Morning Headlines 10/11/18

CVS Health and Aetna $69 Billion Merger Is Approved With Conditions

The DoJ clears CVS Health to proceed with its $69 billion merger with Aetna, which will operate as a standalone business once the deal closes at the end of Q4.

Amazon patents new Alexa feature that knows when you’re ill and offers you medicine

A new patent suggests that Amazon’s virtual assistant will soon be able to detect when someone is ill through speech analysis, and then propose Amazon products to treat their illness.

VA Appoints IT Vet Paul Tibbits as Electronic Health Record Program Executive Director

The VA promotes Paul Tibbits from program executive officer for financial management business transformation to executive director for the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization.

TransUnion Expands Healthcare Solutions with Agreement to Acquire Rubixis

TransUnion acquires revenue cycle vendor Rubixis for an undisclosed amount.

Morning Headlines 10/10/18

Former GE Healthcare Value-Based Care Solutions Group Rebrands as Virence Health Technologies

GE Healthcare’s former Value-Based Care Solutions Group, sold to private equity firm Veritas Capital in April 2018 for $1.05 billion in cash, renames itself Virence Health Technologies.

Share Your DNA, Get Shares: Startup Files an Unusual Offering

Startup LunaDNA, backed by a DNA sequencing company, seeks SEC approval for its business plan to pay consumers for the right to sell their genetic information.

Roche Turns to App in Fight Against Multiple Sclerosis

Roche develops a symptom-tracking for MS patients in hopes of using aggregated, de-identified data to improve its treatments for the disease.

Morning Headlines 10/9/18

Mayo Clinic completes installation of Epic electronic health record

Mayo Clinic wraps up its system-wide Epic implementation, dubbed the Plummer Project, with go lives at facilities in Arizona and Florida.

Liberty IT Solutions Awarded $11.4MM Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) Enhancements Phase 2 (EP2) Task Order

The VA awards government technology contractor Liberty IT Solutions (a partner on the Cerner VA EHR project) an $11 million contract to further enhance the VistA-integrated Computerized Patient Record System.

Ochsner develops new approach to opioid prescribing in primary care

Ochsner Health System (LA) connects its Epic system to the state’s PDMP as part of an effort to help its primary care physicians avoid overprescribing opioids.

Morning Headlines 10/8/18

Assessment of US Hospital Compliance With Regulations for Patients’ Requests for Medical Records

A study of 83 mostly top-rated hospitals finds that patients still struggle to get copies of their medical information, with many facilities ignoring a federal requirement that they provide information in the patient-requested format.

These young cardiologists are opening tech-infused health clinics all over New York 

Cardiology practice startup Heartbeat is opening offices in New York City that will offer online tests, virtual care, and treatment plans that include exercise and nutrition components.

DoD rolls out new GENESIS sites, with hopes of fewer complaints about electronic medical records system

The DoD rolls out its Cerner-powered MHS Genesis EHR at a second round of facilities that includes Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho and three facilities in California.

Morning Headlines 10/5/18

Health tech pioneer Deborah Estrin named MacArthur fellow

The MacArthur Foundation awards Deborah Estrin a fellowship for her work on determining how data generated by smartphones, wearables, and online interactions can be used for mobile health while still maintaining user privacy.

Frost & Sullivan Honors Medicomp Systems with the EHR Optimization Technology Leadership Award

Frost & Sullivan names Medicomp Systems the winner of its 2018 North America EHR Optimization Technology Leadership Award for its Quippe productivity enhancement solutions for reducing documentation burden.

A startup’s bold plan for a mood-predicting smartphone app is shadowed by questions over evidence

Mental health tech startup Mindstrong raises $30 million in funding and secures agreements with a dozen California mental health departments, but has yet to publish peer-reviewed data that back up its claims.

Morning Headlines 10/4/18

McKesson’s Change Healthcare hires IPO underwriters: sources

Sources report that Change Healthcare has hired underwriters for a 2019 IPO that could be valued at up to $12 billion.

Technology Innovators, Experienced Systems Integrators Join Cerner in Mission to Modernize Veterans’ Electronic Health Records

Cerner announces that the core team it will work with on implementing the VA’s new EHR will include Leidos, Accenture, Henry Schein, AbleVets, plus 20 additional businesses.

California doctors now required to check database before prescribing painkillers

A California law goes into effect requiring physicians to check the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) before writing prescriptions for controlled substances.

Morning Headlines 10/3/18

Waystar to Acquire Transaction Services Business from UPMC’s Ovation, Adding Enhanced Claims Monitoring Capabilities to Platform

RCM vendor Waystar will purchase the transaction services software business of UPMC-owned Ovation Revenue Cycle Services.

Enhanced Patient Matching Is Critical to Achieving Full Promise of Digital Health Records

A new Pew Charitable Trusts report on patient matching offers potential approaches that include unique patient identifiers that incorporate biometrics, placing more onus on the patient through verification via text message, and standardizing data elements.

GE unexpectedly removes its CEO

GE’s board fires Chairman and CEO John Flannery after just over a year on the job, disrupting company plans to spin off GE Healthcare.

Patients’ heavy records cost hospital $11m

Australia’s Royal Adelaide Hospital will spend $7.8 million to extend its paper records storage and delivery service, with the failure of its Allscripts implementation forcing it to store records offsite since the hospital’s floors weren’t designed to handle that much weight.

‘This system has to survive;’ UMass Memorial Health Care, $22 million in the red, plans to focus on virtual healthcare

UMass Memorial’s deficit prompts CEO Eric Dickson, MD to consolidate services and focus on ACOs, minimally invasive surgeries, and virtual healthcare.

Morning Headlines 10/2/18

Advisory council stunned to learn about parallel health information exchange efforts

Tasked with overseeing Connecticut’s latest HIE effort, members of the Health IT Advisory Council express disbelief and frustration when they learn that a separate state-run agency has been developing its own HIE.

DAS Health Announces Record 3 Concurrent Acquisitions

EHR reseller DAS Health acquires M E Computer Systems, MECS Billing Services, and the Aprima business of consulting firm CriticalKey.

MediQuant Receives Significant Growth Investment from Silversmith Capital Partners

Health data archiving company MediQuant promotes Jim Jacobs to CEO, coinciding with an investment from Silversmith Capital Partners.

Audit Highlights Erlanger’s Continued Net Patient Revenue Growth Of 13%; New Ventures Carried Out Despite $124 Million Uncompensated Care Expense

Erlanger Health System (TN) reports positive year-end income despite predicted shortfalls related to the implementation of its $100 million Epic system last year.

Morning Headlines 10/1/18

Facing Crisis, Sloan Kettering Tells Exec to Hand Over Profits From Biotech

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center tells VP Gregory Raskin, MD to turn over $1.4 million worth of biotech company shares that he personally owns, and promises to revise its commercialization and investment policies so that it will retain any proceeds accruing from the involvement of its executives instead of enriching those execs.

Diagnosing the Orion Health buyout deal: Q&A

Orion Health shareholders approve the company’s plan to sell its only profitable division, which offers the Rhapsody integration engine, to a private equity firm that will run it as a private company.

Health care payments firm wants to merge with Athenahealth

Revenue cycle technology vendor NThrive (the former MedAssets and Precyse) is the previously unnamed strategic bidder that has offered to buy Athenahealth.

SingHealth COI hearing: Former IHiS CEO dismissed staff for ethical breach, didn’t probe alleged vulnerability

The former CEO of SingHealth’s IT services organization IHIS, testifying in hearings about its recent massive IT breach, says she immediately fired an employee who in 2014 discovered a security vulnerability in Allscripts Sunrise Clinical Manager and then emailed Epic to suggest using his information to increase market share.

Morning Headlines 9/28/18

Athenahealth fields multiple bids, but offers not much higher than current stock price, sources say

Shares of Athenahealth rise slightly after CNBC reports that two private equity firms and one strategic buyer have expressed interest in acquiring the company for close to $131 a share.

‘State of the VA is better,’ Wilkie says, but not ‘good’ or ‘excellent’

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie tells the Senate VA Committee that he and representatives at the DoD are working to create a “single point of authority” for their respective EHR projects with Cerner.

Dozens more jobs being cut at Adventist Health Bakersfield

Adventist Health Bakersfield (CA) will do away with 60 financial services jobs early next year as part of a billing and collections outsourcing deal with Cerner that has already impacted 175 employees over the last six months.

Wearables pioneer Jawbone is back with a new mission: Warning you about health problems you didn’t know you had

Jawbone founder and CEO Hosain Rahman says the company has pivoted from fitness trackers to a device-agnostic remote patient monitoring business that will act as a health check-engine light for monthly subscribers.

Morning Headlines 9/27/18

Maven Raises $27 Million in Series B Financing to Bridge the Gap Between Working Women and Families and Modern Health Benefits

Women’s virtual health company Maven raises $27 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT.

Nordic CEO Bruce Cerullo announces long-term leadership succession plan

Nordic begins looking for a new CEO after Bruce Cerullo announces he will transition from the role to chairman of the board.

Healthcare IT Company Cerner Opening Office in Rosslyn

Cerner leases office space in Rosslyn, VA to house employees working on the company’s contract with the VA and DoD.

Morning Headlines 9/26/18

New Tool Can Help Patients and Family Caregivers Get, Use, and Share Health Records

Several provider organizations develop Health Record Request Wizard, an online tool that walks patients through submitting a request to providers for electronic copies of their medical records.

CenTrak Bolsters Security Solutions through Elpas Acquisition

CenTrak acquires the security solutions assets of Elpas Solutions, which include infant protection, wireless call, staff duress, man down, and wander management.

Google Assistant Investment Program Invests in Aiva Health, First Voice Platform for End-to-End Care

The Google Assistant Investment Program makes its first foray into healthcare with an investment in Aiva Health, which has developed virtual assistant-based patient engagement and care coordination software.

StartUp Health Raises $31M From Novartis, Ping An Group, Chiesi Group, GuideWell and Otsuka

Digital health investment collaborative StartUp Health closes a $31 million fund that it will use to invest in “healthcare moonshots.”

Morning Headlines 9/25/18

UMass Memorial Health Care Entities to Pay $230,000 to Resolve AG’s Lawsuit Over Data Breaches

UMass Memorial Medical Group and UMass Memorial Medical Center will pay $230,000 to settle a lawsuit related to employees improperly accessing patient medical records, and then using their data to open cell phone and credit card accounts.

Memorial Regional Health to request approval to sell dirt lot, wins $200K grant

Memorial Regional Health (CO) will move to Epic as part of a new affiliation with SCL Health St. Mary’s Regional Health System (CO).

Ochsner Health System, LSU Health Shreveport join forces to improve healthcare in north Louisiana

Ochsner Health System (LA) and LSU Health Shreveport will invest in EHR, digital health, and telemedicine enhancements as part of a new joint operations agreement.

Morning Headlines 9/24/18

.@sloan_kettering sent a note to staff today after my story with @katie_thomas @nytimes.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center leadership defends itself to its employees following reports that it gave for-profit AI startup Paige.AI exclusive access to its 25 million pathology slides in return for an equity stake for itself and several MSKCC executives

Longmont-based software company helped hospitals keep track of patients during Florence evacuations

Emergency response software vendor Knowledge Center played a vital role in the evacuation of 313 patients from hospitals in the path of Hurricane Florence.

Biden Cancer Initiative Recognizes MITRE Partnership’s Core Cancer Model

MITRE partners with Intermountain Healthcare, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and ASCO’s CancerLinq subsidiary to develop a set of cancer data elements culled from EHRs that will help providers make better treatment decisions at the point of care.

Morning Headlines 9/21/18

Sloan Kettering’s Cozy Deal With Start-Up Ignites a New Uproar

Pathologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center object to a deal that gave several MSKCC higher-ups an equity stake in pathology clinical decision support startup Paige.AI after it gave the company exclusive access to its archive of patient tissue slides.

Town Hall Ventures, Investment Firm Focused on Improving Health of Underserved Populations, Brings Together Providers, Payors, and Leaders to Announce Close of First Fund At $115 Million

Andy Slavitt’s Town Hall Ventures closes a $115 million fund and makes unspecified investments in payer Bright Health, home health provider Landmark Health, and chronic kidney disease company Strive Health.

Unauthorized Disclosure of Patients’ Protected Health Information During ABC Television Filming Results in Multiple HIPAA Settlements Totaling $999,000

Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital collectively pay $999,000 to OCR to settle potential privacy violations related to the taping of TV show “Boston Med” without prior patient approval.

Gawande-led venture taps consulting giant to hone strategy for chronically ill

The Amazon/Berkshire Hathway/JPMorgan healthcare venture led by Atul Gawande, MD hires Deloitte’s Monitor Group to help bring to fruition a strategy for improving care for the chronically ill.

Morning Headlines 9/20/18

Hacking attempt troubles Lutheran

Lutheran Health Network (IN) brings IT systems back online after an attempted data breach forces Lutheran Hospital to divert patients to other facilities.

Mercy Health Funds Cloud Medical Image Management Company NucleusHealth™

Mercy Health becomes a minority investor in cloud-based medical image management vendor NucleusHealth.

Nest’s digital health ambitions revealed in records from secretive purchase of Seattle startup Senosis

Newly released documents confirm Nest’s hush-hush acquisition of Senosis Health, an app-based health monitoring startup out of the University of Washington, is likely part of a broader move into digital health.

Morning Headlines 9/19/18

Paul Singer balks at $160-per-share Athenahealth bid

Athenahealth shares drop sharply on the news that activist investor Elliott Management will pass on acquiring the company at its previously offered price of $160 per share.

Local health care technology startup Valify makes acquisition

Hospital purchased services technology vendor Valify acquires Lucro, which offers a hospital-vendor marketplace.

Kleiner Perkins is splitting up

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins will spin off its digital health group – which includes some of its most prominent partners, who have invested in Uber and Stripe – into an independent group.