Morning Headlines 7/11/19

Waystar Acquires Digitize.AI to Automate Prior Authorization

RCM vendor Waystar acquires prior authorization startup Digitize.AI.

Rhapsody and Corepoint Merge to Advance Interoperability in Healthcare

Health data integration and exchange companies Corepoint Health and Rhapsody decide to merge.

Stratasan Secures $26 Million Investment Led by Fulcrum Equity Partners

Healthcare data analytics business Stratasan raises $26 million in a funding round led by Fulcrum Equity Partners.

Fujifilm Opens New Company Headquarters for Medical Device and IT Groups in Lexington, Massachusetts

Fujifilm Medical Systems USA and Fujifilm New Development relocate their respective headquarters to a 28,000 square foot facility in Lexington, MA.

Morning Headlines 7/10/19

HGP Client Omnisys Acquires STRAND Clinical Technologies

Pharmacy technology vendor OmniSys acquires Strand Clinical Technologies, which offers a clinical services documentation platform for pharmacists.

GNS Healthcare Raises $23 Million Led by Cigna Ventures

Precision medicine technology vendor GNS Healthcare raises $23 million in a Series D funding round.

IBM closes Red Hat acquisition for $34 billion

First announced last October, IBM wraps up its acquisition of cloud software company Red Hat for $34 billion.

Providence St. Joseph Health Collaboration With Blue Shield of California and Gemini Health Delivers Immediate Drug Cost Savings for Patients

Providence St. Joseph Health providers use the EHR-integrated prescription cost transparency service of Gemini Health to offer Blue Shield of California patients lower-cost drug alternatives.

Morning Headlines 7/9/19

Deputy National Coordinator Transition

ONC Executive Director Steve Posnack will become deputy national coordinator when Jon White leaves in mid-August to become the associate chief of staff of research at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System.

iMedX Launches Industry Leading Analytics and Business Intelligence with Acquisition of Prevalent, Inc. and Axcension, Inc.

RCM and HIS vendor IMedX introduces analytics capabilities culled from newly-acquired companies Prevalent and Axcension.

Microsoft and Providence St. Joseph Health announce strategic alliance to accelerate the future of care delivery

Providence St. Joseph Health will work with Microsoft to develop new technologies it will then deploy at its hospital in Seattle.

Morning Headlines 7/8/19

Q&A: Providence Exec on Bluetree Acquisition, Trends in Health Tech

Providence St. Joseph Health will create a billion-dollar company from its non-clinical projects, including the acquired Engage and Bluetree businesses and its Epic Community Connect hosting business.

Sale of Bain’s Waystar may wrap by end of July: sources

Sources report that Bain Capital may close on its sale of Waystar, which some value at as much as $3 billion, within the next several weeks.

Despite millions spent, ‘crucial’ DSHS electronic records system years behind schedule

A State of Washington project to implement Cerner at Western State Hospital is running several years behind schedule with no completion date established.

32 workers at Conifer Health Solutions to be laid off

Citing a change in a significant client relationship, RCM vendor Conifer Health Solutions announces it will lay off 32 employees in mid-August.

KKR, Baring Asia lead race for CitiusTech

India-based private equity firms KKR and Baring Asia become frontrunners to acquire CitiusTech, with a final sale decision expected by the end of July.

Morning Headlines 7/5/19

Q&A: Providence Exec on Bluetree Acquisition, Trends in Health Tech

Providence St. Joseph Health says it will roll its non-clinical projects — Bluetree’s consulting, Engage’s Meditech services, and Epic Community Connect hosting — into a billion-dollar company that will generate a 20% return.

OpenNotes: More Than 40 Million Patients Can Access Their Clinicians’ Visit Notes Via Secure Portals at 200 Health Systems

OpenNotes says that 40 million Americans who are served by 200 health systems can access their clinician-entered notes.

MVHS launches new system-wide electronic health record

Mohawk Valley Health System (NY) goes live with Epic at its two hospitals and physician practices.

Morning Headlines 7/3/19

Government EHR proposals threaten patient privacy

The American Medical Association warns that proposed federal rules allow patient data to be shared with third parties who aren’t bound to keep it private.

Net Health to Acquire Optima Healthcare Solutions, Expanding Its Purpose-Built Electronic Medical Record Platform

Outpatient therapy EHR vendor Net Health acquires Optima Healthcare Solutions, which offers a contract therapy EHR.

Aggression Detectors: The Unproven, Invasive Surveillance Technology Schools Are Using to Monitor Students

A few hospitals are using publicly placed microphones and machine learning-analyzed speech in hopes of detecting aggression before it turns into violence.

Electronic medical record system for all M’sian hospitals, clinics to cost up to RM1.5b, says minister

Malaysia’s government will open a tender this year for an EHR to be implemented in its 145 hospitals and 1,700 clinics at an estimated cost of $360 million.

Morning Headlines 7/2/19

QGenda Announces Acquisition of OpenTempo

Provider scheduling solutions vendor QGenda acquires OpenTempo, which offers clinical resource optimization tools.

Telemedicine apps are thriving because working moms love the convenience of their smartphones

Telemedicine providers say that mothers are their super users and advocates in their role as “chief medical officers of the family.”

Physicians’ Well-Being Linked To In-Basket Messages Generated By Algorithms In Electronic Health Records

Researchers find that EHR-generated messages account for half of the 243 such messages the average doctor receives each week, multiples of the number sent by colleagues and patients.

Morning Headlines 7/1/19

Form S-1 Registration Statement – Livongo Health, Inc.

Diabetes management technology startup Livongo files for a $100 million IPO.

Public Comments on the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement Draft 2

ONC publishes the 100 comments it received for TEFCA Draft 2.

Demonstrating the Value of Nursing Care Through Use of a Unique Nurse Identifier

Authors recommend assigning nurses a unique identifier for use in EHRs and other systems that can help measure nursing contributions, improve nursing practice, and support research.

SA Health hunts for inaugural e-health chief

South Australia Health creates a new position for a top-level executive who will be tasked with salvaging its Allscripts implementation and developing a new digital health strategy.

Craneware shares plummet 34% as sales in US stall

Scotland-based revenue, cost, and financial decision support software vendor Craneware says sales volume and timing were off in the second half of the year, but it remains focused on being used by every US hospital.

Morning Headlines 6/28/19

Change Healthcare’s shares debut below target

Shares of Change Healthcare began trading on the Nasdaq exchange, with shares opening at $13 and rising to $15 at market close.

Providence St. Joseph Health Acquires Bluetree Epic Consulting

Providence St. Joseph Health acquires Epic consulting firm Bluetree Network.

Google and the University of Chicago Are Sued Over Data Sharing

A former patient at University of Chicago Medical Center files a class-action lawsuit against the medical center and Google, alleging that the organizations violated HIPAA when they did not properly de-identify PHI that was used in a joint research project.

Morning Headlines 6/27/19

Sansoro Health and Datica Announce Merger

Healthcare data integration companies Sansoro Health and Datica will merge under the Datica brand.

Omada Health Raises $73 Million to Accelerate Program Expansion

Digital behavioral health company Omada Health raises $73 million, bringing its total funding to $200 million.

Xtend Healthcare plans to invest $1.3 million in Sumner County

Revenue cycle management and technology vendor Xtend Healthcare will expand its operations in Hendersonville, TN with the addition of 200 employees.

Remedy Raises $10 Million to Bring Quality Care Closer to Patients

On-demand urgent and primary care company Remedy raises $10 million in a Series A financing round led by Santé Ventures.

Morning Headlines 6/26/19

Healthcare Information Technology Leader, Vyne, Acquired by The Jordan Company

Private equity firm The Jordan Company acquires electronic health and dental information exchange platform vendor Vyne from PE firm Accel-KKR.

UNC Health Care Launches Innovative Fully Integrated Epic Telehealth Solution

UNC Health Care launches an American Well-powered, Epic-integrated telehealth solution that allows existing UNC Health Care patients to schedule video visits from MyChart that the provider conducts within the Epic environment.

Queensland Health boss resigns amid hospital software rollout issues

In Australia, Queensland Health’s director-general will resign following highly publicized cost and patient safety problems with its $1 billion Cerner implementation.

CommonWell Health Alliance Awards Change Healthcare Six-Year Contract to be the Provider of Clinical Interoperability Services

CommonWell extends its contract with Change Healthcare for the provision of clinical interoperability services such as document retrieval and patient identification and record locator services.

Electronic health record program launched nationwide

The first phase of Iran’s nationwide EHR roll out goes live.

Morning Headlines 6/25/19

UnitedHealth buys PatientsLikeMe, which faced Trump administration scrutiny over Chinese investor

UnitedHealth adds newly-acquired PatientsLikeMe to its research and development group.

President Donald J. Trump is Putting American Patients First by Making Healthcare More Transparent

President Trump signs an executive order requiring hospitals to publicly disclose what patients can expect to pay for services in easy-to-read formats, and giving stakeholders more access to data that will help in pricing transparency efforts.

CentralReach Acquires Pathfinder Health Innovations

Applied behavior analysis EHR and practice management vendor CentralReach acquires competitor Pathfinder Health Innovations.

Morning Headlines 6/24/19

Healthcare software provider Phreesia files for a $125 million IPO

Phreesia, which offers online appointment scheduling, revenue cycle, health risk screening, and check-in kiosks, files for a $125 million IPO.

Jobs in danger as Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital plans e-records transition

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (FL) will replace Cerner with Epic, which is used throughout Hopkins Medicine.

Electronic Health Records at 26 Hospitals Hit by Two-Hour Outage

Hospital operator Universal Health Services says 26 of its facilities were taken offline for two hours Friday due to Cerner data center problems.

Flatiron Health Expands its Headquarters in Manhattan’s Soho

Oncology EHR and research company Flatiron Health will nearly double its Manhattan office space and add 200 jobs by the end of the year.

Morning Headlines 6/21/19

CityMD and Summit Medical Group Announce Plans to Merge to Deliver an Unparalleled Patient Care Experience

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus will buy NJ-based, 900-provider multi-specialty practice Summit Medical Group and merge it with its 120-location CityMD urgent care holding.

Leading Health and Technology Organizations Release Common Cancer Data Standards to Enable Sharing Across EHR Systems and Improve Patient Care

The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Mitre, and the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Foundation develop an open source set of common cancer data standards and specifications that can be incorporated into EHRs via FHIR.

AHN Partners with Mercy Virtual to Enhance Critical Care Services at Community Hospitals through Innovative Telemedicine Program

Allegheny Health Network (PA) will roll out telemedicine services from Mercy Virtual, a subsidiary of the Mercy health system in St. Louis, at its four hospitals over the next 12 months

Morning Headlines 6/20/19

THL snaps up Francisco Partners’ Nextech in more than $500 mln deal

Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners acquires EHR and practice management vendor Nextech in a $500 million deal.

eSolutions Acquires RCM Software Vendor Practice Insight

RCM vendor Esolutions acquires competitor Practice Insight for an undisclosed sum.

Echo, the medication management app, has been acquired by LloydsPharmacy-owner McKesson

McKesson acquires UK-based prescription delivery and medication management app startup Echo.

VirtualHealth Raises Series B Funding to Revolutionize HealthCare with Unified Data

Care management company VirtualHealth wraps up a $15 million Series B funding round that brings its total raised to $25 million.

Morning Headlines 6/19/19

Sanofi and Google to develop new healthcare Innovation Lab

Drug maker Sanofi and Google will establish a virtual innovation lab that will use analytics to understand diseases and to extract patient insights to understand which treatments work best.

Social Impact Startup Aunt Bertha Secures $16 Million in Series C Funding

Community-based organization referral platform vendor Aunt Bertha raises $16 million in a Series C funding round.

Fueling the next phase of our growth: What’s next at Collective Health

Collective Health, which offers a health benefits management system for self-insured employers, raises $205 million in a Series E funding round.

Morning Headlines 6/18/19

CMS proposes to update e-prescribing standards to reduce provider burden and expedite access to needed medications

CMS issues a proposed rule that will give providers the option to complete prior authorizations electronically and in real time so that patients can be assured their Medicare Part D prescriptions will be filled before going to the pharmacy.

New opioid treatment center ‘OneFifteen’ opens in Dayton

Stakeholders host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opioid addiction treatment center OneFifteen, soon to be a campus of tech-enabled recovery and social services launched by Kettering Health Network, Premier Health, and Verily.

Rite Aid Partners with Adobe to Drive Digital Transformation

Rite Aid will leverage Adobe’s Experience Cloud to gain better insight into customer preferences and habits, and to help its pharmacists better connect customers to the store’s health and wellness offerings.

A controversial startup that charges $8,000 to fill your veins with young blood and halted operations after an FDA warning now says it’s back up and running

Ambrosia resumes its “rejuvenating” blood transfusion service in San Francisco and Tampa, FL after shutting it down in February due to an FDA warning letter.