Morning Headlines 6/1/18

ClearBridge Investments Sends Letter to Board of Directors of athenahealth Inc.

Athenahealth investor ClearBridge Investments urges the health IT company to launch sale proceedings in light of a “litany of executive turnover, misexecution on several initiatives and persistent downward trajectory of a variety of financial measures.”

Withings will return after buying out Nokia’s health business

Withings will sell the Nokia Health products it re-acquired earlier this year, and relaunch the Withings brand by the end of 2018.

Propeller Health Raises $20 Million, Accelerating Development of Digital Medicines for Respiratory Health and Other Diseases

Propeller Health secures $20 million with help from Aptar Pharma, which will help the company scale its digital therapeutics beyond its core chronic respiratory disease market.

Morning Headlines 5/30/18

Providence St. Joseph Health Helps Ease, Enhance End-Of-Life Care

Providence St. Joseph Health publishes a state-specific online advance directive toolkit and customizes its EHR to store the advance directives of its patients.

IBM’s Watson Health wing left looking poorly after ‘massive’ layoffs

IBM Watson Health reportedly had big layoffs last week, with the “resource action” mostly focused on employees from its big-bet acquisitions Truven, Merge, and Phytel.

Orion Health cuts 177 jobs as more red ink spills

As layoffs mount, reports suggest that New Zealand-based Orion Health is considering selling all or part of the company to unnamed parties.

ResMed to Acquire HEALTHCAREfirst, a Cloud-based Software and Services Provider for Home Health and Hospice Agencies

Home monitoring technology vendor ResMed will acquire HealthcareFirst.

Morning Headlines 5/29/18

How I remember my lost military comrades

Former senator, governor, and US Navy Seal Bob Kerrey suggests spending a short time alone to remember those who have been lost and those who lost them.

Me and My Numb Thumb: A Tale of Tech, Texts and Tendons

Doctors are seeing many people with problems caused by thumb overuse in texting.

Next time you buy a TV at Best Buy, you may be also offered health care

Best Buy plans to offer home monitoring technology and services to seniors.

Morning Headlines 5/28/18

Steward Health Care pressured doctors to restrict referrals outside chain, suit says

A doctor files a class action lawsuit against venture capital-owned hospital chain Steward Health Care, claiming he was pressured to refer patients only to other Steward facilities

Emory Healthcare and Sharecare to launch Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub

The health system and digital health vendor, both based in Atlanta, will develop, test, and implement digital health products.

Digital Ambulance Chasers? Law Firms Send Ads To Patients’ Phones Inside ERs

Personal injury lawyers in Philadelphia are using geofencing technology to identify smartphone users who are in hospital EDs, then sending their devices a weeks-long string of “call if you’ve been injured” ads.

Morning Headlines 5/25/18

US Hospital EMR Market Share 2018: Small Hospitals Hungry for New Technology

A new KLAS report on hospital EHR market share finds that Cerner gained the most customers overall, but also lost enough to place it behind Epic in net market share change with +29 vs. +46.

Athenahealth issues statement

Elliott Management sends yet another letter pressuring Athenahealth to take its buyout offer seriously. Athenahealth reps have fired back with a letter of their own, stressing that they will take their time in reviewing Elliott’s offer.

ConnectiveRx Acquires The Macaluso Group to Enhance Specialty Product Reimbursement and Customer Support

Prescription affordability and adherence solutions vendor ConnectiveRx acquires The Macaluso Group, a tech-enabled prescription benefits company, for an undisclosed amount.

Morning Headlines 5/24/18

Senate Passes $55 Billion Veterans Affairs Reform Bill

As the VA preps to overhaul its medical records system, the Senate passes the VA Mission Act, a $55 billion bill that will give vets more leeway to see private-sector providers, expands family caregiver stipends, and mandates a review of aging facilities. President Trump is expected to sign the bill soon.

A New Challenge Competition – Can you Help Make EHR Safety Reporting Easy

ONC announces an $80,000 contest to entice developers to create apps that will help users identify, record, and report potential health IT safety issues in real time.

DAS Health Secures $6 Million to Accelerate Company Acquisition Strategy

After purchasing a string of companies over the last three years, health IT reseller and consulting company DAS Health raises $6 million to continue its buying spree.

Morning Headlines 5/23/18

New Cancer Treatments Lie Hidden Under Mountains of Paperwork

A New York Times article says that hospital EHRs are a “medical records mess” that impede research efforts because of incompatible data formats and the reluctance of health systems to share their patient data.

Bruce Greenstein departs HHS CTO role

HHS CTO Bruce Greenstein joins home health provider LHC Group as chief innovation and technology officer.

House Passes Bill to Keep Tabs on VA’s Health Records Modernization

The House passes a bill that would require the VA to provide Congress with regular updates on its Cerner project and to notify lawmakers promptly if it experiences contract or schedule changes, milestone delays, bid protests, or data breaches.

Routine DNA Screening Moves Into Primary Care

Geisinger Health System (PA) will begin offering DNA sequencing to patients, after which results will be sent to their primary care physician for one-on-one counseling and incorporated into their EHR.

Morning Headlines 5/22/18

Epic Systems gets a win in U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting workers’ ability to sue employers

After reviewing the employee arbitration cases of Epic and two other companies, the US Supreme Court declares that companies do have a right to mandate that employees sign agreements preventing them from taking workplace grievances to courts of law.

Iora Health Raises $100 Million in Series E Financing

Primary care company Iora Health raises $100 million, which it plans to use to further develop its proprietary care coordination technology.

Janus Henderson Reports 11.9 Percent Stake In athenahealth

Janus Henderson Group, Athenahealth’s largest shareholder, urges the company to initiate a formal sale process.

Theresa May: Artificial intelligence will prevent 22,000 cancer deaths a year by 2033

British Prime Minister Theresa May outlines the government’s industrial strategy, which includes significant investments in healthcare-focused AI and analytics to help catch cancer diagnoses earlier.

Morning Headlines 5/21/18

Cerner chief: VA contract taught him about ‘fake news’ that may involve a competitor

Cerner President Zane Burke blames an unnamed competitor (presumably Epic) for publicizing negative reports about the DoD’s MHS Genesis project, labeling the resulting coverage as “fake news” in Friday’s annual shareholder meeting.

TransUnion Expands Healthcare Solutions with Agreement to Acquire Healthcare Payment Specialists

TransUnion will acquire Fort Worth-based Healthcare Payment Specialists, which offers solutions for hospital Medicare reimbursement.

President Trump announces he will nominate Robert Wilkie as next VA secretary

President Trump will nominate acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to the permanent position.

Sponsors vie for Cardinal Health’s naviHealth

Cardinal Health hires Allen & Co. to provide financial advice on the potential sale of NaviHealth, a post-acute care services and analytics vendor it acquired in 2015 for $290 million.

Morning Headlines 5/18/18

Statement by Acting Secretary Robert Wilkie – VA signs contract with Cerner for an electronic health record system

Acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie signs a 10-year, $10 billion contract with Cerner, saying its system will allow patient data to be “seamlessly shared between VA, DoD, and community providers.”

Report: Long waits for health care, outdated technology at Vaughn prison

An assessment of the healthcare services at Delaware-based Vaughn Correctional Center (where inmates last year led a deadly uprising) produces a long list of EHR-related problems, including poor connectivity, inefficient workflows, and numerous workarounds.

FDA reports quality problems for data provided by the firm IQVIA that were used to inform estimates for some controlled substances

FDA says data vendor IQvia has for years provided it with incorrect national opioid dispensing data, as calculation errors “raise serious concerns about systemic issues with IQvia’s data and quality control procedures.”

Morning Headlines 5/17/18

Jury Convicts Texas Man of $19 Million Fraud Scheme

A federal jury convicts Suresh Mitta and several co-conspirators for their roles in Cerner impersonation schemes that included selling a fake MRI machine to Dallas Medical Center for $1 million.

The Bezos-Buffett-Dimon joint venture to save health care is struggling to find a CEO

The search for a CEO to lead the proposed joint healthcare venture of Amazon, Berkshire Hathway, and JPMorgan stalls as the companies change their recruiting tactics to focus on someone with entrepreneurial experience.

LifeBridge Health and LifeBridge Potomac Professionals Notify Patients of a Recent Security Incident

LifeBridge Health (MD) notifies patients of a September 2016 malware attack on its registration and billing systems, and the EHR used by its Potomac Professionals group.

Democrats call for firing of VA’s top technology official

A group of Democrats call for the ouster of acting VA CIO Camilo Sandoval as part of an overall outcry about the lack of effective leadership (and staff) that they believe has led to agency waffling on whether or not to move forward with the Cerner EHR contract.

Morning Headlines 5/16/18

Sutter Health experiencing systemwide communications failure

Sutter Health confirms that some of its electronic systems remain down from an unstated problem that started late Monday. Sutter’s Epic system in at least some of its facilities as well as its public website are offline.

Medical Records: Fees and Challenges Associated with Patients’ Access

A GAO investigation commissioned under the 21st Century Cures Act finds that patients are sometimes charged more than HIPAA allows for copies of their medical record.

Pentagon’s EHR Setbacks ‘Don’t Bode Well’ for Potential Veterans Affairs Rollout

Former VA CIO Roger Baker comments on the military’s report that called out extensive problems with its MHS Genesis pilot sites, ultimately pointing out that the VA has gone too far down the Cerner path to reconsider despite the DoD’s report.

Morning Headlines 5/15/18

Elliott Management Releases Letter to the Board of athenahealth

In a letter to Athenahealth’s Board of Directors, Elliott Management urges the company to engage in acquisition talks after hearing nothing since issuing a takeover offer of over $6 billion last week.

Qventus Closes $30 Million in Series B Financing To Increase Efficiency of U.S. Health Systems

Real-time decision management IT vendor Qventus raises $30 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Black Book’s Annual Cybersecurity Survey Reveals Healthcare Enterprises Are Not Maturing Fast Enough, Processes Continue Underfunded and Understaffed

Amidst static or shrinking budgets, health security professionals profess to making somewhat hasty cybersecurity purchasing decisions that lacked appropriate due diligence and buy-in from end users.

Morning Headlines 5/14/18

Military Healthcare System (MHS) GENESIS Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) Report

A newly declassified April 30 Department of Defense evaluation of the military’s four MHS Genesis pilot sites concludes that the system “is neither operationally effective or operationally suitable” and says it is inadequate for managing and documenting care delivery.

Cumberland Consulting Group Expands Managed Services Practice with LinkEHR Acquisition

Cumberland Consulting Group acquires EHR-focused managed services firm LinkEHR, expanding its consulting and services offerings into Epic-focused help desk, application break-fix, maintenance, physician concierge support, and build / optimization.

Early investor doubles down on support for Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos: ‘She did a great job’

Venture capitalist and early Theranos investor Tim Draper says founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was “bullied into submission,” adding that he is “thrilled at what she has done” despite SEC charges that the company was a massive fraud from the beginning.

Morning Headlines 5/11/18

Hearing to Review the FY2019 Budget Request for the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs

VA CFO Jon Rychalski tells the Senate Appropriations Committee in a Wednesday budget hearing that the agency will decide if it wants to move forward with a Cerner contract by May 28.

EHealth Exchange to Become Carequality Implementer

The Sequoia Project will divide its corporate structure into two subsidiaries – Carequality and EHealth Exchange – this summer.

Contract Nurses, Mayo Clinic Divided on Success of Epic Training

A local TV station receives several complaints from temporary nurses who were hired by contractor HCI to help with Mayo Clinic’s Epic implementation.

Amazon is building a ‘health & wellness’ team within Alexa as it aims to upend health care

Amazon develops a team to make Alexa more relevant in the healthcare space, as well as to ensure future applications are HIPAA-compliant.

Morning Headlines 5/10/18

Tencent’s WeDoctor raises $500 million, values firm at $5.5 billion pre-IPO

In China, diagnosis and appointment booking app company WeDoctor raises $500 million in a round led by AIA Company Ltd. Its $5.5 billion pre-IPO valuation puts it ahead of competitor Ping An, whose recent IPO peaked at $1.1 billion before shares started to tumble.

A few days after Epic Systems roll-out, everything going as planned

Mayo Clinic’s Epic roll out in Rochester, which kicked off Saturday, is going according to plan, perhaps “a little better than expected,” according to implementation co-chair Steve Peters, MD.

Innovaccer Raises $25 Million Series B to Build Healthcare’s Leading Data Platform and Drive $1 Billion in Healthcare Savings

Analytics vendor Innovaccer secures $25 million in a funding round that brings its total raised to $41 million.

Morning Headlines 5/9/18

Former Medicare chief Andy Slavitt formally launches Town Hall Ventures to invest in healthcare

Former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt launches Town Hall Ventures to invest in health IT companies focused on serving Medicaid and Medicare populations.

The CEO of a health startup backed by Eric Schmidt and top VCs has been fired amid allegations he intimidated employees

HealthTap’s Board of Directors ousts CEO Ron Gutman after looking into high turnover rates and concerning reports about his abusive conduct.

Protection of Patient Health Information at Navy and Air Force Military Treatment Facilities

The DoD’s Office of the Inspector General finds glaring disregard for data security across 17 information systems at a handful of Air Force and Navy healthcare facilities.

Walmart and Sam’s Club to restrict opioid fill limit up to seven days nationwide; require e-prescriptions for opioids by 2020

In order to cut down on fraud and abuse, Walmart will require that all opioid prescriptions be filed electronically with its pharmacies by 2020.