Jenn’s HIMSS Report – Sunday

My journey to HIMSS started early this morning. I am the type of traveler who likes to arrive at the airport hours in advance so as to avoid the stress of last-minute traffic, parking delays, and check-in and security lines. I also enjoy taking the time to walk through the airport concourses to my gate. I reason that the exercise will do me good before I spend several hours sitting down. I was pleasantly surprised to find the ceiling of one concourse transformed into a rainforest-like canopy. The leafy, backlit branches of green and blue were accompanied by piped in birdsong and patches of ceiling monitors that resembled the sky. I imagine such an environment may have calmed my nerves if I had been nervous about flying.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find this private pod set up for nursing and pumping moms. I’m not sure how many are scattered throughout the airport, but I’m sure it beats trying to perform either task in a crowded public space. I’ll never forget watching a mother try to find an outlet and pump in the bathroom at the St. Thomas airport in the US Virgin Islands. Privacy was nowhere to be found. I’ve heard from more than one female colleague that such spaces should be made available at conferences like HIMSS. I’m not sure if there are any laws regulating this sort of thing, but I’d give big kudos to conference organizers that consider it.

My flight was full, which wasn’t surprising given that most of metro Atlanta’s school systems are out for winter break. As such, many families are making their way to Disney for the week. My flight was surprisingly free of HIMSS vendors, which has been the case in years past. I snapped this pick while boarding; I thought it was interesting that they promote being among the “Best Places to Work.” I wonder if any HIMSS exhibitors will have similar signage. If I were a prospect, that would certainly boost any confidence I might have in the company’s products and corporate culture.

HIMSS signage was everywhere. I was disappointed, though, in the lack of little ones already dressed up as their favorite Disney characters.

I had a fairly typical wait in the taxi queue, and a delightful ride to my hotel with Viviana of Quick Cab. It seems the taxi drivers are taking a cue from Uber when it comes to customer service. She was quick to offer me refreshments when I got in, and – thank goodness – swiped my card using Square rather than the more traditional card readers that never seem to work.

I’m staying in a modest, family-friendly hotel just a few minutes’ walk from the convention center, and an even shorter distance to the Pointe Orlando nightlife area. It has several dining options, all of which are very affordable, and the staff has so far been eager to please.

Flowers like these haven’t yet bloomed in my neck of the woods. They are certainly a nice contrast to the seedier, concrete and neon jungle that typically greets me when I travel to HIMSS in Las Vegas. Orlando’s weather definitely has me ready for spring!

Like Mr. H mentioned in his Sunday, update, the conference center was fairly quiet. There were a number of pre-conference symposia going on, but it looked as if they had all wrapped up by the time I walked over to pick up my press credentials.

It took me all of five minutes to run into a familiar face. It was great to catch up with Amanda Greene, one of HIStalk’s HIMSS patient advocate scholarship winners from a few years back. She has returned to represent the patient in that oft-used healthcare buzz phrase – “patient-centered healthcare.” I know it’s a growing (but still very much grassroots) movement aided in part by organizations like The Walking Gallery, the Society for Participatory Medicine, and the Personal Connected Health Alliance. Amanda recommended that I check out one such title on the subject, “Participatory Healthcare.” And so I headed over to the HIMSS bookstore …

I don’t know if this was the main bookstore or a smaller, satellite location. As readers of HIStalk Practice already know, I am a big bibliophile.

I came across the recommendation, plus a few others I might have to check out in the near future.

I have always envied Dr. Jayne for her HIMSS routine of checking out the conference with long-time friends and colleagues. It always sounded like such fun to hike around HIMSS with a buddy, and this year, I’m happy to say I got that chance for a few hours with my former college roommate and colleague Jessica Clifton. The day got even better when we ran into Ross Martin, MD a former HIStalkapalooza host who is now a program director at the CRISP (Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients) regional HIE in Maryland. He was kind enough to bestow upon Jess an honorary membership to the American College of Medical Informatimusicology.

And speaking of music … The night was still young, and so I hopped into a cab and scooted over to the Doyenne Connections meetup at the Caribe Royale. Not only were we serenaded by this female saxophonist, which I assume is a rarity, but we were sent home with Girl Scout Cookies – my new favorite HIMSS giveaway.

Though not quite as young, the night still had some life in it, and so I made my way back over to the Pointe Orlando area for Divurgent’s networking event at the Funky Monkey.

I’ve been to several Divurgent events over the last several years, and the team knows how to throw a good party. This year was no different, except for the fact that Amos the monkey held court in one corner of the restaurant. Where else but HIMSS?

After chatting with indie HIT consultant, freelance CIO, and HIMSS Social Media Ambassador Drex DeFord and friends, I decided to call the #HIMSSanity a night. (And I couldn’t resist the siren call of HGTV beckoning me back to my hotel room.) Plus, I need to rest up for tomorrow morning’s keynote and, of course, tomorrow night’s HIStalkapalooza festivities.

Dr. Jayne’s HIMSS Report – Sunday

I arrived in Orlando last night, allowing time to get together with some friends for a nice dinner before the craziness of HIMSS begins. We were happy to discover that we can walk back to our hotel from HIStalkapalooza Monday night, no designated driver or surge-priced Uber needed. After a nice walk around the Disney grounds this morning, we headed to the convention center for registration.

Most people enter the convention center from the International Drive side, which means they miss out on some of the things you can see coming in from the car park in back. The registration lines there were short (although the parking was pricey and hard to find – I hope it’s not a total gong show tomorrow.) In the registration lobby, they have a hydroponic garden growing a variety of lettuce, basil, kale, Swiss chard, and more.

From there, it’s up the escalators to the pedestrian bridge, where you can see the massive loading docks that facilitate arrival of the booths and equipment.

Parts of the exhibit hall were still wall-to-wall crates, even after 1 p.m. Sunday.

I’m traveling with a friend this year who has never been to a HIMSS in Orlando, so we went walkabout so she could get the overall layout of the convention center. It’s definitely got a more streamlined floor plan compared to Las Vegas with its basement booths. We came across the Wellness Pavilion, which consists of a handful of treadmills and elliptical machines. Because nothing says professional like hopping onto a piece of exercise equipment while you’re business casual with your HIMSS tote bag.

We came across this sculpture outside Hall F, right near the Wellness Pavilion. For those of you with clinical backgrounds, doesn’t it remind you of trabecular bone?

Just about the time I told my friend we’d have to lay bets on how long it would be before I ran into someone I knew, we ran across a friend of mine who built the first clinical data repository at the medical center where I did most of my training. It was good to catch up, but HIMSS is such a busy week that it’s difficult to get more than a couple of minutes with people sometimes.

From there, we headed up I-Drive to grab lunch at the Shake Shack, because sometimes you just need comfort food after you’ve already walked seven miles by mid-day. From there it was a quick swing over to the outlet malls, which were absolutely packed, then back for the HIMSS opening reception.

Usually the reception has some themed performers outside to welcome attendees – showgirls in Las Vegas, and last year flappers and gangsters in Chicago. This year there was a performer in the lobby that defies description – or at least defied description until we heard two attendees chatting on the way to the parking garage. One mentioned it was “A woman in a flowy dress on a stick flying through the air.” The other pondered, “Why am I not there?” I don’t know how else to describe it other than what they said, so I’ll let a picture be a thousand words.

The reception seemed to be a step up from previous years, with short drink lines and a good number of food stations. Choices included pad Thai, mini Caesar salads, antipasto cups, paella, and fish tacos. Dessert options included chocolate covered marshmallows and “Dragon’s Breath” popcorn chilled with liquid nitrogen and then served with your choice of toppings. Entertainment included a band with a woman playing some kind of virtual harp instrument that was strung from the stage above the audience, but I couldn’t get a good picture of it.

There were plenty of opportunities to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. The only downsides were the dimness of some parts of the room and there not being enough places to set your drink while you nibbled, but that’s par for the course for events like this. We did work our way into a table of clinical informaticists and met one who works at a hospital in Grand Cayman, so if you’re going to make new friends, that’s the kind of friend to make.

Over the course of the day I walked more than nine miles, so turning in relatively early seemed like a good idea. I definitely need to rest up for HIStalkapalooza.

From HIMSS 2/19/17

It was pretty dead in the convention center today, which I assume means that those who paid for pre-conference sessions were dutifully and (hopefully enjoyably) attending them. Attire ranged from shorts to suits, reminding me that one of these days I’m going to show up wearing a tuxedo, which might be fun since I’ve never worn one (or perhaps the white dinner jacket variety would be cooler). I wasn’t interested enough to head back to the opening reception, so I have nothing to report about that. I’ve always found it to be a waste of time except as a convenient location to try to meet up with people for a dinner outing, which I’ve never done either.

There’s free WiFi in the convention center, named OCCC_Free or something like that. I Speedtested it and it was pretty good with low latency and a 5 mbps download speed, although that will likely degrade to a standstill when the place fills up. 

This is Paul, the friendliest and most efficient registration person I’ve seen. I wish Paul could be cloned and assigned to moving people through lines everywhere (like in airports). He greeted me like a long-lost relative and steered me to the kiosk, where a quick barcode scan from my phone’s copy of the registration email triggered printing of my badge. Then all I needed to do was pick up the pre-loaded backpack and it was done – no longer do you have to slide through the line stuffing your new bag with various publications, handouts, and addenda. HIMSS improves the process every year. Paul was the first person I encountered and he made me feel valued and welcome. He was working the entrance by the parking lot.

Caradigm always does great backpacks and the one’s the best. I’ll actually take this home for later use instead of stuffing it into a trash can somewhere between leaving the hall for the last time Wednesday afternoon and arriving at the airport. I like everything about it, including the color.

The exhibit hall is shaping up, although it was hot as blazes in there Sunday afternoon when we were setting up our microscopic booth (#4845). Luckily, it took us about five minutes. The HIMSS exhibit person helped us choose a great location even though we don’t have any HIMSS points and we always get the smallest, cheapest available booth. We’re on a corner near some far more impressive neighbors, although I guess it really doesn’t matter since we’re not selling or demonstrating anything.

I see the exhibit hall opens at 10 Monday morning and at 9:30 the next two days. Is it my imagination that it gets earlier every year, not to mention that it now doesn’t close for lunch like it used to? I say HIMSS should just ring the cash registers even harder by running the exhibits 24×7 during conference week – they are almost there already. HIMSS18 would be ideal since it’s in Las Vegas, where the casinos never close so that neon-stupored gamblers irrationally feed the profit engine all night long.

Here is our magnificently furnished HIMSS edifice, a study in cost-effective restraint. The back banner cost $30. The two pull-up signs were $79 each. The table drape was $40. The smokin’ doc standee was $80. Total cost: around $300, and all of it is reusable if I decide it’s worth packing and shipping back home (it all fits into two fairly small and light boxes that we just carry into the exhibit hall). Recall the results of my just-completed reader survey, which found that the most important reason people stop at booths is because of friendly, alert reps. That was a relief since that’s all we really have. Still, it’s fun when executives timidly inquire if it’s OK to take a selfie with the smokin’ doc, then beam proudly with their arm slung over the standee’s shoulder as we snap a picture for them and wonder exactly what they’re going to do with it.

A great thing about our booth location is that we’re just down from NTT Data, which will apparently again feature the amazing magician-psychic Bob. I watched jaws drop, tears flow, and people abruptly walk away in confused disbelief as last year as Bob told attendees things there’s no way he should know, such as, “Your mother died recently and was buried in a purple choir robe.”

We’re giving away those fantastic conference first aid kits from Arcadia Healthcare Solutions again to help attendees deal with the inevitable aches, blisters, and gastric upset that the conference creates. The box of them was sitting on our little table with this cute note.

Thirst-slaking isn’t cheap at the Orange County Convention Center. At least it was a 20-ounce soda and it was ice cold.

Remember the old days when badge ribbons were rare and those who had them were envied as movers and shakers? No longer – HIMSS puts out a rack full of them for anyone who wants one and vendors give them away, too. I think HIStalk may have been an innovator since I think I did this in around 2006 with some kind of snarky, long-forgotten saying that I was afraid would get me in trouble. I think it was the same year I was snapping a photo in the exhibit hall and someone from HIMSS scolded me.

I’m puzzled by this restroom sign. Are there times when the floor is wet and yet it isn’t slippery?

A reader tipped me off to an Orlando tourist area scam that’s been written up in the local papers. You come back to your hotel room and find pizza delivery flyers that have been flung under the door. Hungry and tired, you call in your order, which never arrives. The reason: there’s no such place – it’s just a thief’s phone to which you’ve just provided your credit card number. Google the restaurant name before ordering, like the non-existent La Boheme Pizza above. The second clue is that the number is often a mobile voicemail box that’s full, probably with messages from angry customers demanding to know why their imaginary pizza is taking so long. The reader is staying in a HIMSS hotel and has received two fake ads so far, while I have received one. Perhaps they should have just replicated a Domino’s or Papa John’s flyer and used their own telephone number to suppress suspicion, although maybe those places aren’t as appealing. The flyer also offers dine-in and carry out where the fraud wouldn’t work, but without an address, those are probably seldom chosen by hotel guests with cranky children wearing Disney ears or who are happily shedding their HIMSS badges for the day.

Akron Children’s Hospital (OH) hires Harun Rashid (Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh) as VP/CIO.

A reader tipped me off that five bidders are in the hunt to supply Nova Scotia with a provincial clinical information system: Allscripts, Evident, Meditech, Cerner, and Harris Healthcare.

A University of Texas System audit finds spending irregularities in the money-losing MD Anderson Cancer Center’s now-stalled $62 million IBM Watson-powered Expert Oncology Advisor project. The audit found that the system hasn’t even been piloted anywhere and contains outdated drug and clinical trials information, while on the financial side, MDACC  didn’t run a competitive bidding process, paid fees that were set just below the amounts that would have required board-level approval, and spent donated funds before they were received. 

We spent a chunk of time today hauling HIStalkapalooza stuff (banners,signs, etc.) to the House of Blues. It’s looking good for Monday evening. HOB is a pretty cheap Uber ride for those planning to imbibe. Doors open at 6:30, dinner and music start at 7:00, the HISsies will kick off at 7:45, and Party on the Moon will play from around 8:15 or 8:30 until 11:00. We usually don’t open the bar first thing because of the cost when most people are still filing in, but I’m going to bump up against the HOB minimum and figured I might as well start the drinks earlier and fancy up the menu at little. Please take a moment to thank the companies sponsoring the event – it’s pretty generous of them knowing they are funding the attendance of their competitors and non-decision-makers whose only common attribute is that they are fellow HIStalk readers.

Here’s an important note. As usual, we’ll lock the HIStalkapalooza doors no later than 8:30 and nobody (even invitees) will be allowed in afterward. Reason: each person who passes the HOB clicker guy costs me about $200, and I don’t like paying for someone to drop my for a quick drink on the way to somewhere else. I’ll be lucky to break even on the event and latecomers could push me into the red with little benefit to anyone.

I don’t have many Orlando recommendations, but I can say that I’ve been happy with these modestly priced restaurants where I had dinner the last three nights, all a short drive from the convention center: Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse, Ciao Italia, and Bahama Breeze.

From HIMSS 2/17/17

 

Orlando weather is perfect, with lots of 80-degree sunshine and comfortably cool mornings at around 60. I took a long walk today around the North, South, and West parts of the convention center. HIMSS is in the oldest (West) part on the other side of International Drive from the others, opposite the Hyatt (formerly known as the Peabody, where the first HIStalkapalooza was held in 2008). Every HIMSS conference that I’ve attended in Orlando was on the West side except one, which I seem to remember moved across the street for just that one time right after the new part opened.

A vendor reader sent me an email that HIMSS unintentionally sent him that apparently acknowledges that the entire HIMSS membership database – not just those who registered for HIMSS17 – is being spammed with conference-related, paid vendor promotional emails (do you see the theme with HIMSS misdirecting emails?) The reader’s concern is that potential prospects might get alienated right before the conference, while mine is that an adult would write the term “btdubs” in referring to the shorter and more obvious (but less cutesy) “BTW.”

 

The convention center was close to empty today, with just a few casually dressed boothers eating lunch in the vast open spaces they shared with setup people and equipment operators, the harmony of which for some reason made me happy.

You must arrive to the HIMSS conference days early if you want to spot this rare phenomenon – empty chairs and tables. These will soon be coveted by well-dressed IT nerds desperate to sit to gulp down their high-cost, low-quality, precariously-balanced salads or sandwiches, but who find themselves blocked by non-eaters camped out with their laptops, phones, and papers. I was speculating on this and arrived at the conclusion that conferences don’t want you sitting comfortably since that doesn’t pay the bills like forced marches through the exhibit hall.

Here’s what’s happening Sunday. The opening reception is right in the convention center this time instead of across the street at the Hyatt, which is nice because people were always getting lost trying to find it.

I don’t think the fire-breathing “Epic” on this convention center sign refers to the red-lettered one, but you never know given its penchant for whimsicality.

Perhaps it’s a testament to the inherent good-naturedness of humans that this unsecured but apparently important switch is placed right on the I-Drive sidewalk in front of the convention center. I pictured flipping it and watching the entire facility go dark.

Getting passers-by into your HIMSS booth requires having friendly, alert booth reps, according to the nearly half of poll respondents who said it’s the most important factor. You will see endless examples next week where companies have invested heavily in the low-percentage items, but failed to pay adequate attention to this most important one.

I always wonder what’s going on when I see an empty exhibit hall booth where a company didn’t show up. Did they change their mind, go out of business, get stuck somewhere snowy, or run out of money to send employees? Maybe I’ll keep a list and follow up afterward.

New poll to your right or here: what do you think the VA will do with regard to its EHR?

Welcome new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Ilum Health Solutions. The company, just launched by drug maker Merck, helps hospital improve infectious disease outcomes and antimicrobial stewardship via technology that helps clinicians stay connected to real-time health system patient data. It offers clinical decision support to maintain treatment pathway adherence, a Command Center Dashboard for case browsing and prioritization, and automatic creation of CLSI-standard antibiograms. It reports key measures from cases to cohorts, giving hospital leaders the ability to track performance such as patient outcomes, clinical pathway adherence, prescriber-level resource utilization, clinical outcomes from stewardship programs, rates of disease, antibiotic use trends, and automated NHSN AUR reporting. Hospitals benefit from reduced inappropriate antibiotic use and and variability in care that can lead to sepsis. Thanks to Ilum Health Solutions for supporting HIStalk.  

The Wall Street Journal says Theranos was down to $200 million in cash at the end of 2016, having burned through $700 million of investor money. The company had no revenue in 2015 or 2016, has no funds set aside for any lawsuit liability (at least $240 million in suits have been filed against it), and has yet to earn FDA approval to sell its only remaining product, the MiniLab testing machine. Imagine valuing a company with zero revenue at $9 billion before its bubble burst.

Connectivity vendor Ellkay acquires the assets of CareEvolve, which include its lab outreach portal and connectivity.

I will assume that Party on the Moon meant “can’t wait” in their Facebook update and are actually happy to see us all again. They’re going to be amazing.

News 2/17/17

Top News

Financially struggling NYC Health + Hospitals pushes back its Epic project “a few months” with just two of 11 hospitals live.

A health system spokesperson refused to answer a reporter’s question about its original project deadlines and budget and completion estimates.

NYCHHC’s annual budget deficit is running at $800 million and is expected to swell to a nearly $2 billion annual shortfall by 2020.

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Reader Comments

From Sporadic Emission: “Re: HIMSS. Just announced a new health IT dictionary. Perhaps it contains a definition for ‘interoperability,’ but it’s only available as a $43 paperback – not even as a PDF.” I wonder if it provides the definition of “HIMSS?”  

From Phinneas: “Re: Aventura. Shut its doors Wednesday with no employee severance.” Not true, the company says, although they did make some changes that  they will describe in more detail later. 

From Caughtinatrap: “Re: Curaspan, now Navihealth. Layoffs in Newton, MA with at least four executives let go.” Unverified. I couldn’t find a cached copy of the executive page to compare.

From Six Degrees of Wayne: “Re: Epic. Lars-Oluf Nielsen (who HIStalk had published a couple years ago left Epic to become CEO of iMDsoft) recently returned to Epic without much advance notice to lead the Implementation Division. Tina Perkins is apparently out of that role without much warning. Lots of drama. A quick check of the news seems to show that iMDsoft was acquired by another company not long after Lars started there. Sounds like an interesting dodge, and probably an even more interesting payday for the House of Nielsen.” IMDsoft was acquired by Harris Computer in December 2016, while the LinkedIn of Lars shows he left in November 2016 and rejoined Epic in January 2017 as SVP/chief implementation officer.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profiles

Optimum Healthcare IT is a leading healthcare IT staffing and consulting services company based in Jacksonville Beach, FL. Recently named the Best in KLAS Overall IT Services Firm, Optimum Healthcare IT provides world-class consulting services in advisory, implementation, training and activation, Community Connect, analytics, security, and managed services – supporting our client’s needs through the continuum of care. Our excellence in service is driven by a leadership team with more than 100 years of experience in providing expert healthcare staffing and consulting solutions to all types of organizations.

At Optimum Healthcare IT, we are committed to helping our clients improve healthcare delivery. By bringing the most proficient and experienced consultants in the industry together to identify our clients’ issues, we work to explore the right solutions to fit their organization’s goals. Together, we identify and implement the best people, processes, and technology to ensure our client’s success.

By listening, we understand our clients’ unique needs and then select only the most qualified candidates for your organization – and then we constantly follow-up to make sure the consultants remain a perfect fit. Our team brings years of healthcare clinical, operational, and IT knowledge and takes the time to understand the uniqueness of your organization, working collaboratively with your staff to customize solutions that are specific and targeted to your needs. Without sacrificing quality, we are committed to providing world-class consulting services, at a reasonable cost. Our role is to act as trusted advisors to our clients – your success is our success.

Since 2005, Philips Wellcentive has driven quality improvement, revenue growth and business transformation for providers, health systems, employers, and payers transitioning to value-based care. Our highly scalable, cloud-based, and value-driven population health management solution provides long-term partnership services to impact clinical, financial, and human outcomes. Recognized as a leader in population health management in reports by IDC Health, KLAS, and Chilmark, Philips Wellcentive helps customers provide care management for more than 30 million patients and achieve more than $500 million annually in value-based revenue. Stop by booth 2105 at HIMSS; visit www.wellcentive.com; and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Validic provides the industry’s leading digital health platform connecting providers, pharmaceutical companies, payers, wellness companies, and healthcare IT vendors to health data gathered from hundreds of in-home clinical devices, wearables, and consumer healthcare applications. Reaching more than 223 million lives in 47 countries, its scalable, cloud-based solution offers one connection to a continuously-expanding ecosystem of consumer and clinical health data, delivering the standardized and actionable insight needed to drive better health outcomes and power improved population health, care coordination, and patient engagement initiatives. To learn more visit www.validic.com, connect with us on Twitter @Validic, or stop by Booth #7281-33 at HIMSS.

Versus not only provides a multi-platform, scalable approach to RTLS, we have the software solutions, expert consulting and implementation services to ensure your project’s success. We are your partner for process improvement. Visit booth 1723 for a live demonstration of how we combine our KLAS-leading location accuracy with your existing Wi-Fi locating for enterprise visibility into your operations. And, see how our analytics drive process improvements that ultimately increase access and enhance the patient experience.

Clearsense is a data science company that offers a cloud-based analytics solution that works with any data source and can be rolled out in a fraction of the time required for a traditional data warehouse. Its real-time, cloud-based, subscription-priced, scalable system helps healthcare organizations respond to the pressure to use data to make better and faster decisions. Examples: reducing adverse events, improving patient flow, hitting quality and patient satisfaction targets, driving research, and managing cost and payment.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

I traveled to Orlando today. The airport was mobbed (only one shuttle is running between the terminal and gates as the other is being replaced in a months-long project) and baggage claim was a bit of a mess, but otherwise the weather is good and the condo I rented via VRBO is fabulous, maybe 1,500 square feet overlooking a lake with everything you could possible want (including a pool table) for far less money than a hotel. It’s supposedly within a half-mile or so walk to the convention center, although I got in late and haven’t ventured out yet. No offense to my fellow HIMSS attendees, but I’m happy to be able to escape the maelstrom, pop open a beer from the refrigerator after a long day, and either make an easy dinner or have it delivered without queueing up at the tourist trap restaurants where all the other badge-wearers expensively and loudly graze. Life is too short to start the day waiting in a breakfast or coffee line that’s moving slower than the new LinkedIn user interface.

I haven’t even looked at the conference schedule yet, so I guess that’s on the agenda sometime in the next day or two. I have scheduled no appointments, made no commitments to visit particular booths, or done anything else that would impede my ability to – like a child – wander around stopping to look at whatever catches my eye. On my must-do list, though, is the triumphant return of the world-class scones baked on site by MedData that I noticed in my HIMSS guide, truly the best giveaway I have ever witnessed (and eaten). It’s always a toss-up among their rotating flavors – is passion fruit better than orange? I shall be happy to weigh the evidence and report.

With the HIMSS conference, I’ll be skipping the usual news format and will instead tell you what I’m seeing and hearing, ignoring all but the most significant vendor announcements (which is probably 1 percent of them, the remainder just being a pointless PR stake in the ground). You can read or download/print my HIMSS guide, which tells you what my sponsors will be doing, including presentations, swell giveaways, and fun social events.

This week on HIStalk Practice: Metropolitan Center for Mental Health replaces paper with TenEleven Group tech. New York physicians begin to see the benefits of e-prescribing. CareSync prepares to launch new CPC+ protocols. Furhmann Health Center implements InboundMD. Answer Health on Demand joins Great Lakes Health Connect. Mental Health Center of Denver selects RxRevu e-prescribing software. Liberty HealthShare rolls out Salus Telehealth.

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Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Allscripts announces Q4 results: revenue up 23 percent, adjusted EPS $0.14 vs. $0.13, beating revenue expectations but falling short on earnings. Shares dropped slightly in after-hours trading Thursday following the announcement. The company said in the earnings call that it sold one domestic Sunrise account in the quarter and another two in the UK. It has doubled annual bookings since the current executive team joined the company in 2012 even as the market changed from selling regulatory compliance to selling ROI. 

Market research firm Peer60 renames itself to Reaction, saying the old name was too confusing. I’ve seen “Peer360” countless times, so I get it. Plus it’s one fewer “small first letter” company to conform to my HIStalk journalistic style sheet that requires a capital first letter (except when I forget). I like Reaction, although Peer60 would provide more fruitful Google searches.

MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute wins its patent battle over CRISPR genome editing technology, likely the most valuable biotechnology patent ever filed.

After Cigna terminates its planned merger with Anthem and instead sues Anthem for nearly $15 billion, Anthem responds by filing its own lawsuit seeking a restraining order to prevent Cigna from terminating the merger.

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Sales

NHS National Services Scotland signs a multi-year contract with NextGate to replace its Community Health Index with a more up-to-date EMPI solution.

Hospital Sisters Health System (IL) signs a three-year contract with LogicStream Health for its clinical process measurement tools.

Maine’s HealthInfoNet HIE selects Orion Health’s Amadeus precision medicine and analytics software.

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Announcements and Implementations

Nemours Children’s Health System (FL) integrates e-prescribing software for controlled substances from HID Global with Epic.

Health Catalyst develops the MACRA Measures & Insights resource application to help providers track and measure MACRA measures across the enterprise.

MCG Health will share its care guidelines and analytics with payers and providers via the InterSystems HealthShare data-sharing tool.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (MA) rolls out Data Diagnostics analytics software from Quest Diagnostics and Inovalon.

Aprima, EClinicalWorks, and NextGen Healthcare join the Surescripts National Record Locator Service.

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Government and Politics

CMS publishes a proposed rule aimed at stabilizing the individual and small group markets that would cut the open enrollment period in half.

Meanwhile, House Republican leaders and new HHS Secretary Tom Price provide some details about their proposed ACA replacement that includes replacing subsidies with tax credits, reducing payments by 50 percent to the 31 states that expanded Medicaid to eliminate an open-ended federal entitlement in favor of a fixed grant, and encouraging insurance sales across state lines. They did not offer a side-by-side comparison, a breakdown of costs, or the number of ACA-insured people they estimate will continue to have coverage. Here is my bellwether – an HSA is not insurance, and neither is any plan whose maximum payout is capped. You buy insurance to prevent catastrophes, so I think by definition any plan that allows or requires someone to file bankruptcy because their insurance has been exhausted after receiving medically necessary care isn’t really insurance – it’s just premium payment assistance.

A federal appeals court strikes down a Florida law that prohibits doctors from asking patients if they own guns. Doctors opposed the law in considering gun safety questions an important part of public health screening. The court preserved one part of the law that bars doctors from discriminating against gun-owning patients.

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Technology

CloudWave adds managed backup and security services to its OpSus Healthcare Cloud service line.

Epic will add care management technology from XG Health Solutions to its Healthy Planet population health management software later this year.

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Other

CommonWell wraps up integration of The Argonaut Project’s latest FHIR specifications with its data-exchange services, giving members the ability to use FHIR-based capabilities when accessing data across the network.

Japanese tea ceremony aficionado John Halamka will conduct “The Way of Tea” Monday from 3:00 until 4:00 in the Vital Images booth. It’s cool that Vital is honoring the Japanese roots of parent company Toshiba Medical in presenting a ritual that includes “a series of precise hand movements and graceful choreography, in a serene ‘Tatami Room’ within the Vital exhibit on the conference floor.” John will speak about Japanese culture and health IT afterward.

Interesting: 20th Century Fox created fake news sites to promote its new drama about a wellness spa that offers a phony disease cure, creating sites such as the “Indianapolis Gazette,” “NY Morning Post,” and even “HealthCureGov.com” that offered clickbait fake stories such as “Utah Senator Introduces Bill to Jail, Publicly Shame Women Who Receive Abortions” and “BOMBSHELL: Trump and Putin Spotted at Swiss Resort Prior to Election.” Other stories claimed that the new administration had banned MMR vaccine and that the AMA had recognized that a third of the country is suffering from “Trump depression disorder,” intentionally phony and sensationalistic stories that were dutifully repeated on Facebook by clueless dolts and hyper-partisan groups (was that redundant?).

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Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new podcast, “The importance of mentoring in healthcare IT.”
• The Technology Association of Georgia includes Ingenious Med in its list of the Top 40 Most Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia.
• LogicStream Health releases version 6.0 of its Clinical Process Measurement platform.
• LogicWorks releases a new eBook, “Continuous Compliance on AWS.”
• Orion Health announces that its Rhapsody Integration Engine is now in use at more than 640 healthcare organizations in 36 countries.
• Gartner includes PerfectServe in its Market Guide for Clinical Communication and Collaboration.
• Lexmark wins the healthcare market leadership award from Buyers Lab.

Blog Posts

• The Importance of a Learning Culture in Healthcare IT (Impact Advisors)
• Help for the Vulnerable: Identify Protection Services that Count (ID Experts)
• Imprivata Confirm ID earns Citrix stamp of approval (Imprivata)
• Google’s Shift to a Mobile-First Index: Are You Ready? (Influence Health)
• Navigating the World of Value-Based Care with Analytics (Dimensional Insight)
• HIMSS17 Survival Guide: Be Prepared (InstaMed)
• Bundled Payment Means Bundled Data (InterSystems)
• HIMSS 2017: Survival Tips from a HIMSS Veteran (& Registered Nurse!) (Kyruus)
• What’s New in the LDOS Platform (Learn on Demand Systems)
• The importance of mentoring in healthcare IT [podcast] (Nordic)
• Ensuring a Successful Implementation and Go-Live (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• Want to Get More Love From Your Data This Year? (Liaison Technologies)
• Walking Paper (National Decision Support Co.)
• Five Signs You’re Wasting Money and Time with Your Claims Management and Billing Processes (Navicure)
• Will You be My Volunteer? (Netsmart)
• 30 Minutes for Both an Impactful Meeting & a Smile? (Orchestrate Healthcare)
• Why is it Important for Clinicians to Become Involved in FHIR? (Orion Health)
• Meditech Users Preparing for Meaningful Use Stage 3 (Parallon)
• HIMSS RCITF Unveils the Patient Financial Experience of the Future: A Continuing Journey (Patientco)
• Tick, Tock Goes the Clock (PatientKeeper)
• What the Super Bowl Taught us About PQRS Reporting (PMD)
• The Chartis Group Earns High Marks in 2017 Best in KLAS: Software & Services Report (The Chartis Group)
• A Virtual Goldmine: Why Criminals Target Patient Data (Part 2) (Protenus)
• Insider’s Guide: Salesforce at HIMSS 2017 (Salesforce)
• What is the Fate of Rural & Community Hospitals? (The SSI Group)
• My takeaways from the Healthcare Supply Chain Management Summit (Infor)
• Learn the First and Second Steps to Successful Patient Education (Solutionreach)
• Electronic Prior Authorization Delivers the “Holy Grail” of Healthcare: Increased Patient Safety, Lower Costs, and Higher Quality (Surescripts)
• New Facilities Transition Management: Not Just About Technology (Impact Advisors)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 2/15/17

Top News

The VA will continue its planned tests of a homegrown patient scheduling system, but will hedge its bets by resuming testing of the Epic-developed, $624 million Medical Appointment Scheduling System (MASS) that had been put on hold in April 2016 pending a decision on which system to use.

The VA issued a scheduling system RFP in late 2014 following the wait time scandal that had nothing to do with technology. I wrote in mid-2015 in responding to a reader rumor that the Lockheed/Epic MASS project might be in jeopardy as a bolt-on solution,

The VA neatly sidestepped Congressional demands for firings, reorganization, and funding decreases by simply throwing its scheduling system under the bus and signing up for Epic. I don’t know what it will take to compartmentalize Cadence to run without any other Epic apps and then integrate it with the VA’s systems, but I do know that standalone healthcare scheduling systems have fallen by the wayside given the need for integration. It also seems that $624 million is a lot to spend for automating a single function, but then again both the VA and DoD are used to squandering mountains of taxpayer money on systems that are often failures in every way except as never-ending revenue streams for the chosen contractor.

A 2010 GAO report found that the VA had spent $127 million in trying to develop an outpatient scheduling system but hadn’t implemented anything, with the unnamed contractor that developed the defective system walking away with $65 million.

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Reader Comments

From Tyga Choonz: “Re: Epic 2016 release. Being renamed to Epic 2017 after it was  released in late November and no customers upgraded to it. The name change is to help ensure that ‘customers don’t feel behind.’” Unverified, but reported by several readers.

From Neon Cowboy: “Re: HIMSS. Will you be looking for booth reps on their phones again?” Of course, with my phone camera at the ready to document their inattentiveness for posterity (the above photo was posed by the Epic people at HIMSS14 as their homage to my never-ending phone rants). It’s moot, however, since past conferences have fulfilled my trifecta: (a) finding reps already staring at their phones within the first few seconds of the exhibit hall’s opening; (b) for booths that have at least three reps working, catching all of them immersed into their imaginary phone worlds simultaneously; and (c) watching a rep ignore someone standing right in front of him or her in favor of screwing around with their phone and then watching the potential prospect walk away in frustration. As I always say, vendors are spending fortunes to staff the world’s most expensive phone booths. Preliminary results in this week’s poll make “friendly, alert reps” easily the #1 draw for HIMSS attendees, with games, fancy booths, and refreshments finishing last in attracting passers-by into booths. Here’s the simple advice I gave to exhibitors back in 2015 to encourage their reps to seek out interaction with those whose appearance suggests at least mild interest:

• Confiscate the phones of people assigned to booth duty.
• Make it clear that booth reps shouldn’t be talking to each other unless they are with a booth visitor.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

CareSync is the leading provider of software and services for chronic disease management, combining technology, data, and 24/7 nursing services to facilitate care coordination among patients, family and caregivers, and all healthcare providers. Founded in 2011, CareSync exceeds Medicare’s requirements for Chronic Care Management (CPT code 99490, 99487, 99489), and also offers care coordination services and technology for Annual Wellness Visits, Transitional Care Management, and CPC+. Additionally, CareSync clients are well positioned for positive payment adjustments with support for measures in all of the performance categories under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), and the CareSync consulting team helps healthcare organizations of all sizes prepare for the shift from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare. CareSync nurses serve as an advocate for the patient to turn doctor’s instructions into action, remove the barriers to care plan adherence, and ensure that information is shared with the right people at the right time. For more information about CareSync, visit www.caresync.com/ccm.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Here’s an interesting fact about upcoming HIMSS conferences. After HIMSS18 in Las Vegas, it’s then two straight years in Orlando for 2019/2020 since HIMSS pulled the 2019 conference from Chicago in a “two strikes and you’re out” hotel room pricing spat, with Chicago’s loss being Orlando’s gain. The Orlando dates are a bit screwy – February 11-15 in 2019 and March 9-13 in 2020, a full month’s difference.

 

We funded the DonorsChoose grant request of Ms. K in New York, who asked for SmartBoard replacement bulbs for her seventh grade special education and English language class since her school can no longer afford technology resources. She says the newly reactivated projectors have “awakened her students,” adding that they marveled that her project was chosen among all the others on DonorsChoose.

I have seats left for my CMIO lunch at the HIMSS conference next Tuesday at noon. It’s a no-agenda social get-together (provider CMIOs only). I’m buying a great buffet at a private table and it’s right off the exhibit hall, guaranteeing a return to the hubbub both physically and mentally nourished. Everybody seemed to enjoy it last time. Apparently the term “CMIO lunch” is confusing since vendor VPs keep signing up, but I will clarify by not sending them an invitation.

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Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Aetna decides not to follow through on its vow to appeal a federal judge’s decision that blocked its $34 billion merger with Humana, instead opting to pay Humana the $1 billion breakup fee and move on. Humana also announces that it will exit the ACA insurance marketplace in 2018, the first insurer to pull out after President Trump’s first steps to repeal Obamacare.

In a related story, Cigna terminates its planned $54 billion merger with Anthem and sues Anthem for a $1.85 billion termination fee plus $13 billion in damages. Anthem, meanwhile, says Cigna doesn’t have the right to cancel the deal.

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Sales

Hanover Hospital (PA) chooses QuadraMed’s enterprise master patient index.

Hospital for Special Surgery (NY) will implement PerfectServe’s Synchrony care team collaboration platform.

In England, Great Ormond Street NHS Foundation Trust chooses Epic, the fourth UK trust to do so.

Novant Health selects Voalte Platform for care team collaboration in its 14 hospitals.

BJC Healthcare will deploy Oneview Healthcare’s interactive patient care solution at its Barnes-Jewish Hospital Tower and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, committing to 2,000 devices. 

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People

Chadron Community Hospital (NE) names CIO/COO Anna Turman as interim CEO, where she will transition to permanent CEO in six months.

Jennifer Haas (Aventura) joins TriNetX as marketing VP.

Skilled nursing facility operator National HealthCare Corporation hires Andy Flatt (Corizon Health) as SVP/CIO.

Healthwise Chief Science Officer Michael Barry, MD is appointed to the US Preventive Services Task Force.

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Announcements and Implementations

First Databank launches its Prizm medical device knowledge platform that helps providers make supply chain and clinical decisions.

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Government and Politics

The Senate confirms David Shulkin, MD as Veterans Affairs secretary in a rare 100-0 vote and as the first non-veteran to run the agency. Among other accomplishments, he founded DoctorQuality, a safety reporting vendor that was acquired by Quantros in 2004.

Politico reports that Congress originally considered shutting down ONC as part of 21st Century Cures to reduce EHR frustration, but ended up giving the office even more responsibility, although potentially with more focus on coordinating rather than administering.

The US Supreme Court pushes back its review of whether employee class action lawsuits are valid if the employees are covered by arbitration clauses — which includes Epic as one of three cases to be argued — until the fall term that begins in October 2017, presumably when all nine judges will be in place.

In England, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says his 2013 goal of a paperless NHS by 2018 won’t be achieved, with hospital IT systems being a weak link. He’s now hoping for 2022. He replied to a question about using patient data to drive NHS strategy:

This is an area in which we have been behind but we are hoping to leapfrog the rest of the world due to a very remarkable thing that our GPs did about 10 years ago. They decided to ignore the Government’s plans for a national IT program in the NHS and exercise their right to go their own way. The government program collapsed, but they set up fantastic electronic health records, some of the best primary health records anywhere in the world … they have digitized people’s lifetime records … What we do not do at the moment, but it is starting to happen, is allow those records to flow around the NHS … If you are trying to set up electronic health records in America, you simply do not have that asset to use, because they have very good electronic hospital records, but those are episodic records, not people’s lifetime records … next year we will go a step further and introduce what we are calling the Blue Button scheme.

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Privacy and Security

The Protenus Breach Barometer lists 31 reported incidents for January, with 58 percent of them attributable to insiders. HHS wasn’t notified until an average of 174 days after the breach, exposing those organizations to heavy fines for missing the 60-day reporting window.

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Other

A STAT investigation finds that billionaire doctor Patrick Soon-Shiong’s “Cancer Moonshot 2020” has made little scientific progress, proclaiming it to instead be an “elaborate marketing tool” for his money-bleeding publicly traded companies. An independent scientist reviewer described the progress as only “the most miniscule and vague findings,” with some of the claimed success involving old research done elsewhere. The article also quotes MD Anderson’s lawsuit over the “moonshot” name (which it trademarked for its fundraising projects) in which it describes Soon-Shiong as “a greedy, if not shady, billionaire businessman who oversells his ideas and falsely takes credit for other’s work.” HIMSS is giving him stage time, which he will use to pitch NantDaVinci, a medical reasoning engine. A snippet from the STAT article, of which NantHealth and NantKwest investors were apparently either indifferent or unaware based on minimal share price reaction:

Soon-Shiong’s moonshot initiative looks less like a diverse coalition than a roll call of his tangled web of business interests. For starters, it’s not a separate legal entity; it appears to be housed within Soon-Shiong’s cluster of companies. The five biotech companies that are participating in the moonshot are the only ones sponsoring registered QUILT trials. And they are all closely tied to Soon-Shiong: He is either the CEO, a board member, or the controlling owner in each of them. Though Soon-Shiong has talked for a year about bringing major drug companies into the coalition, so far, just two have joined: Amgen and Celgene. He is a shareholder in both. And both are investors in Soon-Shiong’s companies … The moonshot website also touts a “historic alliance” with companies … The role of both appears to be simply that they cover doctors’ use of the GPS Cancer diagnostic for patients on their insurance plans. (Other corporate partners, BlackBerry and Allscripts, have invested in Soon-Shiong’s NantHealth.)

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta will spend more than $1 billion to build a new pediatric hospital at North Druid Hills Road and I-85.

Pope Francis says in an address that when healthcare delivery models emphasize money, “there can be a temptation to lose the protections to the right to healthcare” for the poor and elderly. He adds that communities should reach out to those who live alone and not just the tiny fraction of people who are hospital inpatients.

Researchers find that the number of Americans over age 65 who are prescribed at least three psychiatric drugs has tripled in the past 10 years, with nearly half of those patients having no recorded diagnosis of mood, chronic pain, or sleep problems. The paper observes that the jump was highest in rural areas, leading them to speculate that the lack of availability of talk therapy, massage, or relaxation techniques may cause excessive reliance on drugs (they didn’t note that much of rural America is zonked out on narcotics, which might cause an increased demand for other drugs).

A fascinating Wall Street Journal story describes Evan Morris, a drug company lobbyist who oversaw a $50 million budget in running a “black ops” program to influence lawmakers. He wined and dined elected officials in convincing the Bush administration to stockpile $1 billion worth of Roche’s Tamiflu to prepare for an bird flu/H5N1 outbreak that never happened. He then launched a grassroots campaign to promote the use of Avastatin — a $90,000-per-patient breast cancer drug whose use the FDA wanted to ban given low effectiveness and significant side effects – planting articles on conservative websites describing women who said it gave them their only chance, with the resulting consumer and political pressure buying the company another year of sales and another $1 billion in revenue before the FDA finally cracked down. He raised money for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in hoping to land an ambassadorship. Upon hearing that his drug company employer was investigating his unusual expenses in suspecting embezzlement, he played a round of golf, ate a steak dinner while buying the whole restaurant a round of drinks, then took a $2,000 bottle of wine into the woods and killed himself.

Bizarre: in Ghana, a family reneges on paying an undertaker who had prepared the body of an elderly relative for burial and instead steals the body to bury it themselves. The undertaker crashes the funeral with an assistant, opens up the casket, and starts carrying the decedent away until the family hurriedly pays up. Some attendees ran away in horror, while others whipped out their phones to record video in making their own “Grim Repo Man.”

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Sponsor Updates

• Besler Consulting’s The Hospital Finance Podcast wins a Gold AVA Digital Award.
• CareSync adds services to support CPC+ practices.
• Carevive Systems publishes its poster presentation from ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Symposium: “Survivorship Care Plans: Strategies to Enhance Patient Utility and Value.”
• Consulting Magazine recognizes The HCI Group as the eleventh fastest-growing consulting form of 2016.
• HealthCast will exhibit at the 2017 MUSE Executive Institute.

Blog Posts

• Trends in hospital mergers (Infor)
• 2017 Best in KLAS report recognizes Nordic as top performer in optimization (Nordic)
• Does your Community Connect Team Have a Leader? (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• 7 easy ways to transition to “Practice 2.0” with automated integrated workflow (AdvancedMD)
• Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec: Healthcare is ripe for innovation (Agfa HealthCare)
• If it’s 2017, Then it Must be Time for MACRA/MIPS (Aprima)
• Why Pay $976 for a $200 Prescription? Variation in Drug Prices (Arcadia Healthcare Solutions)
• 2017 Healthcare Trends, Part 4: Healthcare costs and challenges are about a lot more than healthcare (Datica)
• Fighting the HAI Crisis Through EHR Optimization (CTG)
• 4 Traits Needed to be a Great Leader in 2017 (Direct Consulting Associates)
• Value-based Care Makes Cybersecurity Even More Critical (ECG Management Consultants)
• Verifying Patient Eligibility: Leveraging Epic Benefit Collection Workflow for Improved Collections (Hayes Management Consulting)
• Meet the Trump Healthcare Administration (Healthcare Growth Partners)
• The Best Laid Plans: Informing Care Plans Through the Power of Shared Decision Making (Healthwise)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

HIStalk’s Guide to HIMSS17

Download and print a PDF version of this guide.

Access

Booth 1778

Contact: Lindsey Keith, sales and marketing operations manager
lindsey.keith@accessefm.com
913.752.9938

For more than 15 years, Access has developed electronic forms management solutions that eliminate the unnecessary expense, risk, and inefficiency of paper forms. Our 100-percent paperless technology enables organizations in any industry to capture, manage, sign and share forms data without printing or scanning.

To help our partner The Last Well bring clean water to every man, woman, and child in Liberia by the end of 2020, we’re going to fund a well on behalf of those who visit our HIMSS booth. Stop by to see how a real water pump works and learn from The Last Well founder Todd Phillips. If you’d like to support the cause, visit www.thelastwell.org.

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Advisory Board

Booth 9000 / Interoperability Showcase

Contact: James Green, managing partner
greenj@advisory.com
202.266.5443

Advisory Board will be participating in the Interoperability Showcase, demonstrating how to coordinate patient communication and care to maintain patient relationships throughout the entire continuum of care. Come learn how hospitals and health systems use insights and analytics to find opportunities for brand advantage through patient experience.

Also, our experts are part of the speaking lineup at HIMSS17, where they will present the latest innovations, including:

• Doug Thompson on “Consumerism: Strategies to Meet New Market Demands and Rising Expectations” Sunday, February 19, 2-3pm ET in 304E (session ID: INV5)
• Naomi Levinthal on “Lessons Learned from the Mandatory Joint Replacement Bundle” Wednesday, February 22, 1-2pm ET in 311E (session ID: 194)

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Agfa Healthcare

Booth 1761

Contact: Miriam Ladin, director, marketing communications, North America
miriam.ladin@agfa.com
617.852.4545

Agfa HealthCare, present in one hospital out of two, is a leading provider of eHealth and digital imaging solutions. Care organizations in more than 100 countries rely on Agfa HealthCare to optimize their efficiency and improve patient care. With its deep experience in interoperability, Agfa HealthCare has developed a range of solutions to meet the needs of the modern, value-based care healthcare enterprise. The platform approach to medical image management enables the health system to reduce it’s IT infrastructure and resources, while maximizing the value of images and documents across the continuum of care. At HIMSS17, attendees can learn more about Enterprise Imaging Solutions, which include Enterprise Imaging Vendor-Neutral Archive, Enterprise Imaging Exchange, XERO universal image viewer, and more. The platform includes standardized Departmental Workflows, which allow all image-producing service lines to capture and associate multimedia imaging studies with an episode of care.

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Aprima Medical Software

Booth 2603

Contact: Marilyn Taylor, marketing coordinator
mtaylor@aprima.com
469.863.8305

Stop by our booth and take the Aprima Stopwatch Challenge!

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Arcadia Healthcare Solutions

Booth 2703

Contact: Alyssa Drew, strategic marketing manager
alyssa.drew@arcadiasolutions.com
860.908.6805

Seven Great Reasons to Visit Arcadia at Booth 2703

1. Explore our Data Gallery — including brand new data visualizations this year!
2. Ask John Halamka, MD, your questions on digital health on Tuesday at 4pm, followed by a cocktail hour. Dr. Halamka just joined the Arcadia Advisor Network.
3. Discuss “Six Ways Data Quality Issues Erode Trust … and Five Fixes” with Principal Data Scientist Michael Simon. Learn about the importance of deep, high-quality EHR data to achieve an ROI in value-based care – and how to improve data quality without overwhelming your physicians.
4. Pick up the “most useful handout ever” at last year’s HIMSS (according to HIStalk) either at our booth or at HIStalk’s (4845).
5. Enjoy wine, beer, and appetizers at our booth each evening at 4:30pm, and meet our clients.
6. Q&A with Patrick Charmel, CEO of Griffin Hospital and co-author of “Putting Patients First: Best Practices in Patient-Centered Care” on Tuesday at 10am.
7. Learn how AMITA Health and Arcadia have partnered to take on risk for nearly 20 years in an informal Q&A on Wednesday at 2:30pm.

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AssesURhealth

Booth 223

Contact: Tori Couch, brand development
toric@assessURhealth.com
813.774.9800 x401

Visit the AssessURhealth booth, 223, to see a product demo; explore our interactive tablets; enjoy coffee or cocktails at select limited seating sessions with the 18th US Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, MD; see our giant brain (we’re serious, we’ll have one); and discover how to gain substantial new revenue! AssessURhealth empowers clinicians by providing the tools and resources needed to positively impact the identification, treatment, and awareness of mental and behavioral health while adding new revenue.

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Bottomline Technologies

Booth 937 / Cyber Security Pavilion, kiosk 23

Contact: Heather Barr, marketing manager
hbarr@bottomline.com
603.501.6654

Bottomline Technologies helps customers create patient experiences that are simple, secure and seamless – that’s why more than 1,500 healthcare organizations rely on Bottomline for solutions that include privacy and data security, eCapture, eSignature, and on-demand forms. http://www.bottomline.com/us/healthcare

Speaking Sessions:
“Beyond Audit Logs: Three-Tier Privacy Analytics”
Presented by Darren Dworkin, CIO, Cedars Sinai; and Boaz Krelbaum, CTO, Bottomline Technologies
Monday, February 20,  10:30– 11:30am  Room W206A

“A Dual Case Study on Improving Privacy Results”
Presented by Mark Benoit, director, privacy and data security, Bottomline Technologies
Monday, February 20, 11:15-11:45am Cyber Security Command Center

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Caradigm

Booth 4561

Contact: Jennifer Thorson, senior marketing manager
Jennifer.Omholt@caradigm.com
425.201.7626

Caradigm is an award-winning population health company dedicated to improving patient care, advancing the health of populations, and reducing healthcare costs. Its enterprise software portfolio encompasses all capabilities critical to delivering effective population health management including data control, healthcare analytics, care coordination and management, and wellness and patient engagement. Caradigm’s 200+ customers include Greenville Health System, Virtua and other large integrated delivery networks; ACOs; academic medical centers; government facilities; and community hospitals. Caradigm solutions are operating in more than 1,500 hospitals worldwide, and connect to about 500 customer systems, and to data for more than 175 million patients. In addition, its identity and access management solutions are employed daily by over 1.2 million users, ensuring patient privacy and security by safeguarding access to patient health information. For more information, visit www.caradigm.com.

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Carevive Systems

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Ricardo Mazzi, CMO
ricardo@carevive.com
800.460.3790

Carevive Systems provides personalized and dynamic cancer care plans for patients that improve clinical outcomes and enable oncology practices to operate in emerging value-based models. Our care plans continuously update to provide ongoing guidance to patients based on their experiences throughout the journey. This process allows us to collect longitudinal Real-World Evidence (RWE) on the cancer patient experience that will drive better care delivery, and oncolytic drug use and future development.  The company’s automated software enables each patient to receive his or her own unique, personalized care plans that can be customized and edited by oncology physicians and nurses at each clinic visit, in a way that is not possible with either EHRs or care management software. To develop our care plans, our software generates automated, personalized symptom assessment and management guidance based on individual patient diagnosis, treatment, and risk. Carevive’s patient care plans and associated tools for clinicians facilitate patient-centered, coordinated, and integrated multi-disciplinary cancer care — all of which are concepts proven to decrease costs, and improve clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

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Casenet

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Kelli Bravo, VP, product marketing
kbravo@casenetllc.com
781.357.2706

When people and data work in harmony, a real, positive impact can be made on the health of individuals and populations. Casenet is a leading provider of enterprise population health and care management solutions. Casenet’s platform automates workflows, integrates member-centric information, improves care coordination, and enables regulatory compliance reporting. Our solutions are proven to drive positive outcomes and to enable clients to adapt to market changes while driving down costs. Contact us at www.casenetllc.com or info@casenetllc.com for more information.

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The Chartis Group

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Gregg Mohrmann, director
chartis@chartis.com
877.667.4700

The Chartis Group is a national advisory services firm dedicated to the healthcare industry. The only firm to rank among the top five overall for both healthcare management consulting and IT services in the “2016/2017 Best in KLAS: Software and Services” report, Chartis provides strategy, performance, and informatics and technology consulting services and decision-support tools to the country’s leading healthcare providers. Chartis has been privileged to work with:

• Over two-thirds of the academic medical centers on the US News & World Report “Honor Roll of Best Hospitals.”
• Seven of the 10 largest integrated healthcare systems.
• Four of the five largest not-for-profit health systems.
• Nine of the top 10 children’s hospitals.
• Emerging and leading ACOs.
• Hundreds of community-based health systems.
• Leading organizations in healthcare services.

Connect with Chartis via five HIMSS presentations and one career poster session:

1. Benchmarking, IT Cost Controls and Efficiencies – session #191
2. How to Make IT the Underpinning of the Enterprise Strategy – session #146
3. Care Coordination Transformation: Road to Population Health – session #112
4. The Future of IT Governance: Fully-Integrated and Operationally-Led – session #310
5. Managing a Legacy Team in an EHR Transition – session #75
6. Career Development Poster Session: HIT Career Pursuits: Thoughts on Personal Best Practices to Get Where You Want to Go – session #PSEP1

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Clinical Architecture

Booth 3171

Contact: Marck DuBois, EVP, sales
marck_dubois@clinicalarchitecture.com
317.580.8400

Founded in 2007, Clinical Architecture has become the leading provider of innovative healthcare solutions focused on the quality and usability of clinical information. Our customers include leading provider organizations and IDNs; EMR/EHR, population health, and analytics application vendors; pharma and life sciences companies; HIEs; content publishers; and the payer community. Our healthcare terminology platform comprehensively addresses the acquisition, management, distribution and utilization of terminologies, unstructured text, and clinical knowledge enabling our clients to overcome industry gaps in interoperability, decision support, and analytics.

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Clinical Computer Systems

Booth 922

Contact: Elizabeth Hobson, marketing manager
Marketing@obix.com
888.871.0963

CCSI is a high-tech leader in perinatal healthcare. Some of the largest hospitals across the country utilize its comprehensive, computerized OBIX Perinatal Data Systems for centralized, bedside, and remote fetal electronic monitoring. Come discover how the benefits of the OBIX system extend beyond the labor and delivery department. We welcome conversations with leadership team members seeking cost-savings methods and positive patient feedback. Our representatives can explain how the system can be deployed using your existing infrastructure, and demonstrate the system’s intuitive design and ease of use. Rest assured, we work side-by-side with customers throughout planning, implementation, education, and system go-live. Visit booth 922 and see how meaningful integration enhances clinical workflow.

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CloudWave

Booth 3191

Contact: Bryan Blood, EVP, sales
bblood@gocloudwave.com
508.251.8803

CloudWave is a full-service cloud services provider and solutions integrator for healthcare. In addition to implementing private cloud solutions consisting of on-premise hardware and software, CloudWave delivers technology consulting services as well as hosting, disaster recovery, archiving, and systems management services via our OpSus Healthcare Cloud. Come join us for a cup of coffee in booth 3191 to discuss how we can help you with your journey to the cloud.

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CTG

Booth 1223

Contact: Angela Rivera, VP
angela.rivera@ctg.com
619.397.0446

CTG is the most reliable IT services provider, built on more than 50 years of meeting our commitments to make technology work for our clients and deliver real business value. We provide advisory, implementation/upgrade, optimization and performance improvement, enterprise information management, application management, patient portal/clinical service desk, and strategic staffing services. Stop by the CTG booth, 1223, to learn why reliability matters and have a chance to win an Amazon Echo or a drone.

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Culbert Healthcare Solutions

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Brad Boyd, president
bboyd@culberthealth.com
857.919.2003

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Datica (fka Catalyze)

Booth 8152

Contact: Casey Bryson, chief strategy officer
casey@datica.com
816.289.5441

Catalyze is now Datica and you can find us on the convention floor at booth 8152. Schedule a meeting at the Datica booth (near the Intelligent Health Pavilion), and you’ll be treated to a hot cup of Portland coffee, flown in and brewed especially for you. Let’s discuss healthcare partnerships, integrations, managed HIPAA-compliant hosting, and the “why” of the company rebrand. Schedule a meeting now at hello@datica.com.

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Definitive Healthcare

Booth 7954

Contact: Marissa Peoples, enterprise account executive
mpeoples@definitivehc.com
888.307.4107

Definitive Healthcare is the leading provider of data and intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers. Definitive Healthcare’s data provides clients with the analytics and insight needed to effectively segment and research the healthcare provider market.

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Diameter Health

Booth 9000 / Interoperability Showcase

Contact: Tom Gaither, VP of marketing
tgaither@diameterhealth.com
781.249.9475

Diameter Health improves patient safety and optimizes patient care and operational performance by de-duplicating, cleaning, aggregating, and enhancing complex clinical data across the care continuum. Our scalable and cost-effective platform empowers organizations that depend on multi-sourced data streams – HIEs, ACOs, health systems, and health plans – to realize greater value from data used for managing population health and value-based care. Visit us at the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase as we collaborate with Caradigm, Cerner, Medhost, and Qvera in demonstrating how interoperability improves the care provided to a patient living with diabetes. Diameter Health technology is used to visualize a consolidated clinical view of the patient, as well as report on pertinent clinical quality measures.

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Direct Consulting Associates

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Tom Clark, VP, operations
tclark@dc-associates.com
440.996.0874

Whether you’re an IT professional searching for that perfect opportunity or a client company looking for the very best IT talent you can trust, rely on DCA to help meet your goals.

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DrFirst

Booth 1179

Contact: Ellie Whims, director of marketing communications
ewhims@drfirst.com
301.231.9510

DrFirst has pioneered healthcare technology solutions that inform the provider-patient point of encounter, optimizing provider access to patient information, enhancing the provider’s clinical view of the patient, and improving care delivery and clinical outcomes. DrFirst’s growth is driven by a commitment to innovation, security, and reliability across a wide array of services, including electronic prescribing, medication management, medication adherence, secure messaging, and care collaboration. We are proud of our track record of service to more than 330 EHR/HIS vendors and an extensive network of providers, hospitals, and patients. For more information, please visit www.drfirst.com or connect with us @DrFirst.

Come by DrFirst’s booth, 1179, for two presentations:

Improving Medication Reconciliation:  The People, Processes, and Technology
Presented by Nick Barger, principal pharmacist
Monday, February 20 at 2pm and Tuesday, February 21st at 11am

Using Communication to Comply with New Healthcare Initiatives
Presented by Linda Fischer, senior director of product solutions and former CIO, Huntington Hospital
Monday, February 20 at 4pm and Tuesday, February 21 at 3pm

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ESD

Booth 1639

Contact: David Tucker, VP, business development
dtucker@contactesd.com
512.350.1735

For over 25 years, ESD has been providing implementation support services to healthcare systems across North America through our network of 10,000+ clinical and healthcare IT experts. Our full-cycle implementation support model assists in all stages of the transition – including training, build, configuration, project management, automated testing, go-live support, and optimization, as well as providing staff augmentation, on-shore clinical service desk, and patient portal help desk services. If you are preparing for an upgrade, switching to a new EHR or needing to optimize your current system, stop by our booth to learn how we can make the transition as seamless as possible.

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Evariant

Booth 3985

Contact: Courtney Smigiel, senior marketing specialist
courtney.smigiel@evariant.com
860.917.6558

Stop by booth 3985 to enter to win one of three Amazon Echos, and discuss how your organization can improve the healthcare experience through more personalized interactions by integrating data into a centralized engagement hub.

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FDB

Booth 2531, 8361

Contact: David Manin, senior director, marketing
dmanin@fdbhealth.com

Main themes for FDB would be tackling medication alert management to enhance CDS; addressing the lack of standardized and often incomplete information about medical devices in HIT systems to improve operational, financial, and clinical decisions; and helping hospital organizations improve patient medication adherence that also leads to improved HCAHPS scores and reduced readmissions.

• Learn more about the launch of our medical device knowledge platform (FDB Prizm) that will be of interest to information system vendors and providers on the supply chain and clinical side – both in our booth and in the Intelligent Health Pavilion. On Tuesday, February 21, from 1-1:20pm, Henrik Bacho, senior product manager for FDB Prizm, will speak about how to improve OR workflow with our new medical device knowledge platform.
• Learn more about new enhancements to our FDB AlertSpace alert management and customization solution that includes business analytics capabilities.
• Learn more about how Meducation’s simplified patient medication instructions are now integrated with Epic, Cerner, Allscripts, Meditech, and Athenahealth. Also, hospital-based attendees can come by the booth and receive a customized ROI for their hospital institution based on improving value-based purchasing through HCAHPS scores and reducing readmission penalties.
• We have a Hearst Health network interactive, five-question, multiple-choice healthcare quiz where participants can “earn” a $10 donation to the National Patient Safety Foundation for each correct answer.
• Giveaway: We are serving gourmet coffee and giving away coffee travel mugs, as we’ve done over the past several years.

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FormFast

Booth 451

Contact: Aaron Vaught, director of marketing
avaught@formfast.com
314.603.9674

With 25 years exclusively focused on healthcare needs and over 1,000 hospital clients, FormFast is recognized as the industry leader in electronic forms and document workflow technology. FormFast’s enterprise software platform integrates with EHRs and other core systems to automate required documents, capturing data and accelerating workflows associated with them. By using FormFast, healthcare organizations achieve new levels of standardization and operational efficiency, allowing them to focus on their core mission – delivering quality care.

FormFast’s theme for the leading health IT event is “Bringing Document Workflow Up to Speed,” highlighting the speed, agility, and efficiency FormFast’s solutions bring to critical processes across the care continuum. Featuring seamless integration, FormFast enhances EHRs and other core systems, and accelerates the completion of necessary documents by streamlining the processes surrounding them. With FormFast’s document workflow solutions, healthcare organizations experience improved cost and operational efficiencies, clinical outcomes, compliance, and patient engagement.

FormFast Booth 451 Highlights

Solution Demos

• FormFast Connect: Allows patients to complete forms and task checklists beyond hospital walls from the convenience of their personal device or computer. This helps the patient navigate their care journey pre-admissions or post-discharge, while giving providers the real-time information they need to deliver a higher quality of care and enhance patient engagement.
• FormFast Capture: Offers best-in-class electronic forms and capture technology to help digitize point-of-care checklists, care guidelines, rounding, informed consents, and ancillary care documents – not addressed by the EHR.
• FormFast Mobile Bedside Consents: An integrated eConsent solution that presents the correct documentation for patient signatures on mobile devices at the bedside. Upon completion, consents are archived to the EHR and instantly visible to the care team.

Cash for Dash Charity: By getting a glimpse into the capabilities FormFast’s solutions bring to healthcare organizations through a quick solution demo, booth visitors will get a chance to spin a virtual prize wheel for a chance to win up to $500. With each spin, FormFast will match the prized amount to the American Heart Association.

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Forward Health Group

Booth 510

Contact: Barry Wightman, creative director
bmw@forwardhealthgroup.com
414.418.5654

Forward Health Group’s population health measurement platforms and data strategies drive success in the move to value. Visit booth 510 to elevate your data! Forward Health Group’s Data Elevation makes population health easy. Measure quality. Motivate clinicians. Maximize incentives. Population Health Without the Wait.

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Harris Healthcare

Booth 3961

Contact: Susan Pouzar, VP, sales and marketing
spouzar@harriscomputer.com
571.267.3928  x74343

Harris Healthcare brings together “The Brightest Solutions Under One Umbrella” and we’re inviting the brightest minds in health and IT to experience the difference at HIMSS 2017.

• Speak with clients in our booth, 3961, to get the low-down on real-world applications and integration among our products. Hunterdon Healthcare System’s IT and clinical IT leadership team will be on site Tuesday, February 21 from 4-5pm to share their experiences and their approach to solving the healthcare IT challenges of a community-based integrated delivery system.
• We will have multiple demo stations available, allowing you to take a peek at each of our available products.
• Visit our booth each day for a chance to win high-end sunglasses from brands like Ray-ban, Chanel, Oakley, and Maui Jim. Multiple chances to win by visiting booth 3961 each day.

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HBI Solutions

Booth 6179, kiosk 2

Contact: Eric Widen, CEO
ewiden@hbisolutions.com
415.350.3140

HBI offers a proven suite of predictive analytics and performance analysis tools, both easy to use and easy to install into any healthcare IT system. Our Spotlight Data Solution uses real-time EHR data, billing, claims and public data sources to provide real-time risk predictions for patients and populations. Spotlight’s predictive models also use built-in natural language processing to include unstructured data types like visit notes. Our wide range of disease and event-based predictive models are published in peer-reviewed research journals and in production on over 20 million patients. Customers include health systems, physician practices, FQHCs, ACOs, payers, HIEs, and technology vendors. Stop by booth 6179, kiosk 2 for a demo of our solution or to chat with some of our executives and customers. For more information, visit www.hbisolutions.com.

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Healthcare Growth Partners

Booth 7374

Contact: Christopher McCord, managing director
chris@hgp.com
713.955.7935

Healthcare Growth Partners is an exceptionally experienced transaction and strategic advisory firm exclusively focused on the transformational health IT market. We unlock value for our clients through our Sell-Side Advisory, Buy-Side Advisory, Capital Advisory, and Pre-Transaction Growth Strategy services, functioning as exclusive advisor to over 90 health IT transactions representing over $2 billion in value since 2007.

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HealthCast

Booth 686

Contact: Mike O’Mara, national sales manager
momarra@gohealthcast.com
Direct 510.338.0689 Cell 510.393.1911

HealthCast has some big plans for the near future – come see how our innovations have led us to create so many award-winning solutions. We’ll be giving away one brand new Microsoft Surface Pro 4 after each of our six presentations. Stop by booth 686 for your chance to win!

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Health Catalyst

Booth 5173

Contact: Patty Burke, program manager
patty.burke@healthcatalyst.com
801.708.6800

Health Catalyst is an award-winning, mission-driven data warehousing, analytics and outcomes-improvement company that helps healthcare organizations of all sizes improve clinical, financial, and operational outcomes needed to improve population health and accountable care. Stop by booth 5173 to see a live demo of one of our many analytics applications, or hear about any of our 100+ client success stories. We’ve got the usual event swag to take home to your kids, too! You can read more about our clients’ successes here: www.healthcatalyst.com.

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Healthfinch

Booth 994

Contact: Karen Hitchcock, chief experience officer
karen@healthfinch.com
608.513.6566

Did you know that your next strategic hire is a bird? Charlie the Healthfinch works seamlessly within your EHR to simplify, delegate, and automate routine, repeatable clinical tasks. Charlie swoops in to handle jobs like prescription refill requests, pre-visit planning, and more. Come meet Charlie and his team of humans at booth 994. We’ll have a small number of limited-edition Charlie plushies to give away, and we’ll also offer a special HIMSS discount on your first month subscription to Charlie if you schedule a demo time with us. See you soon at booth 994!

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Healthlink Advisors

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Lindsey Jarrell
lindsey@healthlinkadvisors.com
727.729.2602

Healthlink Advisors is a healthcare consulting firm whose mission is to improve healthcare delivery and IT operations. Our work focuses on management consulting, IT strategy and finance, vendor selection and negotiation, and forecasting. From academic medical centers to integrated delivery networks to community-based hospitals, we serve both investor-owned and community-owned organizations. Our team is comprised of experienced healthcare professionals who have been individually selected to be a part of our team. As a consulting firm, we are defined by our people, their actions, and the quality of the work we produce. As a company, we are defined by our values and our broader purpose. We firmly believe we must create a company that is socially responsible, fun, and focused on fulfilling our purpose of improving healthcare delivery. Our purpose is pursued not just through engagements but also through our work in the community and helping each other. Ask about our cocktail hour at HIMSS.

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HealthLoop

Booth 1789

Contact: Bevey Miner, chief marketing and business development officer
bevey@healthloop.com
858.922.3458

HealthLoop empowers tens of thousands of patients every day with the right information at the right time, before admission and weeks after discharge, guiding them until they are fully recovered. By automatically sending notifications to patients to ‘Check In,’ HealthLoop remotely monitors all of your patients and identifies the patients that need help, allowing clinical teams to proactively intervene before costs and complications escalate. Developed as an enterprise solution to support all clinical specialties, HealthLoop’s content and analytics are deeply integrated into your care management workflows. Especially useful under new bundled reimbursement models, HealthLoop facilitates effortless PRO collection, helping you earn back financial bonuses for meeting or beating quality metrics.

In the HealthLoop booth, attendees will:

• Better understand how to scale clinical adoption of patient engagement technology and the ease and speed with which it can be implemented.
• Explore ways to use analytics to identify at-risk patients in real time before complications result in adverse outcomes and elevated, post-acute care costs.
• Review validated results across thousands of patients that will show the impact of engaged and satisfied patients on improved quality and collection of PROs.

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Healthwise

Booth 1523

Contact: Dave Mink, market solutions director
dmink@healthwise.org
208.921.4918

Stop by Healthwise booth #1523 to discover how to make every moment in care matter. Our demo stations for Point of Care, Care Coordination, Digital & Web Experiences, and Care Transformation will showcase how you can engage patients with consistent, evidence-based health education for improved outcomes, increased satisfaction, and lower costs.

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Huron

Booth 3631

Contact: Meredith Rock, manager, marketing and alliances
mrock@huronconsultinggroup.com
224.221.5761

4 Health IT Sessions You Can’t Miss at HIMSS 2017 Come visit us at booth 3631 to learn how we’re working with our clients to solve their most pressing business problems with the leading healthcare technologies.     Huron is a global professional services firm assisting clients with complex issues by delivering high-value, quality solutions to support long-term strategic objectives. Huron’s healthcare practice specializes in strategic direction setting, clinical transformation, financial and operational excellence, technology implementation and optimization, and patient and caregiver engagement.

Huron has served more than 450 health systems, with over 1,400 specialists and experienced consultants dedicated to the healthcare industry including a leadership team that brings more than 25 years of healthcare and consulting experience. In August 2016, HSM Consulting became part of Huron. This acquisition has strengthened Huron’s IT/EHR consulting services, adding deep expertise in Meditech, Cerner, Allscripts, and NextGen. Together, Huron and HSM improve their ability to help healthcare providers implement and optimize technologies to improve quality, cost of care, and better manage patient populations.

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Iatric Systems

Booth 2715

Contact: Judy Volker, marketing director
judy.volker@iatric.com
978.805.3191

Take control over your most challenging 2017 healthcare IT issues. Join us at the Iatric Systems booth to discuss how you can stay ahead of the constantly changing healthcare IT environment. Iatric Systems will deliver many products and services that will optimize EHRs, monitor patient privacy, help manage vendor risk, ensure data is available to folks that need it – when they need it, help providers make sense of various data, increase patient safety, improve workflows, and augment staffs that need expert help – and more!

Promotions/Giveaways – Fresh off his national TV appearance on Penn & Tellers ‘Fool Us’, two time US Champion Trick Shot pool player Chef Anton is back! See the master at work! After every show, he will give away a $25, $50, or $100 Amazon gift card. Participate in our social media promotion and be entered to win not just one, but TWO Amazon Dots –  today’s hottest tech for home or office.

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Infor

Booth 2147

Contact: Mike Polling, SVP and GM, healthcare
healthcare@infor.com
646.336.1700

Make sure a stop at Infor booth 2147 is on your HIMSS17 agenda. Infor Healthcare can offer you a single-system solution in the cloud, bringing clinical and operational data together. We understand that healthcare providers like you need a sophisticated solution that helps you react quickly, intelligently, and personally to every patient interaction in order to achieve better outcomes and lower costs while also making the best operational, financial, and clinical decisions. Our micro-vertical solutions give you comprehensive functionality that allows you to put the patient at the center of your strategy.

Schedule a 1:1 demonstration from these solutions – Care Solutions/WFM/Human Capital Management/Talent Management/Talent Science/Infor CloudSuite Financials & Supply Management/Infor Cloverleaf Integration Suite/Infor Cloverleaf Clinical Exchange/BI and Analytics for Healthcare/Physician Relationship Management/Infor CloudSuite Clinical. Schedule a live demo or one-on-one meeting to see the software in action. If you would like to schedule a live demo, please email healthcare@infor.com, or access the registration link directly at http://bit.ly/infordemos.

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Intelligent Medical Objects

Booth 4651

Contact: Dennis Carson, director, marketing and tradeshows
dcarson@e-imo.com
847.728.4997

IMO is the developer of the most widely-accepted medical terminology solution for the management of medical vocabularies and software applications at healthcare organizations worldwide. IMO terminology is used by more than 3,500 hospitals and 450,000 physicians daily, and this trusted terminology platform supports innovations by provider systems. IMO medical vocabulary and mapping products effectively capture clinical intent and help EMRs preserve and communicate this across the entire spectrum of care. IMO clinical terms are mapped to all standard coding systems including ICD-9, ICD-10, and SNOMED. The accuracy of IMO’s interface terminology was found to be “nearly perfect” in an independent study published by the US Centers for Disease Control.

Visit us at HIMSS17 to learn now to Code Once with IMO and know you will always be Delivering Value across the spectrum of care. When a clinician enters a diagnosis or procedure into their EHR, IMO adds the appropriate billing and reference codes so that clinician doesn’t have to. Once captured with the IMO Unique Identifier, the concept never needs to change. No matter if it is added through text, speech, C-CDA, or FHIR, the proper IMO identifiers are continuously linked. IMO takes care of mapping the concept to all the necessary code sets so changes don’t have to be made manually by clinicians. Code Once and users are able to use the same terms and patient information for reimbursement, risk stratification, population health management, data analytics or clinical use cases. IMO focuses on the coding so clinicians can do what they do best, deliver Value-Based Healthcare. Read more at www.e-imo.com

Stop by booth 4651 after 4 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday to enjoy a glass of wine, and take a short survey to get a cool IMO t-shirt. Giveaway this is a Wine Tumbler, while supplies last.

SNOMED and SNOMED CT are registered trademarks of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation.

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Ivenix

Booth 9000 / Interoperability Showcase, kiosk 12

Contact: Julie Kuhlken, director of product marketing
jkuhlken@ivenix.com
619.453.9486

Ivenix is a venture-backed medical technology company with a vision to transform infusion therapy in every care setting. Technology within the infusion pump category has been slow to evolve despite an increase in the complexity of drug dosing regimens, demand for hospital EHR integration, and persistent patient safety issues. Ivenix is focused on bringing its first solution to market – a new and innovative infusion management system for hospitals. Ivenix will participate in a connected demonstration at the Interoperability Showcase. The Ivenix Infusion Management System will be featured with leading EHRs and alarm management systems in a live demonstration of auto programming of patient-specific infusion orders, auto documentation of infusion data, and communication of alarm status to mobile devices. Ivenix will also participate in the new Product Marketplace demonstration area within the Showcase. Sue Niemeier, RN, CNO, will present “Strategies in Making the Journey to Smart Pump BCMA-EMR Interoperability” during the Nursing Informatics Symposium poster session on Sunday, February 19.

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Kyruus

Booth 5045

Contact: Lindsey Cohen, event marketing manager
events@kyruus.com
617.419.2060

Kyruus delivers proven provider search and scheduling solutions that help hospitals and health systems match patients with the providers best suited to care for them. The ProviderMatch suite of solutions—for consumers, access centers, and referral networks—enables a consistent patient experience across multiple points of access, while aligning provider supply with patient demand. The company’s proprietary provider data management platform forms the foundation of its solutions, powering them with accurate data by coupling data processing with administrative applications. To find out why a Better Match Means Better Care, please visit www.kyruus.com or come visit us in booth 5045!

We will have coffee and beer/wine available throughout the show (and get a pair of custom Kyruus socks!) Stop by to chat with our team and learn more about our enterprise-wide patient access solution.

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Legacy Data Access

Booth 4225

Contact: John Hanggi, director, business development
jhanggi@legacydataaccess.com
678.232.7922

Running old applications just to get to the data?  STOP – We need to talk! For organizations retiring or replacing healthcare systems, Legacy Data Access offers the industry’s most comprehensive set of software tools and solutions for working with data from retired systems. Our LegacySuite products provide comprehensive functionality for the storage, access, management, and reporting of the retired healthcare data. No time-consuming, labor intensive, and risk-filled data conversions are required. The data is seamlessly accessible in its original format, with no loss of detail or integrity.

Please visit us to discuss how we have successfully retired 229 different healthcare applications – a total of 555 applications. Giveaways include ear buds, tote bags, and the best dark chocolate in the exhibit hall.    Drop a card for a chance to win an Apple Watch or one of two Apple TVs.

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Lexmark Healthcare

Booth 1961

Contact: Alisa Moloney, marketing manager
alisa.moloney@lexmark.com
770.365.8382

Do you feel like chaos is taking over? Shifting payment models, cyber threats, M&A activity. And in the face of all these challenges, you are still expected to improve patient outcomes while cutting costs.  All of these objectives become more difficult when vital patient information is trapped in silos across the organization and inaccessible from your EHR. It’s time to take back control. Lexmark Healthcare can help. Our solutions uniquely deliver comprehensive information — medical images, documents, and clinical photos — in one view within your EHR.

Healthcare Content Management: Lexmark Healthcare has brought together industry-leading technologies to create Healthcare Content Management (HCM) — a modular, enterprise strategy that allows you to securely capture, manage, view, and share vital information with the applications you use every day. With Lexmark HCM, you can make more informed decisions, future-proof your business, and maximize your technology investments. Lexmark HCM is comprised of  vendor neutral archive, enterprise content management, enterprise viewing, process intelligence, and PACSGEAR connectivity. Schedule an appointment in HIMSS booth 1961 to experience the transformational power of Lexmark Healthcare.

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Lifepoint Informatics

Booth 5351

Contact: Vincent Gryscavage, SVP of sales
vgryscavage@lifepoint.com
201.679.1059

Lifepoint Informatics has been a trusted leader in healthcare IT for over 18 years, focusing on clinical integration, HIE, and data interoperability solutions for hospitals, hospital systems, and clinical laboratories. We offer vendor neutral data integration solutions that facilitate health information exchange, enable successful outreach connectivity, EHR integration, EHR interfacing, physician portal, and quality reporting among disparate clinical systems.

Please stop by the Lifepoint Informatics booth, 5351, to learn about our newest interfacing methodologies, which enable us to setup connections faster, and more economically.  Also, while at the booth, look for an energy boost as well as other unique items.

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LogicStream Health

Booth 875

Contact: Scott Olson, director of marketing
scott@logic-stream.net
651.335.8643

Schedule and attend your 15-minute demo to be entered to win an Apple Watch, Bose noise-cancelling headphones, or a $150 Visa gift card. One prize drawn daily. Each 15-minute demonstration will highlight how Clinical Process Measurement solutions from LogicStream are delivering self-service access to information operational stakeholders throughout health systems that need to improve quality and reduce the cost of healthcare. The three disciplines of Clinical Process Measurement include Standardizing Processes, Measuring Adoption, and Improving Outcomes.

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M*Modal

Booth 1043

Contact: Lisa Martin, manager of marketing
lisa.martin@mmodal.com
267.535.7222

Creating Time to Care with M*Modal. Stop by booth 1043 and enter to win a Google Home.

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MedData

Booth 6479

Contact: Chris Farrell, VP, marketing
chris.farrell@meddata.com
440.627.2642

MedData is a leading national provider of technology-enabled healthcare solutions designed to help physicians and hospitals better engage patients throughout the entire healthcare continuum. The MedData suite of solutions includes a range of patient access and communications; RCM; and consulting and analytics services including billing and coding, patient responsibility, eligibility and disability, complex A/R services (such as workers compensation, out-of-state, and more), and mobile-first engagement and communication software for patients and providers. For more than 36 years, we’ve been committed to delivering industry-leading and patient-focused RCM solutions to our growing network of more than 2,000 hospital sites nationwide. HIMSS GIVEAWAYS: Freshly baked scones.

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Medicity

Booth 5961

Contact: Lauren Tilelli, VP, marketing
ltilelli@medicity.com
858.414.4117

Medicity builds complete, ubiquitous, and indispensable networks that power clinically connected communities and empower population health. The Medicity Network provides the data foundation and integrated workflow solutions to enable today’s population health management objectives, including timely clinician engagement, improved transitions of care, reduction in duplicative services, and the opportunity for patients to take an active role in their personal health.

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Medicomp Systems

Booth 2303

Contact: James Aita, director of business development
jaita@medicomp.com
647.207.0080

Medicomp Systems, a physician-driven provider of clinically contextual patient data solutions, will be exhibiting at booth 2303. At HIMSS17, Medicomp is launching Quippe Clinical Lens, the company’s newest point-of-care decision support tool. The new solution delivers physicians optimized EMR data that is easy to digest and promotes new levels of clinical insights. Long-time Medicomp partner Meridian Medical Management, an industry leader in physician technology, revenue cycle, and analytics, is joining Medicomp at this week’s HIMSS17 Conference & Exhibition in Orlando to demonstrate Quippe and the new Quippe Clinical Lens functionality. Quippe Clinical Lens is a web-based application that can be added to any electronic health record (EHR) or health information exchange (HIE) system to make sense of data from multiple encounters across systems. It is the latest addition to the Quippe suite of solutions, which uniquely delivers longitudinal patient information within a problem-oriented clinical view, mirroring the way physicians think and work to drive optimal patient outcomes.

Attendees are also invited to Medicomp’s Quippe Virtual Experience Game at HIMSS17. The game illustrates how Quippe Clinical Solutions enable physicians to make better, faster decisions at the point of care, streamline documentation and ensure regulatory compliance. It also shows how Quippe easily integrates with any existing HIS system—and helps physicians to see up to 25% more patients. Play the game to experience the Quippe difference and to win a real-life dream cruise each day of HIMSS17. The cruise winners will be announced at 4 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday and 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Attendees must be present to win.

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Meditech

Booth 3279

Contact: Nicole Lund, supervisor, trade shows
nlund@meditech.com
508.864.3018

Be sure to visit Meditech at booth 3279, and see why there is so much buzz surrounding our innovative, physician-designed Web EHR. Hear why this contemporary, modern, and transformational EHR is driving the new generation of EHR leaders in the market to move forward with Meditech’s latest release. In addition to the Web EHR, come see the latest solutions Meditech offers for improving patient engagement, RCM, telehealth, population health, and much more.

You’ll also get to see clinicians demonstrating our solutions LIVE, showing how you can reclaim your productivity. Hear from industry experts in Meditech booth 3279, and learn who reduced A/R days by 50 percent, who surpassed patient portal adoption goals with a 60 percent usage rate, who obtained a 99-percent patient satisfaction rating, and more!

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National Decision Support Co.

Booth 3492

Contact: Diane Mardini, marketing and sales
dmardini@nationaldecisionsupport.com
917.887.1580

National Decision Support Co. enables stakeholders in the healthcare process to deliver more efficient and appropriate care, improve population health, and save money. Variations and gaps in care delivery cost providers and patients billions of dollars annually, and result in life-threatening medical errors. NDSC’s CareSelect decision support platform enables the transition to value-based care and payment models, and risk-sharing payment models while reducing inconsistencies in patient care. The CareSelect platform converts published guidelines from credible, compliant content sources — covering diagnostic imaging, medication, lab, and care pathways — into actionable decision support criteria delivered directly into the EHR workflow. Feel free to stop by our booth, 3492, for a demo.

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Nordic

Booth 903

Contact:
events@nordicwi.com
608.268.6900

Nordic is the world’s largest Epic consulting firm and a trusted advisor to healthcare systems, connecting strategy through to IT execution. At booth 903, we’ll have team members ready to talk with you about your needs in advisory services, Epic implementation, optimization, data and analytics, managed services, population health, and affiliate extension solutions. If you can’t make it to our booth, contact  events@nordicwi.com and we’ll find a time to connect.

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Optimum Healthcare IT

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Jenny Paal
Jpaal@optimumhit.com
904.373.0831 x325

Optimum Healthcare IT is a leading healthcare IT staffing and consulting services company based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Optimum provides world-class consulting services in advisory, implementation, training and activation, Community Connect, analytics, and managed services – supporting our client’s needs through the continuum of care. Our excellence in service is driven by a leadership team with more than 50 years of experience in providing expert healthcare staffing and consulting solutions to all types of organizations.

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Orchestrate Healthcare

Booth 1423

Contact: Charlie Cook, president
charlie@orchestratehealthcare.com
877.303.3377

We focus on four core competencies that dramatically affect healthcare processes and systems – EHR strategies, integration and interoperability consulting, information security consulting, and activation and go-live support. We listen to our clients first, and then our 18+ year-experienced consultants step in as the make-it-happen kind of people that deliver solutions for the challenges you face – ON TIME, ON TARGET, and ON BUDGET. We do project-based work as well as healthcare IT staffing – whatever your needs. Our leadership is available and attentive to our clients, keeping us nimble, responsive, and accessible. Our commitment to quality over quantity attracts the very best talent in healthcare IT, which results in projects with maximum achievement and minimum disruption and costs – and, ultimately, delighted clients.    Come visit booth 1423 and see how 30 impactful minutes with us will change your IT consulting direction!

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PatientKeeper

Booth 2333

Contact: Kathy Ruggiero, senior director of marketing
kruggiero@patientkeeper.com
781.373.6433

PatientKeeper provides highly intuitive software that streamlines physician workflow to improve productivity and patient care. At HIMSS17, PatientKeeper will preview its new health IT innovation platform, which is intended to advance the use of computers by physicians and care teams, and make them indispensable tools for 21st century clinical care. PatientKeeper’s new platform integrates third-party apps and data from multiple EHRs, embeds advanced clinical decision support capabilities in a truly useful way, and provides an individualized experience for each user. For more information, visit patientkeeper.com/himss17.

PatientKeeper will give away a Peloton exercise bike plus a one-year subscription to streamed studio cycling classes. Healthcare providers may enter the raffle at PatientKeeper’s booth (2333) at HIMSS17. The winning raffle ticket will be drawn at the booth on Tuesday afternoon, February 21.

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PatientSafe Solutions

Booth 815

Contact: Kim Tucker, marketing
ktucker@patientsafesolutions.com
858.746.3318

Stop by booth #815 to experience PatientTouch, the only care collaboration platform that unites clinical communications and critical workflows in one smartphone app. Secure messaging, voice, alerts, and nurse call are fully integrated with workflows including specimen collection, rounding, assessments, nursing documentation, and more, all in a single interface. Real-time patient and clinical context is available in-message and in-workflow to speed communication among assigned care team members, improve patient safety, and clinical outcomes.

But don’t just take our word for it! Join us for a free Lunch and Learn panel on Wednesday 2/22 at 1 p.m. in W312B, above Hall C. Hear IT and Informatics leaders from CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Francis, Parkview Medical Center, and Onslow Memorial Hospital discuss how PatientTouch has increased care team efficiency and improved clinical outcomes by uniting communication with workflow in one easy-to-use application that their frontline care teams love. Space is limited, >” target=_blank>sign up today.

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PerfectServe

Booth 3315

Contact: Tom Hills, EVP
thills@perfectserve.net
877.844.2777

PerfectServe Synchrony is an integrated system of secure communication services built on a single cloud-based architecture, which ensures secure messages are delivered to the right care team member at the right time across all care settings. Stop by booth 3315 for a 10-minute demonstration.

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Phynd Technologies

Booth 7785 / Innovation Zone, kiosk 3

Contact: Tom White, CEO
twhite@phynd.com
855.749.6363 x710

Learn about the Phynd Unified Provider Management platform – the only on-demand, cloud-based, enterprise IT solution that eliminates the challenges and organizational inefficiencies caused by working with inaccurate provider data. Whether you are a clinically integrated network struggling to manage an exploding quantity of provider data, or you need to improve the effectiveness of your online provider search capability, the Phynd UPM platform can help.

In addition, don’t miss the following talk that will be given by Michael Meade from Orlando Health and our CEO Thomas White. Michael will share his perspective on their provider data management challenges and review how the Phynd UPM platform is helping. What is Disrupting Provider Data Management? February 21, 11:30am ET  Innovation Zone, booth 7785, session ID: IZ19.

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Point-of-Care Partners

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Tony Scheuth, CEO and managing partner
tonys@pocp.com
954.346.1999

Point-of-Care Partners is a leading health IT management consulting firm that helps healthcare stakeholders develop and execute winning management and IT strategies in an evolving electronic world. POCP Advantages:

• Multi-stakeholder projects across many segments of healthcare.
• Rich directory of people in all segments to add perspective to projects.
• Experienced staff of consultants with diverse healthcare backgrounds.
• On the leading edge of the evolution of health care IT and its application to healthcare for 12 years.

POCP practice leads will be available at HIMSS to discuss a broad range of health IT topics, including EHRs, ePrescribing, specialty pharmacy automation,  ePrior authorization, clinical decision support/clinical messaging, real-world evidence/outcomes/analytics, population health management, HIE, biosimilars, medication therapy management, and long-term care. Please contact Tony Schueth to schedule an appointment or visit pocp.com to learn more.

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PokitDok

Booth 4087

Contact: Vivian Li, senior product marketing manager
vivian.li@pokitdok.com
650.302.0970

PokitDok provides a software development platform to free, secure, and unify business data across the entire continuum of care. Its 30 API endpoints facilitate eligibility checks, claims submissions, appointment scheduling, payment optimization, patient identity management, pharmacy benefits, and other business processes. These healthcare transactions that exchange business data can be quickly and easily integrated into any app, website, or service without requiring that providers or payers rip and replace legacy solutions or IT infrastructure. Healthcare organizations, digital health companies, and business process outsourcing providers use PokitDok to improve workflows, cut costs, and speed time to market.

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Qpid Health, an EviCore company

Booth 5574

Contact: Amy Krane, provider marketing
amy.krane@evicore.com
617.982.5400

Qpid Health and EviCore healthcare have merged to help providers optimize quality and manage costs for success under value-based care. Qpid’s clinical analytics software uses NLP and machine learning to generate patient insights from medical records. EviCore’s utilization management expertise and 25 years refining best practice guidelines drives appropriate use of healthcare resources. Visit us in booth 5574 to discuss how we can help you with our solutions:

• Qpid “content as a service” Intelligent Clinical Content optimizes Epic with a library of clinical concepts for intelligent search, problem list reporting, specialty views, and quality measure reporting.
• Qpid quality reporting software speeds workflows and finds more data to improve scores.
• EviCore CDS integrates into the ordering workflow with robust guidelines for the industry’s broadest set of clinical scenarios for radiology, cardiac imaging, and oncology. And the solution automates prior authorization where best practices guidelines are applied.

EviCore is proud to sponsor a cross-stakeholder executive breakfast on how to lower the operational and financial burden of prior authorization on Tuesday, February 21. Join us!
Resolving Prior Authorization Pain Points – A Critical Cross-Stakeholder Conversation
February 21, 7-8am ET Room W209B

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Spok

Booth 2671

Contact: Derek Kiecker, business solutions advisor
derek.kiecker@spok.com
952.230.5306

Spok will demonstrate the latest evolution of its integrated healthcare communications platform at HIMSS17. This release of Spok Care Connect offers new functionality for each solution area of the suite — clinical alerting, secure texting, and the hospital contact center console — to deliver smarter clinical communications that enable care teams to improve the delivery of patient care. Spok will have team members as well as several customers available to discuss the Spok Care Connect platform at HIMSS17 in booth 2671. Spok Care Connect will also be featured in the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase. Giveaways: HIMSS attendees can stop by the Spok booth for a chance to win an Apple Watch. We will have a drawing each day of the event.

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Sunquest Information Systems

Booth 3551

Contact: Trish Moxam, VP, marketing
trish.moxam@sunquestinfo.com

This year, Sunquest is showcasing our commitment to giving every patient the best chance at good health. On-site demos will highlight personalized, patient-centric care; end-to-end diagnostic informatics; and precise, targeted diagnoses and treatments. In addition, Sunquest is hosting a networking happy hour in booth 3551 on Monday, February 20, 4:30–6pm ET. Be sure to stop by to meet the Sunquest team and enjoy a refreshing cocktail or beverage!

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Sutherland

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Sachi Bhalerao
Sachi.bhalerao@sutherlandglobal.com
862.290.1192

As a process transformation company, Sutherland rethinks and rebuilds processes for the digital age by combining the speed and insight of design thinking with the scale and accuracy of data analytics. We have been helping customers, across industries from financial services to healthcare, achieve greater agility through transformed and automated customer experiences for over 30 years. Headquartered in Rochester, NY, Sutherland employs over 38,000 professionals spanning 19 countries around the world.

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SyTrue

To schedule a meeting:

Contact: Kyle Silvestro
kyle@sytrue.com
530.321.7484

You can find us in multiple booths – MidasPlus, nVoq, IDS, and XIFIN.

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TransUnion Healthcare

Booth 372

Contact: Pat Gilmore, SVP, sales
pgilmor@transunion.com
303.483.1931

Please come by and visit TransUnion Healthcare at booth 372. TransUnion makes the healthcare financial process more efficient for patients, providers, and payers by helping providers:

• Engage the patient early, and connecting them with the best payment options.
• Collect more cash upfront.
• Maximize revenue and reduce collections costs.
• Lower uncompensated care.

Stop by and enter our raffle for three Amazon Echos (one given away each day).

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Versus Technology

Booth 1723

Contact: Liz Lutheran, marketing coordinator
info@versustech.com
231.946.5868 x1232

Increased productivity. Happier employees. A better patient experience. These are benefits of using Versus RTLS to optimize your healthcare operations. Our solutions for multi-campus IDNs, single clinics, or small community hospitals include asset tracking, staff and patient workflow, smart hand hygiene, and accurate analytics. Our singular goal is to assist you in improving the delivery of care while enhancing the patient experience. Case in point – HIMSS session speaker Dan Hamilton, COO of Nor-Lea Hospital District, faced an explosion in patient volume, up 78 percent; wait times to see the physician became measured in hours; and satisfaction rates of both patients and staff went from the 90s to all-time lows. Hear how Hamilton’s journey of re-thinking his workflow resulted in optimized scheduling, resource utilization, and care delivery. Session #156: Using Data to Increase Capacity in Ambulatory Care.

You’ll have many opportunities at HIMSS17 to learn how we pair our multi-platform, scalable approach with KLAS-leading location accuracy, software solutions, expert consulting, and implementation services to ensure your project’s success. We’re not just an RTLS vendor — we’re your partner for process improvement.

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Voalte

Booth 673

Contact: Andrew Hofheimer, sales operations manager
ahofheimer@voalte.com
941.312.2830 x267

Voalte develops smartphone solutions that simplify caregiver communication. As the only company to offer a comprehensive mobile communication strategy, Voalte enables care teams inside and outside the hospital to access and exchange information securely.

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Wellsoft

Booth 2342

Contact: Christie Guthrie, EVP, sales and marketing
cguthrie@wellsoft.com
214.455.9574  or 800.597.9909

Wellsoft, developer and provider of the industry-leading Emergency Department Information System, offers complete solutions for hospital and freestanding emergency centers. Wellsoft EDIS is Best in KLAS* and has ranked #1 in KLAS and MD Buyline user surveys of EDIS time and again. Providing solutions for freestanding emergency centers, enterprise-wide or single hospital implementations, Wellsoft is the specialist in Emergency Department Information Systems.

* Wellsoft ranked #1 in the 2015/2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2003, and 2002 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services Emergency Department Market Segment. www.KLASresearch.com

Monday Morning Update 2/13/17

Top News

From the Cerner earnings call, following its release of Q4 results that met analyst expectations but sent shares down 4.4 percent Friday:

• Full-year bookings revenue was basically unchanged vs. “a very tough comparable” of 2015, while revenue grew 8 percent.
• President Zane Burke says that “2016 was disappointing from an ITWorks perspective,” referring to the company’s IT management services.
• Population health revenue grew 13 percent in 2016.
• Non-US revenue grew 6 percent on the year vs. 9 percent growth in domestic revenue.
• The company touted its Value Creation Office that will work with clients in a joint governance model to make organizational improvements, with Cerner going at risk to earn a share of the financial outcome.
• The migration of former Siemens Health Services clients is about halfway through, with a Cerner win rate of 80 percent.

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Reader Comments

From Radar Love: “Re: tracking HIMSS attendees. You said it was gone from badges, but it’s back in the HIMSS conference app.” The HIMSS17 app from Canada-based Sherpa Solutions boasts geolocation services that allow attendees to find each other and apparently for exhibitors to track them (“leverage this innovative tool to reach the right people and boost their ROI.”) It also invisibly monitors attendees – which booths they visit and how long they spend there – so the conference organizer can “implement new pricing strategies, boost your booth space revenue, and design your most effective floor plan ever.” Seems pretty big-brotherish coming from an organization that runs privacy conferences. The app warns that it tracks location even when it’s not open and eats up your phone’s battery power accordingly. Pass.

From New Girl In Town: “Re: stress levels. I’m new to HIT (January) and feeling overwhelmed. Maybe this wasn’t the right industry for me.” I can assure you from experience that health IT has clearly defined seasons and this is the busiest one. January 2 until the HIMSS conference is an absolute madhouse of strategy-setting, PR, and business moves and everybody gets frazzled. A couple of weeks after the conference ends, everything quiets down by 60 percent, and then the summer doldrums begin in May and last until after Labor Day, when the second season runs until Thanksgiving. It may continue to be overwhelming if you work for a fast-growing or fast-failing vendor, but for most of us, a return to a more normal pace is imminent. The HIMSS conference is like the Super Bowl – it’s all you hear about for weeks before and the week after, but then nothing much happens for months.

From Taped Tie: “Re: the Andy Slavitt interview. It’s unusual that you ran it in two parts, the second on a Friday. The Twitterverse was all over it.” The conversation ran longer than usual, so I split it up to make it less burdensome to read in one sitting. Readership is usually a bit lighter on Fridays as people are traveling home and otherwise wrapping up their work week, but the site got around 6,000 page views that day. More importantly, since I run full interview transcripts and don’t give the interviewee a chance to see my questions in advance or to edit their responses afterward, it’s an unfiltered look into what he’s thinking. Speaking of the interview, here’s a fun behind-the-scenes fact – I had told Andy I would need 30 minutes, and as we were getting close to the bottom of the hour, he graciously alerted me that NPR would be calling at any moment, but he would put them off if I needed more time.

From Nurse Analyst: “Re: Presence Health (IL). Just announced Cheryl Rodenfels as SVP of IT operations after serving as interim since Deceber 5, 2016.” The forwarded internal announcement and her LinkedIn profile say just that.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The folks who aren’t going to the HIMSS conference mostly say it’s because their employer doesn’t pay for their attendance (which suggests they would attend otherwise) or because it’s not useful to their jobs. Other reasons expressed:

• “It’s too much of vendor peeing contest.”
• “It’s become a boondoggle / network event.”
• “Too expensive for value provided to us.”
• “Tired of feeling like the duck in the shooting gallery.”
• “It’s about creating new business – not.”
• “All show and not enough substance.”

New poll to your right or here: What would most entice you to interact with a HIMSS exhibitor you don’t know much about?

Welcome to new HIStalk Gold Sponsor Diameter Health. The Farmington, CT-based company’s platform aggregates and normalizes EHR data for use in clinical and analytic applications by health systems, ACOs, HIEs, and health plans. Its Fusion core product scrubs and enhances EHR data using parsing, natural language processing, and proprietary logic to standardize, classify, de-duplicate, and enrich clinical data to create a single, longitudinal patient view that can be exposed via its API. Other products include Analyze (clinical data quality ratings and dashboards); Envision (detects gaps in clinical documentation); and Predict (identifies high-risk patients). The company’s CEO is industry long-timer and biomedical engineer  Eric Rosow (Premise, Allscripts). They’ll be at the HIMSS17 Interoperability Showcase, Booth 9000. Thanks to Diameter Health for supporting HIStalk.

I found a brand new explainer video for Diameter Health on YouTube.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Salesforce. Salesforce Health Cloud puts patients at the center of care, giving providers a deep understanding of them (demographics, communications, clinical and non-clinical information, and data from EHRs and wearables) to deliver insightful, personalized care faster. Patients can access and track their health goals and care plans from any device, while providers unlock their EHR data by using it in apps that turn the system of record into a system of engagement. Salesforce Health Cloud is the ultimate patient relationship management platform. The world’s #1 CRM, reimagined for healthcare, costs $300 per user per month (Health Cloud Enterprise) and includes patient health timelines, care team productivity and collaboration, population analytics, patient lists, a patient community, EHR integration, EHR data objects via FHIR integration, and sophisticated security, support, and educational offerings. You can watch an online demo, schedule a HIMSS meeting (or just drop by Booth # 2675), and see Fitz and The Trantrums live Tuesday night of HIMSS week at the company’s party at BB King’s. Thanks to Salesforce for supporting HIStalk.

I found an intro video for Salesforce Health Cloud on YouTube.

 

We funded the DonorsChoose teacher grant request of Ms. S in South Carolina, who asked for hands-on science supplies for her sixth grade class. She reports: “I was originally supposed to teach sixth grade math, but we lost a teaching position so I was given a near-empty classroom. We have used the meter sticks in several scientific investigations, we have used the magnets with iron filings to see magnetic fields, and the electric motor / generator kits were a huge success. Their eyes lit up when they actually made the motors work. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to see how my students worked together to create science.”

 

Orlando weather looks good, especially for those now buried in snow: the extended forecast says the HIMSS conference will kick off Sunday with 82-degree sunshine. Northeasterners may be shocked to emerge into a world of nearly forgotten colors like green and blue, shown in the live webcam shot of Orlando that I took Saturday afternoon.

Listening: new from One Desire, a new band from Finland whose Flying-V, swirling-synthesizer, harmony-heavy rock sound is reminiscent of Asia, Survivor, or Journey. Fresh nostalgia for fans of 1980s album-oriented rock only. Or, there’s Charly Bliss, which is good once you can get past the helium-sounding vocals that remind me of Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses.

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Last Week’s Most Interesting News

• A Black Book survey finds that 70 percent of hospitals don’t use any electronic patient information that originates from outside their EHR.
• The VA indicates that it will pursue a commercial EHR, with the GAO saying that system should be Cerner since the DoD uses it.
• The Department of Defense goes live at its first MHS Genesis EHR site, Fairchild Air Force Base.
• The Advisory Board Company is reported to be exploring strategic options following share acquisition by an activist investor.

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Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Internet company J2 Global and its Ziff Davis subsidiary may sell off the less-profitable parts of freshly acquired Everyday Health, which runs sites such as MedPage Today (acquired 2010), KevinMD.com (acquired 2010), MayoClinic.org (partnership signed 2009), and Cambridge BioMarketing (acquired 2015) as well as hospital marketing firm Tea Leaves Health. Publicly traded J2, which also owns PCMag.com, bought the company for $465 million. It admits that Tea Leaves Health, acquired for $30 million in August 2015, may never make money. J2 will also lay off 7 percent of the workforce and combine two offices, but its Medpage sites seem safe.

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Decisions

• Arkansas Children’s Hospital (AR) will switch from Meditech to Epic in November 2017.
• Crawford Memorial Hospital (IL) will go live with a BD Pyxis MedStation automated dispensing cabinet system in April 2017.
• Sitka Community Hospital (AK) will go live with an Omnicell automated dispensing cabinet system in 2018.
• Scotland County Memorial Hospital (MO) will switch from TouchPoint Medical MedDispense to a BD Pyxis MedStation automated dispensing cabinet system In June 2017.
• New London Hospital (NH) will switch from BD Pyxis MedStation to an Omnicell automated dispensing cabinet system in summer 2017.

These provider-reported updates are provided by Definitive Healthcare, which offers powerful intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and healthcare providers.

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People

Audacious Inquiry hires Samit Desai, MD (Saint Agnes Healthcare) as chief medical officer.

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Announcements and Implementations

Definitive Healthcare adds episode of care data for hospitals and post-acute care facilities, helping users to understand cost variance in high-impact procedures and conditions covered by CMS Bundled Payments for Care Improvement and Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement programs, made possible by the company’s incorporation of ICD-10 claims data a few weeks ago.   

Rauland and Versus Technology announce bi-directional integration of their respective nurse call and RTLS systems.

Registration continues through March 6 for the Healthcare IT Marketing and PR Conference in Las Vegas April 5-7. Register with promo code “histalk” to save $300. I agreed to mention the event in return for a free pass that I offered to the first responding reader willing to write what they learned on HIStalk afterward, so look for that report later.

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Government and Politics

I missed this from a few weeks back. A CMS review of Medicare Advantage Organization online provider directories finds that 45 percent contain inaccurate provider contact information or incorrectly state that the provider was accepting new patients. CMS was following up on the results of a study of dermatologist plan directory listings in which 46 percent were duplicates and only half of those remaining had correct contact information, accepted the stated insurance, and were willing to schedule a new patient visit. CMS found common problems: medical groups list all their providers at each location regardless whether they actually see patients there; the Medicare Advantage providers don’t validate their provider information thoroughly; and doctors listed as active had often had been retired or dead for years. The studies will continue through a second round.

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Other

Marathon Pharmaceuticals, whose CEO’s previous company acquired old drugs cheap and then jacked up their prices, will sell a 1990s drug that costs $1,600 per year in Europe for $89,000 per year for US patients with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Marketing the drug, which offers modest improvement rather than a cure, also earned the company a free FDA fast-track voucher that it can sell to any bidder, which in the past has profited the holder by up to $350 million. The company’s CEO also founded the Chicago-based healthcare technology incubator MATTER.

An excerpt from a new book from “Moneyball” and “The Big Short” author Michael Lewis says that doctors are no more logical than anyone else when faced with a diagnostic situation – they tend to force observable patient factors into a convincing but possibly wrong diagnosis instead of applying probability theory (note that we’re getting into the issue of whether emotionless artificial intelligence might outperform individual diagnostic judgment, although the article doesn’t mention that). It observes that doctors see what they’re trained to see with undue weighting applied to their own previous cases. It says medicine does not acknowledge uncertainty because doing so also unacceptably acknowledges that doctors make mistakes. Lewis points out that doctors invariably think that a patient’s recovery was due to the treatment they ordered and will more heavily order those same treatments on other patients even though conditions often resolve themselves without treatment. Lewis describes the disconnect between treating an individual patient and treating cohorts of patients:

The safest treatment for any one patient, for instance, might be a course of antibiotics; but the larger society suffers when antibiotics are overprescribed … A doctor who did his job properly really could not just consider the interests of the individual patient; he needed to consider the aggregate of patients with that illness. The issue was even bigger than one of public health policy. Doctors saw the same illness again and again. Treating patients, they weren’t merely making a single bet; they were being asked to make that same bet over and over again … To avoid troubling issues, they were likely to order additional tests … In treating individual patients, doctors often did things they would disapprove of if they were creating a public policy to treat groups of patients with the exact same illness.

A Health Affairs article analyzes the relationship among employment, health, and insurance. Some of its points:

• The labor force continues to age because of the Baby Boomer generation and those who are working past 65.
• Higher numbers of part-time and contract workers, the increasing “gig economy,” and a decline in union membership have led to a 10 percent reduction in employer-sponsored insurance from 2000 to 2010.
• Widespread opiate misuse has increased mortality in middle-aged, less-educated men who were already hit hardest by unemployment.
• Higher unemployment has encouraged more people to claim disabilities, with 43 percent of middle-aged, unemployed men reporting having a disability, with many of them taking prescription pain medications every day.
• The Affordable Care Act raised the number of insured people, including Medicaid, but did not reduce the extent of employer-sponsored insurance. It created a safety net that mitigated some aspects of the changing labor market.
• Employers are trying wellness programs to address costly chronic conditions by rewarding good health behavior, but they won’t necessarily see financial benefit since employees might not stick around as long as it takes for their health to improve. Wellness programs may also raise employee privacy issues,  the targeted conditions and financial penalties they incorporate may fall disproportionately on lower-income employees. and some aspects of those programs can run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A hospital inpatient is arrested for drug possession after nurses revive him from a narcotic stupor, only to find that “numerous” visitors afterward were bringing him more heroin.

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Sponsor Updates

• Verscend Technologies’ HEDIS Measure are certified and ready for the 2017 season.

Blog Posts

• Remote Patient Monitoring: Industry Barriers, Tech (Validic)
• How far can automated claim editors go? Three fast facts you should know (Verscend)
• On Your Way to VNA? (Vital Imaging)
• The best (and brightest). (Voalte)
• The 10 New Rules of the Inbound Contact Center (West Corp.)
• The data are in: Health analytics save lives (Conduent Health)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 2/10/17

Top News

VA Acting Assistant Secretary/CIO Rob Thomas tells the House Veterans Committee that he is confident that the VA will replace VistA with a commercial system.

GAO Director of Management Issues Dave Powner added, “VA needs to let go of VistA and go with a commercial solution. We see no justification for VA and DoD pursuing separate systems.”

Thomas said the VA has remedied its previous lack of a coherent strategy, but Powner says a series of revolving door CIOs has caused too much strategic pondering without much to show for it.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profiles

Lucro is a digital platform helping healthcare organizations make better purchasing decisions. Created with input from innovators at the nation’s leading health systems and a deep understanding of the healthcare buying cycle, Lucro exists to support providers by giving them the tools to evaluate and choose their best vendor partners. Accelerate your decisions with Lucro. Visit www.lucro.com.

Hedgeye Risk Management is an independent investment research and online financial media company. Focused exclusively on generating and delivering thoughtful investment ideas in a proven buy-side process, the firm combines quantitative, bottom-up and macro analysis with an emphasis on timing. The Hedgeye team features some of the most highly-regarded research analysts on Wall Street, all with buy-side experience, covering Macro, Financials, Energy, Healthcare, Retail, Gaming, Lodging & Leisure (GLL), Restaurants, Industrials, Consumer Staples, Internet & Media, Housing, Materials, Technology, Demography and Washington policy analysis.  For more information please visit www.hedgeye.com.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Gold Sponsor Casenet. The Bedford, MA-based company offers the TruCare enterprise care management solution to improve care coordination, offering a single, member-centric, interoperable platform for utilization, case, disease, and population health management. Its customer base includes health plans, TPAs, and states that manage their own Medicaid programs. Benefits include improved outcomes, reduced cost, enhanced care management team productivity, and increased satisfaction. Thanks to Casenet for supporting HIStalk.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Solutionreach. The Lehi, UT-based company offers patient relationship management tools. Solutions include SR Conversations (incoming text message management), Limelight Self-Scheduling, appointment reminders, appointment wait list management, a check-in tablet, a patient portal, patient payments, patient surveys, electronic newsletters and email marketing, patient reviews and referrals, online reviews with Healthgrades integration, video testimonials, integrated social media, patient geographic mapping, and a mobile app that allows patients to manage appointments, submit payments, and send secure messages. Sign up for a demo and get a $50 Amazon gift card and download the “No-Shows No More” white paper. Thanks to Solutionreach for supporting HIStalk.

I found this just-published Solutionreach video describing how the company’s technology helps a dental clinic fill gaps in its schedule by text messaging patients.

We funded the DonorsChoose grant request of Ms. M in Arkansas, who asked for economics books and games for her elementary school classes. She reports, “The excitement that my students express when we have a day filled with economics games and experiences is hard to explain. I am so blessed with students who love to learn; however, challenged with the responsibility to continue to find innovative ways to reach each of them. Your donation provided my students with games such as Ticket to Ride and The Game of Life. These games simulate the economics present in our lives.”

One final HIStalkapalooza reminder before we stop talking about it and actually do it: those who received an email invitation must click the enclosed link to complete their registration. You otherwise won’t be on our check-in list, meaning you’ll be sulking around dejectedly at the neighboring Bongo’s Cuban Cafe while more attentive link-clickers are carousing without you inside the House of Blues. At least you’ll be warm even with our cold shoulder in that case – the extended weather forecast for Orlando looks like mid-70s for the high each day.

Well, this is a confidence-inspiring vendor email.

This week on HIStalk Practice: InnovaTel Telepsychiatry raises $2 million. Community Care of North Carolina launches digital doc-sharing program with pharmacists. Innovaccer, Modernizing Medicine add MIPS reporting tools. Illuma Care Connections launches with HIE-like capabilities for eye care providers. Fauquier Free Clinic adds telepsychiatry services. Mission Treatment and Recovery adopts Telehealthcare’s messaging tech. The Consultant’s Corner focuses on healthcare reform’s impact on revenue cycle integration.

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Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Cerner reports Q4 results: revenue up 7 percent, adjusted EPS $0.61 vs. $0.61, meeting analyst expectations for both.

 

A federal judge blocks the proposed $48 billion merger of insurers Anthem and Cigna, citing anticompetitive concerns. Anthem, which will owe Cigna $1.8 billion if the deal falls through, says it will appeal.

Phynd Technologies announces that it has received an unspecified new investment by the venture fund of UNC Rex Healthcare (NC).

Doctor review site CareDash raises $2 million in venture debt financing and a line of credit. The company says it differs from other doctor review sites because it doesn’t accept money to remove negative reviews and it focuses on lower-income consumers. CareDash has raised $500,000 in equity funding and says it generated $6.7 million in revenue in 2016, although it doesn’t say how it makes money. I looked up a few doctors and the tiny number of reviews make the site’s usefulness questionable compared to Healthgrades or other doctor search sites.

Nashville-based healthcare blockchain vendor consortium Hashed Health raises $2 million in an initial funding round led by Martin Ventures.

Israel-based Intensix, which offers a real-time predictive analytics solution that detects ICU patient deterioration, raises $8.3 million in a Series A funding round.

China-focused search engine provider Baidu shuts down its mobile healthcare business to focus on AI-enabled healthcare research. The two-year-old unit focused on online hospital appointment scheduling and an ask-a-doctor service. Baidu’s AI arm will add a service where experts answer medical questions online as well as a diagnostic chatbot. The company says it wants to move upstream from low-tech healthcare offerings into AI-powered genomic and drug research. The Chinese government restricted the company’s healthcare advertising last year following the death of a student who sought questionable treatment based on Baidu’s paid search results of a company that was operating from inside a hospital, but only as a paying tenant.

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Sales

San Juan Medical Center (NM) chooses Cerner’s clinical, financial, and population health management systems.

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People

Welltok hires Rob Scavo (TriZetto) as president/COO.

Alex Ginzburg (Intervention Insights) joins Casenet as CIO.

Avaap hires Craig Joseph, MD (El Camino Hospital) as chief medical officer.

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Announcements and Implementations

HIMSS announces its 2016 Book of the Year as “Health Information Exchange: Navigating and Managing a Network of Health Information Systems,” edited by Brian Dixon, PhD of Indiana University.

The Society for Participatory Medicine will create a research library at Weill Cornell Medicine (NY) to identify key literature references related to participatory health interventions, best practices for patient participation, and benefits. 

Netsmart  will use the InterSystems data and analytics platform to expand the capabilities of its MyAvatar CareRecord behavioral and post-acute care EHR.

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Government and Politics

The Department of Defense goes live at its first Cerner-powered MHS Genesis EHR site at Fairchild Air Force Base (WA), adding that it will provide more information about the implementation to the public next week.

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Privacy and Security

The National Hockey League, defending itself against a class action lawsuit related to player head injuries, demands research information from Boston University that includes the identities and medical records of deceased athletes who donated their brains for research. The university’s studies of the brains of 96 former National Football League players found that 92 showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, as did those of all five professional hockey players it has reviewed. The NHL argues that the link is inconclusive even though the NFL has acknowledged the problem among football players.

The owner of a Milwaukee,WI-based educational publishing company sues pharmacy benefits manager EnvisionRXOptions, saying he keeps getting patient faxes intended for the PBM even though their fax numbers are not at all similar. The publishing company owner says the PBM is negligent (but doesn’t explain how since they aren’t the ones sending the faxes) and argues that receiving PHI-containing faxes makes him liable for HIPAA violations (which clearly is not the case since he’s not a covered entity or business associate). The publisher seeks more than $500,000. He had previously offered to sell his fax number to the PBM, but no deal was reached.

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Other

Results from a new Black Book EHR user survey show that interoperability is falling short for most providers:

• 70 percent of hospitals aren’t using any information from outside their own EHR
• 22 percent of medical records administrators say they can’t obtain external information in a useful format
• 21 percent of hospital-based doctors don’t trust information sent from outside
• More than three-fourths of independent practices don’t think their technologies can support value-based payments
• Two-thirds of independent practices are considering merging with a health system because of technology and reimbursement issues
• 81 percent of doctors expect their EHR vendor to enable the interoperability they will need to support population health management, precision medicine, and value-based payments

In England, a nurse whose mistake killed a heart bypass patient is spared jail time. She pulled the wrong blood type from a dispensing cabinet, checked it against the wrong computer records, then tried to blame a co-worker after the patient died. She claimed that the information of two patients with the same last name were not displayed correctly on the computer screen.

An Austin, TX lawyer says that public records show that the University of Texas Dell Medical School gets 84 percent of its faculty compensation from taxpayer-funded Central Health, taking $105 million so far from funds that he says should instead be spent on providing services to low-income residents.

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Sponsor Updates

• Sagacious Consultants employees pack 1,400 pounds of food to help prepare 20,000 meals at the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
• AdvancedMD opens registration for its Evo17 user conference that will be held in Nashville September 20-24.
• HCS redesigns its website.
• Sara Miller joins Audacious Inquiry as senior director.
• Diameter Health posts a new video titled “Taming Clinical Data Across the Care Continuum.”
• Optimum Healthcare IT hires Toni Tribble Jarrett as executive director for advisory services.
• Gartner includes Logicworks in its “Market Guide for Cloud Service Providers to Healthcare.”
• MedData will exhibit at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting February 15-18 in San Antonio.
• Medicomp Systems will host its customer conference April 24-28 in Reston, VA
• Navicure will exhibit at the 2017 Healthpac Annual Users Meeting February 10-12 in Savannah, GA.
• Experian Health will exhibit at HFMA North Dakota February 16-17 in Minot, ND.
• PeriGen will exhibit at the AWHONN California Section Conference February 17-18 in Berkeley.
• Point-of-Care Partners releases a new video, “EHR Trends: Integrated PDMPs. Key to Combating Opioid Abuse.”
• Think Bigger Business Magazine names Sphere3 a 2017 “25 Under 25 Award” winner.

Blog Posts

• Are you ready to get more clarity at HIMSS17? (Medicity)
• Community Connect success defined: on time/under budget (Nordic)
• Provider Communications in the Murky Middle (Spok)
• MModal Fluency Direct Awarded #1 out of 4 in KLAS Ranking for Speech Recognition, Front-End EMR (MModal)
• A Virtualized Healthcare Environment: The keys to improving Metro Health: University of Michigan Health’s clinical and patient experience (Imprivata)
• Increase Hospital Revenue with Qualified Leads (Influence Health)
• Predictive Analytics in Healthcare: Fact, Fiction or Future? (Liaison Technologies)
• Are your patient payment processes “a serious problem” or a “game changer?” (Navicure)
• The Technologies That Are Changing Healthcare (Orion Health)
• Notemares (PatientKeeper)
• Enterprise Imaging: Supporting today’s health IT demands (Lexmark)
• Patient Generated Health Data: Taking Steps Toward Better Health Care (PMD)
• A Virtual Goldmine: Why Criminals Target Patient Data (Part 1) (Protenus)
• A Good Reason to be in Cleveland in the Winter (Summit Healthcare)
• A Lack of Electronic Data Exchange Capabilities Makes Caregiving “Dizzying” (Surescripts)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 2/8/17

Top News

A National Academy of Sciences article describes a reusable, inkjet-printable lab-on-a-chip for point-of-care diagnostics that costs just $0.01.

Heading the NIH-funded project is Stanford Genome Technology Center’s Rahim Esfandyarpour, PhD, an engineering associate who says inexpensive diagnostics could improve low survival rates in developing countries of conditions such as breast cancer, malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV.

Esfandyarpour summarizes, “Maybe $1 in the US doesn’t count that much, but somewhere in the developing world, it’s a lot of money.”

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Reader Comments

From Guacamole Greg: “Re: EHR. This doctor’s article says she inadvertently closed the wrong EHR tab and lost the note she was writing without warning. It fascinates me to what extent my colleagues view things like this as anything less than criminally negligent design errors. Still, I’m also amazed to the extent to which medical people don’t grasp the difference between structured data entry and word processing.” The doctor-author practices at Bellevue Hospital. She doesn’t mention the EHR she was using, although I assume QuadraMed since I don’t think they’re live on Epic yet. She bemoans the “special circle of hell created by cocksure computer programmers whose systems can incinerate hours of work” and wonders why EHRs don’t have a Word-like auto-save feature. Perhaps those who know common EHRs can answer the question – do the systems you know allow closing an entry screen without warning the user that they will lose their work? I think expecting auto-save is a bit much, but it’s reasonable to warn a user that their action is going to trash whatever they’ve entered but haven’t saved. The author had previously complained in a New York Times article that the EHR has a limit of 1,000 characters and she struggles to squeeze in lengthy notes.

From Chris: “Re: VitalWare’s website. It’s been hacked again, with comments suggesting a different hacker. Any concern with PHI or customer data?” Not likely. Their public-facing website is running WordPress v. 4.7, which is getting hacked all over the place due to a REST API vulnerability. They really need to apply the 4.7.2 upgrade, which takes maybe 30 seconds and is unlikely to cause problems. Auto-updating of the WordPress core is enabled by default, I think, so perhaps they made the mistake of turning that off. In any case, it’s probably only WordPress that was hacked and that platform isn’t connected to anything sensitive on the back end – it’s just a website content management system.

From Cabin Boy: “Re: Stanford. I can confirm the changes reported by Silicon Valley Geek in your late January post. At least some parts of the Epic rollout have been cut back after the organization failed to fund parts of its project plan and a lot of executives and contractors were replaced.”  

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

Healthcare’s most trusted data integration and compliant hosting company has a new name — Datica. Same trusted expertise; new and exciting moniker. The rebranded name better reflects the company’s emphasis on healthcare’s great challenge — a deluge of data to be integrated, exchanged, shared, and protected. Datica provides the ways and means for connecting healthcare. Check out the rebranded website www.datica.com, the new Twitter page @daticahealth, and make sure you stop by HIMSS booth #8152 for coffee or check this HIStalkapalooza sponsor out at their Datica cabana on the dance floor.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

 

We funded the DonorsChoose grant request of Ms. L in Texas, who asked for books and a storage cart for her elementary school class. She says students are now able to choose books at their own reading level, where they “pick spots on the floor where they are able to stretch out and read.”

 

Stopping by our HIMSS booth (#4845) on Tuesday, February 21 will be Industry long-timer and WebPT CEO Nancy Ham, who will offer career advice to women from 4:00 until 5:00 p.m. Saying hello to visitors from our microscopic booth on Monday from 1:00 to 2:00 will be Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, the 18th US Surgeon General.

Thanks to new HIStalkapalooza sponsors Clearsense (healthcare data science) and Hedgeye (financial and research media). I’ll have more about them later. 

Welcome to new HIStalk Gold Sponsor AssessURhealth. The company helps clinicians assess a patient’s health risk in several mental and behavioral health categories using a five-minute iPad survey that can be completed in the waiting room, after which the results are securely delivered directly to the EHR so they can be reviewed with the patient. Providers increase their revenue while screening patients for depression, anxiety, opioid risk, PTSD, and other conditions in raising awareness of mental and behavioral health. Thanks to AssessURhealth for supporting HIStalk.

I found this AssessURhealth intro video on YouTube.

Dear HIMSS-owned publication, sorry to be on your case again, but it’s really embarrassing that a publication dispensing health IT information can’t spell HIPAA correctly. Not that it matters since the JPP case had nothing to do with HIPAA despite your headline – ESPN is not a covered entity. Searching your site even turned up examples where you’ve spelled your own organization’s name incorrectly. Fake news! Sad!

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Webinars

February 8 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Machine Learning Using Healthcare.ai: a Hands-on Learning Session.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenter: Levi Thatcher, director of data science, Health Catalyst. This webinar offers a tour of Healthcare.ai, a free predictive analytics platform for healthcare, with a live demo of using it to implement a healthcare-specific machine learning model from data source to patient impact. The presenter will go through a hands-on coding example while sharing his insights on the value of predictive analytics, the best path towards implementation, and avoiding common pitfalls.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

HIPAA-compliant hosting and integration services vendor Catalyze renames itself to Datica. I’m sometimes skeptical of a seemingly gratuitous rebranding, but co-founder Travis Good, MD explained that quite a few healthcare-related companies, incubators, and venture funds have used the name Catalyst as their service mark, observing that the Internet has made it hard to find a name that is securable and unique. There’s a good lesson there for newly formed companies – choose a name that is memorable, Google-able, and not already in use in healthcare, which is harder than it sounds (which is why new companies often prefer making up a word).

Cloud-based patient matching system vendor Verato raises $12.5 million in a Series B funding round, increasing its total to $25 million.

A Connecticut investment bank loses its bid to avoid paying $1.25 million to two elderly retirees to whom its broker sold shares of Nashville-based EHR implementation vendor iPractice Group in 2012. The Nashville startup shut down the following year.

Physician staffing company TeamHealth will pay $60 million to settle charges that its hospitalists up-coded to create inflated bills as pressured by the company.

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People

Rich Walsh (Philips Wellcentive) joins Continuum Health Alliance as VP of business development.

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Sales

Novant Health (NC) chooses Glytec’s eGlycemic Management System for personalized glucose control in its 14 hospitals.

Oregon Advanced Imaging (OR) selects McKesson for revenue cycle management.

Saint Francis Healthcare Partners (CT) will implement Orion Health’s Amadeus precision medicine platform.

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Announcements and Implementations

First Databank and Translational Software, Inc. will collaborate to develop pharmacogenomics-based drug knowledge that will provide clinicians with genomic-related risk information when prescribing drugs.

BloodCenter of Wisconsin and Fresenius Kabi launch a pilot program at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin that will use RFID to track and inventory blood products.

InstaMed releases a secure token that allows providers and payers to accept online credit card payments without storing or accessing cardholder data directly.

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Other

A USA Today article by the CEO of The Permanente Medical Group questions why the US isn’t paying more attention to India’s 20-hospital Narayana Health, where state-of-the-art heart surgery costs $1,800 vs. $90,000 in the US with outcomes that are among the best in the world. He observed the procedures first hand:

In surgery, the experience of the surgeon and the team are the best predictors of superior clinical outcomes. As you might imagine, given the huge volume of procedures his team performs each day, his hospital’s results are exceptional … clinicians use a sophisticated electronic health record they developed, with the information stored on an iPad. Unlike nearly all US EHR systems, the application is so intuitive that minimal physician or nurse training is required. The operating rooms themselves have huge windows leading to protected gardens designed to allow natural sunlight to enter and spur creativity. The bedside monitoring equipment links with a central computer system, allowing clinical leaders like Devi to measure each day how long it took a physician to intervene for a potentially urgent medical problem. In the United States this often exceeds an hour at night and on the weekend. In India it was eight minutes. The disruptive innovation he has implemented isn’t just lower cost, it’s also higher quality. The hospital’s focus on people was widely evident. Embroidered on the white coats of doctors, nurses and staff was the question, "How can I help you?"

Weird News Andy titles this story “Roach Nosetel,” where roaches check in but don’t check out – they get evicted. Doctors in India investigate a woman’s “wiggling” sensation in her nose following her unsuccessful visits to three other hospitals, finally identifying the problem as a full-grown, live cockroach that had made its way high into her nasal passages. They removed it, adding it to their list of successful nasal extractions in previous patients that includes beads, batteries, chalk, and a leech.

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Sponsor Updates

• The Sequoia Project appoints Medicity’s Brian Ahier to its board.
• Florida Governor Rick Scott honors Voalte Founder and President Trey Lauderdale for creating jobs in the state.
• ZeOmega’s Jiva 6.1 achieves ONC Health IT 2014 edition modular EHR certification from ICSDA Labs.
• ZirMed will exhibit at the Healthpac Users Meeting February 9-11 in Savannah, GA.
• Meditech posts a case study titled “It’s in Their DNA – Avera Health Drives Precision Medicine at the Point of Care”
• Agfa HealthCare and Telemedicine Technologies Company sign a memorandum of understanding at Arab Health.
• The South Florida Business Journal profiles Aprima Medical Software’s acquisition of Healthcare Data Solutions.
• Bernoulli publishes a new booklet, “Medical Device Connectivity & Informatics.”
• Besler Consulting releases a new podcast, “What is Revenue Integrity?”
• CoverMyMeds COO Michelle Brown will speak at the Columbus Women in Technology event February 15 in Columbus, OH.
• HCI Group releases a new podcast, “MACRA: Preparation, Benefits, and Third-Party Assistance.”

Blog Posts

• Applying Agile Principles to Epic System Maintenance (Ellis  & Adams)
• Bridging Communication in the Multi-Generational Workplace (TierPoint)
• Will Blockchain solve healthcare’s interoperability challenges? (Infor)
• At HIMSS17, unlock the power of your data (Medicity)
• KLAS Recognizes Impact Advisors as Clinical Optimization Leader (Impact Advisors)
• CEO Bruce Cerullo shares a few things you might not know about Nordic (Nordic)
• Zynx Health Named KLAS Category Leader for CDS – Order Sets for Second Consecutive Year (Zynx Health)
• 5 Things We’re Looking Forward to at HIMSS17 (Dimensional Insight)
• Verscend Receives 2017 Best in KLAS Award for Payer Quality Analytics and Reporting Solutions (Verscend Technologies)
• Transitioning to MACRA & MIPS in 2017 – Have You Picked Your Pace? (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• From a “Wait-and-React” to a “Detect-and-Prevent” Healthcare Model (Validic)
• How population health analytics can help identify and address opioid abuse (Verscend)
• More perspectives on healthcare’s future (Conduent Health)
• Value for the Patient (Arcadia Healthcare Solutions)
• 2017 Healthcare Trends Part 3: The Rise and Fall of the EHR (Datica)
• Healthcare Supply Chains Face Cost Issues and Data Hurdles (Black Book Market Research)
• Competency-Based Training Program (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)
• How to Succeed with CPC+: Three Areas of Focus for Primary Care Practices (ECG Management Consultants)
• 4 medical innovations to watch for in the next 100 years (Elsevier Clinical Solutions)
• 4 Pillars to a 360-Degree Physician View (Evariant)
• How Analytics can Benefit 4 Key Members of the Compliance Team (Hayes Management Consulting)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Health IT Changes the Game for Workplace Wellness

From next-generation wearables to predictive analytics, healthcare technology is helping employers gain greater ROI from workplace wellness programs.
By @JennHIStalk

The month of January has come and gone, no doubt leaving a plethora of abandoned New Year’s resolutions in its wake. Personal goals related to weight loss, healthier eating, better sleep, and less stress – to name a few – have fallen by the wayside for some, as regular routines (and familiar bad habits) kick back in after the holidays. This month’s Super Bowl parties, Valentine’s treats, and even HIMSS exhibit hall fare threaten to trip up even the most dedicated of goal-keepers.

Employers of all sizes have, over the last several years, recognized they have a part to play in the resolution game – one that extends beyond pounds shed and muscle gained to fewer sick days, increased productivity, and lower overall healthcare costs for employee and employer alike. Nearly 20 percent of all employers offered comprehensive wellness programs in 2015 and 2016, according to a 2016 United Benefit Advisors survey, which also found that such programs are the most prevalent among education, government, and utilities employers.

These programs have typically consisted of health risk assessments, biometric screenings or physical exams, coaching for high-risk employees, seminars or workshops, and, of course, incentives for participation. Technology’s role in these programs has become increasingly sophisticated,  evolving from basic clip-on pedometers to BYOD programs that serve up tailored employee offerings based on claims and clinical data. Some may see that level of sophistication as being in direct correlation to the out-of-pocket healthcare costs increasingly shouldered by consumers.

“In the past, employee wellness programs have mostly been built around physical health,” explains Michelle Snyder, chief marketing officer at Welltok, which has developed a wellness technology platform that uses predictive analytics to offer employees custom programs and incentives. “But now that consumers are having to take on more of the cost burden for healthcare, they’re beginning to want their employers to help them manage not only their physical health, but also their financial health, emotional health, and social connectedness.”

Employers, in turn, are looking to better control their healthcare costs and improve employee productivity, satisfaction, and morale. Snyder adds that employers are also eager to find ways to better engage employees in wellness programs already up and running. “The two main reasons we’ve found that employees aren’t engaging have to do with the fact that they didn’t know the programs existed and the programs aren’t relevant to the individual employee.”

From Pedometers to Predictive Analytics

As employers have begun to focus on more than just the physical health of their employees, their need for more tailored technologies has grown. “I think wearables sometimes get a bad rap,” Snyder says. “People will wear them and some employers think of that as the centerpiece. That’s the answer to their corporate wellness program. That’s great, but those devices should be just a piece of the bigger picture. The real-time data you can get from wearables is important, but its importance is tied to all of the other data streams that are a part of that wellness program. Those step counts, for example, have to be tied to other data sets to make it really rich and valuable for the employer, and for the employer to figure out how to better target and engage with employees.”

The State of Colorado has realized the need to think beyond pedometers in the years since it launched its wellness program. “When we launched our program in mid-2013, we secured funds to distribute 1,000 digital pedometers on a first-come, first-serve basis,” says Statewide Wellness Coordinator Nate Sassano. “Those pedometers connected automatically to a customized activity in our program. Since then, we have expanded that activity, and Welltok, which provides our platform, has expanded its digital connections. Today, employees who own just about any device can connect it to our physical activity programs on the CafeWell platform.”

Sassano has steered the state beyond pedometers to include CafeWell Concierge, an IBM Watson-powered app that offers up personalized recommendations to help employees achieve optimal health and get the most out of their state health plan benefits. “I believe that having one hub, as we do with CafeWell — where employees can go to access all of our wellness programming as well as become educated about their benefits — has greatly enhanced our program and increased participation.”

Sassano isn’t stopping there. He is in the process of expanding the offerings in the CafeWell platform to include other wellness vendors that deal with weight and stress management. He adds that, “This connection between vendors will allow our employees to participate in activities seamlessly and help them easily earn incentives for their participation.”

Turnkey Benefits

Smaller companies tend to look for similar wellness program benefits, albeit in a more turnkey fashion. Sanford, FL-based beverage distribution company Wayne Densch, for example, is somewhat new to the world of wellness programs, but is already aware of the role health technology can play in making them a success.

The company, which launched its wellness program in 2015 with biometric screenings, began using activity trackers when it adopted UnitedHealthcare’s Motion program in January 2016. The program enables employees and their covered spouses to earn up to $1,500 per year in deductible credits by meeting daily walking goals related to frequency, intensity, and tenacity. Deposits are made on a quarterly basis and help employees and their dependents offset covered medical expenses.

“As a relatively small company, it was important to find a wellness program that was largely turnkey and easy to implement, while still effective in driving engagement,” says Thomas Williams, director of accounting. “We use the program’s proprietary Trio device, which was developed to track the program’s specific walking goals. Employees are able to keep tabs on their progress using the program’s mobile app or website. By using technology that is intuitive and engaging, our employees have become more invested in maintaining and improving their well-being.”

Fine-Tuning for Better Engagement

UnitedHealthcare initially rolled out its Motion program early last year as a pilot across 12 states and has since expanded it to 40 states. That initial trial helped the company realize what employees liked and disliked about the program. “Interest in the program has been very broad, with companies across all industries and sizes adopting it,” says Craig Hankins, VP of digital products. “After introducing the program as a pilot, we identified several lessons that we applied to the broader expansion. First, to help people get going with the program, we added a registration credit. By providing a $40 credit for signing up, we created an incentive to get people started, which helped drive higher adoption rates. Second, we recognized people are interested in accessing additional devices. That’s why we worked with Qualcomm Life to introduce a BYOD model, which enables the addition of activity trackers from some of the nation’s leading technology companies.”

“Ultimately,” he adds, “the motivation for implementing Motion was simple: Help create happier and healthier employees. We know wearable devices represent a new way to encourage employees to become more active, helping people walk their way to improved health and earn financial incentives in the process.”

Understanding Employer ROI

Healthier, happier employees are surely good for a company’s bottom line, but how do employers translate happiness into lower overall costs and greater productivity? Where does the pilot phase end and true ROI begin?

Sassano seems optimistic about the State of Colorado’s expected return. “Participation in our first year was 50 percent, which I think speaks to the excitement of our employees and their interest in the program,” he says. “Of the 32,000 benefit-eligible employees we have today, we have around 52 percent participation today. While it is still early to effectively measure effects on health outcomes and productivity, we are starting to see evidence that participating employees have a lower cost in our health plans.”

Williams sings a similar tune, noting that Wayne Densch’s initial results have been positive for both employees and employer. “With participation rates exceeding 90 percent, the response from employees has been overwhelmingly positive. We are seeing walking and wellness become a bigger priority among our employees, with daily walking groups helping to keep people motivated. We have seen employees shed pounds and improve their fitness levels.”

Gaining in Importance

Employers of all sizes look to corporate wellness programs to help them trim costs and attract and retain talent. As the healthcare industry remains on high alert for impending changes to the Affordable Care Act (which may result in higher out-of-pocket costs for all), wellness programs and the technologies they use will have a greater role to play in keeping costly, preventable conditions at bay.

Monday Morning Update 2/6/17

Top News

Bloomberg reports that The Advisory Board Company is considering strategic options – potentially including a sale of the company — following last month’s acquisition of 8.3 percent of its shares by an activist investor.

ABCO shares have climbed nearly 50 percent since mid-December 2016, although their one-year performance of 9.6 percent and five-year increase of 29 percent trails the Nasdaq’s 30 percent and 95 percent, respectively. Above is the one-year chart of ABCO (green) vs. the Nasdaq (blue). The company’s valuation is nearly $2 billion.

The Advisory Board announced a six percent workforce reduction last month along with its exit of some business lines and the closing of four offices. The company says it will honor its commitment to add 1,000 jobs as required by a $60 million, 10-year tax break offered by Washington, DC to consolidate its offices at a new location in Mount Vernon Square.

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Reader Comments

From Flash in the Pan: “Re: Verscend Technologies, formerly Verisk Health. Restructuring since the Veritas acquisition resulted in 185 layoffs and the elimination of solutions this week.” CEO Emad RIzk, MD provided this response: “Verscend Technologies reorganized this week, resulting in a small workforce reduction. Verscend is a high-performing organization positioned for growth and will continue to invest in its people, technology, solutions, and customers. We reorganized to improve efficiency, reduce redundancies, and position us for significant growth. We are not eliminating any products, and no Verscend offices are closing as a result.”

From Ruby Claret: “Re: APIs. This article says APIs are like the industrial age, when adoption of interchangeable parts changed everything.” I’m not sure that’s an apt analogy. Interchangeable parts were devised to allow a specific company to move from the work of individual craftsmen to mass producing products on an assembly line at a lower cost. Those early companies weren’t standardizing parts to be used by their competitors. Interchangeable parts are more like proprietary code libraries used by vendors across multiple products. As an alternative theory of how interoperability might be supported and incented, I offer a 20-year-old article about Visa founder Dee Hock:

Hock designed the organization according to his philosophy: highly decentralized and highly collaborative. Authority, initiative, decision making, wealth — everything possible is pushed out to the periphery of the organization, to the members … On the one hand, the member financial institutions are fierce competitors … On the other hand, the members also have to cooperate with each other: for the system to work, participating merchants must be able to take any Visa card issued by any bank, anywhere. That means that the banks abide by certain standards on issues such as card layout. Even more important, they participate in a common clearinghouse operation, the system that reconciles all the accounts and makes sure merchants get paid for each purchase, the transactions are cleared between banks, and customers get billed … No one way of doing business, dictated from headquarters, could possibly have worked. "It was beyond the power of reason to design an organization to deal with such complexity," says Hock.

From Banshee: “Re: VitalWare. Site hacked?” Apparently. Most horrifying is that hacker MuhmadEmad, who apparently hit a bunch of sites over the weekend as evidenced by Googling the text above, changed the font to Comic Sans. The good news is that his hack seems to consist of just posting an anti-ISIS messages as a WordPress post while leaving the site otherwise intact, which should make recovery uneventful.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

Since its founding in 2010, Nordic has evolved from its roots as a leader in EHR staffing to not only the world’s largest Epic consulting firm, but a firm with a broad set of KLAS-proven healthcare IT solutions. Featuring nearly 700 consultants, Nordic has organized those experts to solve healthcare organizations’ most challenging health IT problems with carefully crafted solutions. These solutions were developed and refined over the last few years to meet the evolving needs of Nordic’s client partners, including the shift to value-based care, mergers and acquisitions, Community Connect, upgrades, optimization, revenue cycle transformation, analytics, a suite of managed service offerings (including tier 2 application support), and more. At HIMSS17, visit Nordic at booth 903 and RSVP for Nordic’s reception. To learn more, visit nordicwi.com.

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Meet Your HIStalkapalooza Hosts

Allow your hosts to introduce themselves:

Bonny Roberts slid down the rabbit hole in 2013 when her “Ode to Mr. H” earned her the preeminent title (and sash) as Mr. H’s Secret Crush. Since then she has contributed a bit to the publication and much to the fervor that is HIStalkapalooza. In preparation for role as greeter on the red carpet, Bonny admits to using her Frontier Airline miles to purchase People, Us, and Star magazine subscriptions. She has also studied Melissa Rivers technique and is diligently practicing the complete opposite. Bonny has worked in the healthcare information technology industry for the past 19 years and is the VP of customer experience for Aventura Software in Denver, CO.

First things first – Barry Wightman published his first novel, Pepperland, a revolutionary, technology, rock ‘n’ roll love story in 2013. The book received a starred review on Booklist, won a Silver IPPY for best fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards. His day job – he’s creative director for Forward Health Group, Inc., a maker of population health measurement platforms and data strategies that drive success in the move to value. Rest of the time – he can still be found with a guitar in hand figuring out the riffs to old Kinks records.

Ever since she was a little girl, Julie Yoo‘s lifelong dream has been to emcee the HISsies at HIStalkapalooza. In between grueling rehearsals, Julie oversees the product and business development teams at Kyruus. After February 20, with lifelong aspirations fulfilled, she will shift her focus back to improving patient access one patient-provider match at a time.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Poll respondents say they’re going to the HIMSS conference primarily to socialize and spend time in the exhibit hall, which should shock only that handful of people who thought the educational track was the big draw. Mobile Man provides the unsolicited but satisfying response: “One word … HIStalkapalooza!”

New poll to your right or here, as suggested by a reader: if you aren’t going to the HIMSS conference, why not? I’m sure I omitted some good reasons in my list of presumptive choices, so I’ve added a space for providing your own answer.

Ms. F from Arizona reports on the Chromebooks we provided in funding her DonorsChoose teacher grant request, saying that most of her students wouldn’t have access to technology otherwise. She is assigning them work on school-approved math programs that can be completed without leaving the classroom. 

Thanks to the following companies for their recent support of HIStalk. Click a logo for more information.

 

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Last Week’s Most Interesting News

• Children’s Health (TX) is fined $3.2 million for repeated non-compliance with HIPAA security standards, including loss of two unencrypted devices.
• Meditech’s FY2016 financial report shows significant declines in product and overall revenue, as net income has dropped 41 percent since FY2014.
• OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma gives the State of Virginia a $3.1 million grant to integrate its prescription drug monitoring database with provider EHRs.
• The source of President Trump’s claim that illegally cast votes cost him a popular vote win is discovered to be Gregg Phillips, chairman of Medicaid eligibility decision support tool vendor AutoGov.
• Global Health Exchange and Vyne are reported to be exploring selling the companies.
• A JAMA article finds that providers continue to overcharge patients for copies of their medical records despite specific HHS OCR guidance that addresses allowable costs that can be passed on.

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Webinars

February 8 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Machine Learning Using Healthcare.ai: a Hands-on Learning Session.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenter: Levi Thatcher, director of data science, Health Catalyst. This webinar offers a tour of Healthcare.ai, a free predictive analytics platform for healthcare, with a live demo of using it to implement a healthcare-specific machine learning model from data source to patient impact. The presenter will go through a hands-on coding example while sharing his insights on the value of predictive analytics, the best path towards implementation, and avoiding common pitfalls.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

From the Athenahealth earnings call following a revenue miss that sent shares down 14 percent Friday:

• Collection volumes were down in Q4 and clients pushed some professional services work back.
• The company expects to gain business as provider focus shifts away from government-mandated functionality.
• The company’s Q4 Net Promoter Score of 23.9 fell far short of its target of 44.
• The company closed 52 AthenaOne for Hospitals and Health Systems deals in 2016, says it is building momentum with under-50 bed hospitals, and will double its hospital base in 2017 as customers look for “one throat to choke.”
• Jonathan Bush says whatever form repeal-and-replace takes will help the company sell to under-50 bed hospitals that are short on capital.
• Bush said of the revenue miss compared to previous guidance, “We were very surprised and upset with the revenue guidance thing,” as CFO Karl Stubelis added, “We should have had a better handle on this.”
• Bush said the company “did very badly” in the group segment because Athenahealth’s fees sometimes exceed user cost savings.
• The company reported increased integration with Epic and expects that to increase sales to health systems using Epic, Cerner, and Meditech, noting that population health management requires a “fabric that crosses across systems” since most of the doctors involved will never use Epic.
• Bush says that under HITECH, the company only had to be better than other vendors, while today they have to be “better than doing nothing” since providers won’t buy new systems unless they increase cash. He says the company will be issuing a net patient market share guarantee.

Canada-based long-term care software vendor PointClickCare Technologies raises an $85 million round of funding.

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People

Talent management solution vendor HealthcareSource hires Bob Zurek (Scribe Software) as SVP/CTO.

Doctor waiting room advertising company Outcome Health, recently renamed from ContextMedia, hires former US CIO Vivek Kundra (Salesforce) as EVP/chief growth officer.

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Privacy and Security

ESPN settles the lawsuit brought against it by pro football player Jason Pierre-Paul, who objected to the network’s tweeting out photos of his medical records indicating that he had blown off a finger while playing with fireworks on July 4, 2015. ESPN maintains that running an illicitly obtained photo of an on-screen surgery schedule describing Pierre-Paul’s amputation – for which two Jackson Memorial Hospital employees were later fired — was “both newsworthy and journalistically appropriate,” calling into question its understanding of both principles.

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Other

A Los Angeles TV station uncovers the lucrative side business run by a medical marijuana doctor who, for $150 and a quick Skype chat, will sign a letter proclaiming that his customer needs an “emotional support animal.” Airlines are then required to accept the precious pooch (or in some cases, pigs and monkeys) as a main cabin passenger for free. I Googled “emotional support animal” and came up with many examples of people buying such certification to do what they want instead of what is allowed or reasonable.

A fired surgical resident is caught participating in medical rounds, attending lectures, and observing surgeries in several Boston hospitals by “tailgating” — entering restricted areas without an ID badge by tagging along with people who helpfully hold the door open for someone who seems to be a co-worker. Hospitals worry that such inherent politeness renders their electronic card systems and security cameras less useful, but are reluctant to install subway-style turnstiles, station guards outside ORs, or implement biometric ID. IT people know that anyone can enter card-protected spaces by simply wearing UPS-like brown shorts and a shirt and walking up to a secure door while holding large packages.

Crain’s Chicago Business runs a lengthy (and a obviously homer-written) profile of Glen Tullman (Allscripts, Livongo), including his political thoughts, investments, and investment style. Apparently he sleeps just four hours per night and bolts down meals to move on to something more interesting than eating with his family.

An interesting article explains why the level of fear people have about something (like being killed by a terrorist) is often in disproportion to the likelihood of that happening. It blames the “bleeds it leads” media, click-seeking news reports, and violent movies and TV shows as part of the Mean World Theory, which has led Americans to misperceive that crime rates are high when they aren’t and to ignore known significant but unsexy threats like gun violence and climate change (and as CIO Sean Gilliland notes in his retweet, they are more scared of terrorists than their much more likely but partially preventable executioners, cancer and heart disease). 

The president of Pakistan’s medical association says that 10 percent of the country’s medical schools are “fleecing the public,” offering low-quality education strictly for profit by owners whose other holdings include sugar mills and textile plants.

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Sponsor Updates

• Fortified Health Security is approved as a HITRUST CSF Assessor.

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 2/3/17

Top News

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas (TX) will pay $3.2 million to settle HIPAA charges related to the loss of an unencrypted BlackBerry in 2010 and theft of an unencrypted laptop in 2013.

The organization failed to encrypt all PHI-containing devices as recommended by two consulting firms that had performed security gap and vulnerability analyses. It had also allowed its biomedical department to inventory its own IT equipment, causing the IT department to miss those devices in enforcing its security policies.

HHS OCR says Children’s practiced “non-compliance over many years with multiple standards of the HIPAA Security Rule.”

Pam Arora, SVP/CIO of Children’s Health since January 2007, was named last month by CHIME and HIMSS as their John E. Gall CIO of the Year.

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Reader Comments

From Deranged Bunny: “Re: mistakes in the HIMSS-owned publication. Here’s one from the first sentence in their lead story today.” Re-wording a press release into a “story” should have been easy for their writer since all the words were right there. For the record, “Purdue” pushes OxyContin, while “Perdue” sells chicken.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

InstaMed, healthcare’s most trusted payments network, delivers secure and fully integrated patient payment solutions to the largest health systems, children’s hospitals, and provider organizations across the US, processing billions of dollars in healthcare payments per month. Connect with InstaMed during HIMSS17 at booth 609 to chat about the healthcare payments experience your patients are demanding, the need for integration of patient payments into EHR/PMS, and the increasing pressure on security and compliance, including PCI scope. Plus, we are hosting an evening of conversation, food, and drinks on February 19 after the HIMSS17 opening reception. Learn more.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

I still have seats available for our CMIO lunch at the HIMSS conference, Tuesday, February 21 at noon, conveniently located just off the exhibit hall and paid for by me. CMIOs can sign up here. Our 20 or so CMIO attendees will enjoy a great buffet lunch and casual peer-to-peer conversations – the only non-CMIO attendee will be Lorre, who is hosting. Everybody has to eat even with all the conference hustle and bustle, so a relaxing lunch with peers is a nice way to escape the neon jungle.

We funded the DonorsChoose grant request of Mrs. W from Arizona, whose elementary school class is using the document camera we provided for reading and phonics skills along with their sections in science, math, and social studies.

This week on HIStalk Practice: Family Choice Urgent Care implements Practice Velocity software. ATA asks for comments on pediatric, mental health, stroke guidelines. MediSys adds Alpha II PQRS capabilities. PatientClick launches telepsychiatry service. DrFirst acquires VisibilityRx. Das Health develops online mental health assessment tools. Greenwood Genetic Center’s Michael Lyons, MD discusses GGC’s decision to add telemedicine capabilities.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Siemens Healthineers. The company’s product lines include medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, and point-of-care testing. Imaging and IT offerings include PACS, RIS, image sharing, clinical data management, software for multi-modality reading, cardiovascular care software, and enterprise imaging, workflow, visualization, and archiving. Diagnostic products include data and workflow management systems, diagnostics system remote monitoring, and laboratory inventory management. Nine out of 10 US hospitals depend on the company’s solutions, including every hospital listed on the US News & World Report Honor Roll. Siemens Healthineers and IBM Watson Health are working together to develop and deploy new population health management products and services to help providers transition to value-based care with analytics and patient engagement. It will offer IBM Watson Care Manager, a cognitive solution that supports nurses and other care managers as they monitor and counsel people with chronic conditions. See them in HIMSS Booth # 2323. Thanks to Siemens Healthineers for supporting HIStalk.

Here’s a Siemens Healthineers intro video I found on YouTube. It’s from May 2016, when the company announced its name change from Siemens Healthcare.

Listening: new from Horisont, fantastic 1970s-sound prog rock that’s actually from a fairly new band from Sweden (think Kansas meets Deep Purple in Uriah Heep’s basement). Speaking of which, RIP John Wetton, whose long career as a prog-band bassist, singer, and songwriter included stints with King Crimson, UK, Uriah Heep, and most notably Asia. Asia’s tour starts on March 15, but Wetton had already bowed out due to his chemotherapy treatments, replaced by Yes’s Billy Sherwood, who previously replaced another deceased legendary prog bassist, Chris Squire of Yes.

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Webinars

February 8 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Machine Learning Using Healthcare.ai: a Hands-on Learning Session.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenter: Levi Thatcher, director of data science, Health Catalyst. This webinar offers a tour of Healthcare.ai, a free predictive analytics platform for healthcare, with a live demo of using it to implement a healthcare-specific machine learning model from data source to patient impact. The presenter will go through a hands-on coding example while sharing his insights on the value of predictive analytics, the best path towards implementation, and avoiding common pitfalls.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Meditech announces Q4 results: revenue down nine percent, EPS $0.62 vs. $0.52. For the year, revenue was down 2.8 percent as product revenue slipped 15 percent, having declined by 38 percent since 2014. The privately held company’s net income was $73 million in 2016, up 4 percent from last year but down 41 percent vs. 2014’s total.

DrFirst acquires VisibilityRx, which identifies and recruits patients for clinical trials.

Athenahealth reports Q4 results: revenue up 12 percent, adjusted EPS $0.62 vs. $0.45, beating earnings expectations but falling short on revenue.

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Sales

George Washington University (DC) chooses Castlight Health’s employee health benefits management platform.

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Announcements and Implementations

Catholic Health Services (NY) rolls out Uniphy Health’s mobile collaboration app to its providers.

Jupiter Medical Center (FL) will go live in March 2017 on IBM Watson for Oncology, the first community hospital to do so following the system’s “training” at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It presents individualized, evidence-based treatment options to oncologists in drawing information from 15 million pages of text from medical journals and textbooks.

UCHealth (CO) announces technology-related developments that include virtual visits, online scheduling, a new app, and adoption of the OpenNotes standard.

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Government and Politics

A Florida urologist will pay $3.8 million to settle False Claims Act charges that he ordered medically unnecessary lab tests. Meir Daller, MD ordered 13,000 FISH bladder cancer tests of questionable medical value on Medicare patients who were steered to a lab owned by his employer, who then paid the doctor $2 million in bonuses. The assistant US attorney says the doctor would look at paper-based urinalysis results but then throw them away so he could enter whatever he wanted into the EHR, often falsely recording that blood was found in the patient’s urine to justify ordering the test. The practice’s owner, 21st Century Oncology, previously paid $20 million for its role in over-ordering the $1,000 tests for Medicare patients. The company, which operates 180 cancer treatment centers, also reported an October 2015 breach of its systems that exposed the information of 2.2 million patients.

USA Today reports that shares of McKesson were among the healthcare-related investments made by HHS Secretary nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) since 2012 that appear to be improper. Price bought MCK shares in March 2016, McKesson warned investors in early May that Medicare’s reduction in medical equipment payments could hurt its bottom line, and Price introduced legislation to cancel the cuts on May 12.

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Privacy and Security

In England, an analysis of the four-day October downtime of three-hospital Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust finds that it was caused by a misconfigured firewall that allowed ransomware to penetrate its systems.

President Trump’s long-time doctor Harold Bornstein, MD lists the president’s medical conditions and prescriptions in a New York Times interview, raising the question of whether he violated HIPAA in doing so.

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Other

HRH Princess Haya of Jordan, the junior wife of UAE’s prime minister (she’s the second of his five wives), addresses the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress in Dubai:

I have already alluded to the difficulty faced in embracing new technology in healthcare. To ensure successful adoption, we need to equip the physician, the patient, and the system with the right tools and knowledge. We also need to improve medical training to ensure future generations of doctors are proficient in the use of technology, social media, and digital platforms. This is my point. This is where the balance lies. We have seen all kinds of machines and technologies that have created the architecture, but in the end, it was for the benefit of the people, to give them a home for the future. This same balance needs to be struck between innovation and medicine.

An interesting article lists the biometric measurements that will soon allow police to identity suspects in ways that go far beyond fingerprints. They include signature recognition, typing pattern recognition, recognizing patterns used in reading predefined passages aloud, eye movement tracking, gait analysis, and identifying people by their body odor. Facial recognition systems are already in place, with the FBI having stored the images of half of Americans in its databases. The article notes that President Trump’s executive order on immigration calls for expediting the use of biometric screening at the US border.

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Sponsor Updates

• Kyruus will present at the Harvard Healthcare Business Conference February 4 in Boston.
• ZeOmega’s Jiva 6.1 earns ONC Health IT 2014 Edition Modular EHR certification.
• Learn on Demand Systems releases details about its invite-only Launch event in March for customers and partners.
• LiveProcess releases a new case study, “Communication During a Cyberattack.”
• MedData will exhibit at the HFMA NENY Women in Leadership Conference February 9 in Clifton Park, NY.
• Medecision releases a new video, “Aerial Powering Population Health Success.”
• Meditech will exhibit at the AHA’s Rural Healthcare Leadership Conference February 5-8 in Phoenix.
• Navicure will exhibit at the 2017 Healthpac Annual Users Meeting February 10-12 in Savannah.
• Nordic will sponsor the inaugural Epic North Carolina Users Group Meeting February 8-9 in Greensboro.

Blog Posts

• Strata Ranked #1 in KLAS for Business Decision Support for Third Consecutive Year (Strata Decision Technology)
• Sentri7 from Wolters Kluwer Earns Category Leader Designation for Clinical Decision Support-Surveillance in the 2017 Best in KLAS Report (Wolters Kluwer)
• It’s Time to Grade Data Breach Responses (ID Experts)
• DNS – The Essential Hidden Server (Impact Advisors)
• The Case for Email Personalization (Influence Health)
• Why Not All Hospitals Would Suffer Under a Full ACA Repeal (Definitive Healthcare)
• Agfa HealthCare’s XERO Viewer Captures 2017 KLAS Category Leader Award (Agfa Healthcare)
• 5 Things to Do Now for a Successful 2017 (InstaMed)
• AI technology spreads its wings in healthcare sector (Intelligent Medical Objects)
• Useful, Usable, Desirable: The Importance of UX in Healthcare (Spok)
• “Best in KLAS” Report Names Iatric Systems No. 1 for Patient Privacy Monitoring for Third Consecutive Year (Iatric Systems)
• Meditech Wraps Up 2016 with Strong Q4 Sales (Meditech)
• Three Elements Your Find-a-Doc Needs to Drive Patient Conversion (Kyruus)
• When 1+1+1+1 Does Not Equal 4: How Revenue Cycle Management Components Work Together to Yield True Performance Improvement (Navicure)
• Integrating Care: Moving Beyond Interoperability to True Collaboration, Part IV (Netsmart)
• Precision Medicine (Part 1) Exploring the Role We Need to Play (Orion Health)
• When Will Interoperability Be a “Given” in Health IT? (PatientKeeper)
• It Takes Two to Tango! (Optimum Healthcare IT)
• Why Beanbag Chairs Don’t Make You a Cool Place to Work (PokitDok)
• Why Accurate Provider Data is Critical to Cost Control and Revenue Cycle Improvements (Phynd Technologies)
• 4 Things to Check out at HIMSS17 (Protenus)
• The Importance of a Strong Compendium (Summit Healthcare)
• Can Manual Prior Authorizations Damage Patient/Provider Relationships? One Doc’s Word of Caution (Surescripts)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 2/1/17

Top News

OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma will give the State of Virginia a $3.1 million grant to integrate its doctor-shopper prescription drug monitoring database with provider EHRs.

The state will use the PMP Gateway of its Appriss Health NarxCare system, which uses two years of prescription data to visually represent a patient’s usage patterns and to present a calculated risk score. Beyond claims and EHR data, it can incorporate information from EMS and criminal justice systems.

NarxCare offers prescribers a Medication-Assisted Treatment locator map and patient information handouts.

The 450-employee, Louisville-based Appriss Health says its systems process 25 million database inquiries each year. It also offers law enforcement, public safety, and Medicaid fraud detection apps.

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Reader Comments

From Firing Line: “Re: HIStalk. I have followed you since I worked at a big health IT vendor, where it was a fireable offense to read your blog back in the early days.” I’ve heard that about a few companies, which encourages me since I must be doing something right if they want to ban employees from reading what I write. I also enjoy hearing from readers who apologize for not evangelizing HIStalk because they consider the information they gain to be a personal competitive advantage.

From Spatial Orientation: “Re: [EHR vendor name omitted]. Has informed users that they are able to supply QRDA III reports but not QRDA I reports, meaning they are in violation of ONC’s certification requirements.” Unverified. I’ve invited the company to respond but haven’t heard back. I’ll repeat this item including their name in Thursday’s post if they don’t respond.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), headquartered in Springfield, VA., is proud to be the global leader in healthcare communications. We deliver clinical information to care teams when and where it matters most to improve patient outcomes. Top hospitals rely on the Spok Care Connect platform to enhance workflows for clinicians, support administrative compliance, and provide a better experience for patients. Our customers send over 100 million messages each month through their Spok solutions. When seconds count, count on Spok. For more information, visit spok.com or follow @spoktweets on Twitter.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

I’m getting swamped with HIStalkapalooza emails from people who don’t appreciate the fact that I have around 50,000 readers and I have maybe 1.5 FTEs total other than me to do everything HIStalk-related, of which party planning represents about 0.01 FTE. My plea is this: come if you received an invitation, don’t come if you didn’t, and don’t email us either way because it’s the busiest time of year for us and throwing a free party isn’t our most pressing priority. To summarize the oft-stated rules: (a) don’t ask if I have extra tickets since I’m already turning people away who signed up due to a shortfall in sponsorship funds, so I certainly won’t be inviting someone who didn’t even register; (b) you’ll need to complete your registration online from the email link and bring your barcoded invitation to the event; (c) I can’t help you fix your company’s spam filter that didn’t let your invitation through; (d) you can’t bring a guest if you didn’t register them; and (e) wear whatever you want, but go big if you want to have a shot for the “best shoes” and best dressed” awards. There’s an exception to (a): get your company to sign on as a sponsor of the event and your CEO can come after all — it’s nearly always CEOs who neglect to sign up and then dispatch an underling to demand an exception, usually from vendor companies that don’t support HIStalk in any way.

Dear HIMSS-owned publication: hi, it’s me again. Thanks for fixing the story you ran over the weekend that I called out, in which you mistook a January 2016 press release for January 2017 and splashed it out as breaking news. I won’t quibble with the fact that you just changed the story to hide your mistake without acknowledging it. On that topic, please note that there’s no such company as “Optum Healthcare IT” that you reference in your list of KLAS winners. What you meant to say was “Optimum Healthcare IT.” At least your HIMSS peer at Healthcare Finance also screwed up the same name, calling it “Optimum IT.” Don’t worry, I don’t read your site, so I won’t be catching your mistakes regularly (but hopefully your readers will!)

 

We provided strategic thinking and economics games along with general supplies for Ms. D’s middle school class in Arkansas in funding her DonorsChoose grant request. She reports, “My students have played rounds of critical thinking games every week since we have received the package. This is their favorite time of the week and can’t wait to figure out what new game we are playing. After learning about Milton Bradley and Henry Ford, the students have started creating their own strategy games.”

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Webinars

February 1 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Get your data ready for MACRA: Leveraging technology to achieve PHM goals.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenters: Brian Ahier, director of standards and government affairs, Medicity; Eric Crawford, project manager, Medicity; Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Earning performance incentives under MACRA/MIPS requires a rich, complete data asset. Use the 2017 transition year to identify technology tools that can address gaps in care, transform data into actionable information, and support population health goals and prepare your organization for 2018 reporting requirements.

February 8 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Machine Learning Using Healthcare.ai: a Hands-on Learning Session.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenter: Levi Thatcher, director of data science, Health Catalyst. This webinar offers a tour of Healthcare.ai, a free predictive analytics platform for healthcare, with a live demo of using it to implement a healthcare-specific machine learning model from data source to patient impact. The presenter will go through a hands-on coding example while sharing his insights on the value of predictive analytics, the best path towards implementation, and avoiding common pitfalls.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Thoma Bravo is soliciting bids to buy its supply chain management company Global Health Exchange for up to $1.3 billion, Reuters reports. Thoma Bravo bought GHX in 2014.

A private equity news site says health information exchange platform vendor Vyne has hired a merchant bank to explore a sale of the company.

Big Massachusetts providers Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Clinic announce plans to merge to better compete with the huge (and hugely expensive) Partners HealthCare, which also recently announced its own plan to acquire the Massachusetts Eye and Ear specialty hospital.

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Sales

Geisinger Health System (PA) will implement Stanson Health’s clinical decision support and analytics to add real-time, patient-specific intelligence to its EHR.

In England, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust chooses Cerner Millennium EHR and revenue cycle for the 100-bed hospital it will build in Dubai.

Dayton Children’s Hospital (OH) selects InstaMed’s consumer-friendly, encrypted payments solution.

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People

 

MedEvolve hires Jenny O’Pry (MedSynergies) as SVP of RCM and Matt Seefeld (NantHealth) as SVP of business development.

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Announcements and Implementations

Healthcare Growth Partners publishes its amply-researched and well-written HIT Market Review, which includes M&A, valuation, the year in review, and thoughts about the impact of the new administration.

A new Black Book report finds that population health management technology is a fast-growing sector even though providers are forging ahead using only stopgap tools from their EHR vendor, they’re dealing with community HIEs that offer poor population health modeling data, and they have limited data availability beyond their own EHR’s health snapshots. Hospitals report that they will need new PHM and IT talent, but shortages may limit availability. The top three best-of-breed vendors were IBM Watson Health, Evolent Health, and The Advisory Board Company, while the top three PHM and value-based care consultants were Premier, The Advisory Board Company, and Evolent Health.

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Government and Politics

Vox reports that President Trump has abandoned his campaign promise to reduce drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices, changing his mind after meeting with pharma lobbyists to now favor drug company tax reductions and deregulation.

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Privacy and Security

I’ve seen several recent articles on Cambridge Analytica, the “behavioral microtargeting” analytics firm that was involved (to an arguable degree) with both the Brexit and Donald Trump wins that pollsters failed to predict. The company’s work is relevant to healthcare because: (a) it sounds a lot like how HIMSS describes its new service that will target vendor sales prospects using their personal information; and (b) it could be more positively used for public health in areas such as depression. Either way, lax US personal data laws are making us all targets of companies that train their analytical firepower to profitably sway our decisions. Cambridge Analytica, of which White House advisor Steve Bannon is apparently a board member, mines Facebook data via those mindless quizzes that bored people inexplicably take, thus giving the company access to their Facebook profiles. The company’s technology supposedly requires just 68 of a user’s “likes” to accurately predict their skin color, sexual orientation, political party affiliation, and use of drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes, while it just 10 “likes” allow researchers to “know” a Facebook user better than their work colleagues. The company combined that information with commercially sold personal information databases to develop psychological profiles on every American. It then buys Facebook ads that it micro-targets to individual personality types, which some experts say was the key to the unexpected and lesser-funded campaign victories of Donald Trump and Brexit:

On the day of the third presidential debate between Trump and Clinton, Trump’s team tested 175,000 different ad variations for his arguments, in order to find the right versions above all via Facebook. The messages differed for the most part only in microscopic details, in order to target the recipients in the optimal psychological way: different headings, colors, captions, with a photo or video. This fine-tuning reaches all the way down to the smallest groups … In the Miami district of Little Haiti, for instance, Trump’s campaign provided inhabitants with news about the failure of the Clinton Foundation following the earthquake in Haiti, in order to keep them from voting for Hillary Clinton … These “dark posts”—sponsored news-feed-style ads in Facebook timelines that can only be seen by users with specific profiles—included videos aimed at African-Americans in which Hillary Clinton refers to black men as predators, for example.

The St. Louis Cardinals will give the Houston Astros $2 million and their two top draft picks as cybercrime compensation. The former director of baseball development for the Cardinals was sentenced to 46 months in prison and a lifetime MLB ban for accessing the scouting reports, contract information, and internal emails of the Astros using passwords he had guessed.

Officials in Missouri, the only state that doesn’t have a doctor-shopper prescription drug monitoring database, are still arguing over privacy requirements and which state agency should oversee it.

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Other

Sites are slinging around news headlines saying that medical residents spend half of their time working on the computer, but they fail to note the deal-breaking limitations of the just-published study they reference: it was performed in Switzerland with unknown applicability to the US and it was an observational study (which has unavoidable bias) of only 36 internal medicine residents in a single hospital. There’s probably also the fact that residents are often expected to remain in the hospital outside of normal working hours, so it’s questionable whether EHR usage required extra time or whether they were stuck in the hospital without much else to do anway.

A TransUnion Healthcare consumer survey finds that three-fourths of respondents would look more favorably on a provider who provides upfront cost estimates, but 43 percent said it was hard to get cost information and another 21 percent said they haven’t even bothered trying.

Authors of a JAMA opinion piece say it’s too expensive for patients to get copies of their medical records since providers widely ignore a 2016 federal law that allows them to charge only direct labor and postage costs associated with creating the paper copy. Only Kentucky requires providers to give patients the first copy of their records at no cost.

Small drug company Kaleo, which makes a recently approved naloxone injector for opioid overdoses, has raised the price of its consumer-usable package of the nearly 50-year-old  drug from $690 in 2014 to $4,500 now. The company is donating the product to first responders and drug treatment programs, covering co-pays for buyers with private insurance, and selling it to the VA (which is allowed to negotiate drug prices) at a significant discount, but sticking insurance companies and taxpayers with the bulk of its profits.

In England, a report finds that human error contributed to the failure of the 1980s-era pathology system that delayed surgeries at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Most of the system’s experienced support employees have left and newer analysts didn’t notice that system backups had grown so large that they were being corrupted.

OB-GYN doctors and nurses at a hospital in Macedonia are fined when a nurse posts Facebook photos of their in-hospital New Year’s celebration that show alcohol, cigarettes, and cupcakes iced to look like vaginas. Photos of the latter item indicate that though their social media judgment is suspect, their eye for anatomical detail is admirable.

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Sponsor Updates

• Medhost Achieves Stage 3 Meaningful Use Certification (Medhost)
• Besler Consulting releases a new podcast, “American Healthcare: Worst value in the developed world? Par 1: Looking at the data.”
• Carevive Systems will present at the Cancer Center Business Summit 2017 February 6-7 in Las Vegas.
• ECG Management Consultants will present at the American Health Lawyers Association meeting February 1 in Orlando.
• Elsevier will offer HFMA courses through its healthcare eLearning system.
• Healthwise will exhibit at EClinicalWorks Day February 1 in New Orleans.
• The CHIME Foundation appoints Divurgent’s Steve Eckert to its board.

Blog Posts

• Valley Medical Group is a Model for Innovation, Change Management (Healthfinch)
• Arab Health 2017 Opens Its Doors (Agfa Healthcare)
• 2017 Healthcare Trends Part 2: Trump and Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle (Catalyze)
• Embedding Evidence-Based Medicine Into Transitions of Care (Caradigm)
• The Do Not Resuscitate Discussion (CareSync)
• FAQs on Understanding the User Experience (CoverMyMeds)
• So You Have a Bright Idea – How do You Pitch it Perfectly? (CTG)
• Prepping for Go Live (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)
• 6 Tech Jobs Expected to Grow Like Crazy in 2017 (Direct Consulting Associates)
• The Physician Succession Imperative (ECG Management Consultants)
• How Does Marketing Automation Lead to a Proactive Healthcare Marketing Department? (Evariant)
• Leveraging the EHR as a Building Block for 3 Key Healthcare Initiatives (Hayes Management Consulting)
• Ransomware and Unpatched/Unmanaged Equipment (HCI Group)

KLAS-Related Announcements

• Optimum Healthcare IT Receives Coveted Best in KLAS 2017 Overall IT Services Firm
• Wellsoft wins 2017 Best in KLAS for the Emergency Department Market Segment
• CTG Recognized as “2017 Best in KLAS” in Partial IT Outsourcing
• Vital Receives the No. 1 Category Leader Ranking for Advanced Visualization by KLAS Report: “2017 Best in KLAS: Software & Services”
• Navicure Receives #1 Claims and Clearinghouse Ranking in 2017 Best in KLAS: Software and Services Report
• Voalte Named 2017 Category Leader in Best in KLAS: Software & Services Report for Secure Communications Platform
• MEDITECH Recognized in 2017 Best in KLAS: Software & Services Report
• HealthCast Inc. Ranked #1 2017 KLAS Category Leader for Single Sign-On
• “Best in KLAS” Report Names Iatric Systems No. 1 for Patient Privacy Monitoring for Third Consecutive Year
• InterSystems TrakCare Honored with 2017 Best in KLAS Awards for Global (Non-US) Acute Care EMR and Patient Administration
• NextGen Healthcare Practice Management Solution Earns KLAS Award

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

Monday Morning Update 1/30/17

Top News

VoteStand vote fraud reporting app developer Gregg Phillips, who President Trump credits with convincing him that 3 million people voted illegally in the November election (all of them for Hillary Clinton), has a healthcare IT connection – he’s the chairman of AutoGov, a Medicaid eligibility decision support tool vendor. The product’s description suggest that it works similarly to his vote fraud analysis methods, merging databases together to provide a full eligibility picture of Medicaid applicants.

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AutoGov markets its big data-powered system to providers as, “You will be able to decide whether or not to admit a Medicaid patient with just a touch of a button.” It is powered by scoring algorithms that use data from 30 million cases.

Phillips, a former Texas Deputy HHS commissioner, says he augmented a 180 million-row voter registration database with other databases and geocoding data, giving him the ability to verify identity, residency, and citizenship status, although others have questioned his claim. He said in a CNN interview Friday he won’t be able to release specifics for several months given the analysis required and the demands of his day job.

A post-election tweet by Phillips claiming that non-citizens voted was picked up by the then-President-elect, after which an apparently puzzled Phillips told a reporter, “Is a tweet really news? Isn’t everything on Twitter fake?”

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Reader Comments

From Is This Even Still a Thing? “Re: booth babes. I just got this pitch.” An Orlando modeling agency warns HIMSS17 exhibitors of the peril of hiring “below-average young women” to draw traffic, introduce products, and generate leads. I think I should run a honeypot sting operation to focus on the demand instead of the supply, setting up a fake HIMSS booth staffed by an “above-average young woman” from this agency. Each time our booth babe lures a gawking attendee into the booth, I would emerge with microphone in hand like that solemn-voiced talking head Chris Hansen in “To Catch a Predator,” inviting the now-squirming attendee to have a seat and explain to my on-camera audience (and to their colleagues and families) what they hoped to gain. 

From Research Expert: “Re: HIStalk. I read it every day and find it extremely valuable. Good thing it’s not more organized or it could put many of the advisory firms out of business. 🙂” Thanks. I’m more of a real-time fire hose since I don’t like to recycle old news just to earn reader clicks while insulting their intelligence, but I could probably get someone to repackage the already-vetted information stream into something that could be useful in a different way. However, my inherent laziness makes that unlikely.

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HIStalkapalooza

HIStalkapalooza invitations will be emailed by Monday. Every year we invite people who claim we didn’t, as our email was apparently blocked by their overly aggressive spam filters (the invitation will come from eventbrite.com). Important: you MUST click the link on the email invitation link called “Attend Event” to complete your signup, otherwise the check-in system won’t recognize you at the House of Blues and you’ll be slinking away crestfallen to the sounds of the link-clickers inside slurping down drinks, loading up plates, and performing their pre-dance stretching.

A shortfall in sponsor money means I can’t invite everyone who asked to attend, unfortunately. The pecking order is providers first, then two people from each HIStalk Platinum sponsor, then I just try to choose a good mix of job titles and companies until we hit the number I can afford (since I’m paying thousands out of my own pocket). I’ll ignore emails asking for exceptions, explanations, or anything else event related –  it’s just a party and nobody will suffer from starvation, dehydration, or dance deprivation for lack of attendance that Monday evening. Like a concert or sporting event, each person must have an individual ticket that will be scanned at the door.

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

Cumberland Consulting Group is a leading healthcare consulting firm that helps some of the nation’s largest payer, provider, and life sciences organizations implement and optimize technologies to maximize operational efficiency. Cumberland delivers comprehensive consulting services with a focus on strategic advisory, implementation, optimization, and outsourcing. The firm excels at system selection and planning, implementation project management, system optimization, and performance improvement. In addition, Cumberland offers high-quality, certified resources to support your most complex IT projects. For more information on Cumberland’s services, visit their site.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Dear HIMSS-owned publication: apparently you failed to notice that the press release you used as the sole, uncredited source for your just-published breaking news article was dated January 6, 2016. You already reworded that press release in calling it news on January 8, 2016 (although even then your sub-headline made no sense). Could you perhaps apologize to the 400 folks who have shared your “news” so far this week since you’ve made them look stupid in mistaking a year-old announcement for something new? Thank you.

About half of poll respondents reacted negatively to the announcement that HIMSS is starting a conference and media group that will cater to vendor members targeting provider members, while 17 percent like the idea and 31 percent don’t care either way. HIS Junkie sagely comments that if HIMSS were truly member-driven, it would set up a division and conference to teach providers how to negotiate with vendors and to get better contracts, but as he notes, there’s no money in that.

New poll to your right or here: why are you going to the HIMSS conference? (a question I ask myself every year about this time).

 

Ms. H asked for financial help via DonorsChoose to continue her New York high school’s “Guest Writers” series, which we provided. She says students have enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look of how books are written, edited, and published as described by award-winning authors who visit with the students. 

Iatric Systems donated $500 to my DonorsChoose project, which with matching funds applied (from my anonymous vendor executive and other sources) fully funded these teacher grant requests:

• Two laptops, computer accessories and cases, a document camera, and supplies as requested by high school senior Julie for her Camden, NJ pre-calculus class
• An Amazon Fire tablet for Ms. D’s elementary school class in Los Angeles, CA
• A Chromebook for Mr. D’s elementary school class in Wichita, KS
• STEAM literature for Ms. M’s fourth-grade class in Minneapolis, MN
• An activities table for Ms. A’s first-grade class in Manning, SC
• Hands-on manipulatives and family interactive learning technologies for Ms. A’s elementary school class in Chicago, IL

Ms. A from Chicago emailed soon after I made the donation to say, “This is beyond heart-warming! I am tearing up and smiling at the same time! The education crisis in my state is threatening more teacher layoffs, furlough days, and shortening the school year. Your donation has uplifted my spirit and brought great joy as finding innovative ways to educate my students and their families is a passion that, I learned today, I do not share alone. ”

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Last Week’s Most Interesting News

• McKesson announces that it will acquire CoverMyMeds for up to $1.4 billion.
• A federal judge rules against the proposed merger of Aetna and Humana, citing anti-competitive concerns.
• GetWellNetwork acquires Seamless Medical Systems.
• Former National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH joins her fellow HHS political appointees in leaving government service with the administration change.

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Webinars

February 1 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Get your data ready for MACRA: Leveraging technology to achieve PHM goals.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenters: Brian Ahier, director of standards and government affairs, Medicity; Eric Crawford, project manager, Medicity; Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Earning performance incentives under MACRA/MIPS requires a rich, complete data asset. Use the 2017 transition year to identify technology tools that can address gaps in care, transform data into actionable information, and support population health goals and prepare your organization for 2018 reporting requirements. 

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Harris Corporation will sell its government IT services business to Veritas Capital for $690 million in cash, which doesn’t sound like much for a division that’s generating $1 billion in annual revenue.

Hospital staffing firm Jackson Healthcare will build a $100 million, 306,000-square-foot expansion to its Alpharetta, GA headquarters that will house 1,400 new employees. It will include a 39,000-square-foot amenities building modeled after the Colosseum in Rome that will house a gym, pool, restaurant, hair salon, dry cleaner, spray-tanning studio, chiropractor, masseuse, and barber. The company took in $800 million in revenue last year.

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Sales

University of Virginia Medical Center (VA) chooses clinical process measurement solutions from LogicStream Health, which it will use to drive evidence-based best practices in managing and improving its EHR’s decision support tools.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta selects Voalte Platform for care team communication and alert notification.

CHI Franciscan Health chooses Clearsense analytics to aggregate and organize patient data for clinical decision-making.

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Decisions

• Memorial Hospital Of Carbondale (IL) will switch from Meditech to Epic in June 2017.
• Trinity Rock Island (IL) will replace BD Pyxis MedStation with Omnicell in summer 2017.
• Centura Health – Porter Adventist Hospital (CO) replaced Meditech with Epic in October 2016.
• Elmhurst Memorial Hospital (IL) went live with Epic in October 2016.

These provider-reported updates are provided by Definitive Healthcare, which offers powerful intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and healthcare providers.

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People

Will Plourde (HealthcareSource) joins LiveData as VP of engineering.

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Announcements and Implementations

McKesson’s IKnowMed tops Black Book’s oncology-hematology EHR satisfaction ratings for the sixth straight year.

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Privacy and Security

An employee of Campbell County Health (WY) sends the W-2 information of 1,400 employees to a hacker impersonating a hospital executive who asked for all forms for 2016.

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Other

A Johns Hopkins Medicine study finds that, not surprisingly, clinic doctors who are running behind schedule unintentionally shortchange patients in trying to catch up.

A woman sues Cone Health (NC) for trying to collect the unpaid medical bills of her deceased husband, seeking class action status under a clause in the state’s constitution that says the property of a woman can’t be attached to pay for the debts of her husband.

ACA architect Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD scoffs at the idea that technology can replace doctors and that wearables can improve health, arguing that the tech sector is missing the point that resolving a technology-identified problem still requires a face-to-face doctor-patient encounter. He says technologists should focus on solving health problems like heart disease and obesity instead of obsessing about new monitoring tools, saying that even a cure for cancer would have a minor impact on life expectancy compared to reducing smoking and high blood pressure.

An Ohio man is charged with arson and insurance fraud after police get a search warrant to review his pacemaker data and find no evidence of heavy exertion at the time he claimed he was quickly packing and lugging heavy belongings out of the house as the fire spread.

A Hauppauge, NY doctor is convicted of selling opioid prescriptions by instructing his assistant to set up phony EHR exam and treatment records for anyone willing to pony up $120 in cash, all while he spent most of his days out of the office playing hockey. 

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Sponsor Updates

• Arcadia Healthcare Solutions wins top honors from Frost & Sullivan for its clinical and claims analytics platform.
• PeriGen publishes slides from its presentation on “The New Labor Guidelines: Benefit or Harm” presentation at the Steamboat Perinatal Conference.
• Phynd will exhibit at the North Carolina Epic User Group Meeting February 8-9 in Greensboro.
• Red Hat technologies support TransUnion’s migration to a new IT environment.
• Wharton Research Data Services adds SK&A healthcare data.

Blog Posts

• Three Elements Your Find-a-Doc Needs to Drive Patient Conversion (Kyruus)
• DNS – The Essential Hidden Server (Impact Advisors)
• MU Stage 3: Final Rules Bring Subtle Changes (Iatric Systems)
• Rock Solid Award Winners (Parallon)
• How About Some Empathy for Physicians Who Use EHRs (PatientKeeper)
• Four Ways to Explore Personalized Healthcare and Deliver Real Value (PokitDok)
• Building a business case for enterprise imaging (Lexmark Healthcare)
• OCR audits: An opportunity to understand patient privacy (Protenus)
• Health IT Leaders Weigh in on 2017 Priorities, Challenges and Opportunities for Growth (Surescripts)
• The Data Revolution will Impact Providers of All Sizes (Validic)
• From the HEDIS 2017 Trenches: Focusing on the Data (Verscend)
• Different types of hospitals, same communication challenges. (Voalte)
• What’s ahead in 2017 for healthcare? (Conduent)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

News 1/27/17

Top News

McKesson will acquire privately held prescription electronic prior authorization vendor CoverMyMeds for $1.1 billion plus another $300 million if the company hits performance targets.

McKesson will operate the Columbus, OH-based company as an independent business unit. Francisco Partners must have made a fortune from its November 2014 investment in the company.

I interviewed co-founder Matt Scantland a couple of years ago, where he explained that drug companies pay for CoverMyMed’s services to avoid unfilled prescriptions. He also agreed then with my assessment that the company was flying under the radar in an obscure niche with $19 million in revenue. That figure jumped to $50 million the same year and $100 million the next. 

McKesson also announces Q3 results: revenue up 4.7 percent, EPS $3.03 vs. $3.18, meeting earnings expectations but falling slightly short on revenue. Shares dropped 8.3 percent Thursday on the news.

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Reader Comments

From Build That Well: “Re: Becker’s. Changed their story on Erlanger’s loss.” Becker’s focuses on clickbait “10 things to know” listicles written mostly by new liberal arts grads for lazy readers. In this case, they tried to hype Epic as causing Erlanger’s reported loss, but the article they rewrote from the local newspaper didn’t say that at all. Above is the headline before and after. The non-alternative fact, according to Erlanger’s CFO, is that the loss was caused by overtime expense, employee insurance payouts, and drug costs, although he did mention almost as an afterthought that some overtime expense was incurred due to covering employees assigned to the Epic project. Erlanger’s CEO says in another newspaper’s article he’s happy that the hospital is hitting its year-to-date net income targets given that it amortized its $100 million Epic cost over just three years. Erlanger also notes that high-deductible insurance plans and its 33 percent self-pay rate means it can’t collect a lot of what patients owe.

From Clustered: “Re: Epic. I’m not bothered about their position on investment. How many times have there been things truly beautiful, streamlined, and elegant that were designed by committee? Investors are exactly that, collectively — a committee. They dilute decision-making in exchange for access to money and it sounds like Epic already has enough money of its own. Sure, there are things I wish Epic did differently, but I’m not sure inviting a bunch of MBAs and money folks onboard would improve things. Viva la Judy! (disclosure: I don’t work for or with Epic and never have).” Committees are like well-diversified mutual funds – they reduce the chance of both great failure and great success, at least if you’re willing to accept bland mediocrity. The best lessons I’ve learned in writing HIStalk are: (a) people can convey their strong opinion in believing that they represent the majority when in fact they could be dead wrong; and (b) instead of letting a committee tell me what to avoid doing wrong, I would rather just do what I want to do and let readers either come back or move on.

From Silicon Valley Geek: “Re: Stanford Health Care. Since the new CEO arrived in July, the former CIO (who was promoted to chief digital officer last April) is leaving along with the associate CIO. The bloated 700-employee IT department serving a 600-bed hospital and ambulatory network has been seeing layoffs as the organizational struggles to manage operational costs, new construction, and integration of the newly acquired ValleyCare. IT lost over 50 people yesterday as the CEO announced a $100 million savings target for which non-labor cutbacks weren’t enough. Michael Sauk is now interim CIO – he used to work with the CEO at City of Hope and UW.” Unverified, except the part about Mike Sauk since it’s on his LinkedIn.

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HIStalkapalooza

I’ve closed signups, so hopefully if you wanted to attend you either (a) got your name on the list in time, or (b) will be sent an invitation from one of the sponsors of the event, who get to invite a certain number of guests.

   

I’m happy that our Industry Figure of the Year (one of the four nominees above) has confirmed attendance at the event, as has our “when ___ talks, people listen” recipient. I’m trying without success so far to get our “person you’d most like to see on stage” and Lifetime Achievement Award winners to stop by, but you never know.

Thanks to our newly participating HIStalkapalooza sponsors:

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HIStalkapalooza Sponsor Profile

PatientSafe Solutions obsesses over the experience of care to help care teams communicate and work together reliably and efficiently. PatientSafe delivers measurable safety and quality improvements through a mobile platform that extends an organization’s EMR, clinical, and communication infrastructure and fits seamlessly into care team workflows. The company’s context-driven PatientTouch platform unifies communication with workflow by consolidating text, talk, alerts, EMR data, clinical workflows, and customizable care interventions, all in one mobile app, on one device. For more than a decade, PatientTouch has helped clinicians both in and outside the hospital streamline care delivery, increase quality, and lower costs.

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HIStalk Announcements and Requests

 

Ms. M in Houston sent photos of her students using the listening center and wipe boards we provided in funding her DonorsChoose grant request.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Clearsense. The Jacksonville, FL-based data science company offers a cloud-based analytics solution that works with any data source and can be rolled out in a fraction of the time required for a traditional data warehouse. Its real-time, cloud-based, subscription-priced, scalable system helps healthcare organizations respond to the pressure to use data to make better and faster decisions. Examples: reducing adverse events, improving patient flow, hitting quality and patient satisfaction targets, driving research, and managing cost and payment. Thanks to Clearsense for supporting HIStalk.

I found this excellent YouTube video featuring Clearsense Chief Innovation Officer Charles Boicey MS, RN speaking at the most recent HIMSS SoCal Clinical Informatics Summit. 

Readers have been asking for years to be able to search HIStalk articles with a company name and date range and I finally figured out how to do that in an admittedly inelegant but somewhat effective way. The date range search box allows specifying a search word (it works best with a single word) and an optional “from” and “to” date range, then shows the results in context. It’s not perfect, but it’s good if you want to see when I mentioned Cerner, let’s say, in just the second half of 2016. 

We like to have cool people hang out at our HIMSS booth since we don’t have anything to sell and are otherwise sitting alone in our microscopic, unadorned space. Contact Lorre if you would like to entertain, amuse, or otherwise engage HIStalk readers for an hour or so – we tend to like people who are funny and don’t take themselves too seriously, which is harder to find in health than you might expect. 

Does ICD-10 have a code for repetitive stress injury caused by anxiously checking three news sites every 10 minutes, drawn by a combination of fascination and dread?

This week on HIStalk Practice: Northwest Vein & Aesthetic Center rolls out Oncomfort’s anxiety-reducing VR technology. Employee clinic company OurHealth signs on with Athenahealth. Pediatricians take aim at wearables for infants. Eye Care Leaders adds OptimizeRx to partner EHRs. Winners Circle series launches with MTBC winner and Practice Manager Baqar Naqvi. Stakeholders band together to encourage renewed value-based payment reform efforts. Compulink adds Weave’s patient scheduling tech. Sue Kressly, MD advocates for pediatric-specific functionality in EHRs. Sign up for physician practice health IT news.

Listening: the now-defunct After Forever, since Floor Jansen is in my opinion the best singer (of either gender) in the world and the band was crazy talented, as are many of those in the “Beauty and the Beast” metal genre. Now she sings for NIghtwish, where she’s equally good although with less-demanding material. Floor singing “Leaden Legacy” with AF is about as good as it gets.

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Webinars

February 1 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Get your data ready for MACRA: Leveraging technology to achieve PHM goals.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenters: Brian Ahier, director of standards and government affairs, Medicity; Eric Crawford, project manager, Medicity; Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Earning performance incentives under MACRA/MIPS requires a rich, complete data asset. Use the 2017 transition year to identify technology tools that can address gaps in care, transform data into actionable information, and support population health goals and prepare your organization for 2018 reporting requirements. 

Here’s the recording of Wednesday’s webinar, “Jump Start Your Care Coordination Program: 6 Strategies for Delivering Efficient, Effective Care.”

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Quality Systems (NextGen) reports Q3 results: revenue up 9 percent, adjusted EPS $0.23 vs. $0.16, beating analyst expectations for both.

Specialty EHR vendor SRSsoft renames itself to SRS Health, unleashing a fury of highfalutin’ buzzwords in which the marketing people congratulate themselves on wresting control of the company’s strategy by turning an orange circle into marketing art whose description will sail right over the heads of customers who squint thoughtfully and say, “I dunno, it just looks like an orange circle to me.” Companies somehow never learn to just make these changes without over-describing them, insisting on involving customers in their contrived logic and convoluted explanation that elicit guffaws instead of praise: 

A brand’s logo is its face to the world. Our new orb-shaped visual identity represents the continuum of how we help our clients engage their patients before, during, and after visits. It signifies the perfect balance of improved efficiency with proven outcomes. And it symbolizes the unending dedication of our team to remain in motion as we continue to pioneer the HCIT solutions of the future. The fiery color of our logo was chosen specifically to depict the passion and commitment to client satisfaction of the people who make up the SRS Health team.

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Sales

Children’s National Health System (DC) adds Millennium Revenue Cycle to its Cerner EHR.

Local governments in Finland choose Optimum Healthcare IT to staff the 29-hospital Epic implementation of their $615 million Apotti project.

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People

Former HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell is hired as president of American University in Washington, DC. I wondered about her advanced degree and it turns out she doesn’t have one.

Investment banker Jefferies hires Dmitry Krasnik (Houlihan Lokey) to lead its coverage of healthcare IT.

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Announcements and Implementations

InterSystems and Clinical Architecture develop a “clinigraphic” graphical representation of a patient’s most pertinent information contained in medication lists, comorbidities, and test results.

The Gates Foundation donates $279 million to University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which publishes evidence and trends for global population health that includes the annual Global Burden of Disease report.

Grady Health System (GA) goes live on Glytec’s eGlycemic Management System of personalized insulin dosing, blood glucose alerts, and analytics integrated with Epic as well as glucose surveillance integrated with Grady’s laboratory information system.

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Government and Politics

A small survey of PCPs published in NEJM finds that only 15 percent think the ACA should be repealed entirely, with three-quarters of them saying it just needs tweaked (some of their suggestions are above). The doctors mirror the general public in supporting existing policies such as prohibiting consideration of pre-existing conditions, allowing parents to keep their children on their insurance through age 26, offering taxpayer-funded small business tax credits and individual subsidies, and expanding Medicaid. Fewer than half support requiring people to carry insurance, however, thus again raising the all-important question of how insurance companies can create cost-effective risk pools among only self-selectors.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker – a former CEO of insurer Harvard Pilgrim Health Care — defends his call for employers to pay the state $2,000 for each employee who either isn’t offered health insurance or who declines to buy it. The state’s MassHealth program is spending $1 billion per year to subsidize health insurance for low-income, full-time employees who could buy employer-offered plans but instead sign up for MassHealth to take advantage of premium subsidies, which the state says is an ACA loophole. Baker is also calling for limiting provider rate increases, with price hikes of the most expensive hospitals capped at the same level as their Medicare increases. MassHealth’s annual cost of $16 billion accounts for 40 percent of the just-released 2018 state budget.

President Trump says in a TV interview that his replacement for the “disaster” of the Affordable Care Act will offer “a better plan, much better healthcare, much better service treatment, a plan where you can have access to the doctor that you want and the plan that you want. We’re gonna have a much better healthcare plan at much less money.” He also says that he expects everyone insured through the exchange to keep insurance coverage.

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Privacy and Security

President Trump’s deportation executive order instructs federal agencies to exclude illegal aliens from the Privacy Act, which prohibits the the disclosure of a person’s federal government-held information without their consent. The Act covered only citizens anyway, from what I can tell, and I’m not sure this order has any direct impact on healthcare. Perhaps the significant result is that agencies would need to know (and therefore ask) about immigration status and systems might have to be modified to record it.

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Other

A Wired article notes that improvements in graphics and artificial intelligence technology may render obsolete those doctors who look at an image and then decide what it is, warning that pathologists, radiologists, and dermatologists are at risk of being replaced by machines. It cites the just-published study in which neural networks trained on previous images performed as well as 21 board-certified dermatologists in recognizing cancerous growths.

The Wall Street Journal profiles McKesson Specialty Health’s Practice Insights analytics platform for oncology practices, which extracts EHR information for clinical insight and matches patients with clinical trials.

A patient of a family practice owned by Carolinas HealthCare (NC) complains after noticing that her problem list included “lesbianism.” The health system said the observation was listed there to avoid offending her, but offered to move it to the notes section of her chart. The patient questions why the health system needs to record her sexual orientation at all. I’m not sure I agree since I assume she told them and thus felt they should know, but perhaps the term “problem list” casts an unintended aspersion. This could be a challenge for the OpenNotes movement – recording patient-reported or observed information in a way that patients don’t take as offensive, although this example is less of a challenge than accurately identifying someone as obese, alcoholic, or depressed.

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Sponsor Updates

• Sutherland Healthcare Solutions publishes a video describing its SmartHealthSolutions analytics platform.
• ECG Management Consultants will exhibit at the Summit on Bundled Payment January 25-26 in Atlanta.
• The Chartis Group publishes a white paper titled “What does the Trump Presidency Mean for Providers?”
• EClinicalWorks and Vocera will exhibit at Arab Health 2017 in Dubai.
• Imprivata and Obix Perinatal Data System will exhibit at the Arab Health Congress January 30-February 2 in Dubai.
• PDR will exhibit at the Inspire 2017 Rx30 User Conference & Expo January 27-28 in Orlando, FL.
• MedData will exhibit at the American Society for Anesthesiologists Practice Management event January 27-29 in Grapevine, TX.
• The Intrepid Healthcare podcast features Meditech AVP of Marketing Christine Parent.
• Nordic will host a meetup in Chicago February 3

Blog Posts

• 5 of the Biggest Resume Mistakes (Direct Consulting Associates)
• 10 Questions Hospitals Should Ask During Activation Planning (ECG Management Consultants)
• 3 Examples of Actionable Insights from a PRM Platform (Evariant)
• Privacy is Taking its Place in the C-Suite (ID Experts)
• Children Are Not Just Little Adults: Pediatric Needs in Data Migrations (Galen Healthcare Solutions)
• Six Ways the World is Closer to Closing the Healthcare Skills Gap (GE Healthcare)
• How to Maintain Healthcare Security During Staff Augmentation: 4 Critical Areas (Hayes Management Consulting)
• Cyber Security Series: Business Email Compromise (HCI Group)
• Moments That Matter Most in Healthcare Decision Making (Healthgrades)
• 5 critical steps within a successful Epic upgrade project (Nordic)
• Patients are Looking for You in the Google Local Pack. Will They Find You? (Influence Health)
• A Look Ahead at Healthcare Payment Innovations in 2017 (InstaMed)
• HIE Should Work Like the Electric Company (InterSystems)
• Integrating Care: Moving Beyond Interoperability to True Collaboration, Part III (Netsmart)
• The Behavioural Health Disruption Tour (Orion Health)

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Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jennifer, Dr. Jayne, Lt. Dan.
More news: HIStalk Practice, HIStalk Connect.
Get HIStalk updates. Send news or rumors.
Contact us.

McKesson Will Acquire CoverMyMeds for $1.1 Billion

 

McKesson announced Wednesday that it will acquire Columbus, OH-based prescription electronic prior authorization platform vendor CoverMyMeds for $1.1 billion plus a potential additional $300 million based on performance.

McKesson announced the acquisition as part of its quarterly earnings report in which it beat earnings estimates but fell short on revenue.

CoverMyMeds is a RelayHealth Pharmacy partner. It will remain an independent McKesson business unit with co-founders Matt Scantland and Sam Rajan staying on.