Morning Headlines 2/10/25

FDA Alerts Patients of Potential to Miss Critical Safety Alerts Due to Phone Settings When Using Smartphone-Compatible Diabetes Devices

The FDA warns users of diabetes devices — including continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and automated insulin dosing systems — that critical alerts may be missed due to their phone settings.

Sentara’s virtual nursing system to serve nearly 1,800 hospital beds

Sentara will expand its virtual nursing program, launched using ThinkAndor technology at its hospital in Norfolk, VA, last November, to its remaining 11 hospitals by October of this year.

Frederick Health in Frederick, Md., provides update on operations, ransomware attack

Frederick Health works to restore its IT systems after a ransomware attack discovered on January 27 forced it to revert to downtime procedures.

Telehealth Platform Doximity Stock Soars as AI Boosts Performance

Physician networking and clinical workflow tools company Doximity’s shares jump on the news of its Q3 2025 results, with revenue and EPS going above and beyond analyst expectations.

Monday Morning Update 2/10/25

Top News

The FDA warns users of diabetes devices — including continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and automated insulin dosing systems — that critical alerts may be missed due to their phone settings.

Reported issues include misconfigured app permissions, use of “Do Not Disturb” or focus modes, apps going to sleep from inactivity, Bluetooth connections altering volume settings, and OS updates that are incompatible with the device’s app.

Reader Comments

From P.S. “Re: MyChart. A friend was looking for results for her daughter from a hospital that went live on MyChart in February. MyChart pulled up another patient’s records with their name, birthdate, and medical record number. Has anyone seen this or is it a one-off? I am interested because we are moving to Epic soon at my hospital.” I’m guessing that it’s a problem with the source system that sent the results to Epic rather than Epic itself. I say that because Googling “mychart wrong patient” brings up a few examples, most commonly attributed to an outside lab or practice and a hospital error in patient matching. Readers, have you ever seen someone else’s information in your MyChart?

From Adhesion: “Re: Oracle Health non-compliance with Section 508 disability requirements. How did the VA miss that federal requirement?” The VA should have been aware of Section 508 compliance given its long history with its previous patient portal My HealtheVet, which it boasted was fully compliant. However, federal software accessibility compliance is often more aspirational than fully realized because it’s a lot of work to retrofit support for assistive technologies and keyboard-only operation. Supposedly around 75% of software that is used by the federal government isn’t fully compliant. Related: Epic was sued a few years ago by a blind advocacy group who said that disabled people could no longer perform their jobs when their employer went live with Epic, but the case was dismissed and it addressed only employees, not outside users. Epic demonstrated Nuance-powered voice navigation at HIMSS17 that it said would meet the requirements for Section 508 compliant self-scheduling, but that was part of the VA’s MASS scheduling system that the VA walked away from in choosing Cerner.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Sore throat probably wasn’t a great choice for a treatment venue preference poll given the strep swab confounder, not to mention that self-managing symptoms is also an option.

New poll to your right or here: How did you schedule your most recent non-emergency, in-person medical encounter? I listed the options that I could think of, but it’s likely I missed some.

A long-term sponsor will soon be vacating the stratospheric ad aerie way up there at the top of the column because they’ve been acquired. New or upgrading sponsors, get in touch with Lorre to move up there to the penthouse, even in time for the HIMSS conference if you are ready.

Dr. H from Bronx, NY provided an update to a reader’s donation that funded his Donor’s Choose request for help covering the $150 cost of having a PBS documentary filmmaker conduct a virtual workshop and screening for his early college class. He says, “The presentation and workshop have made an incredible impact in the classroom. The students have been working on short films of their own creation and direction. Students have also been composing their own film music on keyboards. Students computer literacy has improved with greater exposure to the workshop. We will have a screening in May where every student screens their film shorts for the entire school and local community.” Health system executives, technologists, and radiologists can help fund similar projects by completing this quick AI purchasing survey, which triggers a donation from Volpara Health.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Instant Access Webinar: “Successfully Navigating Post-Acute Rev Cycle Challenges.” Sponsors: Inovalon and KanTime. Presenters: David Swenson, senior manager of sales engineering, Inovalon; Lucy Lopez, VP of product management, KanTime. Learn how to speed up your revenue cycle processes and avoid the common RCM and eligibility errors that cause delays and denials. Discover strategies to boost your bottom line: streamline eligibility verification, simplify complex processes, and optimize denial management for improved cash flow.

Instant Access Webinar: “How AI Addresses Resource Constraints Within Identity Data Management.” Sponsor: Rhapsody. Presenters: Lynn Stoltz, MS, director of product management, Rhapsody; Drew Ivan, MS, chief architect, Rhapsody; Michelle Blackmer, chief marketing officer, Rhapsody. Discover how to overcome the toughest challenge in identity data management: resource constraints.  The presenters will cover how Rhapsody EMPI with Autopilot solves resource challenges like limitations in time, talent, and budget; Reduces costs and risks associated with inaccurate data; and boosts identity data accuracy through 98% decision-making precision.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed. 

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Teladoc Health shares popped on Thursday and Friday after an analyst gave it a glowing recommendation as a back door AI play, noting that shares have shed 96% of their 2021 value because of lower growth but the company still enjoys high margins and cash flow. I was surprised to learn that Teladoc has 5,600 employees.

Sales

• Tanner Health will implement Abridge’s ambient documentation.

People

Bamboo Health hires Ross Armstrong, MSHA, MBA (Biofourmis) as chief commercial officer.

Stephen Fischer, MD, who developed the SpringCharts primary care EHR 25 years ago, died last week at 68.

Government and Politics

Health tech is represented on Elon Musk’s DOGE team. Industry long-timer Amy Gleason most recently worked for primary care operator Main Street Health and the White House’s US Digital Service. Brad Smith is chairman and CEO of Main Street Health, co-founder and former CEO of Aspire Health (sold to Anthem / Elevance in 2018), and co-founder and former executive chair of CareBridge (sold to Elevance in October 2024 for $2.7 billion). Smith also ran CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation from 2020 to  2021.

Sponsor Updates

• Vyne Medical announces the expansion of its cloud fax services and email-to-fax technology in a major academic medical center.
• Nordic celebrates its 15th anniversary.
• Hearst Health-owned care and membership management software vendor MHK will integrate its CareProminence platform with Findhelp’s closed-loop social services referral system.
• Nym publishes a new guide, “10 Questions to Ask Autonomous Medical Coding Vendors.”
• Prominence Advisors will sponsor CDO Healthcare Exchange 2025 February 11-13 in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
• Redox prepares to launch its Shut the Backdoor Podcast about healthcare security.
• Sectra releases a new episode of its “Let’s Talk Enterprise Imaging” podcast, “Greater Manchester’s path to AI in chest x-ray imaging.”
• Primary Venture Partners recognize SmarterDx co-founders Michael Gao, MD and Josh Geleris, MD as startup honorees at the NYC Tech Awards.
• Waystar will exhibit at the EClinicalWorks Day Show February 12 in Dallas.
• The Overland Park Chamber of Commerce honors WellSky Chairman and CEO Bill Miller with its Nova Award for fast-growing and innovative companies.

Blog Posts

• 2025 Readiness: 8 Enhancement Considerations for Human Services & Post Acute Teams (Netsmart)
• Addressing cybersecurity challenges in rural healthcare (Nordic)
• Top 2025 Healthcare Trends and Predictions (PerfectServe)
• Should You Build or Buy Your Consumer Experience Orchestration Platform? (Praia Health)
• Building Better Community Care with Tailored Solutions (TruBridge)

Contacts

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

Morning Headlines 2/7/25

Little Otter Secures $9.5 Million to Transform Family Mental Health Nationwide

Virtual family mental health provider Little Otter raises a $9.5 million funding round.

Healthmap Solutions Acquires Carium to Enhance Digital Engagement Capabilities within Healthmap’s Population Health Management Platform

Healthmap Solutions, a population health management vendor focused on kidney care, acquires virtual care management and coordination company Carium.

Veterans Affairs reboots Oracle health records project for $330M

The VA restarts its Oracle Health implementation by making a $330 million payment to Oracle to support planned 2026 deployments at four Michigan sites.

News 2/7/25

Top News

Teladoc Health will acquire Catapult Health, a virtual checkup provider that sells to employers and health plans, for $65 million in cash, valuing the company at 2x annual revenue.

Teladoc plans to apply its technology to identify at-risk individuals and encourage them to enroll in its chronic condition management programs.

TDOC shares, which have lost 42% in the past 12 months, rose slightly on the news, valuing the company at just under $2 billion.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Nym. Nym is the leader in transforming clinical language into actionable information, which can remove inefficiencies that add billions to the cost of care. By combining industry-leading technology with clinical expertise and a deep understanding of medical language, Nym is able to accurately decode medical charts in a way that is fast, explainable, and compliant across multiple specialties in both outpatient and inpatient care settings. Nym’s autonomous medical coding engine translates provider notes within patient charts into diagnostic and billing charge codes in a matter of seconds, with over 95% accuracy and absolutely zero human intervention. Nym’s engine also delivers audit-ready, traceable documentation for every code it generates, ensuring total visibility into coding rationale. The solution can be quickly deployed and scaled based on volume and workflow needs, easing administrative burdens and allowing clinical teams to spend more time focused on patient care. This autonomous approach to medical coding enables healthcare organizations to optimize their revenue cycle operations while maintaining the highest levels of compliance and accuracy. Based in New York City with R&D capabilities in Tel Aviv, Nym is building an interdisciplinary team of specialists including technologists, physicians, mathematicians, computational linguists, engineers, and medical coders. The company’s innovative approach to autonomous medical coding has attracted investment from leading healthcare and technology investors, including PSG, Addition, GV, Bessemer Venture Partners, Dynamic Loop Capital, and Tiger Global. Thanks to Nym for supporting HIStalk.

Health system executives, technologists, and radiologists — Volpara Health will make a significant donation to Donors Choose for your response to this quick survey. You will be supporting teachers as readers did for Ms. H in Yonkers, NY, who reported this week along with the photo above, “With the new headphones, our students are now able to engage with the AI-powered curriculum in a focused, distraction-free environment. The built-in microphones allow them to interact with the program, practicing pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension in real time, tailoring lessons to their individual needs. This technology is making a huge difference by adapting to each student’s pace, providing immediate feedback, and allowing them to work independently. Our students, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, are now building confidence and critical literacy skills, thanks to the opportunity to engage deeply with the curriculum.”

Sponsored Events and Resources

Instant Access Webinar: “Successfully Navigating Post-Acute Rev Cycle Challenges.” Sponsors: Inovalon and KanTime. Presenters: David Swenson, senior manager of sales engineering, Inovalon; Lucy Lopez, VP of product management, KanTime. Learn how to speed up your revenue cycle processes and avoid the common RCM and eligibility errors that cause delays and denials. Discover strategies to boost your bottom line: streamline eligibility verification, simplify complex processes, and optimize denial management for improved cash flow.

Instant Access Webinar: “How AI Addresses Resource Constraints Within Identity Data Management.” Sponsor: Rhapsody. Presenters: Lynn Stoltz, MS, director of product management, Rhapsody; Drew Ivan, MS, chief architect, Rhapsody; Michelle Blackmer, chief marketing officer, Rhapsody. Discover how to overcome the toughest challenge in identity data management: resource constraints.  The presenters will cover how Rhapsody EMPI with Autopilot solves resource challenges like limitations in time, talent, and budget; Reduces costs and risks associated with inaccurate data; and boosts identity data accuracy through 98% decision-making precision.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed. 

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Germany-based Avelios Medical raises $31 million in a Series A funding round, the proceeds of which it plans to use to market its hospital information system to users of SAP’s patient management product, which will be retired by 2030.

Health insurer software vendor EnGen, which is a subsidiary of HIghmark Health, lays off 207 employees.

Virtual family mental health provider Little Otter raises a $9.5 million funding round.

People

Goliath Technologies hires Ryan Oliver (KLAS Research) as SVP of healthcare solutions.

Care coordination technology vendor Watershed Health promotes Effie Carlson to CEO, replacing founder Chip Grant, MD.

Pat Henson, MBA (The HCI Group) joins IMethods as EVP of healthcare solutions.

Avia Health hires Clay Holderman, MBA (UnityPoint Health) as CEO.

Aaron Fenton, MBA (Fenton Consulting) joins Equum Medical as chief growth officer.

Access TeleCare hires Kris Kistler, MS as CISO.

Announcements and Implementations

AMA launches a $12 million program to apply AI and other technologies to the educational programs of medical schools, residency programs, and CME to personalize content and goals to learners. 

Oracle Health EVP/GM Seema Verma lists some general features of the company’s newly developed EHR:

• Conversion of Millennium is not needed and customizations and configurations will remain in place.
• It will offer conversational search and voice-driven navigation.
• It will present clinicians with real-time information about medication options, evidence-based protocols, and research study results.
• AI-supported summaries will organize patient information by condition, role, and care setting to provide quick chart review.
• It will integrate with Oracle Clinical AI Agent and Clinical Data Exchange to manage prior authorization.
• It will feature a new patient portal.

KLAS posts its Best in KLAS 2025 report, which contains a few interesting nuggets:

• Epic beat Oracle Health with a performance score of 89 versus 65 in the Overall Health System Suite category.
• Athenahealth handily topped NextGen Healthcare and Greenway Health in the Independent Physician Practice Suite category.
• Chartis topped the Overall IT Services Firm and Healthcare Management Consulting Firm lists, but its competitors were close behind.
• Earning Most Improved were Agfa HealthCare, Inovalon, Nimble, and Clearwater.

Bloomberg’s editorial board says that the US has spent $35 billion on immature EHRs that doctors and patients hate. They say this about the Meaningful Use program:

Anxious to meet the subsidy deadlines and avoid penalties, providers adopted what software was available. Inferior products — developed hastily, with little thought for patient safety and user experience — became an entrenched and detested feature of medical practice. Lawmakers, once dazzled by the notion of data beaming between nodes of an interconnected health-care system, eventually realized they’d overlooked the industry’s disincentives to share lucrative patient information with their competitors.

Canada’s CAN Health Network of health system operators and health tech vendors urges Canadians to commercialize and adopt Canada-built health technologies as a response to threatened US tariffs.

This is for Dr. Jayne, since she has provided medical services to some Boy Scout camps. CampDoc, which sells an EHR for camps, will collaborate with Scouting America (formerly the Boy Scouts) software provider CouncilWare.

Government and Politics

The VA restarts its Oracle Health implementation by making a $330 million payment to Oracle to support planned 2026 deployments at four Michigan sites.

Meanwhile, the VA acknowledges that disabled veterans can’t access their own medical records because the patient portal does not meet Section 508 federal accessibility requirements. The VA’s initial contract with Cerner called for its system to be Section 508 compliant, but the VA didn’t test its accessibility and later requested an exemption.

Elon Musk says that his DOGE group is analyzing data in CMS’s payment and contracting systems, looking for fraud and waste.

Other

UnitedHealth Group’s defamation litigation attorney demands that breast reconstruction plastic surgeon Elisabeth Potter, MD take down her social media posts that described how UHG denied her cancer patient a post-surgical overnight stay. A United rep called her during surgery even though they had already approved the procedure, demanding patient information that the insurer already had. United denied the stay anyway. The law firm’s letter claimed that the doctor had made an error in her patient orders and demanded that she delete the posts and issue a public apology, both of which she declined to do.

Sponsor Updates

• Sonifi Health names Michelle Allen (Ametek) general manager.
• Black Book develops 18 enhanced key performance indicators to evaluate client satisfaction, return on investment, and overall experience with healthcare IT consulting firms.
• Vyne Medical publishes a new case study, “How a Tennessee Health System Leveraged Automation for Success.”
• First Databank parent company Hearst Health announces that submissions for the 2025 Hearst Health Prize will accepted via the online application portal through February 14.
• Healthcare Growth Partners advises Envision Technology Partners on its sale to InductiveHealth.
• Healthmonix names Jake Parlow sales development representative.
• Impact Advisors releases a new “Impactful AI” podcast, “Generative AI in Healthcare: Promise Unfulfilled?”
• NeuroFlow releases a new podcast, “How the Consolidated Appropriations Act is Reshaping Healthcare Benefits and Employer Responsibilities.”

Blog Posts

• 5 Ways AI is Revolutionizing IDD Care (Netsmart)
• From Errors to Efficiency: Transform Your Charge Capture Process (FinThrive)
• Embrace the future of health IT and the power of MEDITECH Expanse at HIMSS25 (Meditech)
• The New CX: Redefining What’s Possible (Five9)
• Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)Security: Why Healthcare Must Act Now (Fortified Health Security)
• 4 Key Enhancements to Plan for in the New Oracle Health EHR (Healthcare IT Leaders)
• AI Isn’t Taking Your Job – It’s Changing It (Inovalon)
• Building EHR user confidence with robust training resources (Meditech)
• HEDIS Preparation Guide: 3 Essential Steps (MRO)

HIStalk Sponsors Named Best in KLAS

• Agfa HealthCare – universal viewer; vendor neutral archive; most improved software product.
• Clearwater – most improved services solution.
• Dimensional Insight – data and analytics platforms.
• Findhelp – social determinants of health networks.
• FinThrive – insurance discovery.
• Fortified Health Security – security and privacy managed services.
• Impact Advisors – financial/clinical improvement consulting.
• Inovalon – most improved software product.
• Meditech – acute care EHR and patient accounting: small.
• MRO – release of information.
• Navina Technologies – clinician digital workflow.
• Nordic – clinical optimization.
• Optimum Healthcare IT – IT planning and assessment.
• PerfectServe – clinical communications: ambulatory / post–acute care; scheduling: physician.
• Rhapsody – integration engines.
• Sectra – PACS large; PACS small.
• Tegria – IT consulting services (payer).
• Waystar – claims management and clearinghouse; patient access.
• WellSky – homecare / personal care services and private-duty nursing.
• Wolters Kluwer – infection control and monitoring; patient-driven care management; patient education.

Contacts

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

EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 2/6/25

I’m spending the week in the mountains, trying to find my Zen in front of a roaring fire while I sort through a flurry of new consulting requests. The recent deluge of executive orders in the US has led several of my previous clients to reach out for assistance.

I’ve been offered work ranging from high-level strategic guidance to “get your hands dirty” EHR work as organizations try to quantify the potential patient impact, create appropriate communications, and manage complaints from physicians who are concerned about the risk of providing certain kinds of care. Although my schedule was fully committed going into the new year, I’ve been doing my best to introduce my former clients to other trustworthy informatics consultants. With all the changes thus far, it seems that the only people winning are the attorneys and the consultants.

I’ve never been a skier and have been tempted to consider learning, but then I see someone come down the mountain in a rescue basket and am reminded how much I value the function of my knees. For those patients who have encounters with the health system due to their adventurous pursuits, it’s certainly a different experience than it was even a decade ago. With interoperability gains and the ready exchange of information, it’s nice to see patients be able to message their primary care physicians and ask them to review records and potentially arrange referrals and follow up before they travel home. It’s a definite improvement from the time when you were handed a CD and a pile of papers to hand carry to your physician.

The mountain is a wonderful place to sit around the fire and tell stories, so I’ll respond to a reader request to hear more about the time I practiced medicine in an evening gown.

I used to be on staff at a hospital that had an elaborate medical staff ball every year, with the physicians and their escorts donning tuxedoes and full-length gowns. We were having our event that year in a converted warehouse/loft type venue in our city’s downtown. Although it was a neat facility, there were a lot of stairs involved. As you can imagine, they didn’t necessarily go well with floor-length gowns and people who were not used to wearing them.

One of the medical staff administrators slipped and found herself on the floor, surrounded by a urologist and two otolaryngologists who immediately turned to “that new doc that works in the ER” to manage the situation. I would say I rolled up my sleeves and went to work, but of course there were no sleeves on my gown. But I was glad about the full skirt since I spent the next quarter hour on the floor keeping her from moving until paramedics arrived, as required by the venue. I could have cleared her after my evaluation, but they were insistent, and her husband was grateful that someone other than him was making sure she followed the directions. As a physician, you never know when or where you might be called into action. And for the curious fashion afficionados, the gown was dark violet silk accompanied by a vintage beaded clutch and black crepe de chine shoes.

I have several friends who work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others who rely heavily on government datasets as part of their research efforts. One clued me in about the lawsuit that was filed earlier this week by Doctors for America. It asserts that lack of access to key clinical information, guidelines, and datasets has created risky gaps in scientific data, reduced the ability to manage disease outbreaks, and impaired the ability to manage patient care.

Mr. H has been asked whether he’ll cover “DC happenings” and he provided his response last week. When there’s an executive order that dramatically impairs a physician’s ability to do their jobs, or a negative impact to the practice of clinical informatics, you can bet I’ll be covering it. Patient safety should be a national priority, and I welcome a conversation with anyone in policy making who would like to convince me that restricting access to Vaccine Information Statements that are used every day by physicians across the US improves patient safety or clinical outcomes.

From Jimmy the Greek: “Re: more return-to-office shenanigans.” I always appreciate his newsy tidbits, and this one describes next-level monitoring of in-office employees. It describes peel-and-stick radar sensors that can help companies understand whether people are in a room, measuring not only movement but carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, air pressure, temperature, humidity, and particulates. It’s like a little indoor weather station. On one hand, it can help companies understand the true utilization of their real estate footprint, but on the other hand, it could force employees to take the concept of “coffee-badging” to the next level if they need to demonstrate a presence in a particular area of the office. The comments are pretty good if you’re an executive who wants to better understand why your employees don’t want to return to the office.

Cleveland Clinic has spoken out about RFK Jr.’s claim that they have developed an AI nurse. A hospital spokesperson confirmed in a recent statement that the claim was not correct. I’ve been deeply involved in the world of virtual care for years, looking at how organizations are virtualizing care in a thoughtful way to ensure that patient safety remains paramount. There are hundreds of clinical informaticists and related professionals working to create AI-driven clinical solutions every day. Each of us is savvy enough to know whether what we’re seeing in a demo is an AI nurse or not. One would hope that individuals who have the potential to run one of the most challenging healthcare administrative organizations in the world would surround oneself with people who understand what they were looking at and how it might be used (or not used) to care for patients. Plenty of us would free our schedules to ensure that our nation’s leaders aren’t being confused by what they see or at worst hoodwinked by unscrupulous technology vendors.

What’s your over/under on how many years it will be until we truly have AI nurses that are indistinguishable from human nurses interacting with patients? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

Morning Headlines 2/6/25

Teladoc Health to Acquire Catapult Health, Advancing Integrated Care Strategy

Teladoc Health will spend $65 million to acquire Catapult Health, a virtual provider of preventative care including at-home wellness and diagnostic testing.

KKR-backed Cotiviti nears deal for rival healthcare data group Edifecs

Healthcare payments and analytics vendor Cotiviti is reportedly close to acquiring competitor Edifecs for $3 billion.

‘Landmark’ moment as NHS clinics use AI to ‘detect breast cancer cases earlier and faster’

Britain’s NHS launches a 700,000-patient trial of using AI to screen for breast cancer.

Healthcare AI News 2/5/25

News

China-based TikTok parent ByteDance releases OmniHuman-1, an AI tool that transforms a single photo into a lifelike video with natural singing and speech. The technology is raising concerns about more advanced and easily generated deepfakes.

Biomedical researcher Derya Unutmaz, MD uses ChatGPT’s new Deep Research tool to review two cancer cases. He reports, “Both reports were simply impeccable, like something only a specialist MD could write. There’s a reason I said this is a game-changer.” He has previously said that AI will be a standard, required tool in medical practice within two years, and electing not to use it might be considered malpractice. Deep Research is available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers and will be rolled out eventually to Plus subscribers. Users of X say that a key will be if OpenAI can figure out how to provide access to paywalled medical journals.

Britain’s NHS launches a 700,000-patient trial of using AI to screen for breast cancer. The Royal College of Radiologists has urged the government to embrace healthcare AI to help offset a clinician shortage.

Business

Beacon Health System will implement AI-driven medical necessity reviews using the generative AI tool of Xsolis. The health system began using company’s AI to manage people with chronic illness in May 2019.

ScribeAI launches an ambient documentation solution. Co-founder and board chair Kyle Robertson remains CEO of Zealthy. He was fired as CEO of behavioral telehealth startup Cerebral in May 2022 due to federal scrutiny of the company’s controlled substances prescribing practices, after which the company paid $3.6 million in November 2024 to settle charges of encouraging the unauthorized use of controlled substances.

OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman says that the company is considering developing a healthcare-focused version of ChatGPT that would comply with HIPAA.

Research

A JAMA Network discussion of using a secure instance of ChatGPT to draft clinician responses to patient messages makes these points:

• Patients preferred the AI-generated messages.
• A key factor was that the AI messages were more detailed than the quick responses that clinicians wrote in their available time.
• The authors note that appointment lead times are so long that patients will be using AI tools to ask medical questions, even in specialty areas that are not underserved.
• The authors say that healthcare, like other industries, will need to decide between improving clinician working conditions based on freed-up time versus just increasing their workload.

University of Cincinnati associate professor Dong-Gil Ko, PhD proposes a telehealth billing model that rewards experienced, efficient physicians instead of using time-based metrics that pay all providers equally. Ohio’s billing system compensates clinicians based on time spent. He cautions that a downside of the proposed model is that patients may avoid seeking virtual care due to uncertain costs.

Researchers find that ChatGPT effectively de-identifies clinical notes and generates synthetic data, maintaining a balance between data utility and privacy in clinical research.

A study finds that AI-analyzed ECG readings can estimate biological age, potentially linking heart health to cognitive function.

Other

A Health Affairs opinion piece urges the FDA to implement post-market surveillance for healthcare AI applications to detect unintended bias that may only emerge after widespread deployment.

A small Deloitte survey of health system executives finds that 40% report moderate to significant returns on AI investments. Over 80% expect AI to have a substantial impact on their organizations in 2025 but see government regulation as necessary.

A state representative in Oregon submits a bill that would ban the use of “nurse” and similar titles to refer to AI agents.

A woman turns to ChatGPT when doctors are stumped by the cause of fevers and rashes in her five-month-old son. ChatGPT correctly diagnosed him with Kawasaki disease.

The local TV station highlights BayCare St. Anthony’s Hospital’s AI pilot project using Aiva Health’s documentation tool. The system enables conversational EHR access, remote room control, facility-wide communication, and alerts.

Contacts

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

Morning Headlines 2/5/25

Sword teases AI mental health expansion

Digital physical therapy company Sword Health will retool itself as an AI care company that will address all labor-intensive care delivery models.

Okta competitor SailPoint races toward $11.5B IPO

Thoma Bravo-owned identity security and access management company SailPoint hopes to raise $11.5 billion in its second IPO, which may take place as early as next week.

Senate confirms Doug Collins as VA secretary

The Senate confirms US Navy veteran, Air Force chaplain, and former Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) as VA secretary.

Highmark Health cuts 208 jobs at EnGen subsidiary amid ongoing restructuring efforts

Highmark Health lays off 208 employees at its EnGen business, which offers healthcare technology and support to payers and providers.

News 2/5/25

Top News

Affineon Health, which offers AI-powered physician inbox management software, raises $5 million in seed funding.

Reader Comments

From Victor Spoils: “Re: Transcarent. Have they pulled the plug on 98point6?” Allegheny College reports that the text-based virtual care technology vendor informed them it ceased operations as of January 1. The company transitioned to a software-only model in 2023 after selling its virtual care platform and affiliated provider group to Transcarent for $100 million. Former employees stated in April 2024 that most staff had been laid off. While the company’s website remains active and its app is still available on the App Store, the app has not been updated since June 2024.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Praia Health. Praia Health is the first consumer experience orchestration platform for healthcare, revolutionizing the way health systems engage and retain patients. Incubated at Providence, Praia Health has been instrumental in transforming how consumers interact with a health system’s digital channels, spanning web, mobile, a chat-bot solution, and the patient portal. Praia orchestrates digital interactions and disconnected point solutions, creating a cohesive experience for consumers spanning both clinical and nonclinical interactions that influence health outcomes. These experiences can be accessed through a single set of account credentials tied to an authenticated user’s personalized profile. Following in the footsteps of other consumer-driven industries, Praia unlocks digital transformation for health systems by managing the heavy lifting and custom integrations required for a frictionless consumer experience. Praia provides health systems with a platform to connect disparate digital programs, services, and tools, allowing them to deliver a more personalized experience, increase conversion rates, and drive system loyalty. The company’s founder and CEO is industry long-timer Justin Dearborn. Thanks to Praia Health for supporting HIStalk.

Thanks to these companies that recently supported HIStalk. Click a logo for more information and contact Lorre to join them.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Instant Access Webinar: “Successfully Navigating Post-Acute Rev Cycle Challenges.” Sponsors: Inovalon and KanTime. Presenters: David Swenson, senior manager of sales engineering, Inovalon; Lucy Lopez, VP of product management, KanTime. Learn how to speed up your revenue cycle processes and avoid the common RCM and eligibility errors that cause delays and denials. Discover strategies to boost your bottom line: streamline eligibility verification, simplify complex processes, and optimize denial management for improved cash flow.

Instant Access Webinar: “How AI Addresses Resource Constraints Within Identity Data Management.” Sponsor: Rhapsody. Presenters: Lynn Stoltz, MS, director of product management, Rhapsody; Drew Ivan, MS, chief architect, Rhapsody; Michelle Blackmer, chief marketing officer, Rhapsody. Discover how to overcome the toughest challenge in identity data management: resource constraints.  The presenters will cover how Rhapsody EMPI with Autopilot solves resource challenges like limitations in time, talent, and budget; Reduces costs and risks associated with inaccurate data; and boosts identity data accuracy through 98% decision-making precision.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed. 

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Healthcare AI company Suki announces $3 million in funding from Zoom Ventures, bringing its total amount raised to $168 million. Zoom’s video communications business announced in November that it would add Suki’s ambient clinical documentation capabilities to its healthcare offering for virtual and in-person visits.

The new owners of Massachusetts hospitals that were previously owned by the now-bankrupt Steward Health Care claim that Steward is demanding millions more than the agreed-upon amount for transitional medical record and billing services.

Stat reports that digital physical therapy company Sword Health will retool itself as an AI care company that will address all labor-intensive care delivery models. 

Sales

• BayCare (FL) selects Visage Imaging’s Visage 7 Enterprise Imaging Platform.
• Mercy will implement Aidoc’s AiOS technology for diagnostic imaging in a phased rollout at facilities in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
• St. Joseph’s Medical Center’s multispecialty physician practice (NY) will adopt Retrieve Medical’s clinical documentation software.
• UNC Health selects Abridge’s AI-powered ambient speech-recognition and documentation technology.
• UK HealthCare (KY) will implement Epic at King’s Daughters Medical Center and St. Claire Regional Medical Center in the summer of 2026.
• Gunnison Valley Health (CO) will roll out Epic this May via UC Health and the Epic Community Connect program.

People

CloudWave promotes Mike Donahue to COO.

Steve Motil (Optum) joins Valley Health (VA) as chief data and analytics officer.

Westchester Medical Center Health Network (NY) names Leo Bodden, MBA (NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital) SVP/CIO.

Sanjeev Kumar, PhD (Gainwell Technologies) joins NextGen Healthcare as chief data and analytics officer.

Cedars-Sinai Health System (CA) promotes Shaun Miller, MD, MBA to chief health informatics officer and Yaron Elad, MD to CMIO, and names Lisa Stephenson, RN (Houston Methodist) CNIO.

Industry long-timer Mitch Mitchell (Amwell) joins Hippocratic AI as chief growth officer, government sector.

Announcements and Implementations

A new KLAS report on ambient documentation finds that adoption is growing rapidly as organizations address clinician burden and burnout. Respondents emphasize that physicians should not be expected to use their time savings to see more patients. Abridge leads in overall performance, with customers valuing its outcomes, cost effectiveness, multilingual support, and evidence linking. Microsoft’s DAX Copilot is frequently chosen by providers with existing Nuance relationships, though some say that it is more expensive than competing options.

Other

In Canada, doctors in British Columbia call on the provincial government to end the requirement that employees get a doctor’s sick note to return to work. They say it’s a waste of time, especially since the EHRs of individual practices don’t communicate with each other.

California farm workers are using MiSalud, an app-based, bilingual telehealth service that connects them to doctors in Mexico. Providers who aren’t licensed in the US can’t prescribe, but can perform health coaching.

Biomedical researcher Derya Unutmaz, MD uses ChatGPT’s new Deep Research tool to review two cancer cases. He reports, “Both reports were simply impeccable, like something only a specialist MD could write. There’s a reason I said this is a game-changer.” He has previously said that AI will be a standard, required tool in medical practice within two years, and electing not to use it might be considered malpractice.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD adds Mental Health Technologies to its integration partner marketplace.
• Vyne Medical releases a new podcast, “Healthcare AI Automation by Vyne Medical Improves Accuracy and Trust.”
• Arcadia ranks first in healthcare data governance and analytics, according to 2025 Black Book client ratings.
• Agfa HealthCare announces that it has been named a Leader in IDC MarketScape’s US Enterprise Medical Imaging 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast, “ERISA Insights: Challenges & Compliance in Modern Healthcare, with Nick Welle.”
• Consensus Cloud Solutions offers a new whitepaper, “3 Reasons Healthcare Systems Should Invest in AI Technology Now.”

Blog Posts

• Advancing Addiction Treatment: 6 Ways Technology is the Catalyst (Netsmart)
• Here’s Our Comprehensive Guide on How to Get Into Travel Nursing (SnapCare)
• The dangers of disparate systems (Altera Digital Health)
• Four Hidden Pitfalls of In-House Provider Portals (Availity)
• Ensuring successful EHR implementations: A holistic approach to people, data, and technology (Cardamom Health)
• CloudWave’s Predictions for Healthcare IT in 2025 Part 5: A Resurgence of the Public Cloud in Healthcare (CloudWave)
• Amazon Lex: A Lifeline for Healthcare Organizations in the Post-Nuance Era (CTG)

Contacts

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

Morning Headlines 2/4/25

Affineon Secures $5M to Power Physician Productivity

Affineon Health, which offers AI-powered productivity solutions for managing physician inboxes, raises $5 million in seed funding.

Zest Health Announces $13M in Funding to Curb Unnecessary Pharmaceutical Spend through High-Touch Care

Virtual dermatology clinic Zest Health announces a $13 million seed funding round led by Roivant Health.

Middletown-based medical clinic network hit by data breach impacting 1M patients in multi-state hack

Connecticut-based Community Health Center notifies patients of a data breach that first occurred in October and was finally discovered last month.

Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 2/3/25

In response to Oracle Health’s comments about its new and improved EHR, a reader recently asked Mr. H whether users are really asking EHR companies for a voice-driven solution. His response was that it “might draw interest if it doesn’t slow clinicians down.”

I heartily agree. The handful of demos that I’ve seen related to this kind of technology are always slower than looking at the summary screens that already exist in most EHRs. For new users or those who have yet to embrace all the whistles in their current systems, I agree that it could be a valuable tool. However, I think the level of potential impact is variable and somewhat depends on a user’s history and their experience with other types of documentation.

Some of us came of age in our medical careers during the era of paper charts. We had to learn to quickly find information and organize it in our heads. We often created summaries in the chart to help us better keep track of our patients. Those paper charts were often horrific messes, and you never knew whether they were fully current with labs printed out. You also couldn’t read some of the handwriting.

As EHRs became standard tools in hospitals, many implementations simply automated that paper process. Because of that, we became good at finding information in digital nooks and crannies just as we had previously. When EHRs came out with summary screens and the ability to graph and trend things, we felt we were in heaven because we no longer had to create those maps in our minds.

The next problem was how to educate users on the new features that are available and to get them to take advantage of those features. The last time I did an optimization project in an ambulatory setting, less than 20% of the physicians were taking advantage of extremely helpful parts of the EHR. For example, one system had the ability to superimpose blood pressure readings over a timeline that reflected medication adjustments. That’s powerful, but the vast majority of physicians had no idea it was in the system, let alone how to use it. They were literally deprived of the benefit of having the EHR synthesize information as well as the quality aspects of reducing the risk that you would miss information if you were digging through the chart on your own.

Then there’s the issue of the digital natives who are now practicing medicine, those who have spent the majority of their professional lives with a smartphone in their hands and the expectation that everything should be right in front of them with pretty visuals that fit on a six-inch screen and require no cognitive analysis. These are the folks who absorbed their medical school lectures via recordings played back at 2x speed. They’re also of an era where medical education has shifted away from “learning for learning’s sake” and more towards being able to pass national licensing exams with high enough scores to secure their spots in competitive residency training programs. Upon reaching independent practice, their needs often differ from those of their more clinically seasoned colleagues.

When you’re considering the addition of a voice assistant to the patient care environment, however, the physician’s needs are only one part of the equation. The always astute Bill Spooner commented, “I can imagine the patient visit during which the doc is talking to the computer, but I’m not sure whether the comment is directed to the computer or me. “Hey, doc, quit talking to the damn computer and tell me what’s going on. Who the hell is Hey Oracle?”

If the computer is returning audible information with the patient in the room, it had better be accurate and free of inappropriate interpretation or hallucination. As primary care physicians who have endeavored to build trust with our patients, we already have enough difficult discussions when we have to address potentially stigmatizing medical conditions like obesity. If our patients don’t want us to use that word, they definitely don’t want to hear it from a computer in the exam room.

Not to mention that at normal speeds of speech, this exchange of information may take longer than a typed and visualized interaction, especially if the clinician is a fast typist and a quick reader. You can ask nearly any ambulatory physician in the US – our visits certainly aren’t going to be allowed to be of longer duration unless we want to work 10- or 12-hour days to fit them in. It feels like every administrator is trying to figure out how to cram all of our visits into six-minute boxes, which is simply absurd.

I would love to see actual data on visits performed with these tools, using standardized patients with standardized scenarios just like we go through in medical school. I’d love to see transcripts of those visits and also a scoring rubric from the standardized patients about how the visits made them feel.

Like many of my clinical informatics colleagues, I’m a “Star Trek” junkie. Although I’ve never been to a convention or dressed up as a character, (although I did portray a nonspecific officer in a medical school class show), I can quote more episodes than is likely acceptable in the company of my non-clinician, non-informatics friends. If you want to talk about Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra or discuss the variety of desserts that are available from a standard Federation replicator, I’m your girl.

I’ve dreamed of being able to ask the “Computer” to do a variety of things to make my life easier. I would love to have Majel Barrett’s voice power my current digital assistants. However, I can think of specific patients who would be confused by having a third voice in the visit and who might be distracted by a verbal interaction during the visit.

Oracle Health isn’t the only company doing this. If you’re with one of the other EHR vendors using virtual assistants to provide information to clinicians in real time as they treat patients, I’d love to showcase what you’re doing. If you have data about your testing, that’s even better. If you’re a clinician who has used this technology in your practice, I’d love to hear your impressions of the initial weeks of use, any subsequent ramp up time , and where you’ve been able to take the technology.

Is ”Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” your kind of beverage? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

Readers Write: HIPAA Security Rule Update: Why Basic Compliance Isn’t Enough

HIPAA Security Rule Update: Why Basic Compliance Isn’t Enough
By Jason Ward

Jason Ward is VP of IT and tech support at Collette Health.

The healthcare sector has become an increasingly attractive target for cybercriminals, with attacks growing in both frequency and sophistication. The scale of healthcare data breaches nearly tripled in 2023, with 140 million individuals affected compared to 51 million in 2022, highlighting the rapidly growing threat to patient privacy. 

In response to these escalating threats, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed the first major update to the HIPAA Security Rule since 2013. This update reflects a growing recognition that current security measures are insufficient to protect modern healthcare systems. 

While these proposed changes represent a significant step forward, they should be viewed as minimum requirements rather than comprehensive security solutions. In today’s healthcare environment, where increasingly interconnected systems create multiple attack vectors and expand the potential attack surface, organizations need to think beyond basic compliance.

The current security landscape demands a more proactive and robust approach. Many of the proposed requirements — such as annual audits, basic encryption, and standard access controls — are practices that security-conscious organizations have already implemented, and in many cases, exceeded. As we examine these updates, it’s crucial to understand that they represent a foundation upon which to build more comprehensive security measures.

Key Changes and Why They Matter

• Mandatory security documentation and regular auditing. Previously optional security measures will now become mandatory, with few exceptions. Organizations must document all security policies and procedures. Annual compliance audits will be required to verify adherence to these requirements.
• Enhanced asset management and network visibility. Organizations must maintain and regularly update a technology asset inventory and network map. These must be reviewed at least annually and updated whenever there are changes that might affect protected health information.
• Strengthened access controls and authentication. Multi-factor authentication becomes mandatory for accessing systems containing protected health information. Organizations must notify relevant parties within 24 hours when workforce access changes or is terminated.
• Robust incident response and recovery. Organizations must establish documented incident response plans and procedures. Systems and data must be restorable within 72 hours, with clear procedures for reporting and responding to security incidents.
• Comprehensive technical controls. Organizations must implement encryption for data at rest and in transit, deploy anti-malware protection, establish network segmentation, and conduct vulnerability scanning every six months. Penetration testing must be performed annually.
• Enhanced business associate accountability. Business associates must verify their compliance annually through a written analysis by a subject matter expert. They must notify covered entities within 24 hours of activating contingency plans.

Beyond Compliance: Adopting a Shared Security Model

While these updates represent significant progress, healthcare organizations must recognize that meeting compliance requirements alone doesn’t ensure adequate security. True cybersecurity in healthcare requires a shared security model where:

• Everyone plays a role. Security isn’t just an IT problem. It requires active participation from every department and role within the organization. From clinical staff to administrative personnel, everyone must understand their part in protecting patient data.
• Continuous evolution. Cyber threats evolve faster than regulations. Organizations must stay ahead by continuously updating their security measures and adapting to new threats, rather than waiting for regulatory requirements to catch up.
• Cultural transformation. Building a security-first culture means making security considerations part of every decision and process. This includes fostering open communication about security concerns, celebrating security-conscious behaviors, and ensuring that security is viewed as an enabler rather than a barrier to healthcare delivery.

We’re only as secure as our weakest link. By working together and viewing these new requirements as a starting point rather than an end goal, we can build a stronger, more resilient healthcare security ecosystem that truly protects patient data and maintains trust in our healthcare system.

Readers Write: Improving the Healthcare System with Advancements in Data Science and AI

Improving the Healthcare System with Advancements in Data Science and AI
By Hugh Cassidy

Hugh Cassidy, PhD, MBA is head of artificial intelligence and chief data scientist at LeanTaaS.

Healthcare has historically been slow to adopt modern technologies, but recent advances in AI have propelled it into the mainstream, allowing AI to be confidently used in critical systems like healthcare. These advancements, in both computational power and sophisticated algorithms, have made AI not only more popular, but also more reliable for complex, high-stakes environments.

According to a recent survey from the Berkeley Research Group, 75% of healthcare professionals anticipate that AI technologies will be widespread throughout the industry within the next three years. This optimistic outlook highlights the potential of AI to transform healthcare operations and to keep pushing forward with advancements in data-informed technology and predictive healthcare solutions.

However, healthcare’s history of slow technology adoption emphasizes the need for a strategic approach. Without a clear implementation plan, organizations may fail to harness the full potential of AI to improve operational efficiency and outcomes and to meet broader organizational goals.

To fully appreciate AI’s transformative potential, it’s essential to delve into its specific applications across various healthcare challenges.

One of the most pressing issues in healthcare is excessive patient wait times. Many of us have experienced long hospital delays, and the ongoing staffing crisis coupled with rising patient volumes has only made the situation worse. AI can play a pivotal role in streamlining patient flow, helping ensure timely care while reducing operational inefficiencies.

Predictive analytics can sift through historical data to forecast patient inflow, going beyond current conditions to anticipate future trends. However, predictive insights alone aren’t enough. Prescriptive systems are essential to translate those forecasts into actionable schedules. By combining AI-driven predictions with prescriptive analytics, healthcare facilities can generate optimized schedules that not only forecast patient demand, but also suggest the best staffing and resource allocation to handle peak hours. These prescriptive systems are necessary to minimize bottlenecks, reduce wait times, and ultimately enhance the overall patient experience.

Another pain point that healthcare professionals face daily is an overwhelming number of administrative tasks, which inundates staff members and ultimately detracts from patient care. Staff members often work overtime to give patients the best care, yet still have mountains of paperwork to complete once their assigned shift is complete.

AI can make a major impact and alleviate this burden through automating routine tasks such as data entry and billing. Optical character recognition (OCR) and natural language processing (NLP) tools can read and organize clinical notes, reducing the time that doctors and nurses spend on paperwork. AI-powered conversational assistants can handle common patient inquiries and triage less-critical cases, freeing medical staff to focus on more complex and urgent patient needs. By using AI to their advantage, healthcare teams can streamline processes like appointment scheduling and build schedules that are tailored to each facility’s unique demand and capacity.

By streamlining administrative tasks and automating certain aspects of patient care, AI can contribute to increased efficiency in the healthcare system, leading to cost savings and better resource allocation. Tools such as automated billing systems reduce errors and streamline the billing process, reducing administrative overhead. Scheduling tools fill unused time and unlock the full potential of the OR and infusion centers. All of this helps create more revenue and lower costs for health systems and patients alike.

One of the best ways health systems can reduce costs is by accurately allocating their resources and serving their communities by providing consistent and timely access to care for every patient who is in need. This not only improves patient outcomes, but also drives higher revenue and keeps costs low.

The potential of AI and data science to revolutionize healthcare is immense, but it requires a thoughtful and strategic approach to implementation. Health systems should work towards overall workforce adaptation and train and prepare hospital staff to effectively work with AI tools. This will likely require changes to existing education and training programs, as well as require ongoing support to ensure the integration of AI-driven tools into everyday workflows, but it will also help shorten patient wait times, ensure that patients are getting better care, and guarantee that healthcare workers aren’t overworked.

Considering AI’s immense popularity these days, hospitals should capitalize on staff members’ excitement about new tools. The future of healthcare lies in the intelligent use of data and AI, and these technologies are already helping many healthcare systems overcome current limitations and deliver superior care. Along with better patient care, hospitals are also maximizing revenue and improving overall hospital operations, leading to happier staff and hospitals that are more capable at handling growing patient volumes.

Morning Headlines 2/3/25

Veradigm ends strategic review after no firm bids

Veradigm’s strategic review fails to attract acquisition bids from the five organizations that had expressed interest, leading it to instead focus on making operational improvements and working to get its shares re-listed.

Chief VA watchdog who helped expose flawed computer system in Spokane speaks out after being fired by Trump

The White House fires VA Inspector General Mike Missal, whose VA OIG report that highlighted patient harm that was linked to its Oracle Health rollout led to the project being temporarily halted.

Hospitals say Steward demanding millions more for essential IT services

The new owners of hospitals formerly owned by the bankrupt Steward Health Care cry foul over the fact that Steward is charging more than was agreed upon to provide transitional medical record and billing services.

Monday Morning Update 2/3/25

Top News

Veradigm’s strategic review fails to attract acquisition bids from the five organizations that had expressed interest, reportedly among them McKesson and Oracle. The company says it will refocus on making operational improvements and working to get its shares re-listed.

The company says it will provide an updated FY2023 and preliminary 2024 report in March. Tom Langan remains interim CEO after eight months.

Veradigm also announced that board member Beth Altman, who served as chair of its audit committee, has resigned due to health reasons.

MDRX shares dropped 32% on the news, valuing the company at $588 million. They are down 54% from their 52-week high.

Reader Comments

From Color Me Skeptical: “Re: Oracle Health. I’m skeptical of its claims about its next-generation EHR, since Cerner under Oracle has over-promised and under-delivered. I’m also befuddled by the promotion by company spokespeople about the EHR being voice driven. Is anyone really asking for that?” David Feinberg says that Oracle will rebuild the EHR with clinicians and patients in mind, integrating it with the company’s other systems, such as ERP and human capital management. Oracle emphasizes voice navigation, which might draw interest if it doesn’t slow clinicians down. He claims that the new EHR is now generally available, which I hadn’t heard before (anybody know the live sites?) He agrees that Cerner had a reputation for slow-motion fumbling but insists that Oracle ownership has fixed everything.

We have a customer base that has been patient with us as we haven’t really executed. In saying “we,” I’m really talking about Cerner, which did not execute fast enough. We became Oracle. I think we have literally leapfrogged the competition. We have executed and hit on every timeline. Now it’s 2025, it is time for us to deliver and delight our customer base.

From Aye I: “Re: AI training. As an AI dabbler, what training or certification do you recommend?” None. The technology and approach changes every five minutes, so whatever you learn today will be worthless tomorrow. Just get your hands dirty. The value of most certifications and online courses accrues to the seller, not the buyer.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Nearly all respondents from last week’s poll have had recent experience with a chain drugstore, of whom two-thirds report an OK or better experience.

New poll to your right or here: What type of visit would you choose for a sore throat? Bonus points for adding a post-vote comment that explains your choice. I’m probably an outlier since I’ve never had a virtual visit, a trip to urgent care, or an ED visit except a long time ago when I had an out-of-the-blue episode of laryngospasm, a terrifying but harmless choking-like moment when your throat decides to rage quit breathing (pro tip: relax, breathe slowly, make a sound such as humming, and don’t bother going to the ED because they can’t do anything).

DeepSeek can generate fun trivia quizzes, so I gave it the link to Vince Ciotti’s HIS-tory series.

Health system executives, technologists, and radiologists — Volpara Health will make a significant donation to Donors Choose for your response to this quick survey.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Instant Access Webinar: “Successfully Navigating Post-Acute Rev Cycle Challenges.” Sponsors: Inovalon and KanTime. Presenters: David Swenson, senior manager of sales engineering, Inovalon; Lucy Lopez, VP of product management, KanTime. Learn how to speed up your revenue cycle processes and avoid the common RCM and eligibility errors that cause delays and denials. Discover strategies to boost your bottom line: streamline eligibility verification, simplify complex processes, and optimize denial management for improved cash flow.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The latest Health IT Market Review from Healthcare Growth Partners reports a narrowing bid-ask spread in company acquisitions as buyers show greater risk tolerance. Investors are seeking portfolio liquidity, while sellers are offering higher-quality opportunities. Key takeaways:

• M&A valuations rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with private equity buyouts hitting a record high.
• Distressed asset sales may not yield the apparent proceeds. Truepill, once valued at $1.6 billion with $250 million in annual revenue, sold for $525 million, but just $25 million was paid in cash. Upfront Healthcare’s $86 million acquisition by Health Catalyst fell short of its total raised funding.
• Take-private deals saw steep discounts from pandemic highs: R1 (-54%), CompuGroup (-74%), and Accolade (-89%).
• Early-stage fundraising is picking up, reflecting broader market confidence.
• AI investment accounted for 25% of total funding, with investor interest shifting almost entirely from clinical AI tools to workflow automation.
• Investors view AI as an operational enhancer for a company’s existing business rather than a primary investment focus.

People

Keith Dowling, MBA (Cleveland Clinic) joins Catholic Health as VP/CISO.

RxLogic hires Paige Zimmer, MHSA (First Databank)  as EVP of business development.

Andrea Kowalski, MBA (1upHealth) joins Datavant as SVP of product, provider solutions.

Announcements and Implementations

HIMSS conference owner Informa launches WHX Tech, a healthcare events brand that will hold its first conference later this year in Dubai with the involvement of HIMSS.

Government and Politics

The White House fires VA Inspector General Mike Missal, whose VA OIG report that highlighted patient harm that was linked to its Oracle Health rollout led to the project being temporarily halted.

FDA Digital Health Center of Excellence Director Troy Tazbaz, who guided the agency’s policy related to AI and software as a medical device, resigns.

Sponsor Updates

• SmarterDx staff assemble 250 patient comfort kits for UC Irvine.
• Wolters Kluwer Health announces that six of its book publications have won Book of the Year awards from the American Journal of Nursing.
• Vyne Medical releases a new case study, “How a Tennessee Health System Leveraged Automation for Success.”
• CereCore releases a new podcast, “CIO Insights: How to Pursue Big Technology Opportunities and Satisfaction.”
• Black Book Research publishes a new digital book, “The 2025 Black Book of Global Healthcare IT.”
• Tegria will sponsor and exhibit at the AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference February 23-26 in San Antonio.

Blog Posts

• 5 Reasons Why AI is a Platform, Not Just a Solution (Netsmart)
• The case for bundled de-implementation: Could doing less deliver better patient care? (Nordic)
• 8 questions product leaders should ask when evaluating EMPI solutions (Rhapsody)
• The Role of Per Diem Nurses in Addressing Seasonal Patient Surges (SnapCare)
• Large Academic Medical Center Expands Adoption of Vyne Medical Solutions, Adding Cloud Fax Services (Vyne Medical)
• Unlocking Hidden Gems: Leveraging RCMTAM for Revenue Cycle Excellence (CereCore)
• Revolutionize Healthcare Payments with TrustCommerce: Meet Us at ViVE, HIMSS, and CORE 2025 (TrustCommerce)
• The cost-benefit of data quality and strategy in healthcare (Wolters Kluwer Health)

Contacts

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

Morning Headlines 1/31/25

Khosla Ventures Backs UK Startup’s Plan to Bring Cancer AI Tool to US

UK-based startup C the Signs, which uses routinely collected EHR data to help primary care doctors detect 50 types of early-stage cancer, announces an $8 million investment from Khosla Ventures and plans to enter the US market.

Announcing MedSender’s Series A

AI medical assistant software startup MedSender raises $5 million in Series A funding.

23andMe Special Committee Announces Exploration of Strategic Alternatives

Once valued at $6 billion, genetic testing company 23andMe says that it is running out of cash and will try to find a buyer for the second time.

Kode Raises $27M in Series B Funding to Transform Medical Coding and Data Management

Kode Health, which operates a gig matching service for HIM coders and hospitals, raises $27 million in a Series B funding round.

HealthBus Expands Healthcare Solutions with Strategic Acquisition of BetterHealthcare

Employer-focused digital healthcare services and benefits integration company HealthBus acquires BetterHealthcare, which offers providers patient engagement software.

News 1/31/25

Top News

Behavioral health technology company NeuroFlow acquires Quartet Health, which offers a free mental health provider search tool.

In a simultaneous transaction, Quartet sold its InnovaTel telepsychiatry staffing service to Iris Telehealth, a provider of telepsychiatry services for health systems and community clinics.

Quartet, which was founded in 2014, has raised $266 million, while the eight-year-old NeuroFlow has secured $58 million in funding.

Reader Comments

From You’re Soaking In It: “Re: OnMed. Auburn University’s Rural Health Initiative is helping to place OnMed CareStations in rural locations, with one local paper claiming that one in Chambers County, Alabama is ‘the nation’s most active location for healthcare services.’” OnMed gets great patient reviews there, but the newspaper article is unclear on its statement about volumes, noting just 100 consultations per month. Maybe that makes it the busiest OnMed location, which would be a solid number. Companies seem obsessed at the idea of a medical telephone booth, but its only real advantages over standard telehealth are: (a) it’s in a fixed location, though that means patients have to go there instead of connecting from anywhere; (b) it provides instant access using someone else’s internet; and (c) it offers diagnostic tools that aren’t available in patient homes. Early product literature said that the booths dispensed medications, but I don’t see that mentioned now. Summary: it seems like an innovative idea that has failed before (like the now-defunct Forward, which  blew through $500 million of investor cash before augering in). Attribute that to the usual challenges of massive upfront investment, securing locations, uncertain demand, staffing the units to keep them running and clean, and finding ROI without trying to sell memberships or services that patients are expected to pay for with their own money. It’s Redbox versus streaming — you know how that ended.

From Bifstek: “Re: HIMSS. They’re offering a $799 add-on VIP pass for the annual conference.” I also received the email about Priority Pass Upgrade, which is limited to 100 buyers. It includes daily breakfast and lunch, concierge service, access to a private lounge, and front-row keynote seating. Not worth it to me, but I’m sure some elbow-rubbers will flex their expense account. Meanwhile, Freeman’s site says that Bistro HIMSS is back —$5,000 gets a reserved 10-top table for the week, 60 lunch tickets, and two conference badges. I did it years ago and liked having tickets to offer hungry-looking visitors to our booth and to host a CMIO lunch there. Bistro HIMSS, just off the show floor, offered a decent buffet with healthy options, plus you could enjoy real food at real tables and chairs (any HIMSS attendee will tell you that real tables and chairs are the most coveted items in the convention center). It’s depressing to wait in line forever to buy wildly marked up boring food, find no available seats, and then give up and sit on the dirty convention center hallway floor. 

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

I was wandering around my local vinyl record shop when I noticed in the bins the one and only 1969 record by Tallahassee-based psychedelic band After All. I did a deep dive into that bit of music ephemera here four years ago, so of course I had to bond with the record geek owner about it. I also tried to get him worked up that SNL left Neil Young’s amazing “Rockin’ in the Free World” out of the show’s Questlove-created musical history that I just watched on Netflix, although Rage Against the Machine was a good choice in the “angry” category.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Instant Access Webinar: “Successfully Navigating Post-Acute Rev Cycle Challenges.” Sponsors: Inovalon and KanTime. Presenters: David Swenson, senior manager of sales engineering, Inovalon; Lucy Lopez, VP of product management, KanTime. Learn how to speed up your revenue cycle processes and avoid the common RCM and eligibility errors that cause delays and denials. Discover strategies to boost your bottom line: streamline eligibility verification, simplify complex processes, and optimize denial management for improved cash flow.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Khosla Ventures invests $8 million in UK-based startup C the Signs, which uses routinely collected EHR data to help primary care doctors detect 50 types of early-stage cancer. The company participated in the White House’s Cancer Moonshot accelerator last year and aims to enter the US market. Co-founder and CEO Dea Bakshi, MBBS, is a former NHS primary care physician.

Genetic testing company 23andMe says that it is running out of cash and will try to find a buyer for the second time. There’s not much left of the company that was once valued at $6 billion – its market cap is down to $90 million.

Digital ultrasound vendor Butterfly Network will issue a follow-on offering that it expects to yield $76 million. BFL shares jumped sharply on the news, valuing the company at $900 million. They are up over 300% in the past 12 months.

Kode Health, which operates a gig matching service for HIM coders and hospitals, raises $27 million in a Series B funding round. 

Axios reports that venture capital firm General Catalyst is seeking buyers for a stake in its holding company, which includes Summa Health owner HATCo. Petershill Partners sold most of its GC stake earlier this month for $726 million, 62% more than it paid in June 2024. GC is one of the most active investors in digital health.

Sales

• Englewood Health chooses Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging Cloud solution.
• Johns Hopkins Medicine will implement Caregility’s virtual care platform and inpatient telehealth devices to support its virtual nursing program.
• Lady of the Sea General Hospital (LA) chooses TruBridge for EHR/RCM.

People

Avery Ashby, MS (Accenture) joins Impact Advisors as managing director of its data and AI practice.

Qventus hires Toryn Slater (Redox) as AVP of western US.

Shawn Kearl (Zipari) joins Perspecta as SVP of sales.

Announcements and Implementations

The new president of 25-bed Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (CO) identifies the three systems that it is considering to replace TruBridge (CPSI), CorroHealth (T-System), and CompuGroup Medical (Aprima), listing these selection factors as important to an unaffiliated small facility:

• Epic is gaining market share and most doctors have trained at an Epic site, but few Critical Access Hospitals use it and some clinicians say it’s a complex system.
• Meditech use is growing among smaller hospital systems, allows the hospital to customize its implementation, offers a strong revenue cycle solution, and has lower implementation costs.
• Oracle Health is seeing growth in smaller hospitals and offers shared installations, although the CEO says that he has heard anecdotes about substandard reliability, support, and communication.

Abridge announces an ambient AI product for emergency departments that is integrated with Epic ASAP.

HIMSS and AMDIS will partner to offer educational events and awards. AMDIS signed a similar deal with CHIME maybe 10 years ago, but I don’t know if that’s still active, especially since HIMSS and CHIME have consciously uncoupled.

Government and Politics

The White House indefinitely cancels all upcoming meetings of the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, which is an advisory group under ASTP-ONC.

Privacy and Security

The FDA warns that cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the Contec CMS800 patient monitor could allow unauthorized remote control and data theft. The device’s software also contains a backdoor that could let hackers compromise the connected network. FDA advises IT staff to unplug the monitor entirely if it’s being used for remote monitoring, or if not, to disconnect the ethernet cable and disable its wireless functions.

New York Blood Center Enterprises remains offline with no ETA following a ransomware attack Sunday. Donors are being turned away. The organization provides blood products to 400 hospitals in 17 states.

Other

A review finds that Cleveland-area non-profits paid 56 employees more than $1 million in 2023. Seven of the eight employers that did so are health systems.

Sponsor Updates

• Black Book Research’s latest survey of behavioral healthcare IT end-users finds that Netsmart ranks highest for integrated ambulatory EHR, practice management, and RCM software.
• Impact Advisors names Avery Ashby (Accenture) managing director of its Data & AI practice.
• Findhelp and The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin will host a live recording of American Compassion: The Safety Net Podcast February 12.
• Five9 announces the winners of its New Era of CX Awards 2024, including US Radiology Specialists for its leadership and innovation using the Five9 Intelligent CX Platform’s ecosystem of partners to up-level customer and employee experiences.
• Healthmonix announces that its Emergency and Acute Care Clinical Registry has been approved as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry by CMS for the 2025 reporting year.
• Healthcare IT Leaders promotes Katie Bacon and Charlie Evans to associate client executives.
• Meditech will present at the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association Annual Meeting January 30 in Boston.
• Navina publishes a new guide, “A fresh start: 10 essential risk adjustment tips for 2025.”

Blog Posts

• Reflecting on the 26th Annual HFMA Western Region Symposium (FinThrive)
• Going Old School in the New Year: Healthcare Phone Spoofing Scams (Fortified Health Security)
• January Recap: New Year, New Momentum at HDM (Health Data Movers)
• Accelerating Clinical Trial Recruitment: Why Speed Matters and How to Achieve It in Patient Recruitment (Inovalon)
• Navigating QPP Reporting in 2025: Finding the Best Path for Your ACO (MRO)

Contacts

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