News 7/26/23

Top News

A study finds chest x-ray analysis didn’t improve when radiologists were assisted by AI tools that, on their own, outperformed two-thirds of the radiologists involved.

The authors say that the radiologists did not correctly use the AI’s information and instead applied their own biases.

Using AI also increased the per-case time of radiologists, which the report speculates is due to radiologists digesting the information it provided.

The report concludes rather startlingly that “the majority of cases are optimally decided by either the radiologists or the AI alone, but not by the radiologists with access to AI.”

Reader Comments

From HISTalkFan: “Re: Cerner/Oracle Health hospital count gain in the past five years in the KLAS report. Surprising. Are they counting DoD/VA gains?” Yes. I found an old KLAS US hospital market share report that says Cerner added 167 hospitals in 2018 via its VA contract, but it lost 65 hospitals that year. The company had little change from 2019 through 2022, although it lost ground to Epic in the percentage of total hospital beds served (nearly 50% for Epic at the end of 2022 versus less than 30% for Oracle Health). Epic is the only vendor that gained both facilities and beds in 2022.

Webinars

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The US Air Force awards IncludeHealth a $1.5 million Tactical Funding Increase, which will enable the physical therapy provider to expand its virtual and in-person MSK care services to additional service members.

Imaging analysis vendor RetinAI and retina care provider Retina Consultants of America will partner to develop a real-world evidence database in ophthalmology.

HealthStream announces Q2 results: revenue up 5%, EPS $0.13 versus $0.10, beating expectations for both. HSTM shares have lost 2% in the past 12 months versus the Nasdaq’s 20% gain, valuing the company at $688 million.

Sales

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center (TN) selects Nference’s federated clinical analytics software.

People

Amar Desai, MD, MPH (CVS Health) joins Optum Health as CEO.

Clarify Health names Terry Boch (Diameter Health) chief commercial officer.

UCI Health promotes Julie Eastman, RN, MBA to CIO.

Government and Politics

A federal judge sentences Vishal Vasanji, co-founder and CEO of bankrupt telehealth app vendor Relief Telemed, to 28 months in prison for wire fraud involving the embezzlement of $260,000 of investor funds that he used for personal expenses.

The Federal Trade Commission sues to block the acquisition of Propel Media by IQVIA, a Fortune 500 company that sells provider and prescription records databases to drug companies for marketing their drugs to professionals. FTC says that the acquisition would give IQVIA, which has annual revenue of $14 billion, a market-controlling advantage.

Privacy and Security

Fortified Health Security’s mid-year cybersecurity report finds that the number of breaches that were reported to HHS doubled versus the same period last year, affecting 40 million people. Breaches involving business associates jumped from 22 to 82. Most of the breaches originated from attacks on network servers rather than email. The report notes an uptick in hackers using file transfer tools such as FileZilla and Windows Secure Copy – some of which don’t require administrative privileges to install or to run from flash drives – to move PHI and other information to cloud storage sites such as Dropbox. The report indicates increased health system use of risk-based identity alerting, in which unexpected user activities trigger multi-factor authentication, system lockouts, or IT alerts.

Other

A new paper by researchers Dean Sittig, PhD and Adam Wright, PhD looks at the use of EHR audit logs in malpractice cases, listing best practices for healthcare organizations to minimize risk. Some of those include monitoring who is looking at VIP records, identifying those EHR elements that will be produced for a plaintiff’s attorney who asks for the “complete medical record,” and reviewing the EHR function to print a patient’s record to a file to make sure it matches the policy of what will be provided in response to a subpoena.

Don’t try this at home. Cricket fans – many of them from the US — who are finding that hotel rooms are expensive or fully booked for the India-Pakistan World Cup match in India on October 15 are instead scheduling overnight-stay checkups in Ahmedabad hospitals that are near Modi Stadium. A night in the hospital, which includes medical costs and meals, costs as little as $37 versus $900 in some hotels that have raised rates 20-fold for the match.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new Making Rounds Podcast, “The hopes and promises of AI.”
• Biofourmis marks its one year post-Series D with major milestones and a focused go-forward growth strategy.
• CHIME releases a new Trailblazers Podcast, “The Future of Data and Applications with Stacey Johnston.”
• Visage Imaging publishes a new white paper, “Visage 7 CloudPACS Value Realization.”
• Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust transitions to Meditech Expanse.

Blog Posts

• How the Airline Industry Sets an Example for Healthcare in Adapting to Consumer Demand (Access)
• Embrace Code Changes and Improve Coder Productivity with CAC (AGS Health)
• How year-round engagement closes risk gaps and improves care (Arcadia)
• SIIM 2023 | Visage’s Top Five (Visage Imaging)
• Why Health Plans Need Automation to Get ROI from Clinical Data (Availity)
• Providers still dealing with coronavirus side-effects as they negotiate with managed care payers (Baker Tilly)
• In Their Own Words: 4 HIT Experts Advise CIOs (CereCore)
• Evolving Healthcare Cybersecurity Practices: The 2023 Updates to 405(d) HICP (Clearwater)
• From Inpatient to Outpatient: How the Current Health Platform Provides Hope for More Convenient CAR-T Therapy (Current Health)
• SIIM 2023 | Visage’s Top Five (Visage Imaging)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 7/24/23

Top News

The Federal Trade Commission and HHS OCR send a joint letter to 130 health systems and telehealth providers, warning them that the use of online tracking technologies such as Meta Pixel and Google Analytics may create privacy and security issues that violate HIPAA, the FTC Act, or the FTC Health Breach Notification Rule.

FTC notes that companies that aren’t covered entities under HIPAA are still responsible for protecting against unauthorized disclosure of PHI, noting FTC’s recent enforcement actions against BetterHelp, GoodRx, and Premom.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Most poll respondents don’t think that DoD’s successful completion of MHS Genesis has predictive value for the VA’s implementation of the same Oracle Health system.

New poll to your right or here: How much control should patients have in the sharing of their EHR information? I’m also interested in what providers think about receiving what seems to be a complete medical record that may have had some information intentionally hidden by the patient.

Webinars

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

People

Tanya Townsend, MSMI (LCMC Health) joins Stanford Medicine Children’s Health as chief information and digital officer.

Announcements and Implementations

KLAS looks at the key performance grades of several EHRS and the change in their net number of hospital customers over five years:

Altera / Allscripts: D+, net loss of 143 hospitals.
Epic: A-, net gain of 434 hospitals.
Evident: D+, net loss of 91 hospitals.
Meditech: B, net gain of 14 hospitals.
Oracle Health: D+, net gain of 99 hospitals.

A Wall Street Journal report says that AI-powered medical scribe service DeepScribe employs a team of 200 contractors to fix mistakes made by its AI, noting that the level of inaccuracy is a reflection of AI’s limitations rather than product shortcomings. The contractors listen to the audio recordings, use Google searches to find billing codes, and catch errors. Current and former workers say the rare mistakes that slip through are always caught by the originating doctor. The co-founders say that the company’s software can create 80% of a given medical record without human help, and WSJ notes that they are transparent about that fact and the rigor of their review process in their sales presentations.

Government and Politics

ONC publishes Version 4 of the US Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), which includes 20 new data elements and a new data class for describing the physical location of services provided.

Ashavan founder and CEO Cyrus Bahrassa urges the White House to add EHR vendor interoperability charges to its list of much-hated fees that most commonly include Ticketmaster, Airbnb, and banks. He cites the high fees associated with HL7v2 interfaces, FHIR API subscription fees, and the costs of listing and distributing apps via EHR vendor app marketplaces as “interoperability’s junk fees.”

Other

A Johns Hopkins study finds that use of hearing aids was associated with a 48% reduction in cognitive decline in high-risk people. The authors speculate that the benefit is created by a reduced need for the brain to interpret audio signals, the possible reduction in brain atrophy, and higher social activity when hearing problems are reduced.

AMA President Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH describes his view of using AI in medicine:

• The probabilistic algorithms, they’re just too narrow. They can’t substitute for the judgment, the nuance, or the thought that a clinician brings. There’s a lot of opportunity to think about these tools as a co-pilot, but not an autopilot, particularly in the diagnostic realm. That’s why the FDA’s forthcoming regulatory framework for AI-enabled devices is proposing to be much more stringent on AI tools that make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment, especially if it’s an algorithm that continues to adapt or learn over time, these so-called continuous learning systems. Algorithms are great for solving a textbook patient or a very narrow clinical question … but patients, they’re not a standardized question stem. They’re humans with thoughts, with emotions, with complex medical, social, psychiatric backgrounds. And I’ll tell you, they rarely follow the textbooks … There is an active current federal proposal that would hold physicians solely liable for the harm resulting from an algorithm if I rely on the algorithm in my clinical decision making. We don’t think that’s the right approach. We think that the liability ought to be placed with the people who are best positioned to mitigate the harm. And that is likely going to be the developer, the implementer, whoever buys these things, often not the end user, the clinician.

Cancer survivor and Clearsense marketing director Kate-Madonna Hindes declines to serve as the human interoperability engine for Mayo Clinic in transcribing her Epic-stored information onto a clipboard form. Twitter comments suggest that many of us are tired of being asked to restate the same information and worrying how it will be reconciled on the back end, even if few of us have her nerve to just say no (Mayo folks are always bragging on their technology expertise and commercial tie-ins, so maybe they can explain the point of such redundant analog documentation and how they process the completed form):

• “A good measure of a poorly run organization is how much of the admin work they pass on to the end user.”
• “When I had PTSD I got so sick of introducing myself & my history for half the session. Like my records are there, please take some time.”
• “I’ve started doing similar. No, I don’t need to write down each of my 20 meds on 3 tiny single spaced lines. Or my 45 years of surgical history. You have this.”
• “What it is telling me is the process is broken. Kinda like complaining to your provider about issues and at the end of the day, they want you to fill out a form.”

Sponsor Updates

• Encore Health Group and Affiliates sees success with its upgrade to EClinicalWorks V12, and Healow patient engagement solutions.
• Meditech’s Surveillance predictive analytics solution helps Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare (MO) reduce maternal complications.
• Mobile Heartbeat publishes a new e-book, “The Many Harms of Alarm Fatigue.”
• The Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Podcast features Nuance EVP and GM Diana Nole.
• Netsmart will integrate RethinkFirst’s ABA clinical solution with its suite of certified CareRecords software.
• Nordic Consulting receives 12 of 13 validations in a recent KLAS report on EHR education software and services.
• Tegria releases a new case study, “Outsourced Business Office Transforms Accounts Receivable, Increases Cash.”

Blog Posts

• Transforming Healthcare Operations Through Automation (Vyne Medical)
• 4 Ways Your Rehab Therapy Clinic May Already be Delivering Digital MSK Care (Net Health)
• Making the Case for the Collaborative Care Model at Your Organization (NeuroFlow)
• Note bloat, we can’t quit you (Nordic)
• Planning for Pharma LOE? The Digital Point-of-Care Makes a Difference (OptimizeRx)
• How to Bring Automation to Your Revenue Cycle (PMD)
• Maximize Time & Save Money Through Diverse Fax Automation Options (Vyne Medical)
• Unbelievable Stats and Other Insights from the Risk Adjustment Innovations Conference (RCxRules)
• 88% of US providers plan to increase third-party technology spending (Redox)
• Lili Brillstein’s Masterclass on How to Be Collaborative (Surescripts)
• Advance Care Planning: A Deep Dive on Advance Directives, Healthcare Proxies, Medical Powers of Attorney and Living Wills (Trualta)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 7/21/23

Top News

Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners sells specialty EHR/PM vendor Nextech to another PE firm, TPG, for $1.4 billion.

THL bought the company for $500 million in June 2019, after which it acquired TouchMD and MyMedLeads.

Reader Comments

From Jetty: “Re: forgiven federal Paycheck Protection Program loans. The DOJ is investigating those of over $1 million. Big-dollar exhibitors at ViVE and HIMSS are large takers of these forgiven loans that were intended to keep workers employed during COVID-19.” The reader compared ProPublica’s PPP loan database to online sources that estimate the revenue of privately held companies, noting that two health IT companies derived more than 20% of their annual revenue from forgiven PPP loans, 14 health IT vendors had loans of over $2 million that were forgiven, and 27 HIT companies received $1 million or more of loans that they don’t have to repay. My take: while this is mildly interesting, nothing suggests improper activity. The federal government’s loans – which covered up to eight weeks of payroll costs, including benefits — were forgiven if the recipients documented that at least 60% of the money was spent on payroll. The federal government is reviewing the Small Business Administration’s disbursement of $1.2 trillion in COVID-related loans, of which its OIG estimates that $200 billion involves fraud. The real news will be if the feds accuse any of the health IT companies of wrongdoing, which hasn’t happened.

Webinars

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Open access publisher JMIR Publications acquires the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics.

Sales

• Universal Health Services will expand its Oracle Health acute care EHR implementation to its 200 behavioral health facilities.
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital will pilot the use of AliveCor’s personal ECG monitoring technology to monitor its methadone maintenance therapy patients for QT prolongation.
• Online behavioral health provider WellQor chooses the Arize EHR of Cantata Health Solutions. 
• Prisma Health will expand its implementation of HealthSnap’s virtual care management platform to all of its ambulatory primary care sites.

People

Weight loss and health coaching platform vendor Noom hires Geoff Cook (The Meet Group) as CEO as the company transitions into the obesity drugs business. He replaces co-founder Saeju Jeong, who will continue as executive board chair.

Prescription benefits technology vendor Capital Rx hires Sunil Budhrani, MD, MPH, MBA (Innovation Health) as chief medical and innovation officer.

Scott Maratea (Motivo Health) joins Curve Health as chief revenue officer.

WellSky promotes Mitchell Morgan, MBA to VP of sales.

Brian Briscoe, MD, who pioneered the implementation of digital radiology in his work at the Baltimore VA in the early 1990s and demonstrated workstation-based image reading at RSNA 2000, died July 2. He was 91.

Industry long-timer Glenn Gross, whose sales roles over the years included time with Tempus Software / QuadraMed and The SSI Group, died last week at 64.

Announcements and Implementations

MemorialCare and Pacific Dental Services will open the first of several planned co-located medical and dental offices, where dentists will use the same Epic system as the center’s family medicine, OB/GYN, and pediatrics physicians. PDS completed its Epic implementation in August 2022, converting the records of 9.7 million patients at its 885 practices in 25 states, training 14,000 employees. The company says using Epic allows its clinicians to create better treatment plans based on oral health’s impact on systemic conditions, identify systemic diseases earlier based on oral health changes, build more trust with patients, and communicate with patients via MyChart.

KU Medical Center interviews Diego Mazzotti, PhD, assistant professor of medical informatics, about his sleep disorder research. He is connecting data from EHRs, CPAP machines, and sleep studies to determine the types of sleep apnea patients who are most at risk for heart disease and to determine the effectiveness of CPAP in preventing it.

South Georgia Medical Center recognizes six members of the IT department’s network team as Health System Heroes for their work in protecting patient privacy and health system security.

Franciscan Alliance will rebadge 61 IT employees of Franciscan Health Indianapolis to managed services provider R4 Solutions.

UCSD nanoengineering researchers say that digital technologies can help mitigate health system burden as life expectancy grows, specifically wearables that allow older adults to monitor their health and maintain independence at home. They predict the rise of smart homes whose body-worn and surveillance tools are connected to telehealth platforms and a cloud analytics platform to provide remote monitoring. They expect to see foot-worn sensors; smart mirrors that can identify appearance changes, detect falls, and serve as a visual display; the use of digital personal assistants to provide reminders and cognitive stimulation; and deployment of robots to support care and to provide stimulation.

Privacy and Security

Froedtert Hospital will pay $2 million to settle a class action lawsuit over its use of Meta’s Pixel web user tracking tool on its MyChart portal and public websites.

Other

Debbie Sukin, MHA, PhD, EVP/CEO of Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital, describes present and future use cases of ambient intelligence:

• Using inpatient room technology to prevent falls, create clinical documentation, and monitor hand hygiene while anonymizing the people who are present.
• Tracking OR procedures – start time, turnover time, and instruments used – using AI and machine learning that updates schedules every 60 seconds.
• Assessing patient pain.
• Detecting incontinence.
• Detecting elopement.

Internist Michael Stillman, MD’s “Death by Patient Portal” JAMA opinion piece describes his struggle to management patient portal messages and his decision to send a message to all of his patients laying out his guidelines. He was surprised to find that many of them told him that they, too are fatigued by hundreds of messages each day and an expectation of constant accessibility. He laid out these expectations, which immediately generated 50 responses from patients expressing their support:

• He was spending two hours per day responding to 50 portal messages, some of which would have been directed to other employees before the portal was implemented.
• Despite their convenience, portal messages are not as good as appointments.
• He will respond to messages within three days, but won’t check them after hours and on weekends, suggesting calling the office for more urgent issues.
• Referral and refill messages will be managed by medical assistants.
• Matters related to an upcoming appointment should be saved until then.

Technology entrepreneur and investor David Heinemeier Hansson – who is also a fine business tech writer whose style reminds me of “Joel on Software” — proudly proclaims that “We have left the cloud,” explaining why software vendor 37signals moved six legacy applications, including one that was developed as a cloud application, from AWS back to its own hardware. Points:

• The move will save $1.5 million per year, IT team size didn’t change since the promised productivity gains were never realized anyway, and user response time has improved.
• Total hardware investment was a one-time $500,000, which is amortizable as a capital expense over five years, versus the company’s annual cloud budget of $3.2 million.
• The company rolls out hardware similarly to rental clouds. It buys hardware from Dell, has it shipped to its two data centers, and uses a third-party service to rack the new machines. Each of its two data centers received 20 servers, which he notes from the delivery photo above is “a staggering amount of computing power in a shockingly small footprint” (4,000 vCPUs, 7,680 GB of RAM, and 384 TB of solid-state storage).
• The only negative is that the time between needing new servers and seeing them online is obviously increased, but the author notes that while it’s incredible to see 100 powerful machines spin up on the cloud in just a few minutes, you pay dearly for that privilege. He notes that the load variance in many companies doesn’t justify renting.
• He concludes that the cloud is great for early-stage companies that are either flush with cash or are likely to go broke within two years, but warns that it’s hard to change your mind later when costs increase and the expected reduction in complication doesn’t materialize.

Sponsor Updates

• Hunt Scanlon offers insights from Direct Recruiters in its latest Private Equity Recruiting Report.
• Elsevier publishes a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “The Health and Economic Impact of Expanding Home Blood Pressure Monitoring.”
• Universal Health Services expands its Oracle Health EHR across its network of behavioral health facilities.
• Healthcare Triangle expands its contract with an existing biopharmaceutical customer to extend the customer’s suite of cloud DevOps, data engineering, and data platform management solutions.
• Fortified Health Security releases its 2023 Mid-Year Horizon Report.
• Medicomp Systems releases a new Tell Me Where It Hurts Podcast featuring Greenway Health CMO Michael Blackman, MD.
• Nordic posts a new podcast, “Designing for Health: Interview with Dr. Manish Patel”.
• Medhost will exhibit at the Texas Healthcare Governance Conference through July 22 in Austin.

Blog Posts

• Maximize Time & Save Money Through Diverse Fax Automation Options (Vyne Medical)
• Healthcare cybersecurity threats: June 2023 (Fortified Health Security)
• Best Friend Challenge: Healthcare Regulation Edition! (HealthMark Group)
• Note bloat, we can’t quit you (Nordic)
• Biofourmis Marks One Year Post-Series D with Major Milestones and Focused Go-Forward Growth Strategy (Biofourmis)
• EHR Super Users: Making Life Easier for Medical Professionals (HealthTech Resources)
• Transforming Healthcare Operations Through Automation (Vyne Medical)
• Introducing Epic Cheers: Enhancing Patient Experiences with Innovative CRM Solutions (Healthcare IT Leaders)
• Hospital Staffing in Summertime (Impact Advisors)
• Reduce Out-of-Network Referrals with Provider Data Management (InterSystems)
• What it Takes to Prepare Students for Clinical Excellence (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Three Essential Questions for QA Leaders to Ask About Automated Healthcare Software Testing (Keysight)
• Improving Disaster Preparedness with EHR Hosting for Rural Hospitals (Medhost)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 7/19/23

Top News

Chatbot-based virtual care company K Health raises $59 million in a funding round led by Cedars-Sinai, bringing its total raised to $325 million.

The company’s primary care service offers unlimited text-based visits, remote annual wellness visits, chronic condition management, prescription management, and urgent care services for $49 per month for residents of all states except Alaska and Hawaii.

Cedars-Sinai will offer K Health’s AI-powered app to its patients in California by the end of the year, integrated with Epic and using the health system’s clinicians.

K Health also sells its technology to payers through Hydrogen Health, which it launched with Anthem (now Elevance) and investment firm Blackstone in 2021.

Reader Comments

From Frumious Bandersnatch: “Re: data segmentation. How can you program something that allows a patient to decide after the fact that they want something hidden in their medical record? You can’t just uproot a tree whose roots are interlaced with other trees.” Kevin Baumlin, MD says that ONC’s proposal to require clinicians to redact medical records data elements when a patient requests involves “legalizing tampering with the medical record” that could prove harmful in that patient’s future encounters. He cites examples of patients hiding opioid use or a history of depression. I’ll side with a brilliant reader who says the only practical implementation of the well-intentioned rule would be if patients serve as their own data intermediary, obtaining a copy of their summary as a file that they could edit before sharing. I’m rarely in the “blockchain could fix everything” camp, but perhaps some sort of versioning and permissioning could be involved. I’ll make this the topic of this weekend’s poll. It’s an interesting question — the patient can choose to divulge as much or as little of their history as they want during an in-person encounter, so should that control carry over into digital records? Should providers trust data that the patient may have selectively edited? Perhaps as with redaction, deletions could be obscured but noted to alert the clinician that they are not seeing a complete record. Or, you could get really creative and allow the patient to insert their own notes to explain. But the big challenge is probably propagation across multiple provider data copies – I ask my psychiatrist to hide depression details, so should copies in the EHRs of my PCP, surgeon, and hospital reflect that request or would I need to make individual requests? It would be more manageable if everything flowed through a single HIE or service, but the issue is complex, just like trying to correct EHR entries that have propagated all over the place.

From Eric: “Re: transplant dispute. Thought you would find this interesting.” The non-profit United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) — which oversees the entire US transplant system — and organ screening firm Buckeye Transplant Services will take their data dispute to arbitration. Buckeye’s automated tool extracts transplant data directly from hospitals, which UNOS says is unauthorized use of information that only UNOS can provide. UNOS has threatened to lock Buckeye out of its DonorNet organ clearinghouse, which would put Buckeye out of business and force its 63 hospital customers to perform their own screening. The federal government announced in March that it would break up the organ transplant monopoly of UNOS, whose most recent financial report indicates $75 million in annual revenue.

From Anon E. Mous: “Re: Legacy Health financial issues. They have shown sound financial management and avoided excessive spending and vanity projects and navigated the COVID years with care and compassion in the shadow of behemoth Providence. This could be a bellwether for similar systems in the Pacific Northwest.” Six-hospital Legacy, which is losing $10 million per month,  will sell its lab operations to LabCorp in hopes of hitting lender-mandated financial metrics.

From IPC: “Re: Walgreens. The recent earnings call suggests why it previously acquired a majority stake in VillageMD. Maybe they should start branding themselves as ‘pharma-centered care.’” The US healthcare division of Walgreens lost $113 million in the quarter, which it blames on the underperformance of VillageMD and CityMD due to a mild flu season and soft market demand. It also notes an 83% drop in COVID vaccinations and a steep slide in COVID test sales. The company will close 450 stores and lay off 10% of its corporate workforce. IPC’s observation comes from an earnings call comment that 50% of patients who are seen in a co-located VillageMD clinic go next door to get their prescriptions filled at Walgreens, and each clinic generates 40 additional prescriptions per day, with associated profit for the drugstore. WBA shares have lost 22% in the past 12 months versus the Nasdaq’s 24% gain.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Mr. H here, reporting back refreshed after several days away on vacation and happy that Jenn’s solo coverage rendered my presence optional anyway. I’m catching up, so remind me if I owe you something.

Webinars

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System; Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation, and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Medication supply chain technology company Bluesight, which renamed itself from Kit Check in December 2022, will use a strategic growth investment from Thoma Bravo in its acquisition of drug diversion analytics vendor Medacist.

DocBuddy, which offers an EHR workflow solution, raises $1.8 million in a seed funding round.

Behavioral health technology vendor NeuroFlow acquires Capital Solution Design, whose measurement-based care solutions are used by the VA.

UnitedHealth Group reports Q2 results: revenue up 16%, adjusted EPS $6.14 versus $5.99, beating Wall Street expectations for both. Its Optum unit saw revenues increase 25% to $56.3 billion.

Sales

• Northwell Health selects Aidoc’s AI operating system for triage, quantification, and coordination of acute care across 17 of its hospitals in New York.
• Get Well announces eight new smart patient room projects to support construction initiatives in the US, Kuwait, and New Zealand.

People

Medical coding automation vendor Fathom hires Enoch Shih, MS, MBA (Gusto) as COO.

RLDatix hires Frank Manzella, JD, MBA (Availity) as EVP of global corporate development.

Steve Aspling (Millennia) joins CorroHealth as regional VP of business development.

Trove Health hires Anthony Leon (InteropShop) as VP of growth.

Todd Johnson (SomaLogic) joins Abundant Venture Partners as CEO of the venture studio.

Matthew Kull, MBA (Cleveland Clinic) joins Inova Health System as chief information and digital officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Pediatric Cardiology Center of Oregon implements EClinicalWorks and its Prisma health information search tool.

Medhost will offer Availity’s eligibility and claim verification features to its hospital customers.

The Connected Health Initiative and Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy will host “AI and the Future of Digital Healthcare” on September 26 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Panel proposals are due August 1.

Teladoc Health will integrate Nuance DAX into its Teladoc Health Solo platform.

Government and Politics

The GAO seeks nominations for appointments to the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee.

Other

A fascinating report titled “How Private Equity Raided Safety Net Hospitals” looks at PE-backed safety net hospital operator Pipeline Health. It notes that similar to what happened with the now-closed Hahnemann University Hospital, PE firms are breaking promises they make to the community and to regulators in favor of maximizing profit (shocking, I know). Their strategies include monetizing the real estate, expanding unwisely, laying off employees, applying bankruptcies strategically, and closing hospitals. All but one of the eight hospitals that Pipeline has owned earned a CMS star rating of two of a possible five, while one earned three stars. It sold Weiss Memorial Hospital’s parking lot to a real estate developer for $10 million to build luxury apartments.

Sponsor Updates

• The results of eight studies involving the use of Linus Health’s digital cognitive assessment solutions will be presented at the 2023 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.
• Ronin Chief Scientific Officer Christine Swisher, PhD joins the Coalition for Health AI.
• Medhost and Availity partner to offer Medhost partner hospitals a suite of eligibility and claim verification features.
• Meditech joins the KLAS Arch Collaborative.
• Artera publishes a case study, “Altura Participates in Call-to-Text Pilot Program.”
• Fortified Health Security publishes its 2023 Mid-Year Horizon Report on cybersecurity challenges.
• Baker Tilly releases a new Healthy Outcomes Podcast, “Improving healthcare delivery through employee experience and patient engagement.”
• Nordic publishes a video titled “The Download: Cyber strategies to optimize net new technologies.”
• Bamboo Health will exhibit at the NCHA Annual Summer Meeting July 19-21 in Williamsburg, VA.
• Ronin publishes an article in Nature on its Comparative insights model that delivers predictive insights to empower clinicians to reduce ED visits.
• CereCore releases a new podcast, “CIO on Innovation and Mobile Adoption: ‘Keep Your Eye on Operations.’”

Blog Posts

• Key Decision sin Systematic Healthcare Interoperability Change (Access)
• Overcome Staffing Shortages with a Hybrid Approach (AGS Health)
• Challenges to Adopting New Workflow Solutions (Arcadia)
• High-Quality Clinical Data Has the Potential to Transform HEDIS Quality Reporting and Close Care Gaps (Availity)
• Managing and Leveraging Data for the Next Wave of Healthcare Capabilities (CHIME)
• Unlocking the value of IT in healthcare (Nordic)
• Preparing for HITRUST Certification: The How and Why for Healthcare Service Providers (Clearwater)
• Rethinking Digital Ads for Pharma Brands (ConnectiveRx)
• 5 of the Most Common Legacy App Modernization Challenges for Businesses (CTG)
• Key Factors to Consider When Introducing Automation to Your Teams (Vyne Medical)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 7/17/23

Top News

NextGen Healthcare will pay $31 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting the capabilities of select versions of its EHR software, and that it offered kickbacks in the form of credits of up to $10,000 to users whose recommendations led to new sales.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

It’s full steam ahead when it comes to IT projects for the majority of poll-takers. Lacy says she chose ‘Somewhat’ because “our organization has a very large (several year) IT project underway and for some unexplained reason our management team has decided to manage project intake so that we don’t have multiple competing projects for resources. So we have scaled back for the moment, but once our major project is completed, I expect we will be running multiple projects again. So happy to be working in an organization that is planning IT projects instead of just saying yes and throwing everything at the team at the same time!”

New poll to your right or here: Does the DOD’s declaration of mission accomplished make you any more confident that the VA will be able to complete its own systemwide EHR implementation? I asked a similar question just over a month ago. Sixty-one percent of readers at that time did not believe the VA’s Oracle Cerner roll out would ever be finished.

Webinars

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Patient intake and engagement software vendor Phreesia acquires MediFind, which uses AI-powered technology to help patients find best-fit physicians. MediFind CEO Patrick Howie, a former head of global analytics at Merck, has joined Phreesia as VP of product management.

Amazon Pharmacy, the online retailer’s standalone prescription delivery service, lays off 80 employees. Amazon has laid off nearly 30,000 staff within the last year.

RCM vendor Aspirion acquires Continuum Health Solutions, which offers motor vehicle accident and third-party liability RCM services.

Sales

• Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center (OR), Arbor Health (WA), Southwest Healthcare Services (ND), and South Lincoln Hospital District (WY) select CrossTx’s chronic care management software and services.

Announcements and Implementations

Texas Children’s Hospital implements Oracle’s Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, bringing seven systems onto one platform.

CommonWell Health Alliance surpasses 200 million users on its information-sharing network, equating to health data-sharing for 62% of the US population.

Sponsor Updates

• Availity partners with Quantiphi to deploy Availity Fusion Upcycling Data solution to the Google Cloud Platform.
• Meditech brings its Meditech-as-a-Service subscription model to the Australian market.
• Healthcare Triangle launches a ransomware initiative for healthcare providers aimed at cybersecurity protection and prevention.
• Net Health expands its partnership with Healogics, implementing its Tissue Analytics solution at Healogics sites.
• Netsmart will present at the NAHC Financial Management Conference July 17 in New Orleans.
• Nordic releases a new Designing for Health Podcast featuring Manish Patel, MD.
• OptimizeRx publishes a new case study, “Improving Oncology Outcomes by Using Artificial Intelligence to Help HCPs Identify More Brand-Eligible Patients.”
• ReMedi Health Solutions announces that it has been approved as an official NHS Digital Outcomes supplier.
• Ronin Chief Scientific Officer Christine Swisher joins the Coalition for Health AI to help advance trustworthy AI in healthcare.
• The Live at ViVE Podcast features Tegria SVP and Chief Medical Officer Ray Gensinger, Jr. MD, “The Role of Technology and Consulting in Healthcare Transformation.”

Blog Posts

• CIO on Innovation and Mobile Adoption: “Keep Your Eye on Operations” (CereCore)
• How being an early adopter improved clinicians’ technical confidence at Stillwater Medical Center (Meditech)
• Amplifying Success: How Care Integration Improves Clinical Outcomes (NeuroFlow)
• Where Are We Now? – Part One of the Healthcare Interoperability Blog Series (NTT Data)
• Unlocking the value of IT in healthcare (Nordic)
• EHR: Your Lifetime Journey (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• Healthcare Coding Series: ICD (Pivot Point Consulting)
• Revolutionizing Oncology Care with Artificial Intelligence: Predicting Acute Care Usage in Cancer Patients (Ronin)
• Demystifying Network Integrity: A Q&A with Cybersecurity Chief Judy Hatchett (Surescripts)
• Rapid Cycle Improvement Programs Deliver Speedy Results, Require Significant Effort (Zynx Health)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 7/14/23

Top News

The Defense Health Agency announces that stateside roll out of MHS Genesis has been completed on time and on budget. The Oracle Health-powered EHR will be implemented at DOD facilities overseas in the coming months.

The DOD and VA will oversee synchronous deployment of MHS Genesis at the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (IL) in March 2024.

Webinars

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Wavely Diagnostics raises $1.35 million in seed funding. The company has developed a telemedicine app and companion medical device that can help pediatricians virtually diagnose ear infections.

Parker Health, developer of FHIR-based health management software that aggregates patient data from a variety of sources, raises $25 million.

Sales

• Novant Health will offer NeuroFlow’s digital mental health resources and support to patients suffering from depression, and to its team members as a resource for self-care and burnout prevention.

Announcements and Implementations

North Country Hospital (VT) establishes a NICU telemedicine program that gives its pediatricians access to real-time video consults with neonatologists at University of Vermont Medical Center.

Censinet announces GA of its new HIPAA Security Rule enterprise risk assessment and remediation module.

Get Well announces eight new smart patient room implementations in conjunction with new hospital tower construction projects.

Government and Politics

VA officials say they are opposed to proposed legislation that would impose strict requirements on the department’s EHR Modernization program, but express support for legislation that would increase oversight of future acquisitions projects.

Other

UMass Chan Medical School will use a $17 million federal grant to launch the Center for Accelerating Practices to End Suicide through Technology Translation. The school will work with partnering organizations to establish best practices for implementing new and existing suicide-prevention technologies. CAPES will also focus on patient-centered care, business development, and ethics.

Nearly 60% of surveyed IT decision-makers are looking to adopt or replace patient engagement technologies, according to the latest research from Black Book. Survey-takers gave InteliChart top marks for its patient engagement and consumer outreach capabilities.

Epic is working to develop a sixth campus in its hometown of Verona, WI. Still in the preliminary design phase, the expansion will be preceded by a recently approved underground parking structure that will open in 2025. The company is already planning to add two new buildings to its Wizards Academy campus to accommodate an additional 1,700 employees. Those facilities are expected to open next year.

The State Medical Board of Ohio permanently revokes the license of former plastic surgeon Katharine Roxanne Grawe, also known as Dr. Roxy on TikTok, for neglecting patients as she livestreamed surgical procedures, spoke directly into the camera, and responded to live viewer questions.

Sponsor Updates

• Divurgent releases a new podcast, “Mastering Epic’s Hyperdrive Migration.”
• Primary Care Joliet (IL) enhances its patient experience with EClinicalWorks EHR and Healow patient engagement solutions.
• Ellkay will sponsor CHIME’s CIO Boot Camp July 26-29 in Salt Lake City.
• Fortified Health Security names Carrie Card accounts payable accountant.
• Healthcare Triangle publishes a new whitepaper, “The Future of Healthcare Infrastructure: An In-Depth Look at the Infrastructure as a Code (IaaC) Landscape.”
• Rhapsody publishes a new case study, “BioMerieux reduces deployment time by 66% with Corepoint Integration Engine.”

Blog Posts

• How Analytics Can Solve the Top Challenges in Healthcare IT (Dimensional Insight)
• Communication: A Key Enabler of Change Management (Impact Advisors)
• Improving patient outcomes in healthcare through test automation technology (Keysight)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 7/12/23

Top News

HCA Healthcare announces that hackers have stolen patient data from an external storage site used to automate email message formatting and posted it for sale on an online forum.

According to DataBreaches.net, the dataset includes 27.7 million rows, personal patient details, and information related to appointment reminders. The hackers made contact with HCA around July 4, and gave the company until July 10 to meet their unspecified demands.

Based in Nashville, HCA Healthcare manages the operations of 180 hospitals and 2,300 outpatient facilities in the US and UK.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The pessimists slightly outweigh the optimists when it comes to health IT business conditions over the next year. IT/OPs_ProjectManager’s experience with recent IT staffing budgets certainly gives credence to the former: “The institution I work with has reduced budget for contracted IT staff and is purposefully throttling the IT project pipeline due to resource ($$ and people) constraints coming out of the pandemic. Knowing this plan makes me think the ‘non-core’ IT projects will be under much more scrutiny.”

New poll to your right or here: Has your organization recently pressed pause on or significantly scaled back IT projects? Feel free to share observations as to why project priorities are changing, and what types of projects are still getting the green light.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

July 27 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Denial Prevention 101: How to stop denials from the start.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Crystal Ewing, director of product management, Waystar. There’s a reason denial prevention is prominent everywhere in healthcare RCM. Denials reduce cash flow, drive down revenue, and negatively impact the patient and staff experience. More than half of front-end denials don’t have to happen, but, once they do, that money is gone. It’s a pretty compelling reason to take some time now to do some preventative care on your revenue cycle. This webinar will help you optimize your front end to stop denials at the start. We’ll explore the importance of not only having the right data, but having it right where staff need it, when they need it.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Automated provider credentialing and compliance software vendor Verifiable raises $27 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $47 million since launching three years ago.

Sales

• Vandalia Health (WV) will implement Oracle Health across its system. Mon Health and Charleston Area Medical Center, both of which seem to have been Cerner customers, merged to create Vandalia last year. 
• Adventist Health selects WinWire’s cloud-based data analytics and management software.

People

Aaron Neinstein, MD (UCSF) joins Notable as chief medical officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Consulting firm Healthcare IT Leaders forms an Elite Advisor group to offer peer-to-peer advisory services to healthcare executives.

Montage Health leverages Xealth’s digital health integration and digital prescription referral platform as a part of its digital health support programs for behavioral health, consumer wellness, orthopedics, and patient education.

Los Angeles Network of Enhanced Services adopts Google Cloud’s Healthcare API and BigQuery enterprise data warehouse.

Garrett Regional Medical Center (MD), part of the WVU Medicine health system, goes live on Epic.

Privacy and Security

Barts Health NHS Trust, the UK’s largest, reports a ransomware attack in which BlackCat hackers stole 70 terabytes of data. The group claims it is the largest healthcare data breach in UK history.

Other

Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University researchers develop natural language processing algorithms that can extract text data related to social determinants of health from within EHRs. The researchers say that their algorithms are easier to implement and use than more sophisticated risk models.

Sponsor Updates

• Meditech releases a new podcast, “Making transformative care attainable with genomic medicine and informatics.”
• Ethisphere recognizes Availity with its Compliance Leader Verification.
• Bamboo Health will exhibit at the AHA Leadership Summit July 16-18 in Seattle.
• CTG publishes a new case study, “CTG Helps Regional Healthcare System with Microsoft 365 Migration.”

Blog Posts

• Protect Yourself from Outside Competition with Patient Experience Enhancements (Access)
• We Surveyed Our Customers on Mental Health Issues. Here’s What We Learned. (AdvancedMD)
• Webinar Insights: Coding Electrophysiological Study (EPS) (AGS Health)
• Streamlined ECQM submissions with expert support (Arcadia)
• MedTech company revises messaging of existing product to gain additional payer coverage (BakerTilly)
• When Fourth Party Risk Becomes a First Party Nightmare (Censinet)
• Mergers & Acquisitions: Don’t Forget the Data Assets (Clearsense)
• Four Frequently Asked Questions About SOC 2 (Clearwater)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 7/10/23

Top News

An Epic analysis of 1.7 billion clinical notes written by 166,318 outpatient providers during a nearly three-year period finds that average note length increased just over 8%, while the average time spent on documentation decreased 11%.

Analysts also determined that providers spent less time on reviewing clinical activities within the EHR, and that providers who decreased their use of copy/paste functionality and smart documentation tools reduced their average note length.

The analysis was undertaken to determine if CMS changes made in 2021 to evaluation and management CPT billing codes did indeed lead to a hoped-for reduction in administrative burden.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

People

Loyal names Lauren Struck (BioDigital) chief people officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Lovelace Health System in New Mexico implements CareHarmony’s AI-powered care coordination software to help patients with two or more chronic conditions better manage their treatment, including medications.

Government and Politics

CMS proposes a voluntary pathway, dubbed Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies, that will enable companies with emerging medical “breakthrough devices” to more easily secure Medicare coverage.

Other

Intermountain Health expands its Pediatric Telehealth program to give its ER doctors access to virtual consults with pediatric specialists at Primary Children’s Hospital in Utah.

Sponsor Updates

• CereCore publishes the latest edition of its Partnership Perspectives magazine.
• Meditech makes available to customers presentations and recordings from its Clinical Informatics Symposium.
• NeuroFlow releases a new Bridging the Gap Podcast featuring EvolvedMD co-CEO Erik Osland.
• KLAS Research names Nuance as the clinical documentation integrity leader in partnering with customers to drive efficiency and outcomes.
• PerfectServe announces that customer satisfaction with its clinical communication solutions have been highlighted in a new KLAS Research report, “Clinical Communication Platforms 2023: A Closer Look at Customer Adoption.”
• Surescripts releases a new There’s a Better Way Podcast, “Mayo Clinic CIO Criss Ross: Finding Opportunity in the Face of Adversity.”

Blog Posts

• Eliminating Communication Breakdowns in Post-Acute Care with NLP AI (Consensus Cloud Solutions)
• Net Health Tissue Analytics’ Successful Wound Care Programs Draw the Spotlight in New Zealand (Net Health)
• Effective HCP Engagement in the Emerging Biosimilar Landscape (OptimizeRx)
• Healthcare Coding Series: CPT & HCPCS (Pivot Point Consulting)
• Nurses of Note 2023: The Nurse of Many Titles (PerfectServe)
• Leveraging AI to Enhance Revenue Cycle Management (PMD)
• Onramp to the Cloud Faster with Redox + Google (Redox)
• Advance Care Planning: A Deep Dive on Advance Directives, Healthcare Proxies, Medical Powers of Attorney and Living Wills (Trualta)
• Rapid Cycle Improvement Programs Deliver Speedy Results, Require Significant Effort (Zynx Health)
• Healthcare Applications in the Cloud: Is it Really the Easy Button? (CereCore)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 7/7/23

Top News

Sleep management technology company ResMed acquires Somnoware, a sleep and respiratory care diagnostics software vendor based in California.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 26 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Lessons We’ve Learned Since Launching our Cancer Prevention Program.” Sponsor: Volpara Health. Presenter: Albert Bonnema, MD, MPH chief medical information officer, Kettering Health System, and Chris Yuppa, product owner for oncology services and cancer prevention, Kettering Health System. Kettering’s IT department has played a critical role in providing an EHR-driven framework to bring cancer risk assessment and individual prevention plans to more than 90,000 patients. Primary care, OB/GYN, oncology, and imaging providers are now able to assess the hereditary, genetic, and lifestyle factors that affect the risk of developing lung, breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer in any patient encounter. Learn how Kettering brings together people, processes, and technology to be more proactive in the fight against cancer and where its cancer prevention program is headed next. 

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Constellation Software’s Harris Computer business acquires the US-based EHR, practice management, and RCM assets of Canadian company CloudMD for $6.3 million.

TytoCare will reportedly lay off 20 employees, or 10% of its workforce. The company, which has offices in Israel and New York City, offers a virtual care app and companion diagnostic devices.

Sales

• Northwell Health (NY) and Nebraska Medicine select healthcare workforce management software from Laudio, which announced a $13 million Series B funding round last month.

People

Cincinnati Children’s promotes Tony Johnston to VP of information services and CIO.

CMS Digital Service Director Andrea Fletcher takes on the additional role of chief digital strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Habersham Medical Center goes live on Epic as part of its transition to the Northeast Georgia Health System.

In New York, Finger Lakes Health will implement Epic when it becomes a part of the University of Rochester Medical Center system in August.

Government and Politics

The Georgia Health Information Network will use a $1 million USDA grant to develop a telehealth network that will improve patient access to care in rural communities. GaHIN will work on the project with HealtHIE Georgia, Jefferson Hospital, Emanuel Medical Center, Wills Memorial Hospital, Washington County Regional Medical, Ready Computing, and InterSystems.

Other

Johns Hopkins Medicine (MD) joins at least 14 other healthcare providers across the country in charging patients for certain types of messages sent through their patient portals. Beginning July 18, patients with private insurance can expect to incur charges of between $10 and $50 for messages pertaining to health issues that require clinical judgment and more than five minutes to answer.

Sponsor Updates

• Central Virginia Health Services upgrades to the latest EClinicalWorks technology to enhance efficiency and care coordination for more than 50,000 patients.
• AGS Health publishes a new e-book, “Does My Healthcare Organization Need Computer-Assisted CDI?”
• Baker Tilly publishes a new case study, “MedTech company launches digital health platform with help of effective clinical study design.”
• Biofourmis unveils its innovation lab at its offices in Boston.
• CereCore releases a new podcast, “Healthcare CIO Advice on Leading Through the Complexities of Change.”
• Elsevier launches ClinicalKey Now in India to accelerate access to localized clinical guidelines and content for clinicians at the point of care.
• Fortified Health Security names Anton Mekhael strategic account manager.
• MedPeds (MD) successfully upgrades to EClinicalWorks V12.
• Konza National Network announces that an additional 123 Konza-powered members have been awarded NCQA’s DAV accreditation, bringing the total to 348.
• Rhapsody publishes a new guide, “Enterprise Master Person Index (EMPI): Everything healthcare product leaders need to know now.”
• OSF HealthCare (IL) details its use of Current Health’s remote patient monitoring technology.

Blog Posts

• 5 Reasons Why It Is Necessary for Hospitals to Upgrade from Traditional Forms Processes (Access)
• How to surface data at the point of care to serve complex populations (Arcadia)
• Opioid Challenge Leadership Roundtable – Balancing Cost, Technology, and Governance (CHIME)
• 3 Predictions for Accumulators by 2024 (ConnectiveRx)
• Driving Faster Prior Authorizations in Healthcare with NLP and AI Technology (Consensus Cloud Solutions)
• Finding Your Path in the Healthcare Technology Industry: Advice from Healthcare IT Recruiters (Direct Recruiters)
• What to Know in Preparation for Your Epic Hyperdrive Migration (Divurgent)
• IT: The Unsung Heroes of Health Education (Healthwise)
• Snowflake Partners with Nvidia and Microsoft Azure: What Does it Mean for Healthcare? (Healthcare IT Leaders)
• Combatting the Rising Diabetes Numbers Post COVID-19 with Lucem Health AI Solutions (Lucem Health)
• Navigating Healthcare Application Management (Medhost)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 7/3/23

Top News

Staffing and consulting services company Optimum Healthcare IT acquires ECloud Managed Solutions, a cloud adoption and digital transformation firm based in Georgia. ECloud Managing Partner Eric Sanders will transition to Optimum as head of business development.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

A majority of patients have been receptive to their physician’s decision to not prescribe a desired drug or treatment.

New poll to your right or here: How will health IT business conditions change in the next 12 months?

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Specialty medication enrollment software startup RxLightning opens an office – its first – in Indiana after having been a remote-only company since its launch in 2020.

Bright Health exits the insurance business with the sale of its California Medicare Advantage business to Molina Healthcare for $600 million. The company, which now solely operates 70 clinics in California, Florida, and Texas, announced in March that it had overdrawn its credit and was unsure about its ability to remain in business. Its valuation at the time was down 97% since its IPO height of $11 billion two years ago.

Mental health and meditation app Headspace Health lays off 181 employees, its second round of job cuts since December.

People

Vyne Medical names Caleb Manscill (DentalRay) president.

Kathleen Bresette (DrFirst) joins RxLightning as chief revenue officer.

Announcements and Implementations

In New York, Northwell Health’s Forest Hills Long Island Jewish Hospital launches a tele-burn virtual consult service, giving on-site providers the ability to virtually consult with specialists at Staten Island University Hospital’s Regional Burn Center.

Government and Politics

Amazon Pharmacy’s PillPack will pay $300,000 to settle allegations that it failed to keep accurate records of controlled substances. Amazon acquired PillPack in 2018 for $753 million.

Privacy and Security

In Idaho, Mountain View Hospital and Idaho Falls Community Hospital and its partner clinics restore their clinical systems after a cyberattack forced them offline over a month ago. Administrative functions, including billing, have yet to be fully restored.

Sponsor Updates

• Black Book releases its analysis of top customer-rated vendors serving the payer industry. Recognized HIStalk Sponsors include NTT Data (infrastructure and core IT modernization services), Wolters Kluwer (member and consumer education solutions), and Optum (payer analytics outsourcing/end-to-end RCM outsourcing).
• AdvancedMD releases over 25 product enhancements to drive greater productivity for private practices.
• Memorial Health System evolves its patient engagement app using Meditech’s Greenfield Workspace.
• Nordic releases a new Designing for Health Podcast featuring Memorial Hermann Health System VP of Consumerism Dense Worrell.
• OptimizeRx wins a Digital Health Merit Award for its connected digital health point-of-care programs.
• Waystar publishes a report with HFMA featuring research and insights on denials in healthcare.

Blog Posts

• Fostering collaboration and connection among healthcare professionals at Meditech Live (Meditech)
• Net Health Tissue Analytics’ Successful Wound Care Programs Draw the Spotlight in New Zealand (Net Health)
• Unpacking the Complete Care Act: The Future of Integrated Care (NeuroFlow)
• Improve workflow efficiency and save time with intelligence-infused AI (Nuance)
• How to Select the Best Value-based Care Models for Post-Acute Physician Practices (Netsmart)
• From back office to partners in care: The evolution of hospital information technology departments (Nordic)
• Adopting Agile: The Power of Iteration in Healthcare IT (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• The Future of Managing IT Departments (Pivot Point Consulting)
• How to Improve Patient Transfers with Better Communication (PerfectServe)
• The link between the quadruple aim and improved clinic communications (Spok)
• George Van Antwerp Rides the Bus (Surescripts)
• Rapid Cycle Improvement Programs Deliver Speedy Results, Require Significant Effort (Zynx Health)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 6/30/23

Top News

Just in time for the long holiday weekend, HHS publishes a 130-page final rule outlining the civil money penalties health IT developers will incur for information-blocking. HHS may publish a proposed rule for provider penalties in September.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The Idaho Health Data Exchange prepares to exit bankruptcy after filing for Chapter 11 last August. The nonprofit found itself facing insolvency after government funding dried up and business deals fell through, leaving it $4 million in debt and facing lawsuits from creditors. The exchange, which replaced its executive director several weeks ago, plans to achieve funding through user fees, which may be a challenge given that only 46 healthcare organizations are currently signed up for IHDE’s top tier of service.

Sales

• Ochsner Health (LA) selects Aidoc’s enterprise AI implementation and integration platform and imaging AI algorithms.

People

Cordea Consulting names Mike Blundell (Sharp HealthCare) VP of consulting and delivery.

Evelyn Daniels (2Morrow) joins Laguna Health as VP of business development.

Announcements and Implementations

Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center (IL) integrates Sonifi Health’s patient engagement and educational content with its interactive bedside television system.

Community Health Northwest Florida rolls out EClinicalWorks across its 19 locations.

Cleveland Clinic prepares to open a new hospital in Ohio that will offer patients in each of its 57 rooms the ability to access telehealth services from off-site specialists.

EMPI vendor 4medica announces GA of its new EZReg patient registration software.

AtlantiCare leverages Unite New Jersey, the care coordination and social services referral network developed by Unite Us.

Government and Politics

IHealth Solutions, doing business as medical coding, billing, and health IT services vendor Advantum Health, will pay $75,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations related to the 2017 unauthorized transfer of PHI from an unprotected server.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Redesigned Dashboard: Transforming Safety & Compliance.”
• VisiQuate announces its selection as the number-one solution for hospital and health system financial IT revenue analytics by Black Book Research.
• Carson Medical Group (NV) successfully transitions to the EClinicalWorks Cloud EHR.
• Everest Group names AGS Health a leader in RCM operations for the third consecutive year.
• Pivot Point Consulting partners with HIMSS as part of the HIMSS Digital Health Technology Partnership Program.
• First Databank names Eddye Hernandez advanced software engineer, Paul Kuzma software test engineer, and C. Brett Smith business development representative.
• The Health Information Resource Center honors Healthwise with six digital health awards for its medical illustrations and health education videos.
• Cordea Consulting names Bill Smith (Affirm) director, Epic practice; Aubrey Sherffius (Cerner) senior revenue cycle consultant; Henry Jemiola (Meditech) HIS consultant; and Kendra Krauss (Krames) strategic account director.
• Interbit Data partners with Florie, bringing its connected communications application to Interbit’s Beacon Active downtime solution.

Blog Posts

• Is Driving Revenue Growth Your Top Priority? Spoiler: It Better Be (Get-to-Market Health)
• Technology integration is key to improving the patient experience (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• How Analytics Can Help in the Emergency Department (Dimensional Insight)
• The Power of RPA in Reducing Burnout in Healthcare (Divurgent)
• Solving the Top Reasons Patients LWBS: Wait Time (Experity)
• What Do Your Calls Look Like? (Five9)
• How health systems can reduce their attack surface with VTM (Fortified Health Security)
• Health Information Management Budgets: What You Need to Know (HealthMark Group)
• How to Prepare for Your Facility’s Next EHR Upgrade (HealthTech Resources)
• Nuvolo Implementation Prep: Getting the Data Right (Healthcare IT Leaders)
• Unlocking Testing Efficiency and Reliability: A Case Study Anthology on EMR Test Automation (Keysight)
• Longitudinal care records: How an EMPI can help make these a reality (Rhapsody)
• Linking People and Processes: IT Implementation for Community Hospitals (Medhost)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Healthcare AI News 6/28/23

News

Navina develops a generative AI assistant to help improve the workflows of primary care physicians.

Ballad Health will use MedAware’s AI-powered medication safety monitoring platform to identify and prevent medication-related safety errors.

Former Optum Health Chief AI Officer Dennis Chornenky joins UC Davis Health as its first chief AI advisor, tasked with establishing an AI strategy for the health system.

Nuance will make its Dragon Ambient EXperience Express solution available to select Epic users this summer. The AI-powered tool can automatically generate draft clinical notes after a patient visit, as well as quickly generate notes from real-time recordings of physician/patient interactions.

Business

Medical imaging data and AI company Flywheel raises $54 million in a Series D investment round.

BeeKeeperAI, a San Francisco-based AI development and deployment support startup, announces $12 million in funding.

Research

In an effort to even out workloads for cancer patient navigators, researchers at OSF Healthcare develop a smart algorithm that predicts upcoming navigator workloads and then distributes new patients to navigators accordingly. The health system plans to incorporate the algorithm within its OSF Community Connect automated workflow platform and pilot it when its new OSF Cancer Institute opens next year.

A new report from the World Economic Forum highlights the challenges and promises of using AI in healthcare, noting that provider shortages, an exponential growth in health data, and increasingly swift advances in AI technology make its adoption and utilization an almost foregone conclusion in the areas of diagnosis and risk stratification, outbreak prediction, and clinical trial optimization.

Researchers determine that large language models like ChatGPT may potentially assist primary care providers in making clinical decisions, evaluating patients, and ordering appropriate imaging tests for breast cancer screenings and breast pain.

Other

FedScoop reviews an ONC proposed rule, released in April, that would require EHRs that use predictive solutions like AI and algorithms to provide end users with an explanation of how that technology works, as well as a description of the data it uses. ONC is reviewing comments now and hopes to have a final rule published later this year.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pushes forward with potential legislation regulating AI, highlighting national security, misinformation and bias, and transparency from AI developers.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 6/28/23

Top News

Amazon postpones the launch of its Amazon Clinic expansion by three weeks after lawmakers raise concerns about the company’s privacy practices, specifically its method of collecting and sharing customer health data.

Launched last November, Amazon Clinic offers a form-initiated, message-based telemedicine service in 33 states. Amazon had planned to expand it this week to all 50 states with the additional offering of video-based consults. 

Reader Comments

From NighttimeSleepAid: “Re: First-ever Meditech layoffs.” An internal email shared by NSA indicates the company has decided to “downsize the company by less than 2% of our staff” as it seeks ways to adjust expenses and compensate for overstaffing. Impacted roles will mainly include newer staff hired within the last year and niche roles that are no longer needed.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

UnitedHealth Group-owned Optum beats out Option Care Health in its bid to acquire home healthcare provider Amedisys in a deal valued at $3.3 billion. Amedisys will join home health and hospice provider LHC Group – acquired by UnitedHealth in February for $5.4 billion – under the Optum umbrella.

Home healthcare provider Signify Health, acquired by CVS Health earlier this year for $8 billion, opens a technology center in Galway, Ireland. It is the Dallas-based company’s first facility outside of the US.

Sales

• Temple University Health System (PA) selects DrFirst’s AI-powered medication history and real-time prescription benefit check solutions.
• The American Lung Association will leverage Azara Healthcare’s data reporting and analytics as a part of its Project Breathe NY asthma control program.
• Amstelland Hospital in the Netherlands will implement Sectra’s enterprise imaging subscription service.

People

Evangelical Community Hospital (PA) promotes Elizabeth Price to VP of information systems and CIO.

Erica Franko (AGS Health) joins Ventra Health as chief transformation officer.

Loyal names Austin Pauls (Stord) as its first CFO.

NHS England promotes John Quinn to CIO.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (TN) names Vanderbilt professor Paul Harris VP for research informatics.

Announcements and Implementations

The US Virgin Islands Office of Health Information Technology will work with CRISP Shared Services to launch a pilot interoperability program that will serve as the initial infrastructure for its first HIE CRISP supports HIEs in six states and Washington, DC.

Mass General Brigham’s Newton-Wellesley Hospital implements Smart Placement transitions-of-care decision support software from Radial Analytics.

Government and Politics

VA Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs Patricia Ross assures Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) that the VA “will spare no expense” to maintain services and staff at its hospitals in Spokane and Walla Walla, where budget constraints caused by the troubled Oracle Cerner roll out have led to talk of layoffs.

In England, the NHS mandates that 90% of its nearly 225 trusts should have EHRs by December of this year, while 95% should have them by March 2025; and that 75% of adults should be registered on the NHS app by March 2024.

Other

El Camino Health (CA) launches a healthcare technology innovation fund, initially focusing on investing in projects related to remote patient monitoring, contactless patient check-in, and AI-powered diagnostic imaging, among several others.

Sponsor Updates

• FQHC Mountain Park Health Center increases its number of available appointments using health IT solutions from EClinicalWorks.
• Fakeeh Care Group integrates Wolters Kluwer Health’s UpToDate clinical decision support solution with its YASASII EHR.
• Black Book survey-takers give AQuity top customer satisfaction marks for outsourced medical coding solutions.
• CHIME issues a statement of support for the CONNECT for Health Act.
• Arrive Health publishes a new whitepaper, “Technology’s Increasing Role in Unlocking Pharmacy Value.”
• The Tech Trek Podcast features Artera CTO Ashu Agte, “Inheriting an organization and its transformation.”
• Ernst & Young names Availity CEO Russ Thomas 2023 Florida Entrepreneur of the Year.
• Baker Tilly co-authors a clinical study in the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research demonstrating the value of risk assessment tools in managing women at risk for ovarian cancer.
• Bamboo Health names Jonathan Koenig (Numerated) implementation specialist and Sheila Sullivan (Humana) executive director.
• Biofourmis becomes a new Switchboard Health network partner.
• Nuance makes its Dragon Ambient EXperience Express solution available to Epic users.
• Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston implements Meditech Expanse.

Blog Posts

• The digital transformation of healthcare organizations (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Drowning in Technical Debt? Uncover Big Risks to Patient Care (CereCore)
• Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Shift to Include Mobile EForms in Hospitals (Access)
• Measuring the Value of Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) (AGS Health)
• ChatGPT in healthcare: evolution, revolution, or devolution? (Arcadia)
• Return data to hospitals and researchers FOR patients (Aridhia)
• 4 Signs You Need a Real-Time Prescription Benefit Checkup (Arrive Health)
• SDOH and Population Health? What’s Behind the Rise in Importance? (Clearsense)
• Top 10 Cyber Threats for Hospitals and How to Overcome Them (Clearwater)
• Prescribers More Likely to Choose Brands with Automated Processes for Buy-and-Bill Co-pay Assistance (ConnectiveRx)
• A Roadmap for Evaluating Care-at-Home Programmes: 6 Practical Tips to Get Started (Current Health)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 6/26/23

Top News

Struggling UK-based digital health company Babylon will merge with brain technology vendor MindMaze in a take-private transaction.

The companies say that their combination will create a digital-first, AI-driven business that will transform healthcare in moving to predictive and preventative services.

Shares in Babylon, which went public via a SPAC merger in October 2021 at a valuation of $4 billion, have since shed 99.8% in valuing the company at $20 million.

MindMaze has raised $341 million, including a 2017 investment by Leonardo DiCaprio as the company sought to expand its technology from patients regaining movement to adding interactivity to movies.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Most poll respondents don’t let a fear of getting fired compromise their work.

New poll to your right or here: In the 12 months, have you disagreed with a doctor who wouldn’t prescribe the drug or treatment you wanted? I’m fascinated by people who trust a doctor to guide their most important health decisions until that doctor’s well-considered logic conflicts with poorly sourced online advice or advertisements, which I’m sure annoys them to no end. On the other hand, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose a restaurant or movie that looks interesting despite critical disdain, so so if I’m paying and the risk is minimal (although neither are guaranteed in healthcare), I guess the customer gets to choose.

We have the usual summer-related travel and time off upcoming at HIStalk now that the longest day of the year is behind us, which fortunately coincides with the slowdown in industry news until Labor Day. We’ll be here as usual, but with less to write about, and that’s a nice break for writers and readers alike. As always, I guarantee that you won’t miss anything important even with skinnier updates.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faced by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Group messaging app IRL, which has raised $200 million from investors, shuts down when a board investigation following the dismissal of its founder-CEO finds that 95% of its claimed 20 million active users are bots.

AvoMD, whose no-code platform allows clinicians and hospitals to turn existing and new clinical evidence into their own point-of-care clinical pathway apps, closes $5 million in seed funding. Co-founder and CEO Yair Saperstein, MD, MPH is double-boarded in internal medicine and clinical informatics.

Medicare Advantage insurer Clover Health settles several investor lawsuits involving failing to disclose that the company was the subject of a federal investigation when it went public via a SPAC merger in January 2021. CLOV share have since lost 94%, valuing the company at $425 million.

Announcements and Implementations

UNC Health will launch an internal chatbot next month, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, that allows employees to access reference materials, documents, and training libraries by asking questions.

Government and Politics

Oklahoma’s governor rejects the formation of statewide HIE.

New York passes a bill that would prohibit any agreement that would prohibit or restrict an employee’s post-employment work, with language that goes further than the FTC’s proposed non-compete rule or California’s limitations. The bill has been submitted to the governor for signing.

Privacy and Security

The International Information System Security Certification Consortium will retire the HCISPP healthcare security certification credential as of December 1, 2026.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 6/23/23

Top News

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti requests information from Vanderbilt University Medical Center that includes patient referrals, email records, and copies of W9 and 1099 forms that detail its payments to physicians. His office is investigating possible billing fraud related to VUMC providing gender-affirming services to people who are covered by state insurance.

Tennessee law does not require the attorney general to obtain a subpoena or court order to compel VUMC to provide the requested information, although HIPAA supersedes state law.

VUMC has already provided the medical records of a list of specific patients that the AG provided from unspecified sources. VUMC notified those patients months after the fact.

Skrmetti said last fall that he would investigate VUMC after a political commentator claimed on social media that the hospital had punished employees who don’t agree with its gender-related treatments, which VUMC denied. A new Tennessee law takes effect on July 1 that criminalizes the provision of gender-affirming services to minors.

An updated statement from the AG’s office says that it launched an investigation almost a year ago, when it says a VUMC doctor publicly stated that she was manipulating billing codes to bypass insurer coverage limitations on gender-related treatment.

The AG’s office says it was surprised that VUMC recently notified patients, adding that it has no desire to turn a fraud investigation into a “media circus.”

Reader Comments

From Sebum: “Re: NEJM article. Extraordinarily good piece.” A perspective article titled “Ellipsis” by CU Medicine hospitalist Samuel Porter, MD describes the disconnect of receiving texted questions and requests from other caregivers that he mostly doesn’t know, where pager messages that were a “faceless voice” have progressed to phone messages that are a “voiceless face” of avatars. He says, “My avatar stretches its influence across a vast complex of specialized structures to dictate care from its pixelated mouthpiece.” He says that hospital physical sprawl and time pressure don’t allow seeing the patient directly, so the only constant is his computer, and the measure of his day’s work is counting icons rather than seeing facial reactions. It’s interesting to think about practicing medicine without even the visual feedback of a video visit, and I’m picturing doctors sitting in dark rooms “processing” requests and orders like a video gamer shooting aliens for dopamine jolts.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Linus Health. The Boston-based digital health company is dedicated to transforming brain health for people across the world, with a focus on Alzheimer’s and other dementias. By advancing how we detect and address cognitive and brain disorders – leveraging cutting-edge neuroscience, clinical expertise, and artificial intelligence – the company’s goal is to enable a future where people can live longer, happier, and healthier lives with better brain health. Its digital cognitive assessment platform provides a proven, practical solution for early detection; empowers providers with actionable clinical insights; and supports individuals with personalized action plans. The company is proud to partner with leading healthcare delivery, life sciences, and research organizations to advance cognitive care. Visit its website to learn more about its practical solutions for proactive brain health. Thanks to Linus Health for supporting HIStalk.

Here’s a Linus Health explainer video that I found on YouTube.

Webinars

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

July 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Use Generative AI.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenter: Bill Rogers, co-founder, president, and chairman, Orbita. The advent of generative AI tools truly represents a paradigm shift. And while some healthcare leaders embrace the transformation, others are hesitant. Invest 20 minutes to learn why you shouldn’t wait. When combined with natural language processing, workflow automation and conversational dialogs, generative AI can help leaders address a raft of challenges: from over-extended staff, to the rising demand for self-service tools, to delivering secure information to key stakeholders. You will learn where AI delivers the greatest value for providers and life sciences, how it can solve critical challenges faved by healthcare leaders, and how Orbita has integrated generative AI into its conversational platform so healthcare leaders can leverage its full capabilities safely and securely.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Outbound AI, which sells virtual agent technology for healthcare revenue cycle management, raises $16 million in a seed funding round.

Real-world data company Verana Health launches a subscription-based tool to help ophthalmology-related clinical trial sponsors and contract research organizations find potential trial sites.

Sales

• University Hospitals will implement Nuance’s patient engagement solutions, including virtual agents and AI-powered call routing.

People

Chilmark Research founder and CEO John Moore died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.

Government and Politics

VA officials say despite last week’s layoffs in Oracle’s Cerner business that may have been driven by the VA’s own stalled implementation, it expects the company to provide the talent and expertise that is needed to fulfill its contractual commitments.

Privacy and Security

UK physician groups urge NHS England to pause its tender for a $600 million contract for a federated data platform, predicting that nearly half of NHS patients will opt out if the government choose analytics firm Palantir – which has ties to US security agencies – as its vendor. They propose alternatives based around the open source platform Open Safely and OneLondon, which they say are more transparent. Meanwhile, Palantir – which the physician groups say spending big dollars on lobbying to win the bid – is awarded a 12-month, $32 million contract to transition existing NHS projects into the new platform, which critics say raises concerns about the procurement program’s transparency and scope.

Other

A NBC News investigation finds that publicly traded hospital operator HCA Healthcare used an algorithm to identify hospitalized inpatients who were likely to die, then pushed them into palliative or hospice care to improve hospital performance measures that are tied to executive bonuses.

ChatGPT passes a simulated clinical informatics board examination, raising questions about the future of unproctored, at-home certification testing.

Sponsor Updates

• CereCore publishes an e-book titled “Technical Debt and the Patient.”
• Nordic posts a podcast titled “Designing for Health: Interview with Denise Worrell.”
• Roni Jamesmeyer, senior healthcare manager at Five9, authors an article titled “TLC, not A&E: Reducing Emergency Situations through Proactive Communications.”
• Medhost’s Meadteam Solutions launches a security operations center for its community hospital customers.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 6/21/23

Top News

Healthcare shift-bidding platform vendor CareRev will reportedly lay off one-third of its corporate workforce, about 100 employees, following the departure of founder and CEO Will Patterson, RN. He resigned after admitting to colleagues that he delivered an investor Zoom pitch – which resulted in a $50 million Series A round — while taking LSD.

Patterson announced in January 2023 that the company would focus on expanding its technology platform, which would require laying off an unstated number of employees. 

Reader Comments

From Amicus Briefly: “Re: Oracle Cerner layoff. A physician says in a private member group that its whole clinical team was eliminated, including nurse and physician executives.” Unverified since the company hasn’t said a word on that topic, but I haven’t seen that claim elsewhere. Layoffs in big, far-flung companies are often hard to quantify otherwise since those involved don’t have easy ways to compare information. It’s easier in a one-office business because you see the empty cubes or watch out the window to see who’s being marched out. Those who should eventually notice are the company’s customers, whose interests are not necessarily aligned with those of shareholders.

Webinars

June 22 (Thursday) 2 ET. “The End of COVID Public Health Emergency is Here. Is Your Rev Cycle Ready?” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Vanessa L. Moldovan, commercial enablement + insights program manager, Waystar. This webinar will describe the proactive steps that are needed to avoid increased rejections and denials. It will cover regulatory waivers and flexibilities, major shifts in telehealth, changes to reimbursement, and the impact of the end of the PHE on Medicaid coverage.

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Gradient Health, which offers AI developers a library of 350 million raw and labeled medical images from 1,000 partner hospitals for system training, raises $2.75 million.

The founders of India-based vanity drug telehealth vendor Mojocare admit — following an investor-commissioned forensic audit after the company laid off 80% of its employees — that they were falsifying sales. A report says that the “judgment-free wellness platform” vendor was selling products to companies that were owned by the relatives of the founders, then restocking the delivered products, inflating its gross merchandise value. The money-losing company raised $21 million in a Series A funding round in August 2022 after reporting that its revenue had increased 38-fold. The two founders have no healthcare experience.

Sales

• In England, Leeds Teach Hospitals NHS Trust will implement Flatiron Health’s real-world data for oncology research.

People

Evergreen Healthcare Partners promotes John Evans to SVP of operations.

Announcements and Implementations

Malaysia’s Health Ministry will implement an expanded, cloud-based EHR nationwide in 2026.

Silver Cross Hospital expands its use of Kyruus ProviderMatch to include scheduling of primary care, gastroenterology, and cardiology.

Microsoft opens a public preview of Azure OpenAI Service that allows running models on client-owned data, eliminating the need for training.

Government and Politics

A Tennessee news site reports that Vanderbilt University Medical Center has notified some of its patients that it has sent their medical records to the state’s attorney general, who it says is investigating VUMC’s billing for transgender care services for patients who are covered by state-sponsored insurance. Commenters question the legality of providing the records under HIPAA and how VUMC chose the patients whose records it sent. HHS advises under its HIPAA “Court Orders and Subpoenas” guidance that providers can share PHI under a court order, or in the case of a subpoena, if the patient has been notified in advance to give them the chance to object or seek a protective order. The cited VUMC communication refers to a “civil investigation” in which the patient records were “requested.” The AG’s chief of staff says that the office is “surprised that VUMC has deliberately chosen to frighten its patients like this,” adding that its billing investigation involves only VUMC and certain providers, not patients.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 6/19/23

Top News

Oracle has declined to comment about its layoffs in the former Cerner business last week, but affected employees have cited numbers ranging from 500 to 1,200.

Reddit commenters said that recently hired managers were targeted, along with the HealthIntent and CommunityWorks teams, support service owners, and employees who were assigned to the VA’s stalled implementation.

Reader Comments

From Innit: “Re: [cancer screening technology vendor name omitted.] Fired the CEO and two of four salespeople after missing financial goals.” I left the name out pending a company response. Its leadership page and the LinkedIn profiles of the CEO and salespeople have not changed.

From Staffer: “Re: Children’s Mercy KC. Brought in expensive consultants to train the entire workforce on culture. Executive leadership talks the talk, but some are not changing or are almost weaponizing the culture concepts against staff. I’m curious about reader experience – how is the perception of your organization, has it run a culture initiative, did leaders change or did they get swapped out, and did the organization change following the initiative?” My only experience with this was in my short, long-ago stint with a for-profit company, but I suspect the same challenges remain:

• The organizations that undertake these projects are already in trouble and expect consultants to fix their most pressing problems.
• Executives who created the problems pretend to participate, but don’t actually plan to change their own behavior.
• Hiring a bunch of expensive consultants creates pressure to deliver ROI quickly, but culture change is slow and uncertain.
• Companies are paying consultants to ask their employees what they think instead of talking to them directly, which pretty much says it all with regard to the disconnect between management and employees.
• It’s a big de-motivator to ask for opinions that are then ignored.
• It’s easier to recognize a good or bad culture than to turn one around.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Nearly half of poll respondents have experienced a negative impact of a previously signed non-compete agreement. A couple of folks mentioned that non-competes should include compensation – either the old company pays you while your time-out ticks away or gives you vesting or other benefits to offset your potential lost earnings – but the Epic model of pushing the non-compete onto providers and consulting firms means that you might not get offers and won’t know why.

New poll to your right or here, as suggested by a reader: does the fear of losing your job force you to work in a suboptimal or unethical way?

Listening The Descendents (that’s how they spell it), inserted into my YouTube feed because I’ve been listening to the Hives. An HIStalk search finds that I mentioned them in 2017, where I noted that the lead singers of at least three punk rock bands have earned PhDs – Bad Religion, The Offspring, and The Descendents. They look like Walmart-fashioned grandpas waiting for the Applebee’s early bird special, but then they just rip into blazing fast and highly skilled punk rock that sends youthful moshers flinging themselves off the stage. The band formed in 1977, with Milo Aukerman stepping down temporarily to earn a UCSD PhD in molecular biology followed by postdoctoral research. Also on my playlist: the reader-suggested collaboration between Dolly Parton and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, in which Parton’s warbling pairs surprising well with Halford’s growl as collaborators whose combined age is 148.

Lorre always offers Summer Doldrums incentives to new HIStalk sponsors this slow time of year, along with some first-year perks for small startups that need a boost. Contact her.

Webinars

June 22 (Thursday) 2 ET. “The End of COVID Public Health Emergency is Here. Is Your Rev Cycle Ready?” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenter: Vanessa L. Moldovan, commercial enablement + insights program manager, Waystar. This webinar will describe the proactive steps that are needed to avoid increased rejections and denials. It will cover regulatory waivers and flexibilities, major shifts in telehealth, changes to reimbursement, and the impact of the end of the PHE on Medicaid coverage.

July 12 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “101: National Network Data Exchanges.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenter: Troy Bannister, founder and CEO, Particle Health. It’s highly likely that your most recent medical records were indexed by a national Health Information Network (HIN). Network participants can submit basic demographic information into an API and receive full, longitudinal medical records sourced from HINs. Records come in a parsed, standardized format, on demand, with a success rate above 90%. There’s so much more to learn and discover, which is why Troy Bannister is going to provide a 101 on all things HIN. You will learn what HINs are, see how the major HINS compare, and learn how networks will evolve due to TEFCA.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Optum dissolves its Startup Studio incubator after three years and 100 health companies incubated.

Sales

• The VA awards Sierra7 and partner AvaSure a contract to provide a TeleCare Companion solution to seven VA medical centers in VISN 9, powered by AvaSure’s TeleSitter solution.

People

John Noseworthy, MD (Mayo Clinic) joins Northwell-created virtual-first care ecosystem vendor Caire as executive chair.

Brent Averette (Komodo Health) joins Transcarent as SVP of enterprise sales.

Damo Consulting founder and CEO Paddy Padmanabhan, MBA died Thursday of cancer.

Privacy and Security

Politico reports that Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have expressed concern to Amazon President and CEO Andy Jaffy that the company’s virtual Amazon Clinic may be collecting and sharing health data from customers. They ask in a letter that Amazon provide its patient authorization form, which they have heard requires prospective patients to consent to data disclosure that waives HIPAA protections. They also want to review sample provider contracts and how collected is shared.

A newly declassified report confirms that US spy agencies routinely purchase commercially available data on US citizens that includes their browsing history and cell phone location.

Other

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield — noting that 60% of the claims it receives for Ozempic suggest that it is being prescribed for weight loss rather than diabetes — sends letters to prescribers warning them that it will alert law enforcement and state licensure boards when it suspects inappropriate use or fraudulent activity. The letter provides few details, but since prescribers can legally order drugs for off-label uses, it seems likely that the insurer is going after doctors who improperly claim that patients have diabetes in getting insurance to pay.

A New York Times report says that the corporatization of healthcare has alienated physicians whose bosses order them to behave in profit-seeking ways that don’t align with their values. It notes that some doctors have been fired for raising issues related to patient safety or poor working conditions and are forced to hit productivity targets that preclude showing empathy or support. They also have to manage patients whose don’t have the insurance or cash to afford potentially beneficial treatments.

A TV station in Australia profiles the country’s first standalone, nationally accredited virtual hospital.

Sponsor Updates

• CereCore publishes a case study titled “Epic Advisory Services: An Acquisition and Install Story.”
• Experity celebrates a successful investment cycle with an employee trip to Orlando.
• Meditech publishes a new e-book, “A strong revenue cycle begins and ends with a satisfied patient.”
• Nordic releases a new Making Rounds Podcast, “Turning data into insights with managed services.”
• OmniSys parent company XiFin names Kyu Rhee, MD senior strategic advisor.
• Surescripts publishes a podcast titled “Bringing Healthcare to the People: How Dr. Brett Giroir Serves His Nation.”
• Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, and Virginia Children’s Care Network join Premier’s Kiindo pediatric-focused collaborative and purchasing alliance.
• Verato publishes a new white paper, “What Is Referential Matching?”
• Waystar customer Alivi Health announces that it has achieved a 99.89% clean claim rate.

Blog Posts

• Vyne Medical Introduces Fax Complete (Vyne Medical)
• Building a Data-Driven Culture: A Conversation with NeuroFlow Senior Director of Data Science Bill Lynch (NeuroFlow)
• How AI helps healthcare organizations achieve the Quintuple Aim (Nuance)
• Getting to grips with chronic disease management (Nordic)
• ChatGPT, Telehealth, and Financial Burdens: Is It Here to Stay? (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• The Journey of an Electronic Prescription (Surescripts)
• EHR-Based Targeting Strategies for Medical Device Marketing (OptimizeRx)
• Do Doctors Still Use Pagers? (PerfectServe)
• What is Revenue Integrity in Healthcare? (PMD)
• Lessons from a Top-Performing Health System on Lowering Mortality Rates (Premier)
• 2023 HL7 FHIR DevDays Top 3 Takeaways (Redox)
• The Joint Commission’s new emergency management guidelines: What they mean for your organization (Spok)
• CMS Introduces Prior Authorization Regulations for Medicare Advantage (WebPT)
• Three key strategies to harmonize digital health data and improve health equity (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• How Population-Based Clinical Decision Support Encourages Holistic Patient Care (Zynx Health)
• Healthcare CIO Advice on Leading through the Complexities of Change (CereCore)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Contact us.