistant for Doctors, Launches Partnerships with Leading Health Systems, and Adds Siri Co-Founder Tom Gruber as Advisor

AI-powered clinical documentation company Robin Healthcare raises $11.5 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners.

DeepMind’s health team joins Google Health

Alphabet’s AI-focused DeepMind subsidiary officially becomes a part of Google Health.

Review under way into major Queensland hospital software crash

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles assures the press that a full review into last week’s five-hour Cerner EHR outage at 14 hospitals is underway.

Warburg snaps up Qualifacts in $300 mln-plus deal, following larger bet for WebPT

PE Hub reports that Warburg Pincus has acquired behavioral health and human services EHR company Qualifacts for over $300 million.

Morning Headlines 9/18/19

Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data Are Available on the Internet. Anyone Can Take a Peek.

A ProPublica investigation identifies 187 Internet-accessible, unsecured servers that hold the medical information of 5 million Americans.

OrbCare is Bankrupt and Looking for a Buyer After Misrepresented Finances and Debt

Toronto-based specialty practice EHR, PM, PACS, and AI chat bot vendor OrbCare is reportedly nearing insolvency just six months after announcing a $2 million seed round.

Rush Health Systems and Ochsner Health System Announce Strategic Partnership

Rush Health Systems will gain access to Epic and telemedicine capabilities through a new partnership with Ochsner Health System.

Navigating Cancer, the Leader in Oncology Patient Relationship Management, Receives $26 Million in Oversubscribed New Funding

Oncology-focused patient relationship management vendor Navigating Cancer raises $26 million in a Series D round of financing.

Morning Headlines 9/17/19

Firefly Health Closes $10.2 Million Series A Funding Round to Expand New Primary Care and Patient Experience Platform

Primary care startup Firefly Health raises $10 million in a Series A funding round and names Jonathan Bush executive chairman.

VA Launches VITAL Training Ahead of First Electronic Health Records Rollout

The VA launches an 18 month-long EHR training program for 76 providers ahead of the Cerner system’s 2020 roll out at VA facilities.

Cerner Announces New Chief Marketing Officer

Former Medtronic executive Darrell Johnson joins Cerner as its first chief marketing officer.

HMS Acquires VitreosHealth

HMS acquires predictive analytics company VitreosHealth for $36.5 million.