Morning Headlines 7/31/18

Stipulated Penalties and Exclusion for Material Breach

OIG fines EClinicalWorks $132,500 for failing to report patient safety issues as reportable events, per its corporate integrity agreement signed as part of its $155 million settlement with the DoJ last year.

Trump Picks Marine Vet To Take Over Veterans Affairs IT

President Trump nominates Marine Corps veteran James Gfrerer to be the VA’s assistant secretary for IT, commonly referred to as its CIO.

CMS Shares MA Data with Wonks

CMS finally releases an initial year’s worth of Medicare Advantage data with help from health data research organization CareSet.

Morning Headlines 7/30/18

Defense Healthcare Management System Modernization – Standard Solution Baseline

The DoD justifies paying Leidos up to $1.1 billion more for its EHR implementation by mentioning the unstated cost of adding the Coast Guard while redacting the list of “as a service” requirements and their associated costs.

Vocera Announces Second Quarter Revenue of $42.7 Million

Vocera announces Q2 results: revenue up 8 percent, adjusted EPS $0.09 vs. $0.02.

Beyond Dr. Google: the evidence on consumer-facing digital tools for diagnosis

A literature review finds that consumer-facing diagnostic websites and apps are poorly supported by clinical studies and sometimes offer low accuracy rates.

Morning Headlines 7/27/18

Startup Raises $100 Million To Allow College, Hospital And Business Bills To Be Paid In Foreign Currency

Financial technology vendor Flywire raises $100 million in a Series D funding round.

CMS Empowers Patients and Ensures Site-Neutral Payment in Proposed Rule

CMS’s proposed outpatient reimbursement takes aim at hospitals that have bought physician practices to take advantage of a billing loophole that allows them to immediately raise prices by declaring the practice a hospital outpatient department.

Mon Health Medical Center freeze staff salary, begin improvement plan due to ‘significant financial challenges’

Mon Health Medical Center (WV) freezes employee pay as it begins implementing an operations improvement plan, which includes rolling out a new EHR at its ambulatory facilities.

Morning Headlines 7/26/18

IBM’s Watson supercomputer recommended ‘unsafe and incorrect’ cancer treatments, internal documents show

Internal IBM documents reveal that Watson Health employees and customers identified “multiple examples of unsafe and incorrect treatment recommendations” as the company promoted the software to prospects.

Some Epic workers will continue to fight for overtime pay as individuals

Epic employees working in quality assurance and tech writing begin filing individual overtime claims after the Supreme Court ruled they cannot file them as a group.

Patientco Primed to Help More Health Systems Rethink Patient Payments with Strategic Growth Investment Led by Accel-KKR

Patient billing company Patientco raises $28 million in a Series B round.

Trump Administration, in Reversal, Will Resume Risk Payments to Health Insurers

The White House reverses its decision to suspend the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment payments, citing the need to keep payers from becoming insolvent or withdrawing from the market.

Morning Headlines 7/25/18

Pentagon to Increase Health Records Contract Ceiling By Another Billion

The Department of Defense will increase its EHR contract ceiling by $1.1 billion in expanding MHS Genesis to cover implementation of Cerner by the Coast Guard.

Identity Automation Announces Acquisition of HealthCast Inc.

Identity and access management technology vendor Identity Automation acquires HealthCast, which offers single sign-on and virtual desktop systems for healthcare.

Making healthcare better for everyone—including providers

Google Cloud announces that former Cleveland Clinic President and CEO Toby Cosgrove, MD has signed on as an advisor to its healthcare and life sciences team.

Scoop: 23andMe is raising up to $300M

23andMe prepares for the sale of up to $300 million in new shares, potentially driving up its value to $2.5 billion.

Morning Headlines 7/24/18

Senate Confirms Pentagon Official To Head Veterans Affairs Department

The Senate confirms Robert Wilkie as VA secretary in a vote of 86 to 9.

Cerner adds 100 more employees on its way to hiring 600 in KC

Cerner fills half of the 600 positions it announced it would staff as part of its new CernerWorks managed services business.

Theranos Investors, Founder Holmes Resolve Shareholder Suit

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes settles a 2016 lawsuit brought by disgruntled shareholders who had indirectly invested in the company through investment funds.

Morning Headlines 7/23/18

NHS to receive £487m technology boost

In England, new Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledges his support for NHS modernization and announces $640 million in new technology funding.

Samsam infected thousands of LabCorp systems via brute force RDP

LabCorp is close to fully restoring its systems after they went offline in a July 13 ransomware attack.

Banner Health’s Tucson computer conversion yielded reports of medical errors

Banner Health’s $45 million conversion to Cerner caused medical errors and staff frustration, although hospital officials said delays in patient registration, lab ordering, and medication ordering and delivery didn’t harm patients.

SingHealth’s IT System Target of Cyberattack

Singapore says hackers stole the information of one-fourth of its population, 1.5 million people, in an attack involving its SingHealth clinics.

Morning Headlines 7/20/18

What can health systems do to encourage physicians to embrace virtual care?

A Deloitte physician survey finds that while both consumers and doctors recognize the benefits of virtual care, most consumers haven’t had a virtual visit and only 14 percent of doctors offer them.

CEO Gawande’s first task: a road trip to hear firsthand about workers’ health challenges

Atul Gawande, MD — head of the still-unnamed healthcare joint venture among Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase — will embark on a cross-country listening tour to gauge the healthcare concerns of employees at the three companies.

Survey: Progress on Patient Safety Slowed by Ineffective Technology, Healthcare Professionals Say

A Health Catalyst survey on patient safety efforts across care settings finds that ineffective IT combined with a lack of real-time alerts is the biggest impediment to reducing medical errors.

Morning Headlines 7/19/18

UnitedHealth Is Among Suitors Circling Tenet’s Conifer Business

Tenet Healthcare considers selling its Confer Health Solutions business to UnitedHealth Group in a deal that could be worth $2 billion.

HHS Secretary Azar Announces Senior Advisor for Fourth Departmental Priority

Adam Boehler, director of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, takes on the additional HHS role of senior advisor for value-based transformation and innovation.

Israel grants $33 million to GE, Medtronic, Change Healthcare to boost R&D

Israel’s Innovation Authority will award $33 million over six years to Change Healthcare, GE Healthcare, and Medtronic as part of a program to attract digital health companies to the country.

Morning Headlines 7/18/18

Nashville health-tech company buys data-analytics firm, changes name

PlayMaker CRM acquires post-acute market intelligence and analytics vendor ViaDirect Solutions and renames itself PlayMaker Health.

Promoting Telehealth for Low-Income Consumers

FCC will propose to fund a $100 million “Connected Care Pilot Program” that would promote using telehealth among low-income families and veterans by providing affordable broadband service.

Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates

Insurers are buying the lifestyle information of hundreds of millions of Americans from data brokers and then running it through algorithms that predict how much that person’s healthcare will cost.

UnitedHealth posts big profit jump but sees room to improve

UnitedHealth Group reports Q2 results: revenue up 12 percent, EPS $2.98 vs. $2.32. Its Optum segment booked $1.8 billion in profit on $25 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Morning Headlines 7/17/18

Walmart Names Humana Veteran to Run Its Health and Wellness Unit

Sean Slovenski (Healthways) joins Walmart as SVP of health and wellness.

Cerner to grow Dublin research hub

Cerner will add 50 new R&D jobs at its Dublin hub, home to its IP development team.

Joe Harpaz Joins Modernizing Medicine as President and Chief Operating Officer

Modernizing Medicine brings on Joe Harpaz (Thomson Reuters) as president and COO.

Lab Corp. (LH) Detected Suspicious Activity on its Information Technology Network

LabCorp works to restore full system functionality after detecting suspicious activity on its IT network over the weekend.

Morning Headlines 7/16/18

CMS Proposes Historic Changes to Modernize Medicare and Restore the Doctor-Patient Relationship

CMS issues a massive draft set of rule changes that it says will reduce provider administrative burdens, encourage price transparency, revamp the longstanding E/M codes to a single code in which physician payment is driven by time spent or medical decision-making required, and paying for virtual visits.

VA Establishes Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization to Support Transition From Legacy Patient Data System

The VA creates an Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization to oversee its Cerner implementation, to be headed by ONC Principal Deputy National Coordinator Genevieve Morris.

Billings Clinic employee’s email hacked during overseas travel; breach affects 8,400 people

The email account of an employee of Billings Clinic (MT) is hacked while he or she is traveling overseas, exposing the information of 8,400 people who were mentioned in the employee’s emails and attachments.

Blount Memorial Hospital to get medical records backup system following computer problems

Blount Memorial Hospital (TN) sets aside $30,000 to purchase a medical records backup system for its physicians group after unexpected computer downtime in May resulted in the cancellation of numerous appointments.

Morning Headlines 7/13/18

Facebook recently closed a loophole that allowed third parties to discover the names of people in private, ‘closed’ Facebook groups

After prompting from healthcare technologist Fred Trotter, Facebook eliminates a privacy setting that allowed third parties to glean the names of users who participate in private, closed Facebook groups.

Cue Announces $30 Million Funding Contract from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority

HHS awards Cue Health a $14 million contract to develop app-based flu-testing kits for the home and office that will include virtual consult and prescribing capabilities.

Chairman Roe, Ranking Member Walz Name Lawmakers to New Subcommittee on Technology Modernization

The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs names members of the subcommittee that will oversee the VA’s Cerner implementation.

Morning Headlines 7/12/18

Alphabet and ResMed are spinning out a start-up to solve sleep apnea, a hidden health crisis

Alphabet’s Verily and ResMed will use “billions of night’s of data” to jumpstart a joint venture focused on diagnosing sleep apnea more effectively and helping patients better manage the condition.

Nurx raises $36 million and adds Chelsea Clinton to its board of directors

Birth control-focused telemedicine startup Nurx raises $36 million in a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins.

Medtronic says thousands of heart devices need software upgrades

The FDA publicizes Medtronic notices alerting providers that 39,000 implantable heart devices need software updates to avoid potentially adverse events.

Morning Headlines 7/11/18

Ingenious Med Announces Nimesh Shah as New CEO

Nimesh Shah (McKesson) replaces Joe Marabito as CEO of Ingenious Med.

Children’s Mercy faces class action lawsuit over data breach affecting thousands

Children’s Mercy Hospital (MO) faces another data breach-related lawsuit, this time pertaining to an email phishing scam that potentially exposed the data of 63,000 individuals.

Layoffs likely ahead at Henry Schein in latest move

Analysts predict health IT company Henry Schein, which recently spun off its animal health business, will downsize after a regulatory filing hints at plans to increase efficiencies.

Morning Headlines 7/10/18

AdvancedMD Completes Acquisition of NueMD

EHR and practice management vendor AdvancedMD acquires competitor NueMD for an undisclosed amount.

Verity Health System Announces Exploration of Strategic Options

A little over a year after Patrick Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks buys a controlling interest in Verity Health System, the California-based nonprofit decides to look at selling some or all of its six hospitals.

Cerner and Lumeris Will Launch Offering to Reduce Complexities for Health Systems Delivering Value-Based Care

Cerner and Lumeris develop combined technologies and services aimed at helping health systems succeed with Medicare Advantage programs.

Cass Regional Medical Center hit by ransomware attack

Cass Regional Medical Center (MO) shuts down its Meditech system after discovering a communications and IT data breach Monday morning.

Morning Headlines 7/9/18

UW Medicine Clinical Transformation: Approve Project, Budget, and Internal Lending Program (ILP) Funding

University of Washington Medicine prepares to move to a single EHR in a 30-month, $180 million project.

The one big winner of the Obamacare wars

Politico surmises that never-ending government healthcare changes and resulting uncertainty, especially those driven by the Affordable Care Act, have been a boon for consultants.

Health Insurers Warn of Market Turmoil as Trump Suspends Billions in Payments

The White House suspends the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment payments, which without further action will drive more insurers from the market and increase premiums.