Monday Morning Update 6/9/25

Top News

Shares of virtual care and coaching company Omada Health jump to $23 in their Friday IPO debut, up from the $19 offering price.

The early pop faded by the close, however, with shares ending where they opened and the company’s public valuation of $1 billion remaining unchanged since its last private funding round.

Reader Comments

From Pedro Borbon: “Re: Emory Healthcare. Parted ways with its chief information and digital officer, its CISO, and its CTO within the past month. It previously dismissed its chief innovation officer and another C-suite executive, basically eliminating its entire technology leadership team without announcing it.” Partially verified since some, but not all, of those who have reportedly departed have updated their LinkedIn with a non-Emory status. That’s understandable since it’s tough to smile from the same face that just took a punch. Emory announced the departure of CIDO Alistair Erskine, MD, MBA in April as it also went back to separate CIDOs for the health system and university.

From Ornery Bugger: “Re: DexCare. Churn in past 12-18 months include the CEO, two CTOs, CPO, chief customer experience officer, chief growth officer, chief commercial officer, three sales VPs, and the head of implementation, also at least 30 director-level people from product or engineering. Only two sales reps out of at least 20 have lasted two years. Some of the execs have no healthcare experience.” Unverified because I wasn’t interested enough to crawl LinkedIn. The exec team page from just over a year ago lists eight execs, of which two are listed on the current version of the page. I’m omitting a lot of other information from the reader since I can’t confirm and I don’t want to pile on the Providence-launched capacity management software company. DexCare has raised somewhere around $200 million, with some of its customers taking a stake.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Last week’s poll results will surprise no one.

New poll to your right or here: Should health systems flag AI-generated content in the chart and patient-facing documents? My take: clinicians own the content, whether it comes from their fingers, ambient AI, or EHR auto-wizardry. The review-edit-approve loop goes all the way back to voice orders scribbled by a nurse onto a paper chart and human-transcribed dictation. Some docs will keep rubber-stamping whatever pops up, hoping that a malpractice jury will buy the argument that accountability was someone else’s job. But the real challenge is figuring out who the quarterback is for a given note or data element when multiple systems and clinicians are contributing. Maybe every data element, insight, recommendation, or observation should be tagged with its source, aka metadata as malpractice insulation.

I have been imperceptibly absent for several days on vacation, during which I missed HIStalk’s 22nd birthday on June 3. I was describing the site to a guy while I was away and he provided a perspective that I hadn’t thought of: “You’ve been writing the same technology blog for more than 20 years? How is that even possible with all the tech changes?” I’m the industry’s “Deliverance” banjo guy, sitting here plucking the same tune while bemusedly watching the oblivious paddlers.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Best Buy reports a $109 million restructuring charge for its health division, citing slower adoption of its hospital-at-home offerings due to financial pressures that its health system partners are facing.

Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners acquires an unstated significant ownership position in NextGen Healthcare, which was taken private in 2023 by PE firm Thoma Bravo. Both PE firms will be involved in the company’s management. NextGen also announced that it will replace CEO David Sides with President and COO Sri Velamoor.

Sales

• Managed Care Advisory Group offers its provider assistance services for the $2.8 billion BCBS provider settlement — which requires claims to be filed by July 29, 2025 — to customers of Altera Digital Health.
• Emory Healthcare will spend $51 million to implement Epic at its newly acquired Houston Healthcare.

People

San Mateo County Health promotes Rich Bailey, MS (MultiCare Health System) to CIO.

Announcements and Implementations

Stanford Medicine is piloting ChatEHR, a homegrown, secure AI chatbot that focuses solely on a specific patient’s EHR data. A few dozen clinicians are testing the tool, which can retrieve allergies, procedures, and lab results on demand without adding its own interpretation or advice. It can also summarize the external records of hospital admissions, which is often a chore due to inconsistent formats and documentation styles.

TeleTracking and Palantir partner to offer hospitals AI-powered, real-time predictive insights to address capacity, staffing, patient flow, and financial performance.

Availity and Vim partner to integrate real-time care-gap identification directly into provider EHR workflows, enabling seamless point-of-care notifications and secure submission to improve HEDIS and Stars performance and reduce administrative burden.

KLAS offers “complete looks” at six ambulatory EHR vendors:

• Athenahealth was graded B- with a score of 79.6, with strengths of product integration, timely upgrades, and user-friendly interfaces, with negatives of challenging implementations, varied support knowledge and responsiveness, and hidden costs.
• EClinicalWorks earned a C- grade and 70.5 score, with strong suits being low initial licensing cost, web-based stability, scheduling tools, and internal integration, with weaknesses being poor training, nickel and diming, and slow support that is hampered by language barriers.
• Epic earned an overall B grade and 82.3 score, with strengths in data sharing, innovation, and support and weaknesses in cost, frequent updates that can break workflows, and overly complex billing and reporting.
• Greenway Health was graded D- with a score of 59.3, with its user friendly interface and telehealth capabilities being offset by slow support, nickel and diming, limited training resources, and cumbersome integration with external systems.
• NextGen Healthcare was graded C- with a 70.1 score, with strong points being customization, product integration, and analytics capabilities but weaknesses in lack of employee knowledge, an unintuitive user interface, and gaps in implementation and training.
• Veradigm earned an overall D grade and 63.8 score, with users appreciating its ease of use and integrated clearinghouse functionality, but expressing frustration with support, nickel and diming, and outdated functionality.

Government and Politics

CMS Chief Health Informatics Officer Alex Mugge, MPH will reportedly leave to take a health policy job with Oracle Health, where she would rejoin her former boss Seema Verma.

Sponsor Updates

• Baptist Health (AL) will use managed services from Healthcare IT Leaders to maintain its Oracle Health system.
• Altera Digital Health partners with Managed Care Advisory Group to bring MCAG’s class action lawsuit recovery services to providers.
• Frost & Sullivan recognizes Wolters Kluwer Health as a clinical decision support leader in its 2025 Frost Radar report.
• Elsevier develops an evaluation framework for assessing the performance and safety of generative AI-powered clinical reference tools including its Clinical Key AI.
• A new Black Book Research analysis finds that providers are facing significant upheaval in their credentialing and privileging technology as major regulatory changes loom in 2026.
• Waystar celebrates its one-year anniversary as a publicly traded company.

The following HIStalk sponsors will exhibit at the HFMA Annual Conference June 22-25 in Denver:

• AGS Health
• Altera Digital Health
• Arcadia
• CereCore
• Clearsense
• FinThrive
• Healthcare IT Leaders
• Infinx
• Inovalon
• MRO
• Netsmart
• Nordic Consulting
• Nym Health
• SmarterDx
• TruBridge
• TrustCommerce, a Sphere company
• VisiQuate
• WayStar
• Wolters Kluwer Health

Blog Posts

• Transforming CBO Case Management with Kiip (Findhelp)
• Nurses of Note 2025: The Director of Quality Management (PerfectServe)
• Powering Value-Based Care with Connected, Intuitive Technology (Netsmart)
• Because the doctor said so: How bureaucracy hijacked the exam room (Nordic)
• The Patient Portal Can’t Do It All (Praia Health)
• Unlocking healthcare interoperability: Redox + Databricks at Data + AI Summit 2025 (Redox)
• Move assets from staging to production with Promotion (Redox)
• Understanding TJC OPPE Requirements for Specialty Specific Indicators (Symplr)
• Navigating governance and change management in EHR projects: driving strategic transformation (Cardamom)
• Tegria at MUSE Inspire 2025: Advancing Compliance and Financial Performance in Healthcare (Tegria)
• Three Essential Strategies for Coding Excellence in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (TruBridge)
• Anticipating the Inevitable: Rethinking Denials in the Healthcare Revenue Cycle (VisiQuate)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

News 6/6/25

Top News

The Interlock ransomware group claims to have stolen 940 gigabytes of patient, employee, and corporate data from Kettering Health (OH), which is still working to recover from the May 20 ransomware attack.

Kettering officials acknowledged earlier this week that a small subset of data had been accessed.

The health system’s latest update on recovery efforts stresses that the cybersecurity threat has been removed, connections to its partners are secure, and that access to care is returning to normal.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Kyruus Health. Kyruus Health is the leading care access platform on a mission to connect people to the right care. The company connects over 500,000 providers across 1,400 hospitals and 550 medical groups, and members across 100 health plan brands so that every stakeholder can access and harness the most accurate, comprehensive, and contextually relevant information. By enabling informed decisions and confident action, the care access platform supports healthier outcomes, reduces friction in healthcare, and grants more time back in everyone’s day. To learn more, visit KyruusHealth.com or follow us on LinkedIn. Thanks to Kyruus for supporting HIStalk.

I found this Kyruus Health explainer video on YouTube.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Behavioral healthcare technology and services company Lucet acquires Emcara Health, which provides in-home primary care.

Sales

• Baptist Health (AL) will use managed services from Healthcare IT Leaders to maintain its Oracle Health system.
• UPMC Ireland will implement Meditech Expanse.

People

Arcadia names Lee Mooney (Sixth Street) CFO.

Announcements and Implementations

OhioHealth Southeastern Medical Center launches an electronic ICU program that enables OhioHealth staff at the health system’s central monitoring center to remotely monitor patients and communicate with bedside staff.

Zen Healthcare IT joins the CommonWell Health Alliance.

Government and Politics

CMS announces several digital health initiatives, including the development of an interoperable national provider directory, expanded availability of its Blue Button 2.0 API, and enhanced data exchange participation.

Other

New research from Linus Health finds that incorporating an electronic Person-Specific Outcome Measure tool into assessments used for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias can help patients and their caregivers prioritize and manage self-reported life priorities.

Stanford Health Care (CA) pilots an internally developed AI tool dubbed ChatEHR that enables clinicians to interact with patient medical records, primarily in the form of information-gathering. Stanford’s research team is also developing companion automations that will use AI to assist providers in evaluating patients for transfers, determining eligibility for hospice care, and determining post-surgical levels of care.

Sponsor Updates

• Black Book Research reveals strong momentum and challenges in European Health Data Space Adoption ahead of HIMSS EU 2025.
• Ellkay raises over $30,000 during Alpine Learning Group’s Go the Distance for Autism event.
• Five9 publishes its “2025 Business Leaders Customer Experience Report.”
• Fortified Health Security names Angel Bonilla and Jackson See business development representatives and Zack Bishop threat defense analyst.
• Inbox Health partners with Exdion Health to boost efficiency and revenue for urgent care and occupational health centers.
• Infinx releases a new episode of its “Healthcare Revenue Cycle Optimized” podcast titled “Lab Revolution in the Age of AI and Access.”

Blog Posts

• Annual Medicomp U Asia Event Empowers Southeast Asia Hospitals Through Education and Quippe Training (Medicomp Systems)
• Altera Digital Health: Building a greener future for a healthier planet (Altera Digital Health)
• Seeing clinical value from AI requires practical, real-world results (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Achieving Social Care ROI: How Findhelp Powers Your Investment (Findhelp)
• Improve Patient Registration Efficiency in 6 Steps (FinThrive)
• 9 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Build Customer Rapport (That Actually Work) (Five9)
• Objective Thinking On Health System IT Staffing: 10 Traps To Avoid (HCTec)
• The Top 5 Reasons to Attend Empower 2025 (Inovalon)
• A New Era in Alzheimer’s Care: Digital Screening Meets FDA-Cleared Blood Biomarkers (Linus Health)
• Sustaining forward momentum to support nurse empowerment (Meditech)
• The New Physician Playbook: AI, Workflows & Value-Based Care in Action (Navina)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

News 6/4/25

Top News

HHS names radiologist and former ONC senior advisor Thomas Keane, MD, MBA assistant secretary for technology policy and national coordinator for health IT.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Net Health, which specializes in health IT for wound care and rehab therapy, acquires digital and in-clinic musculoskeletal care company Limber Health. The acquisition marks Net Health’s second this year, having acquired patient engagement software vendor Alinea Engage in January.

Health IT veteran Ralph Keiser launches ArcheHealth and announces $6.7 million in seed funding. Customer Texas Health Resources participated in the round. The company has developed AI-powered software to help health systems improve operational performance, initially focusing on supply chain.

Clinical surveillance and decision support company AirStrip acquires clinical analytics vendor Fifth Eye. The companies began working together in 2022 when AirStrip became a Fifth Eye investor.

Sales

• Horizon Rx, a virtual practice for patients traveling in California, selects AdvancedMD’s EHR and practice management software.
• Cardiovascular Associates of America will implement HybridChart’s mobile rounding software.

People

Demetri Giannikopoulos (Aidoc) joins Rad AI as chief growth officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Health First (FL) goes live on Epic.

Epic announces that 1,000 hospitals and 22,000 clinics are now leveraging TEFCA data-exchange capabilities through the company’s Nexus QHIN.

MUSC Health (SC) implements Ovatient’s virtual care services. MUSC Health and The MetroHealth System (OH) formed Ovatient in 2022.

After a successful pilot program, the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Care Center will offer patients Veris Health’s oncology-focused remote patient monitoring technology.

Privacy and Security

Kettering Health (OH) brings core parts of its Epic system back online. It is still working to restore functionality to MyChart, as well as inbound and outbound calls. The health system was hit by a cyberattack May 20. It has not yet confirmed if ransomware was involved, though several media outlets have reported that the attack, in which a subset of data was accessed, was initiated by the Interlock ransomware group.

Central Maine Healthcare shuts its IT systems down after detecting unusual activity on its network over the weekend. Covenant Health, which also operates several facilities in Maine, continues to deal with a cyberattack it detected last week.

Sponsor Updates

• Cardamom Health helps to raise over $100,000 for the American Stroke Association during its CycleNation event in Madison, WI.
• Nordic releases a new “Designing for Health” podcast featuring Kai Romero, MD.
• CereCore releases a new podcast episode titled “Developing a Digital Strategy for True Clinical Innovation.”
• Black Book Research releases a report ranking EHR systems across Canadian healthcare.
• Capital Rx supports the next phase of the New York City Soccer Initiative’s efforts to expand free soccer programming for children across the city.
• Clearsense publishes a new white paper, “How Application Portfolio Management Accelerates M&A Value in Healthcare.”
• The American Health Law Association’s “Speaking of Health Law” podcast features Clearwater VP of Security Services David Bailey.
• Clinical Architecture becomes a member of Civitas Networks for Health.
• CloudWave will exhibit at the Wisconsin Rural Healthcare Conference June 4-6 in Wisconsin Dells.
• DrFirst earns a 2025 Best Practices Award from Frost & Sullivan.

Blog Posts

• The Critical Role of Physician Documentation in Newborn Encounters (AGS Health)
• Clinical Communication Integrations for Better Patient Care (PerfectServe)
• Five ways health leaders can address silos in healthcare (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• AI in Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management: What to Expect in 2025 (Nym)
• AI and Your Practice: Key Insights on AI Usage Among Family Physicians and Primary Care Providers (AdvancedMD)
• Practical Uses Of AI: How It’s Redefining Pharmacy (CereCore)
• Building patient trust through technology (Altera Digital Health)
• How To Unlock the Full Potential of Meditech’s Expanse Patient Connect, Powered by Artera (Artera)
• 7-Steps to Deploying Virtual Care and Virtual Nursing Platforms (AvaSure)
• Accelerating the Transition: Strategies for Health Systems to Thrive in Value-Based Care (Conduce Health)
• It Takes a Community: Transforming Cyber GRC in Healthcare (Censinet)
• 5 Keys to Digital Transformation in Healthcare (Consensus Cloud Solutions)
• What Makes a Resume Stand Out to Executive Recruiters (Direct Recruiters)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 6/2/25

Top News

Kettering Health (OH) continues to bring systems back online and expand clinical capabilities as it recovers from last week’s cyberattack.

A small subset of data was accessed during the breach, according to the hospital’s latest update.

Kettering has published a series of video vignettes on its LinkedIn page detailing how various departments are working together to provide care during the outage.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The majority of survey-takers have never used a digital physical therapy app as part of their recovery, which makes me wonder how these vendors are getting their products into the hands of patients. A respondent did mention that the app he used, Hinge Health, was covered by his wife’s employer.

New poll to your right or here: Do you foresee the pace of cyberattacks on healthcare organizations slowing down or speeding up? A recent conversation with a cybersecurity-focused college student home for the summer, and the numerous job opportunities that no doubt await him across any number of verticals, has made me wonder. The question is a broad one, leaving plenty of room for insightful commentary should you be so inclined.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Wolters Kluwer Health acquires IntelliLearn, which offers online courseware for nursing students in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Medical billing and compliance company MDaudit (formerly known as Hayes Management Consulting) will acquire RCM vendor Streamline Health in a take-private, $37.4 million deal.

Sales

• Imperial Valley Healthcare District (CA) will implement Notable’s automated patient engagement and intake software.

People

Jason Jones (Health Catalyst) joins Atropos Health as head of data science.

Announcements and Implementations

Ward Memorial Hospital (TX) implements virtual emergency care capabilities from Avel ECare.

Privacy and Security

Covenant Health facilities in multiple states deal with connectivity issues resulting from a cyberattack that occurred last week.

Other

Temple Health’s Fox Chase Cancer Center (PA) sees oncofertiilty referrals dramatically increase after implementing a Best Practice Advisory in its Epic EHR, resulting in young adult cancer patients receiving referrals to nurses and social workers who guide them through their fertility planning options before they begin treatment.

Sponsor Updates

• CereCore offers a new info sheet on Meditech revenue cycle assessment and optimization.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “Aligned Health Benefits and the Freedom to Unbundle, with Kristin Begley, PharmD.”
• Healthcare IT Leaders becomes a Meditech Alliance Consulting Services Partner.
• Inbox Health joins the Greenway Health Marketplace.
• Nordic joins the ServiceNow Partner and Reseller Programs.
• Optimum Healthcare IT releases a new episode of its “Visionary Voices” podcast featuring Craig Richardville titled “The Evolving Role of the CIO.”
• Waystar will exhibit at the EClinicalWorks 2025 Health Center Summit June 3-5 in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
• Arcadia, Ellkay, FinThrive, Inovalon, MRO, Surescripts, WellSky, and Wolters Kluwer Health will exhibit at AHIP 2025 June 16-18 in Las Vegas.

Blog Posts

• Improving Patient-Reported Outcomes with Communication (PerfectServe)
• Unlocking the Value of Staff Augmentation for Epic Refuel Projects (CereCore)
• Solving unwarranted variation in care begins with clinical decision-making (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Convert Insight to Action: Operationalizing KLAS EHR Speed and Reliability Recommendations (Goliath Technologies)
• Medical Coding Compliance in 2025: How AI Can Reduce Risk (Nym)
• Why screen scraping isn’t the enemy—but the symptom of a bigger healthcare integration problem (Redox)
• Technology tips for older patients (Sonifi Health)
• Interoperability Is Accelerating—But We’re Just Getting Started (Tegria)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

News 5/30/25

Top News

Kaiser Permanente announces that all of its technology systems are back online after dealing with a network outage most of Wednesday. The outage, which Kaiser has attributed to an issue at one of its data centers, impacted facilities – and patients – across the country.

Reader Comments

From Mr. Friendly: “Re: Murray-Calloway County Hospital’s EHR implementation. Hospital officials shared the growing pains their staff are dealing with 45 days into their Oracle Health implementation, with new CEO Reba Celsor noting that “pleased” might be a bit of a stretch: “Because sometimes companies overpromise and underdeliver, and there’s a little feeling of that, so we’re working to make sure we’re holding them accountable to the agreement.” I’m not so sure this is an atypical experience for any hospital EHR implementation. Go-live teams are welcome to weigh in.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Amwell co-founder and former co-CEO Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH launches Aileen, an AI companion for seniors that will also offer access to virtual care. He remains an executive director at Amwell.

Virtual chronic care management company Omada Health expects to raise $158 million during its IPO next week, which would give it a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Sales

• Harbor Regional Health (WA) will transition to Meditech Expanse through the company’s MaaS subscription model.

People

Wolters Kluwer promotes Greg Samios to CEO of its Health division.

CVS Health names Ravi Patel, MD (Oak Street Health) VP and chief health informatics officer for healthcare delivery.

Jay Sultan (Tegria) joins Motive Medical Intelligence as EVP of product strategy and management.

Announcements and Implementations

Houston Healthcare (GA) will move from Meditech Magic to Epic as a part of its recently approved integration with Emory Healthcare (GA).

Boone County Hospital in Iowa goes live on Meditech Expanse.

Several providers and government agencies within Austin and Travis County in Texas connect to Watershed Health’s health information exchange and care coordination platform.

UF Health St. Johns (FL) implements Epic.

Government and Politics

DoD health officials share several IT updates at a recent State of the Federal EHR event, noting that virtual visit capabilities will soon be implemented across the department and US Coast Guard, and that it is working with the VA on a joint tele-critical care application. Plans to eventually add ambient dictation capabilities to MHS Genesis are also in the works.

Privacy and Security

BayCare Health System (FL) will pay $800,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations related to a 2018 data breach involving an unauthorized user who accessed a patient’s medical records, took photographs of them, and videoed themselves scrolling through the record on a computer screen. An unidentified individual then called the patient to let them know about the breach.

Sponsor Updates

• Cardamom Health staff work with the United Way of Dane County to assemble 500 snack packs benefiting Rise Wisconsin.
• Capital Rx will present at the AMCP Mid-Atlantic Day of Education May 30 in Falls Church, VA.
• The “MSSP 1337” podcast features Fortified Health Security CISO Russell Teague.
• Infinx releases a new episode of its “Revenue Cycle Optimized” podcast titled “From Paper to Patient-Ready – How Chesapeake Medical Imaging Cut Processing Time from Days to Hours.”

Blog Posts

• Top Physician Communication Frustrations (PerfectServe)
• How to Save Time and Increase Revenue: Automate ED Care Levels (CereCore)
• AI in the NHS: Hype, hope and how we make it work (Altera Digital Health)
• From First Call to Final Placement: What Candidates Can Expect Working with DRI (Direct Recruiters)
• The Unspoken Pillar: Why Social Care is Essential to CMS’s Evolving Health Strategy (Findhelp)
• 3 Ways Claim Denials Undermine Growth (and What to Do) (FinThrive)
• Thinking About Boomi for Healthcare? Here’s What You Should Know (Healthcare IT Leaders)
• How to Avoid the Latest Cyberthreat: MFA Notification Fatigue (Med Tech Solutions)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 5/29/25

As someone who has had to sit through entirely too many training sessions about the importance of protecting your laptop when you’re in public, I couldn’t help but stop and take a picture when I was changing planes and came across this unattended backpack and laptop. It was at a gate where the flight was apparently canceled and there was literally no one around who might have been watching it. I scanned the area pretty thoroughly to see if anyone was watching before walking up to it suspiciously to see if it was actually connected to a meeting. No one confronted me, so I sat nearby for a full 10 minutes before I saw someone come out of a nearby restaurant and walk to this row of chairs. Today may have been their lucky day as far as no one messing with it, but I can’t believe someone would take that risk.

I was back on the patient side of the equation this week, leading myself to ask yet again, “Why are what should be straightforward healthcare processes at an allegedly world-class facility so terrible?” I’ve been to this “center of excellence” before and had previously been punked by the check-in kiosk that hides on the wall behind the door through which you enter, so I thought I’d be ahead of the game and immediately turn around and check myself in. It was seamless until I got to the part that told me I needed to go to the registration desk to complete my registration. The registrar had her back turned and was having a personal conversation with someone who was working on the printer behind her, which was unfortunate as she had several patients in front of her waiting for service. Once I finally made it to the desk, I was given a blank form to fill out that didn’t even have my patient identifier information on it. I guess we haven’t learned anything about preventing errors by generating those forms directly from the EHR so they’ll have the headers on them. Instead, I had to write my name and date of birth on both sides. I guess I can understand people not wanting to print out the forms if they have a lot of no-shows, but considering that most of us schedule this particular visit several months in advance and it’s nearly impossible to reschedule them, I’d bet they don’t get a lot of people that fail to arrive.

I completed the form and took it back to the desk, where I was told to sit down and keep the form and the clipboard until someone came to take me to the back. I was sure that she hadn’t told me to keep it, and I watched her do the same with several people who came behind me, so I felt a little better about not having forgotten the proper instructions for the form when I received it. I also watched two more people try to turn in the form at the desk and be told to “just keep it.” When the staff member came from the back of the facility to collect me, the registrar interrupted him and asked if he wanted some of the food she had brought and now had on her desk. I wish I could have seen my face at that point, because I’m sure the fact that I thought the whole interaction was unprofessional would have been obvious. As the tech walked me to the changing area, he commented that, “It looks like you missed part of this form,” but didn’t ask me to complete it. I was kind of baffled, since I knew I completed every box and double checked the form.

In the changing area, the tech failed to give me the correct instructions for double gowning, which didn’t register until he had left the room. Fortunately, I’ve had this procedure before and knew what to do, but had I been new to this corner of healthcare I guess I’d have either done it incorrectly or had to step out and try to find someone to ask. I sat for a bit in the changing area waiting for someone to get me again and was taken to the area where IV access is placed. There were two other patients waiting, which is unusual for this subspecialized part of the facility. One of the patients asked if I knew what time it was, since none of us had watches. I told her the time I left the changing area and she said it was already 30 minutes past her test time, but no one had mentioned a delay. She finally flagged down a staff member to ask for a blanket and asked what was going on, and we were told there had been an emergency and they were running late. I couldn’t help but think about all the “service recovery” training I have been through over the years and how little things like advising patients of delays make all the difference. And maybe offering blankets to all the patients sitting there in gowns, and not just the one who specifically asked for it, might have been nice, too (especially since you were going to the blanket warmer anyway).

The tech finally came back to attempt my IV and asked me where I wanted it, then made it clear that he felt inconvenienced by what I said, since it was opposite the side of the chair where a table had been placed for his supplies. He told me, “You’ve got nothing over here,” and just stared at me – so I told him he could try the other arm if he needed to. It would have been nice if he’d actually said something more akin to, “I’m not finding anything that’s ideal for the contrast medium we have to use. Would you mind if I looked on your other arm?” It isn’t that hard of a thing to say. When he finally placed the IV and walked away, my new friend in the waiting area commented, “Well, isn’t he just Mr. Personality?” He came back again to ask me how I had my gowns on, I suppose after realizing that he didn’t tell me what to do.

Finally, the other patient was called back for her test, and eventually a different staffer came to get me. I’ve had this imaging study done nearly a dozen times and could tell the table wasn’t quite set up properly. I didn’t say anything, but instead wound up waiting in an uncomfortable position while she bustled around the room finding the rest of the padding and draping she needed to get me set up. The procedure itself went off without a hitch (at least as far as one can tell when they’re inside the claustrophobic coffin of truth for a good hour), except for the part afterwards where the staffer wanted to remove my IV while I was just standing there. I guess she’s never had a patient pass out at the sight of blood or feel woozy while their blood vessels are being manipulated and suggested I’d prefer to sit down first. She then told me that, “There was a form that the front desk was supposed to give you, and I’ll need you to fill that out now,” and took me back to the internal waiting room. I suppose the registrar being busy chatting with the printer guy and offering her breakfast to others prevented her from making sure the correct contents were on the clipboard. Having that form would also have been the prompt to tell the first tech which procedure I was having, which theoretically should have reminded him to tell me how to gown.

Although this form already had my name and medical record number on it, it asked no less than 14 questions that were answerable by data that was already in the EHR. The tech told me, “If you don’t know the exact answer, just guess,” which always blows me away in healthcare – and doubly so when the actual information (such as the date when I last had this imaging study done) is in the chart. Knowing that the radiologist would be pulling up my previous scans for comparison and wouldn’t be inconvenienced, I wrote “in EHR” on a couple of blanks out of frustration, which I admit made me feel a tiny bit better. I did wonder if the radiologists knew that the techs were telling people to “just guess” on what’s supposed to be a clinically important form, but maybe it’s not as important as we’ve always thought it was.

Of course, many of the issues I just pointed out are small things, but as a physician who has spent the better part of three decades delivering care, this isn’t what I would expect for my patients or for myself. The majority of patients can’t just go elsewhere if they’re unhappy with the service they’re receiving because of network provider contracts and financial limitations. Not to mention, if you’re involved in an ongoing plan of care at a particular facility, the emotional pain of change often does not outweigh the pain of same. The issues I encountered are particularly sad because these things are fixable without too much cost or effort and might make all the difference for patient safety and satisfaction. For any readers who might find themselves on the non-patient side of the imaging equation, I encourage you to see how your facility stacks up with a few suggestions:

• Give patients the instructions needed to streamline their visits. If you want them to keep a form and clipboard, tell them to do so. It was easy for me to pop up to the desk and be told to keep it, but less easy for the elderly patient with the cane. Double check the clipboard to be sure it has everything needed.
• Don’t tell a patient they failed to fully complete a form when the problem is that the form itself is missing.
• If your job is to make sure patients are gowned appropriately for a procedure, make sure you know what procedure they’re having.
• Don’t make patients feel bad about their anatomy. Those of us with sad little veins already know it and can’t do anything about it.
• Critically evaluate all data collection forms being used in your process. Consider preprinting them with patient headers to reduce errors and make it easier for patients. Where clinically important information is collected, prepopulate it from the EHR (when possible) to ensure accuracy. If you think it’s OK for patients to “just guess” at the answers, consider the importance of the form.

Last, but not least: Make patients feel like they’re important and not a distraction. You have no idea whether you’re seeing them on what might turn out to be the worst day of their life – and they deserve your attention.

Have you had a recent patient-side experience, and did it meet your expectations? Any advice you’d offer the facility? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

News 5/28/25

Top News

Coalesce Capital acquires Das Health, a health IT software and services business based in Tampa, FL.

Once primarily focused on the ambulatory space, Das has expanded to health systems and senior care through its acquisitions of Itentive, VCPI, and Randall Technology Services.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The majority of poll-takers are in favor of EHR vendors being required to provide data access to competing applications with shared customer consent.

New poll to your right or here: Have you ever used a digital physical therapy tool as part of your recovery? With Hinge Health’s IPO in the news and competitors like Luna, Sword Health (rumored to be prepping for an IPO later this year), and Kaia Health seemingly gaining traction, I’m wondering if providers are pushing them or payers are the more typical conduits. Share your experience by leaving a comment.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Digital healthcare software and services vendor Healthcare Triangle forms new subsidiary QuantumNexis through the acquisition of Niyama Healthcare, which specializes in AI-enabled digital mental healthcare, and Ezovion Solutions, which offers EHR and smart hospital management tech.

23andMe will delist and deregister from the Nasdaq. The consumer genetics testing and research company filed for bankruptcy in March and sold the majority of its assets to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals earlier this month.

Announcements and Implementations

The Boulder County Family Resource Network (CO) launches an online social services resource tool using software from Findhelp.

In England, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust implements Epic.

Privacy and Security

Kettering Health (OH) acknowledges it was the victim of a ransomware attack last week and announces that it has restored its clinical communications and radiation oncology systems. It expects the rest of its network to be up and running soon.

Healthcare cybersecurity leaders are unprepared for AI-enabled physical threats to their facilities, according to a new study from Black Book Research. Seventy-one percent of hospital survey respondents say they are unprepared for things like sensor spoofing or deepfake badge credentials, while just 18% say they have a strategy in place to mitigate this new type of digital manipulation.

Other

A patient catches their therapist using ChatGPT during a virtual session after the therapist mistakenly enables screensharing: “This led to a very surreal session in which out of sheer shock I also ended up basically cribbing from ChatGPT in my responses. For example, I’d say something, he would type it into ChatGPT, it would return a result, like a summary of ‘Cognitive Flexibility,’ and then because I could see his screen, I would say something like ‘I guess I could be more flexible…’ and he’d say, ‘Yes! Exactly!’”

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD staff volunteer at several charitable organizations, including the St. Vincent De Paul Dining Hall, during the company’s Day of Caring.
• Agfa HealthCare North America reports strong Q1 2025 momentum with major enterprise imaging expansion and strategic customer wins.
• Fortified Health Security names Rachel Bryant and Danika Miles marketing coordinators.
• Wolters Kluwer Health receives for the 14^th consecutive year the NorthFace ScoreBoard Service Award for achievements in customer support by its Ovid and Lippincott customer service organizations.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “The Evolving Health Benefits Market: Everyone is Getting Smarter, with Mike Tate.”
• Tegria will present at the International Performance Management Institute Healthcare IT Institute June 9 in New Orleans.
• Waystar will exhibit at the 2025 HFMA Region 1 Annual Conference May 29-30 in Uncasville, CT.
• Clinical Architecture releases a new case study featuring LifePoint Health titled “From Fragmented to Future-Ready: How Data Governance Fueled Clinical Transformation.”
• CloudWave will exhibit at the E-Health Conference and Tradeshow June 1-3 in Toronto.
• DrFirst is now accepting nominations for its 2025 Healthiverse Heroes Award.

Black Book Research’s latest survey reveals the top technology vendors driving Medicare Advantage five-star ratings amid heightened CMS audit standards, including the following HIStalk sponsors:

• Arcadia (population health management)
• InterSystems (interoperability and data integration)
• Redox (interoperability and data integration)
• Inovalon Quality Intelligence (quality measure management and analytics, audit readiness and compliance management)

Blog Posts

• Securing Healthcare Data: Ensuring Cyber Resilience with Vendor Partnerships (AGS Health)
• Why Cybersecurity is Critical for Modern Health IT Solutions (PerfectServe)
• Why Onboarding Matters More Than Ever in Senior Care (Symplr)
• The keys to unlocking the power of AI for nurses (Altera Digital Health)
• Virtual nursing at Hackensack Meridian Health is making nurses and patients happy (AvaSure)
• The Missing Link in Healthcare Cyber Defense: Culture (CTG)
• The ROI of Working with a Specialized Recruitment Partner (Direct Recruiters)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

News 5/23/25

Top News

Digital physical therapy company Hinge Health raises $273 million during its IPO, giving it a $2.6 billion valuation.

The San Francisco-based company has raised more than $1 billion since launching in 2014.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Fortified Health Security. As a managed security service provider, Fortified offers a broad range of advisory and security operations center (SOC) services that help organizations throughout the healthcare ecosystem protect patient data and reduce risks. Working alongside their clients, Fortified builds customized programs for healthcare organizations that leverage their prior security investments and current processes while implementing new solutions that strengthen their security posture over time. Thanks to Fortified for supporting HIStalk.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Sources say that private equity firm Blackstone is the frontrunner in acquisition offers for revenue cycle company AGS Health in what could be a $1 billion deal. Parent company EQT began considering strategic alternatives for AGS last September.

Truepill (white label digital pharmacy), Veritas (genetics), LetsGetChecked (home testing kits), and Alto (prescription delivery) come together to form Fuze Health. LetsGetChecked acquired Truepill in 2024 for $525 million, $25 million of which was cash.

Acute care telehealth company Equum Medical acquires the virtual clinical services of VeeOne Health. VeeOne will focus on its remaining service lines that include ambulatory care, virtual nursing, remote patient monitoring, hospital at home, and acute inpatient care.

Sales

• Dallas-based AccentCare will implement Netsmart’s CareFabric platform within its medical group.

People

Michael Volpi (RWJBarnabas Health) joins Comport Consulting as VP of healthcare technology.

Anish Arora (Cardinal Health) joins TigerConnect as VP of product.

Announcements and Implementations

TigerConnect announces GA of its CareConduit automated clinical workflow software.

Wolters Kluwer Health develops Ovid Guidelines AI to help healthcare researchers and organizations develop clinical practice guidelines using agentic AI.

Innovaccer launches Innovaccer Gravity to help providers unify and glean insights from data and expand adoption of AI.

Government and Politics

The VA renews its contract with Oracle Health for another 12 months. The department renegotiated its contract with the company in 2023, turning a five-year agreement into five one-year terms.

Other

Emory Healthcare’s Hillandale Hospital (GA) replaces all of its legacy computing devices with Apple products. The health system had already been using some Apple devices at its facilities. It decided to first pilot the all-Apple concept across one floor of its St. Joseph’s Hospital after clinicians noticed that Apple products were not impacted by CrowdStrike’s downtime debacle last year. Staff at Emory, an Epic customer since 2022, say Epic’s integration with Mac also helped to spur the project along.

Sponsor Updates

• Medicomp Systems releases a new “Tell Me Where IT Hurts” podcast episode featuring Lynn Carroll, COO of HSBlox.
• Wolters Kluwer Health offers new data from the fifth edition of its “State of Drug Diversion” report.
• Nordic publishes a new research brief titled “Closing the AI governance gap: Build a strong foundation for success.”
• Ellkay joins the Meditech Alliance as an innovator member.
• Health Data Movers names Morgan Kent (Medhost) account manager.
• Infinx forms a strategic advisory board to strengthen customer advocacy and innovation in healthcare.
• Nordic joins Operation Song to empower veterans through music.
• Optimum Healthcare IT releases a new episode of its “Visionary Voices” podcast titled “The Evolving Role of the CIO with Craig Richardville.”
• Redox releases a new episode of its “Shut the Back Door” podcast titled “An AI agenda – Robots, rules, and really big questions.”
• Rhapsody publishes a new customer story titled “Axia Women’s Health saved $300,000, replacing a standalone API engine with Rhapsody Corepoint.”

Blog Posts

• What You Need to Know About Interoperability and How it Affects You: Part 3 (Netsmart)
• Reclaiming clinical capacity: Addressing burnout and restoring empathy through optimized health IT (Altera Digital Health)
• Decoding Social Care: Understanding Available Data Standards (Findhelp)
• Transforming care through collaboration: Lessons from the frontlines of value-based healthcare (Healthmonix)
• Hospital Staffing in Summertime (Impact Advisors)
• Looking to maximize your revenue opportunities? Meditech can help (Meditech)
• Tackling Top Cybercrime Trends with Healthcare Security Best Practices (MedTech Solutions)
• Navigating the transition to V28: Impact in 2025 (Navina)
• Implementing and Utilizing Integrations in Healthcare (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

Morning Headlines 5/22/25

Equum Medical Acquires VeeOne Health’s Clinical Services Portfolio, Expanding Telehealth Leadership

Acute care telehealth company Equum Medical acquires the virtual clinical services of VeeOne Health.

WorkDone, a Y Combinator-Backed Startup, Raises $1.8M in VC Funding to Transform Medical Documentation Compliance With AI

San Francisco-based WorkDone, which has developed AI to resolve healthcare documentation errors, raises $1.8 million in pre-seed funding.

Fuze Health Launches to Transform Patient Experiences and Enable Personalized Care in a Changing Healthcare Environment

Fuze Health launches to offer patients the combined digital healthcare services of Truepill, Veritas, LetsGetChecked, and Alto.

VA continues partnership with Oracle Health to deploy Federal Electronic Health Record

The VA renews its contract with Oracle Health for another 12 months.

News 5/21/25

Top News

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals acquires 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service, Total Health and Research Services businesses, and Biobank and related assets for $256 million at bankruptcy auction, beating out a bid from co-founder and former CEO Anne Wojcicki.

23andMe retains its Lemonaid Health telemedicine business, though it, too, may be sold off at a later date.

Regeneron has stressed that it will ensure the security of its newly acquired consumer genetics data.

Reader Comments

From Tom B. William: “Re: Epic’s latest courtroom win. The company has scored recent wins against patent troll GreatGigz and Decapolis, with the latter win on behalf of a customer. I’d love to know how much money is annually budgeted by Epic for such matters.” Readers, feel free to weigh in with your best guess. I can only assume that the sum is more than some health IT companies spend on line items like sales and marketing. As I mentioned in 2022 after Epic triumphed over GreatGigz in a suit involving Christus Health, “Epic has historically been one of few companies willing to do whatever it takes to defend itself, and in this case, the involvement of one of its customers is likely to unleash its legal dogs.”

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

New Mountain Capital combines portfolio RCM companies SmarterDx, Thoughtful.ai, and Access Healthcare to create AI-powered healthcare revenue management company Smarter Technologies. New Mountain Executive Advisor and industry veteran Jeremy Delinsky will serve as CEO of the new business.

Sales

• Medical University of South Carolina Health selects Glytec’s diabetes and insulin management technology.

People

Inovalon promotes Karly Rowe to president of its provider business unit.

Valerie Mondelli, MBA (RevSpring) joins Iodine Software as chief commercial officer.

Glooko promotes Mark Clements, MD, PhD to chief medical and strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

TruBridge adds Microsoft’s Dragon Copilot AI-powered clinical workflow assistant to its EHR.

Dayton Children’s Hospital (OH) implements Abridge’s ambient documentation software.

Government and Politics

VA EHR Modernization Program Executive Director Neil Evans, MD explains that next year’s slate of 13 implementations will occur in waves of facilities chosen for their pre-existing relationships, with many patients receiving primary care at one facility and specialty care at another. Go lives will occur next year at sites in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Alaska.

Privacy and Security

Kettering Health (OH) reverts to downtime operations, canceling all elective procedures and diverting ambulances in the wake of a ransomware attack discovered Tuesday morning. Hackers have threatened to publish patient data on the dark web if the health system doesn’t meet their demands within 72 hours.

Other

Researchers at the the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Dentistry develop an app that connects dentists to health information exchanges so that they can more easily access a patient’s medical history.

Sponsor Updates

• Black Book Research’s new study reveals the world’s leading cities in achieving seamless health record exchange and EHR optimization.
• Arcadia publishes a new white paper titled “10 strategies to lead in value-based care.”
• AvaSure wins Oracle Customer Excellence Awards for multi-cloud excellence and CTO of the year.
• Clearsense publishes a new white paper titled “How Application Portfolio Management Accelerates M&A Value in Healthcare.”
• Clinical Architecture, First Databank, and InterSystems will sponsor and Elsevier will exhibit at the AMIA Clinical Informatics Conference May 20-22 in Anaheim, CA.
• CloudWave will exhibit at the New England HIMSS 2025 Annual Spring Conference June 5 in Norwood, MA.
• Altera Digital Health announces that Latrobe Regional Health in Australia has integrated its Sunrise EHR with Provation’s anesthesia information management system.

Blog Posts

• Transforming Denials Management through Automation and Analytics (AGS Health)
• Five9 Celebrates Eleven Honorees Named to 2025 CRN® Women of the Channel List (Five9)
• The Future of TheraOffice is Now: Experience Our Brand-New, Modernized Platform (Netsmart)
• The role of EPRs in dementia care: How Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is enhancing early detection and patient Support (Altera Digital Health)
• How service line analytics is transforming operations (Cardamom)
• Assumed Breach Simulation: Lateral Movement Explained (Clearwater)
• Key Takeaways from Reuters Digital Health 2025 (Dimensional Insight)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 5/19/25

Top News

Shares of Scotland-based Craneware jump on reports that Bain Capital is considering acquiring the company.

Bain Capital confirmed that Bain Capital Funds is assessing a possible offer, but it has not involved Craneware’s board.

The company, which sells health system financial software, reported 800 employees and $189 million in sales last year. Its market capitalization is nearly $1 billion.

Reader Comments

From Japonais: “Re: CureIS versus Epic. What points does Epic need to dispute to prevail?” Unlike Particle Health’s lawsuit against Epic, CureIS makes no claim that Epic created an illegal monopoly, which carries a high burden of proof that is unlikely to prove successful. The CureIS complaint lists these specific items:

• CureIS alleges that Epic mandates the use of its own inferior products over those of competitors like CureIS. To prove coercion, CureIS will need to produce evidence, such as contractual language or customer testimony, that Epic’s policies forced CureIS customers or prospects to take an action that they wouldn’t have taken otherwise.
• The complaint references unnamed health systems that were allegedly told by Epic that integration with CureIS was not allowed, which would seem to require at least one of those customers to testify against Epic.
• CureIS accuses Epic of misappropriating its trade secrets by convincing a shared customer to give Epic a detailed document under the pretense of integration planning. CureIS would need to prove that Epic obtained the material with the intention of developing competing software. It might also need to provide examples where Epic actually used the contents to compete.
• CureIS makes a trade libel claim that Epic misrepresented its own product capabilities while disparaging those of CureIS. Trade libel complaints are rarely successful and would require CureIS to show that Epic made and widely distributed objectively false statements that provably harmed CureIS. Epic’s distribution of a document titled “Products You Can Replace with Epic” is not a strong argument.
• The biggest legal exposure for Epic is the claim that Epic refused to provide data to CureIS even with customer approval, which probably falls under the information blocking provision of the 21st Century Cures Act. CureIS says that Epic falsely used security risk as an excuse. Information blocking falls under ASTP and not a civil court, but possible exposure might pressure Epic to settle (although Epic pretty much never settles).

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Respondents for last week’s poll passed along some advice to those who are planning, or should be planning, their future.

New poll to your right or here: Should Epic and other EHR vendors be required to provide data access to competing applications if their shared customer approves?

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Announcements and Implementations

Oracle Health, Cleveland Clinic, and Emirates-based AI company G42 will develop an AI-based healthcare delivery platform that will combine Oracle Health applications, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Oracle AI Data Platform. The system will continually analyze population and public health data and provide real-world data for life sciences to enhance diagnostics, personalize treatments, optimize outcomes, and decrease costs.  

Government and Politics

The VA plans to implement Oracle Health at 13 facilities in 2026, followed by 20 to 25 additional go-lives in 2027. VA Secretary Doug Collins says that the agency will address the lack of standardization that stalled the project.

The Department of Justice settles a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit against Fresno, CA-based Community Regional Medical Center and its for-profit technology subsidiary Physician Network Advantage for $31.5 million. The hospital was accused of bribing doctors with cash, wine, strip club visits, and trips in return for using the hospital’s $75 million Epic EHR to refer their patients to its facilities. Michael Terpening, the whistleblower and former PNA controller, says that CMC provided the Epic system under the Community Connect model at no charge in return for referrals. Details from the lawsuit:

• The hospital spent $1 million to create HQ2, a wine and cigar lounge in PNA’s headquarters that was used to “build loyalty.” It was stocked with $1 million in wine and liquors that CMC used to recruit practices to join its Epic network.
• PNA booked appointments for network doctors to use the facility that included table service and free access to wine and food, and then billed the cost back to CMC as a business expense.
• CMC planned to develop a new club, HQ Ranch, to entertain executives and network doctors with another cigar and wine lounge, a skeet shooting range, and an off-road vehicle course.
• Terpening discovered the scheme after a fire in PNA’s headquarters revealed a stash of 1,000 bottles of wine, which PNA executives told him were left over from a holiday party.

Sponsor Updates

• A new Black Book Research study reveals that despite ongoing investments in digital health, Canada’s EHR systems remain fragmented, outdated, and under-optimized.
• Nordic releases a new episode of its “Designing for Health” podcast featuring Shreya Shah, MD.
• Redox announces the launch of “Connections,” a new insights series authored by leaders at the company.
• TruBridge will exhibit at the 2025 NRHA Annual Rural Health Conference May 20-23 in Atlanta.
• Waystar will exhibit at the 2025 Senior Living Executive Conference May 19-21 in Tampa, FL.
• Zen Healthcare IT joins the Open Integration Engine Project as part of its long-standing mission to simplify the exchange of healthcare data.

Blog Posts

• Healthcare organizations, like the human body, thrive on coordination (Altera Digital Health)
• Cyber Resilience Roundup: How to Maintain Revenue Continuity Following a Cyberattack (FinThrive)
• A Mother’s Day to Remember: Brain Health, Community, and the Future of Care (Linus Health)
• The pharmacist’s growing role in patient care and whole-person wellness (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• 3 Ways Data Is Revolutionizing Addiction Care: Driving Productivity, Outcomes and Funding (Netsmart)
• Prescriptions, praise, and peers: A low-tech burnout playbook (Nordic)
• Understanding the Fundamentals of IRE (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• By the Numbers: A Closer Look at Why Saving $82 On a Prescription Matters (Surescripts)
• Nurses at the Helm of Change: The Role of Leadership & Technology (Symplr)
• Elevating Expanse: Five Ways to Maximize Value With the Right Support (Tegria)
• Good Science | Visage at SIIM25 (Visage Imaging)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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News 5/16/25

Top News

Tucson-based CureIS Healthcare files suit against Epic, alleging that the company harmed its business by blocking access to billing data from Epic-using customers and falsely claiming that Epic’s products could replace those of CureIS. The complaint alleges these actions by Epic:

• Engaged in a “widespread scheme” to disrupt competitors in the managed care data reconciliation space.
• Enforced an “Epic-first” policy that pressures EHR and RCM customers to adopt Epic’s own software alternatives, which Epic promotes in a brochure titled “Products You Can Replace with Epic.”
• Coerced shared customers to terminate their CureIS contracts and restricted the access of those customers to their own data.
• Attempted to obtain CureIS’s proprietary product information under the pretense of integration planning.
• Committed trade libel by telling customers and prospects that CureIS products create a security risk when integrated with Epic.

An Epic spokesperson provided this response: “Epic believes in free and fair competition, and we also believe our customers are in the best position to choose the right solutions to meet their needs — whether with Epic or by adopting other products and services. We are aware of the complaint filed by CureIS and we look forward to setting the record straight in court.”

Reader Comments

From VTInquirer: “Re: [ambulatory EHR/PM vendor name omitted]. The CEO of a provider organization told me they are exploring alternatives because the vendor can’t certify as a compliant EHR until they release some kind of patch whose ETA is November 2025. Can anyone verify?” I’ve omitted the vendor’s name pending reader confirmation (I’m 100% sure the company won’t do so). Chime in if you know the company and the issue.

From Gin Diesel: “Re: your Epic report. I ran across this in a Google search and found it fascinating.” Thanks for stirring that memory since I totally forgot about “Epic: The Cold, Hard Facts” that I wrote way back in 2016 using custom research data from Peer60 (now Reaction). We received responses and comments from nearly 100 Epic-using health system CIOs, along with 39 CMOs, 22 CEOs, and dozens of CFOs and CNOs. My intro hinted at the sassiness to come:

Everybody in healthcare IT has a strong opinion about Epic. Most of the people who express those opinions confidently (and sometimes loudly) don’t have any first-hand experience with the company or its products. It’s like asking an armchair quarterback dribbling wing sauce onto his shirt how Peyton Manning should be reading the defense. On the “Epic is great” side are loyal customers who are financially vested in Epic’s success; consultants who make a great living riding on Epic’s coattails; and research firms who sell reports after talking to a few Epic-using hospital employees of unstated job titles. The “Epic is evil” contingent has a significant portion of people whose employer is losing business to Epic; experienced industry specialists who Epic won’t hire since they aren’t new graduates; and those naysayers who just don’t like Epic’s success. Also in the anti-Epic camp are critics of electronic health records who use Epic as an example of how technology has ruined medicine.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Gold Sponsor Zen Healthcare IT. Zen combines a modern API for healthcare with a traditional interface engine platform, providing a single, unified solution for all healthcare interoperability use cases. Zen’s Stargate Gateway provides certified access to the national data exchange networks, including Carequality (Implementer), eHealth Exchange (Validated) and CommonWell Alliance (Service Adopter & Connector). TEFCA is accessible via our certified connections with QHINs such as CommonWell Health Alliance and eHealth Exchange. For direct interface use cases, our Gemini Integration platform combines a robust, secure, and scalable integration foundation with advanced data transformation services, making integrations faster, easier and less costly. Built with a security first mindset, all Zen hosted solutions are HITRUST CSF r2 certified. Whether you want to be “hands on” with an integration engine, or “hands off” with an API, or both, we put the Zen in Interoperability. Thanks to Zen for supporting HIStalk.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Complement 1, which offers virtual lifestyle modification for coaching for cancer patients, raises $16 million in seed funding. India-based founder and CEO Karan Bajaj, MBA has an interesting background – brand manager for P&G, author of several novels, yoga teacher, executive of Discovery Networks, and founder of a company that applies technology to alleviating poverty in India.

Behavioral health and substance abuse operations software vendor Dazos raises $25 million in Series A funding.

Health data company Datavant acquires Aetion, which offers a real-world evidence platform for drug companies.

Sprinter Health, which offers virtual and in-home preventive care, raises a $55 million Series B round. Co-founder and CEO Max Cohen, MBA came from Google and Facebook.

Cohere Health, which offers prior authorization solutions, raises $90 million in Series C funding. Co-founder and CEO Siva Namasivayam, MS, MBA is an industry veteran who has held leadership roles at Gartner, Perot Systems, MphasiS, and SCIO Health Analytics.

Compensation for executives at Atrium Health, now part of Advocate Health, jumped 41% last year, with EVP/Chief Innovation and Commercial Officer Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA earning $3.3 million and EVP/Chief Information and Analytics Officer Andy Crowder, MHA making $2.3 million.

Announcements and Implementations

Google-owned Fitbit Labs adds a Gemini-powered lab results summary creator, a symptom checker, and an alert for unusual trends to its app. The enhancements are being released for testing.

Two-thirds of 9,000 nurses who were surveyed by Black Book Research cited poor EHR usability and documentation burden as major sources of their job dissatisfaction. Among nurses under 40, two-thirds say that EHR experience ranks among their top three considerations when evaluating new employers. Just 11% believe that their EHR vendor or IT department takes frontline nurse impact into account when making changes.

AGS Health opens an office in Guadalajara, Mexico and will hire 150 employees to provide clinical administrative services.

Government and Politics

The Department of Justice is reportedly conducting a Medicare fraud investigation of UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare Advantage business. Hard-hit UNH shares dropped sharply on the news. They have lost more than 50% in the past month, erasing $250 billion in market capitalization.

Other

More than half of surveyed Swiss physicians say that their EHRs don’t improve patient safety, while two-thirds of hospital doctors cite EHR inefficiency as wasting their time. The authors conclude that IT configuration and support strongly influence user satisfaction related to the same EHR.

Sponsor Updates

• Redox partners with cognitive and behavioral health assessments software vendor Creyos.
• Health Data Movers names Mina Banoub integration engineer.
• Healthcare IT Leaders releases a new episode of its “Leader to Leader” podcast titled “Driving Innovation at Emory Healthcare: Leveraging Cloud and AI for Better Patient Care.”

Blog Posts

• Tackling Clinician Burnout with Working Diagnosis (Altera Digital Health)
• Women Innovating Health IT: Helen Waters (Ellkay)
• Helping Prevent a Nursing Workforce Emergency (First Databank)
• The Supreme Court DSH Payment Ruling: What It Means for Hospitals Serving Low-Income Communities (FinThrive)
• Winning Over Gen Z and Millennials: How to Tailor Customer Service for the Next Generation (Five9)
• Audit the Mix: Why Health Systems Must Reevaluate Their IT Staffing Strategy (HCTec)
• Your One-Stop Guide to RADV Audits (HealthMark Group)
• Operating Room Utilization (Impact Advisors)
• How service line analytics is transforming operations (Cardamom)
• Candida Auris: From Threat to Reality (Inovalon)
• Celebrating Moms: Why Brain Health Belongs at the Center of Women’s Health (Linus Health)
• 4 stories that showcase the power of nurses (Meditech)
• Accelerate Your Path to HITRUST Certification by Adopting MTS HITRUST r2 Inheritance Provider Status (Med Tech Solutions)
• Capitol Hill Briefing: Health Data Privacy 101 with the Healthcare Trust Institute and MRO (MRO)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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News 5/14/25

Top News

UnitedHealth Group announces that CEO Andrew Witty has resigned for personal reasons and has been replaced by Chairman and former CEO Stephen Hemsley.

The company also announced that it will suspend its 2025 financial forecasts due to rising medical costs in its Medicare Advantage business.

UnitedHealth Group has recently struggled with the Change Healthcare cyberattack; the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of its insurance business; and consumer backlash over high costs and denied claims.

UNH shares dropped 18% Tuesday following the announcement.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Healthcare RCM and patient care software company TruBridge reports Q1 results: revenue up 3.7%; adjusted EPS $0.36 versus $0.19, beating revenue expectations but falling short on earnings.

Care coordination company Olio announces $11 million in Series B funding, bringing its total raised to $26.5 million.

OpenAI launches HealthBench, a physician-developed benchmark that evaluates large language models on real-world medical decision-making. It uses 5,000 realistic clinical conversations to grade models on communication quality, instruction adherence, accuracy, context awareness, and completeness.

A federal court orders Commure to stop marketing and selling its Strongline Pro wearable panic button for staff safety. Canopy Works, the original developer of the technology, alleges that Commure resold its system until their partnership ended in 2023, after which it accuses Commure of launching a similar product almost immediately.

Sales

• The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic expands its use of Baton Health’s physician credentialing system. 

People

Children’s Wisconsin names Benjamin Mansalis, MD (Indiana University Health) chief information and digital officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Epic integrates lifestyle medicine assessment tools from The American College of Lifestyle Medicine with its EHR. Tools include a short form-assessment, diet screener, and physical activity review.

Virtual healthcare company Ovatient launches the MyCare Anywhere patient engagement app using technology from League. Patients at MetroHealth (OH), which co-founded Ovatient in 2022 with MUSC Health (SC), will be among the first to use it.

Exalt Health implements WellSky’s Specialty Care EHR at its inpatient rehabilitation facility in Arizona. The company will soon roll out the software at three sites in additional states.

Sanford Health implements organ donor registration via Epic’s MyChart. The collaboration between Epic and Donate Life America streamlines registration with pre-populated information, adds the registrant to the National Donate Life Registry, and updates their medical record to ensure that donor preferences are accessible to care teams anywhere.

PsychNow launches Chapter, an AI co-pilot that captures a behavioral health patient’s history and assessment from their initial visit conversation.

Government and Politics

CMS and ASTP issue an RFI titled “Health Technology Ecosystem” that seeks public input on digital health products in the Medicare population, with a focus on interoperability.

The US Navy’s Military Sealift Command is upgrading its IT infrastructure, including linking the US Naval Ship Mercy, a humanitarian and military vessel, to the federal MHS Genesis EHR. Hospital Ship Joint Task Director Mike Taylor says they are considering incorporating AI into the ship’s healthcare operations: “… I don’t want AI making decisions to shut off a network point, a port that goes to an IV infusion pump. We’re watching it carefully. We’re excited to implement some facets of AI, especially in the security arena, but we’re treading lightly at this point.”

Other

AdventHealth will launch a hypertension management program this summer across 370 care sites that will incorporate remote patient monitoring devices and virtual visits.

Frustration with timely prior authorizations takes the top spot in payer-provider collaboration challenges, according to Black Book Research. An overwhelming majority of surveyed providers typically experience prior auth delays of more than five days, while just 29% of payers say that they have implemented electronic prior authorization tied to EHRs.

Sponsor Updates

• Black Book Research releases a Q2 update to its “Global EHR Market Report,” revealing a growing shift in international healthcare IT dynamics.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “The Bridge to Value-Based Care: Unified Claims Processing, with Dr. Sunil Budhrani.”
• The “Risk Management: Brick by Brick” podcast features Censinet CEO Ed Gaudet in an episode titled “The Power of AI in Risk – Healthcare Cybersecurity: From Digital Risk to AI Governance.”
• Clearsense announces that Director of Healthcare Product Strategy Amy Staly, RN has received PerfectServe’s Nurses of Note Innovative Technology Utilization Award.
• Clinical Architecture releases a new case study featuring LifePoint Health titled “From Fragmented to Future-Ready: How Data Governance Fueled Clinical Transformation.”
• Consensus Cloud Solutions will present at the HIMSS New England conference June 5 in Norwood, MA.
• Direct Recruiters unveils a new website.

Blog Posts

• How to Begin with Application Management for Oracle Health/Cerner (CereCore)
• Get to Know AdvancedMD Chief People Officer Kristin Masters (AdvancedMD)
• The Troublesome Five: Navigating Complexities in Inpatient Coding (AGS Health)
• Best of both worlds: Documentation and navigating patient interactions (Altera Digital Health)
• Insights from Ashu Agte: What Makes Artera’s AI-Powered Virtual Agents Unique? (Artera)
• New Nurses Meet AI & Virtual Care (AvaSure)
• RSA 2025 Recap: AI, Innovation, and Identity Take Center Stage (Clearwater)
• Supporting Nurses’ Work with the Right Data (Dimensional Insight)
• Building Lasting Relationships: How DRI Creates Trust with Clients and Candidates (Direct Recruiters)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 5/12/25

Top News

Virtual care provider Omada Health files for an IPO, reporting a $44 million loss on $170 million in 2024 revenue.

The company posted strong revenue growth and a narrower net loss compared to 2023.

Co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy has led Omada since 2011, following stints as a Medgadget blog contributor and developer of Excel training tools. He dropped out of Harvard’s medical and business schools in 2010.

Reader Comments

From Not Pratap Sarker: “Re: Oak Street Health. Moving away from Greenway’s EHR and RCM services. This is Greenway’s largest customer. Their EHR Canopy currently sits on top of GW.” Unverified. I’ve emailed Greenway’s media contact. UPDATE: Oak Street is moving to Epic. Thanks to Brendan Keeler for sending a link to details. Oak Street is also listed on Epic’s UserWeb.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The top responses from last week’s poll suggest that the best sales and marketing activity is to let your product and support do the talking.

New poll to your right or here: For those over 50, what is the #1 thing you wish you had done differently? I’ve run this question a couple of times over the years, hopefully giving the under-50 folks time to replot their course if needed. I’m sure they would also benefit from an explanatory poll comment if you are so inclined.

Thanks to the volunteers who contributed to the first of my revived Executive Watercooler frontlines report. If you’re in a decision-making role at a health system, ACO, or hospital-owned medical group; serve as a CMIO, CNIO, or clinical informaticist; lead a health system IT organization; or work as a digital health executive, you’re welcome to join them. You’ll get a monthly question by email to which you just click “reply” with your answer.

Alabama teacher Ms. H sent some photos from her elementary school class, for which reader donations funded STEM-based centers.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The FDA approves the Teal Wand, a prescription device that lets average-risk women collect a cervical cancer screening sample at home, mail it in, and review results via telehealth. Shipping begins in June and the company is seeking coverage from insurers.

Kouper Health, which offers AI-powered tools to manage post-discharge care transitions and reduce readmissions, raises $10 million in funding. Co-founder and CEO Salman Ali, MBA, previously co-founded the at-home sleep apnea testing company GetSnooze.

Nordic-owned Healthtech opens Canadian offices in Halifax, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Definitive Healthcare reports Q1 results: revenue down 7%, EPS $0.05 versus $0.08, beating estimates for both. DH shares rose 31% on the news, valuing the company at $398 million. They’re down 29% in the past 12 months.

Former Theranos CEO and current federal inmate Elizabeth Holmes is reportedly advising her partner Billy Evans – a hotel heir and father of their two children — on his new medical testing AI startup. The company is raising funds to develop what it calls “the future of diagnostics” and “a radically new approach to health testing” for “human health optimization.” A recent patent claims that the technology can analyze sweat, urine, saliva, and small blood samples. That’s the happy couple above in pre-incarceration days with their husky Balto, which Holmes insisted was a wolf and whose eventual disappearance she blamed on a mountain lion that carried him off.

Sales

• University of Iowa Health Care will implement Visage Imaging’s Visage 7 in a $13 million contract.

People

The FDA hires Jeremy Walsh (Booz Allen Hamilton) as its first chief AI officer.

Intermountain Health promotes Tamara Moores Todd, MD to chief health informatics officer and Jason McClellan, RN, MBA to chief clinical informatics officer.

Tiffany Hodgins, MSHI (Health Catalyst) joins Sacvalley Medshare as chief technology and quality officer.

Jay Scholes (Veradigm) joins Advantmed as VP of sales.

Announcements and Implementations

Black Book Research overhauls its healthcare IT research model, adding AI-driven real-time sentiment analysis, redesigned KPIs, continuous survey pilots, and broader access to reports that are neither paywalled nor vendor-sponsored.

A year-long independent study finds that use of an AI assistant – Navina’s AI Copilot in this analysis – reduced clinical review time for complex visits by 40%, decreased physician burnout by 32%, and improved value-based performance as measured by Risk Adjustment Factor and Star quality ratings.

Nova Scotia Health delays the go-live of its Oracle Cerner Canada system until December, following its 10-year, $260 million agreement that was signed in February 2023. No reason was provided.

Sponsor Updates

• Optimum Healthcare IT publishes a new case study titled “Northeast Georgia Health System’s Cloud-First Transformation Journey.”
• PerfectServe announces the winners of its 2025 Nurses of Note Awards Program.
• RLDatix signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi to develop a patient safety system using its technology.
• Sonifi Health will exhibit at the Texas Regional HIMSS Conference May 12-14 in Grapevine.
• TeamBuilder will present at The Millenium Alliance Transformation Assembly May 13-14 in Dallas.
• A new Wolters Kluwer Health survey finds that nursing schools will more than double their use of generative AI over the next two to three years.

The 2025 MedTech Breakthrough Award winners include the following HIStalk sponsors:

• Capital Rx’s Judi Health (best insurtech solution).
• CliniComp (EHR innovation award).
• Timely by DrFirst (best overall patient engagement platform).
• Elsevier ClinicalKey AI (AI innovation award).
• Inovalon’s Social Drivers of Health Market Insights (best data visualization solution).
• Navina (best use of AI in healthcare).
• SmarterDx (best overall healthcare operations solution).
• Symplr (best healthcare big data platform).
• TrustCommerce, a Sphere company (healthcare payments innovation award),
• Waystar (best overall healthcare payments solution provider).
• WellSky (best home healthcare solution).

Blog Posts

• Closing Gaps and Integrating Specialists: The Future of Value-Based Care (Inovalon)
• The Path to Integrated Care: 5 Things to Look for in a Technology Platform Partner (Netsmart)
• Data & Analytics Spotlight: A Q&A with Stats Lover Rochelle Henderson (Surescripts)
• The Power of Nurses: Honoring Nurses Week with Technology & Time (Symplr)
• Navigating CMS-0057: What Providers Need To Know (Tegria)
• Solution spotlight: 3 innovations to enhance patient financial care + maximize collections (Waystar)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

News 5/9/25

Top News

Persivia, a provider of data aggregation and AI-driven analytics, raises $107 million in funding.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Listening: Foo Fighters, of which I’m far from a fan, but I’m obsessed with videos of Dave Grohl (also not a fan) bringing audience members up to play. Kiss Guy and Richard the Drummer will give rock star wannabes goose bumps. I’m also not a fan of sports, but I’m intrigued by YouTube videos and livestreams of the sports-adjacent antics of the Savannah Bananas. 

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Virtual physical therapy vendor Hinge Health updates its IPO prospectus with Q1 results, showing revenue up 50% to $124 million and a $17.1 million net profit. The company announced IPO plans in March but hasn’t set a price range.

AI-powered clinical data abstraction vendor Carta Healthcare raises $18.25 million in Series B1 funding. Industry veterans who are on the executive team include Brent Dover (Medicity, Health Catalyst, and Commure) and Greg Miller (Healthlink, Medicity, and Health Catalyst).

WeightWatchers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to eliminate $1.15 billion in debt. The company’s transformation plan includes creating a better digital experience for members and expanding its weight loss medication telehealth business.

Cedars-Sinai and Redesign Health launch an innovation center that pairs health system experts with startups to develop digital health solutions, with Cedars-Sinai serving as the first customer. The focus will be specialty care access, personalized medicine, workflow intelligence, and provider-payer-patient coordination.

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center will open a US office for its startup accelerator in Massachusetts, aiming for a Boston-area location. The accelerator has backed 100 startups, including three unicorns.

Health and fitness wearable company Whoop releases new models that offer 14-day battery life, a heart screener with ECG whose data can be shared with doctors, daily blood pressure insights, and women’s hormonal insights. Membership costs $199 to $359 per year and includes the device and charger.

People

Health Data Movers names David White (Nordic) business development executive.

Government and Politics

NIH will analyze Medicare and Medicaid claims data to study chronic disease, starting with autism.

President Trump’s replacement nominee for surgeon general has a health tech connection: Casey Means, MD — who dropped out of her residency and never practiced traditional medicine — is a co-founder of Levels, which offers AI-powered tracking of food intake, habits, and data from continuous glucose monitors for health optimization, weight management, and improving athletic performance. Subscription to the app is $199 per year, while adding the CGM and supplies adds $199 per month.

Privacy and Security

Masino discloses in an SEC filing that a cyberattack on April 27 is hampering its ability to ship orders.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signs an executive order that bans state agencies from collecting autism-related personal data unless it is required for care, compliance, or eligibility.

Other

An appeals court rejects the attempt by former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes to have her 2022 fraud conviction overturned, leaving the Supreme Court as her last chance to reverse the 11-year sentence.

Sponsor Updates

• Clinical Architecture staff help sort 2,390 pounds of food at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.
• Surescripts will present at Kroger Health’s Nourishing Change Conference May 13-15 in Cincinnati.
• Black Book Research celebrates Women’s Health Month by releasing its free report, “Black Book of Women’s Health Information Technology and Software Innovations.”
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “Empowering Plan Sponsors: Data Access & Analysis, with Bridget Mulvenna.”
• Ellkay will exhibit at the 2025 MUSE Inspire Conference May 27-30 in Grapevine, TX.
• Impact Advisors releases a new episode of its “Impactful AI” podcast titled “Synthetic Doppelgängers.”

Blog Posts

• Offshore vs. U.S. Based Billing Partner: Which One is Better for Patient Data Security? (AdvancedMD)
• Overcoming the limits of isolated data (Altera Digital Health)
• How Findhelp is Transforming Social Care Through Connection, Technology, and Trust (Findhelp)
• The Future of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management (FinThrive)
• Reimagining Service with AI: See What’s Next from Five9 at ServiceNow Knowledge 2025 (Five9)
• How We Did It: 50% Reduction in Epic Hyperdrive Login Times (Goliath Technologies)
• HGP Observations – April 2025 (Healthcare Growth Partners)
• The Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM): A new era in healthcare (Healthmonix)
• Feeling the Pressure? Here’s How to Simplify Your CMS Facility Assessment (Inovalon)
• Watch healthcare innovators and AI experts discuss the power of transformative technologies (Meditech)
• AI for value-based care: Independent study shows Navina’s impact (Navina)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

News 5/7/25

Top News

CareCloud reports Q1 results: revenue up 6%, EPS –$0.04 versus – $0.10. Shares rose 26% Tuesday, valuing the company at $93 million.

The company said last week that its newly created, 50-member AI team will have 500 employees by the end of the year.

Reader Comments

From Nasty Parts: “Re: Epic. Are they getting too big, a la UnitedHealth Group? Smaller software vendors are constantly squeezed by Epic invading their solution, or telling prospects that Epic’s basic system is good enough or that they have a solution on the product roadmap. I think UHG will be broken up at some point and Epic will have 75% of the market in 6-7 years. Are we allowing a monopoly to be created?” Epic, unlike UnitedHealth Group, is giving the market what it wants. The alternative to “allowing” a monopoly is “disallowing” it, for which no legal or practical grounds exist. It’s hard to justify interfering with buyer preference in the absence of consumer harm. My take:

• The acute care EHR market is a legal oligopoly, with Epic its dominant player that keeps increasing market share.
• About half of US hospitals use Epic, which is not a monopoly and certainly not one that has provably competed unfairly.
• Epic’s mega-suite strategy echoes Meditech’s early model: tightly integrated systems from a single vendor, which theoretically lowers both cost and risk.
• That approach is now supercharged by Epic’s deep financial and engineering resources, which have allowed it to push into MyChart Bedside, the Cheers CRM, Hello World messaging, Secure Chat for clinicians, and its sprawling analytics suite. Each new product puts Epic head-to-head with a vendor who built it first and maybe better.
• Beyond making its products attractive, Epic also controls the interoperability and app store access of its potential competitors.
• Epic’s dominance, combined with the massive time, expertise, and capital that would be needed to build a competing system, makes new entrants unlikely.
• There’s no sign that the federal government has an interest in challenging Epic’s position. Dominant players in other industries (Adobe, Intuit, Salesforce, Bloomberg, Shopify) have faced little pushback for similar market control.
• I agree with your major point. Epic is not a monopoly and has done nothing illegal, but its dominance in a critical industry sector creates system risk in providing a single point of failure and a potential bottleneck to innovation if the company gets lazy or does something as a money grab, like going public.
• Until regulators or customers decide to penalize popularity, Epic’s dominance is a feature of the landscape, not a bug.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

HealthStream reports Q1 results: revenue up 1%, EPS $0.14 versus $0.17, falling slightly short of expectations for both and sending shares down nearly 20% Tuesday.

LifeMD reports Q1 results: revenue up 49%, EPS $0.01 versus –$0.19, valuing the virtual primary care company at $342 million.

Sales

• MetroHealth (OH) will implement AI-enhanced inpatient and ambulatory clinical workflow solutions from Pieces Technologies.

People

Revenue cycle solutions vendor Millennia hires Scott Pattillo, MS (Homecare Homebase) as CEO.

Announcements and Implementations

Wilson Health (OH) implements Epic.

OhioHealth Southeastern Medical Center goes live on Epic.

A small Canadian study finds that the medical records ecosystem is a web of commercial data brokers, for-profit providers, and pharmaceutical companies, each of which helps turn patient records into profitable commercial assets. Notably missing from that loop are patients and their best interests. The authors warn that unsupervised distribution of data to drug companies could give them even more leverage to push high-margin, patent-protected drugs.

Government and Politics

Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), the ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Technology Modernization Subcommittee, warns that federal cutbacks could impact the project’s timeline and success. She notes that some of the VA’s recently cancelled projects are related to the EHR project and some EHR modernization staffers have been laid off or accepted a deferred resignation offer.

A poll finds that fewer than half of Americans have any confidence that federal agencies ensure that safety and efficacy of drugs and vaccines, while even fewer are confident that the federal government could respond well to infection disease outbreaks. The authors found that the level of confidence is shaped by partisan perspectives.

Other

Dr. Jayne’s favorite celebrity-backed subscription lab test company, Function Health, acquires full-body scanning MRI company Ezra. Function will now offer a 22-minute full-body scan for the low, low price of $500 – a third of the cost of Ezra’s lowest-tier offering. A 47-minute scan costs just $2,000. Function co-founder and CMO Mark Hyman, MD says that “[w]hat used to be the domain of the wealthy is now accessible to everybody, including comprehensive imaging.”

Sponsor Updates

• AGS Health will exhibit at CHIACON25 June 1-4 in Long Beach, CA.
• DrFirst wins a Silver Stevie Award in the customer service department of the year category at the annual American Business Awards.
• CereCore releases a new podcast titled “Why IT Governance Leads to Innovation and Growth.”
• Clinical Architecture releases a new episode of “The Informonster Podcast” titled “How Velox Helps Payers Measure Data Usability.”
• Cordea Consulting partners with Amazon Web Services to help healthcare organizations implement Epic’s Isolated Recovery Environment.
• Crossings Healthcare Solutions parent company UHS names former Cerner executive Chris Vernaci associate VP of technology ventures.
• Altera Digital Health announces the activation of Sunrise Surgical Care, its integrated operating theatre system, at Latrobe Regional Health in Australia.
• Redox integrates IntelePeer’s AI-powered automation platform for medical and dental practices with its interoperability network.
• Netsmart adds automated auditing capabilities to its Bells AI platform.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “What’s New with Medicaid PBM? With Jessin Joseph, PharmD, MBA.”

Blog Posts

• Six Key Takeaways from the AGS Health Partner Summit 2025 (AGS Health)
• Easing healthcare challenges with a responsible approach to innovation and AI (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Strength in Every Story: Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month (Netsmart)
• Mastering IT Governance: Strategies, Insights and Innovations for Growth (CereCore)
• Top Priorities for Private Practices: Hire More Staff & Spend More Time with Patients (AdvancedMD)
• Get your sea legs: How low risk AI paves the way for further adoption (Altera Digital Health)
• 6 keys that drive success in value-based care (Arcadia)
• The Impact of Product Discovery: Why We Start with Curiosity at Artera (Artera)
• Why this benefit leader switched to a more modern, transparent PBM (Capital Rx)
• The Importance and Opportunity of Veterans as Cybersecurity Professionals (Censinet)
• 5 Takeaways from KLAS Research’s “Data & Analytics Platforms 2025” Report (Dimensional Insight)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
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Sponsorship information.
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Monday Morning Update 5/5/25

Top News

The White House’s budget proposal would increase funding for the VA’s Oracle Health EHR project by $2.17 billion.

The proposed budget also calls for a $493 million reduction in the VA’s spending on specific IT systems.

Reader Comments

From Earl: “Re: Baptist Health South Florida. Replacing Cerner with Epic in a huge loss for Oracle Health.” Unverified, but I see that BHSF has been added to Epic’s UserWeb list. The health system has 11 hospitals, 28,000 employees, and annual revenue of $6 billion.

From AI Esquire: “Re: patients correctly diagnosing themselves with ChatGPT after their doctor missed something. Will an AI double-check become the standard of care?” When consumer-grade AI outthinks a doctor, which is surely rare, the best-case outcome is reputational damage. The worst is having a malpractice attorney feigning puzzlement for the jury’s benefit in asking, “Doctor, if your patient thought to check a free version of ChatGPT, why didn’t you?” Most clinical decisions are routine, but when they’re not, a second opinion that is backed by real-time evidence and that is free of confirmation bias isn’t just helpful, it’s malpractice self defense.Those ambient documentation tools that everyone is rushing out could extend beyond the commoditized function of simple transcription and integrate with the EHR to put helpful clinical information on the screen to support treatment decisions or patient questions. That’s a lot more professional than watching your doctor painfully pecking at ChatGPT on their phone.

From Darnell: “Re: hospital EHR count. Was the percentage number you ran based on organizations or beds?” The KLAS report contained both, but I ran the hospital count — Epic 48%, Oracle Health 27%, and Meditech 15%. By the percentage of 887,000 acute hospital beds, it’s Epic 55%, Oracle Health 22%, and Meditech 13%.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Voting in last week’s poll was both heavy and decisive.

New poll to your right or here: In the most recent major health tech purchase you were involved with, what triggered the buyer’s initial interest? It’s weird wording I know, but I wanted to make the question applicable for people on both sides of the deal.

Thanks to these companies for their recent support of HIStalk. Click a logo to learn more.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Waystar reports Q1 results: revenue up 14%, EPS $0.17 versus –$0.13. WAY shares have nearly doubled since closing below their IPO price on the first day of trading in June 2024. CEO Matt Hawkins said in the earnings call that the company has shifted “from AI hype to ROI reality” in delivering results through its AI-powered products.

Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners acquires an undisclosed stake in NextGen Healthcare from Thoma Bravo, which took the company private in 2023.

Five South Florida Tenet hospitals sue The Leapfrog Group, which they claim penalized them with poor safety grades because they declined to provide proprietary data.

People

Civitas Networks for Health names Jolie Ritzo, MPH as interim CEO following the departure of founding CEO Lisa Bari, MPH, MBA, who has joined Innovaccer as head of external affairs.

TigerConnect hires Sean O’Neal (Sinch) as CEO.

Google Chief Health Officer and former National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc will retire this summer. Replacing her will be Michael Howell, MD, MPH, Google’s chief clinical officer.

Dale Gold, MD (CommonSpirit Health) joins Kaiser Permanente Medical Foundation as CMIO.

Announcements and Implementations

Early adopters are piloting an Epic feature that allows patients to schedule appointments using a texting-based AI assistant.

A new KLAS report on data and analytics platforms scores Dimensional Insight #1 in customer satisfaction. Oracle Health finished last due to lack of service, support, and communication, but most customers say that they will keep using its product because they are committed to Millennium. Nearly one-third of surveyed Health Catalyst customers plan to replace the product due to high data storage costs and lack of innovation.

Privacy and Security

Microsoft will replace passwords with phishing-resistant passkeys for newly created Microsoft accounts. The company hopes that the number of password authentications will decline to the point that it can eliminate password support.

Other

The best thing I that read on LinkedIn this week was from Colonel Chani Cordero, MHA, MEd, CIO/CDO of Brooke Army Medical Center and a soldier for nearly 20 years. It’s just a personal update, but it got my attention because her personal branding is outstanding. She’s in great career shape if her plan is 20 and out.

UCHealth CMIO CT Lin, MD posted this slide from a presentation by MultiCare at Epic XGM titled “A Wellness Approach to Improving Provider Efficiency and Reducing Burrnout.” It’s a refreshing take from Chris Kelley, MD, MS; Wesley Lane; and Tamara Chang, MD, especially the “B- is good enough” part. I figure it must be insightful if CT’s a fan.

Sponsor Updates

• InterSystems will host Ready 2025 and the accompanying Healthcare Leadership Conference June 22-25 in Orlando.
• RLDatix joins The Leapfrog Group’s Partners Advisory Committee.
• Black Book Research survey-takers rank Netsmart’s GEHRIMED as the top solution for geriatric and gerontology physician practices.
• Nordic releases a new “Designing for Health” podcast episode titled “Interview with Melissa Welch, MD.”
• Sonifi Health offers a new case study featuring Henry Ford Health titled “Virtual care, real results: How to successfully transform virtual patient care across an organization.”
• TrustCommerce, a Sphere Company, publishes a new e-book titled “Safeguarding Patient Payment Data: A Critical Priority for Healthcare Providers in 2025.”
• WellSky will exhibit at the Ohio Health Care Association Convention May 5-8 in Columbus.
• VisiQuate offers a new client overview titled “How predictive forecasting helped CHOC plan smarter, act faster, and stay ahead of cash flow challenges.”

Blog Posts

• The Top Post-Acute Revenue Cycle Management Challenges — and How to Overcome Them (Inovalon)
• From culture to credibility: Elevating trust and reputation through “just culture” (RLDatix)
• Transforming healthcare through nurse-led innovation (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• What You Need to Know About Interoperability and How it Affects You: Part 2 (Netsmart)
• Over-screening and wellness apps: Why raw health data doesn’t always support effective healthcare (Nordic)
• HIPAA Security Rule Update: A New Era for Healthcare Cybersecurity (Nym)
• Knowledge25 – Where Optimum Will Be (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• 3 takeaways from this year’s patient experience conference (Sonifi Health)
• Transforming Prior Authorization: A Leap Towards Efficiency with Touchless Prior Authorization (Surescripts)
• 5 Small Ways Hospitals & Health Systems Can Celebrate Nurses Week in 2025 (Symplr)
• Selecting a Conversational AI Partner: Key Considerations for Healthcare Organizations (Tegria)
• The psychology of patient payments: How to improve collections + patient satisfaction (Waystar)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.