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Morning Headlines 9/18/24

September 17, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/18/24

Vyne Medical Acquires Extract Systems to Bring the Most Comprehensive Document and Clinical Automation Solution to Healthcare

Healthcare automation vendor Vyne Medical acquires Extract Systems, which specializes in automated data classification and indexing, extraction, and redaction.

DirectTrust Announces Launch of New Cybersecurity Workgroup

DirectTrust launches a cybersecurity workgroup that will address healthcare cybersecurity challenges, shaping accreditation standards, identifying advocacy priorities, and promoting industry-wide best practices through collaboration and advocacy.

Oracle Supports the Veteran Interoperability Pledge

Oracle Health releases a free framework that allows VA and community providers to securely share patient health information in support of the Veteran Interoperability Pledge.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/18/24

News 9/18/24

September 17, 2024 News 3 Comments

Top News

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Healthcare automation vendor Vyne Medical acquires Extract Systems, which specializes in automated data classification and indexing, extraction, and redaction.

Vyne Medical will integrate the ML/AI capabilities of Extract Systems with its Trace healthcare workflow tool for managing structured and unstructured data.


Reader Comments

From TEFCAadvocate: “Re: at Datapalooza. Lots of talk has been around the need for EHRs to standup and be counted as either in or out. And if out, why? Giants like Epic are leading the way, while others like Cerner remain on the sidelines. Columnist Ken Blackwell said it best on twitter today. ‘What’s your plan @healthcareSeema? Don’t be the biggest single barrier to #TEFCA!’” Ken Blackwell, MEd is a conservative activist who has served as treasurer and secretary of state of Ohio, mayor of Cincinnati, and candidate for state governor.


Webinars

September 19 (Thursday) noon ET. “Improving EHR Speed and Reliability.” Sponsor: Goliath Technologies. Presenters: Jenna Anderson, VP of collaborative insights, KLAS Research; Thomas Charlton, CEO, Goliath Technologies. The presenters will describe the improvement in speed and reliability for clinicians with major EHRs such as Epic, Oracle Health, and Meditech. The actionable data follows up a KLAS Arch Collaborative EHR Experience Survey that notes the prevalence of clinician speed and reliability issues, the frequency and length of poor performance, and the root causes for remediation.

September 19 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Cutting-Edge Conversations: A Fireside Chat With Top CMIOs.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Drex DeFord, MSHI, MPA, This Week Health; Lacy Knight, MD, MSMI, Piedmont Health; Jake Lancaster, MD, MSHA, MS, Baptist Memorial Health Care; Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, chief medical officer DrFirst. This fireside chat will distill key points from 15 CMIO participants of the 229 Executive Summit. Topics include the impact of AI on clinical workflows, strategies for optimizing healthcare operations, addressing physician burnout and patient safety, and advances in population health management.

October 3 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Navigating AI-Powered Medical Interpretation: Insights for Health Leaders.” Sponsor: Globo. Presenter: Dipak Patel, CEO, Globo. AI is redefining how providers can communicate with patients who speak limited English. However, not all LLMs are created equal, and their potential and limitations need to be examined further. Globo has published its results from testing several LLMs. This webinar will address the promises and perils of AI-enabled medical interpretation in summarizing that research in four key domains: the process of AI interpretation, how to measure it, the state of AI tools today, and the areas where AI falls short with interpretation.

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


Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

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Nirvana, a New York City-based startup that provides AI-powered health insurance verification software, raises $24 million.

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Medication management vendor Scriptology acquires RxLive, which offers medication management, virtual care, and analytics. Scriptology launched out of health tech accelerator Redesign Health earlier this year.


Sales

  • Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services in Canada will implement Epic in 2026.
  • Nebraska Medicine will implement Palantir’s AI software for patient flow, nursing allocation, clinical supply management, and revenue cycle optimization.

People

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Courtney Green, MSN, RN (Ultimate Kronos Group) joins QGenda as VP of nurse and staff solutions.

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Aetion names Kevin Riley, MBA (ZyterTruCare) president.

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Color Health names Rebecca Miksad, MD, MMS, MPH (Boston University School of Medicine) chief medical officer.

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Ryan Duffy (Capital Rx) joins RazorMetrics as chief revenue officer.


Announcements and Implementations

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Hackensack Meridian Health (NJ) will launch a digital primary care service this fall using AI medical chat technology from K Health.

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LifeBridge Health (MD) implements Care.ai’s virtual tele-sitting software at its Northwest Hospital and virtual nursing in the progressive care unit at its Sinai Hospital. Care.ai’s acquisition by Stryker closed Tuesday.

DirectTrust launches a cybersecurity workgroup that will address healthcare cybersecurity challenges, shaping accreditation standards, identifying advocacy priorities, and promoting industry-wide best practices through collaboration and advocacy.

Oracle Health releases a free framework that allows VA and community providers to securely share patient health information in support of the Veteran Interoperability Pledge. Signers of the pledge commit to accurately identifying veterans when they seek care in the community, connect them with VA and community resources, and coordinate care for shared patients. Marshfield Clinic Health System is an early adopter.


Government and Politics

PointClickCare asks a federal appeals court to overturn an injunction that is related to the efforts of Real Time Medical Systems to extract analytics data for its skilled nursing clients. RTMS claimed that PCC used CAPTCHA tests to limit its activities with the intention of stifling competition. PCC told the court that it deployed CAPTCHA because RTMS was using bots that slowed down PCC’s system performance, also noting that PCC’s contracts explicitly ban the use of bots.

ASTP / ONC awards $2 million in funding to two projects. Columbia University will study ways to use AI to harness nursing knowledge using data, while Oregon Health & Science University will adapt an open source SMART on FHIR application based on HL7 Multiple Chronic Condition care plan for three behavioral health use cases.


Privacy and Security

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Brunswick Hospital Center, an inpatient psychiatric facility in New York, deals with a ransomware attack by ThreeAM. The group claims to have stolen and leaked 22GB of data.


Other

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Black Book’s latest report reveals trends in hospital outsourcing via group purchasing organizations, with 46% of surveyed stand-alone and independent hospitals likely to consider outsourcing digital platforms that automate procurement and provide real-time analytics.


Sponsor Updates

  • AdvancedMD, Availity, and Inovalon will exhibit at the HBMA 2024 Annual Revenue Cycle Management Fall Conference through September 19 in Austin.
  • Agfa HealthCare will host its North American User Group September 23-35 in Orlando.
  • Capital Rx releases a new episode of The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast, “Pharmacy Benefits 101: Clinical Programs, with Bonnie Hui-Callahan, PharmD.”
  • Clinical Architecture will present at LOINC 2024 September 18 in Washington, DC.
  • CloudWave will sponsor and present at Bluebird Leaders S.O.A.R. 2024 September 18-20 in Atlanta.
  • Inovalon announces that, for the fourth year in row, it has been ranked number one by health plan and payer organizations surveyed by Black Book Research for its robust data integration and predictive analytics.

Blog Posts

Sponsor Spotlight

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Ascom recently launched Telligence 7,  its next-generation nurse call system designed to elevate the clinical workflow experience. Developed for acute care environments, Telligence 7 simplifies technology ownership with seven new features that make it secure, adaptable, and affordable for hospitals. One of the improvements features a no-downtime benefit. Hospital IT administrators can now make configuration changes and push updates without any disruption to clinical delivery. This helps eliminate five to eight minutes of downtime per IP device or unit and encourages delivering improvements to workflows as they’re needed. (Sponsor Spotlight is free for HIStalk Platinum sponsors).


Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.

Get HIStalk updates.

Send news or rumors.

Contact us.

Morning Headlines 9/17/24

September 16, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/17/24

Great Plains Regional Medical Center Victim of Ransomware Attack

The local news reports that Great Plains Regional Medical Center (OK) has experienced a ransomware attack that has curtailed its operations.

Scriptology Acquires RxLive to Enhance Medication Management Solutions and Expand Telehealth Capabilities

Medication management vendor Scriptology acquires RxLive, which offers medication management, virtual care, and analytics.

Jack Nathan Health Signs Letter of Intent

Jack Nathan Health, which operates 240 virtual and in-person clinics in Walmart Supercenters in Canada and Mexico, will sell itself to an undisclosed buyer.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/17/24

Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 9/16/24

September 16, 2024 Dr. Jayne 1 Comment

I haven’t heard much chatter in the informatics community about what the United States Surgeon General recently named as a public health challenge: parent and caregiver stress. Dr. Vivek Murthy called on legislators as well as business and community leaders to boost resources to support parents. He’s advocating a national paid family and medical leave program, paid sick time, and increased access to affordable mental healthcare.

When I’m mentoring young physicians, many of them are shocked to learn the limits of the current Family and Medical Leave Act in the US and how their patients may not be protected by it. They’re even more surprised to learn that they themselves might not be covered if they work for a smaller employer or haven’t been at their job for the prescribed time period.

As a physician, I see plenty of patients who don’t get paid sick leave and who earn demerits at their jobs if they don’t come to work, regardless of whether they’re seriously ill or not. I’ve also seen physician colleagues stumble into work while ill, either because they don’t have backup in the workplace or they don’t have paid leave.

One former clinical employer required sick physicians to find their own sick coverage, which is how I found myself in the emergency department in the wee hours of the night calling and texting to try to find someone to cover my morning shift because I was about to be wheeled to the operating room for an emergent surgery. That should never happen, but somehow it still does, and I’ve heard plenty of similar stories since experiencing it firsthand.

Murthy notes that the stresses of parents are passed down to children, adding to an already significant youth mental health crisis. He makes it simple: “If you really want to help kids, one of the things you’ve got to do is actually help parents.” The Surgeon General’s website goes into more detail and includes the Surgeon General’s Advisory on the topic.

Over the last several years, I’ve watched numerous colleagues and clients try to juggle work and home responsibilities, attending business calls while in the carpool line, and having children interrupt their work on a regular basis. Many people are operating without the safety nets of family and friends as job opportunities lead people across the country. He calls out the “culture of comparison” that is heightened by social media and creates unrealistic expectations for families. I tell the young parents I work with that when you have a day where your child wears clothes and is fed, you’re having a good day. They may chuckle, but I’ve seen few pictures of people just getting by on Instagram.

Many of the stressors that are specifically called out by Murthy are present in healthcare organizations, and by extension, in the technology organizations that support healthcare. He notes the difficulty in arranging childcare when you don’t have a predictable work schedule as well as the challenges in having leaders understand the complex demands that parents and caregivers face on a daily basis. Having spent a significant portion of my career working 12-hour shifts, I know how hard that juggling act can be. The fact that some healthcare and healthcare-adjacent employers expect workers to be able to compartmentalize that should be worrisome. When you find a company that truly values whole-person wellness and provides the ability to actually take time off for health and wellness without the specter of guilt hanging over it, it’s easy to see how that kind of organization can become a workplace of choice.

As organizations are finalizing their benefit plans for the typical fall open enrollment season, I encourage leaders to look at them through the eyes of various personas, much like we use personas to create software requirements. What would a benefits end user experience from your organization if they were a young single parent, a mid-career parent of busy pre-teens, or someone approaching retirement? How would those benefits feel different if one had a family member with additional needs or a significant medical condition? If there is paid time off, are there ways to creatively use it so that employees can maximize the benefit and not waste time? (Companies that require time off be taken in four-hour blocks, I’m looking at you.)

If you offer so-called unlimited time off, which I see most commonly in technology firms, is it truly unlimited or are there unwritten limits that you just don’t talk about? And regardless of how you’re tracking time off, is the culture such that people can actually take time away from work without being tethered to emails or texts? Will they have a mountain of work waiting for them when they come back, effectively discouraging them from taking time off in the future? Are there flexibilities to allow people to roll time off across calendar years so that they can bank additional time off for significant family milestones, or are they forced into a “use it or lose it” situation where they have to take time off when they don’t need it, but can’t take time when they do?

I challenge leaders to also look at the cultures of their organizations and how they may be contributing to worker stress. Do employees feel empowered to ask that meetings be rescheduled when they have conflicts, or are they encouraged to “figure out how to make it work,” which can lead to taking calls while driving, which is not only unsafe but also unproductive? Do you create a safe space where employees can share the stresses that they are under, such as creating a patchwork of summer camps and activities for their children when school is out? Do you manage meetings effectively so that people can leave on time, or are you creating an environment where people worry if they’re going to be able to pick up their children on time? There are a lot of small things that we can do to make things better for teams without spending a lot of money. Sometimes all it takes is being respectful of others and the challenges that they are facing and doing what you can to not add to the burden.

I’ve said in the past that public health isn’t sexy, and that’s why it doesn’t get a lot of funding or attention in the US. It’s not as glamorous as other medical pursuits such as curing cancer or performing a cutting edge surgery. But making changes that improve mental health is absolutely essential for our collective wellbeing. I encourage everyone to read the Surgeon General’s Advisory and to identify one thing you can do on your team, within your department, or in your organization to make things just a little bit better. All those efforts will add up, and although we may never know whose lives we’ve impacted, I guarantee we’ll make a difference.

How can we make public health the shiny object that everyone wants to pursue? Can we slap some AI on it to make it more compelling? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

HIStalk Interviews Frank McGillin, CEO, The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic

September 16, 2024 Interviews Comments Off on HIStalk Interviews Frank McGillin, CEO, The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic

Frank McGillin, MBA is CEO of The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic.

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Tell me about yourself and the company.

I’ve been in the CEO role of The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic for the last five years. We’re a joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and Amwell. Our mission is all about expanding access to Cleveland Clinic’s expertise by leveraging digital technology. My background is a combination of digital health as well as consumer healthcare.

How does the organization work with Amwell?

Cleveland Clinic is the majority shareholder of the joint venture and Amwell is a minority shareholder.

We have a close relationship with Amwell. We run our solution on Amwell’s Converge platform. We also do co-marketing and work through their sales channel. The partnership with Amwell has helped ensure that we have the tools and technology to make it easy for patients to access the expertise, as well as making it easy for the clinician to deliver the second opinion.

What motivates patients to seek a second opinion and what kinds of patients do so most often?

Typically an individual will seek a second opinion when they are faced with a consequential decision. They’ve gotten a cancer diagnosis, been told that they need surgery, or have a condition that isn’t getting better. They want to understand their options.

Second opinions have been going on for as long as medicine has been around, but the ease of getting a second opinion depended on who you know or where you are located. With the virtual second opinion program, we try to eliminate those speed bumps. Regardless of where you are based — whether it’s a rural county in the United States or whether you’re deployed with the State Department overseas — we can help you access that expert, whether it’s an oncologist, a cardiologist, a neurologist, or any other subspecialist to help you understand your treatment options, review the accuracy of the diagnosis, and present some of options for managing your condition moving forward.

Two-thirds of your second opinions result in a different diagnosis or recommend a change in the treatment plan, and patients usually accept those recommendations. Does that indicate that the original doctor made a mistake or that they did not have access to the right resources?

Various factors could drive a change in the diagnosis and the care pathway. With diagnosis, a typical or potential area would be a rare condition that local physicians don’t see regularly, so you can bring in a specialist who is dealing with those cases on a more regular basis. They are able to identify and diagnose more accurately. Sometimes it’s a matter of reinterpreting pathology and having subspecialist pathologists looking at the specimens and getting more specific in terms of the nature of the cancer type to ensure that we are targeting the right disease state with the right solutions.

In other cases, it could be a treatment option that is beyond the scope of a local care provider. We had a patient from the Pacific Northwest about a year ago who was told that she needed a heart transplant because of the advanced nature of her heart disease. In the second opinion, the Cleveland Clinic cardiologist identified this patient as being a candidate for stenting. The Cleveland Clinic cardiologists deal with the most complex cases in the world. They have experience stenting people with more advanced heart disease than potentially a regional hospital.

Finally, it’s about advances in care, whether it’s new approaches for radiation therapy or clinical trials that may be available for a cancer diagnosis.

Are patients surprised when their second opinion differs from the first one? How do they determine which one to trust?

Someone who is seeking a second opinion is looking for one of two things. One is the confidence and comfort that they are moving in the right direction, particularly if we’re talking surgical or other significant medical procedures. They want to have the confidence that they are going in the right direction. They want to have the confidence that it’s the right diagnosis.

Consumers are becoming more active in managing their healthcare with high-deductible plans. They are bearing more of the cost and are becoming more educated in leveraging health data online. But at the end of the day, they realize that if they are dealing with a significant health issue, they want to access the best expertise. 

With a virtual second opinion program, we eliminate the need to travel. We eliminate the need to do the research to figure out who is the best specialist match for you. We make it easy for you to get that peace of mind.

How do you collect and assemble the patient’s medical records and present them to the second-opinion physician for review?

Unfortunately, we’re not in a world where it’s universally easy to access medical records. Part of the benefit that we offer to the individual is that our team goes out and hunts down your medical records, your imaging, and your pathology, because without high-quality records, the specialist isn’t able to render a quality second opinion. In some cases, there is electronic data transfer from the EHR and we can get your records basically instantaneously. In other cases, we’re still getting faxes. We leverage technology where it’s available, but other times, we need to do the legwork to get it done.

On the back end, we’ve tried to make it easy for the clinicians to work it into their workflow. We’ve integrated our second opinion process into the EHR. When a specialist agrees to take on a case, that makes it easy because they are working in a workflow that is native to them and that lets them be efficient with their valuable time.

Is the process limited to a review of the existing records or does the physician ever decide that they need additional tests or information from the patient?

We are generally able to get sufficient data. As a second opinion program, in 99% of the cases, adequate testing has been done prior to the second opinion being rendered. There are cases where we will have to request some additional scans that may or may not have been done, or some additional testing to make sure that the specialist has all the information that they need to render a quality opinion.

Doctors often say that you treat the patient, not the data. Does the second opinion process devalue the patient’s self-assessment or their treatment goals that might not be reflected in tables of data?

Part of our process is that we do an in-depth onboarding interview with every patient who comes in through the program. It’s done with one of the registered nurses on our staff. During that intake, we ensure that we have a robust profile of that patient. What has their journey been in managing their own health, not just their most recent doctor visit? We try to understand the areas where they have questions or concerns. We are able to pull together a comprehensive profile before the Cleveland Clinic physician steps in to help with the second opinion.

In the majority of the country, we are also able to offer a video visit as part of the second opinion process. That’s dependent on whether we have a licensed specialist in the state where the person resides. Cleveland Clinic physicians have broad licensing and are able to meet that need for the majority of people who come through the program. That gives both the confidence and comfort as you are dealing with the specialist. For the specialist, it adds an extra layer of being able to evaluate the patient during that interaction.

What does the patient do with the second opinion’s recommendations? Is the regular physician looped into the consultation results to decide whether to make treatment changes?

At the completion of every second opinion, we deliver electronically to the patient, and generally also to their local provider, a written report that outlines the findings, recommendations, and suggested next steps. That provides a foundation for deciding where to go. That could be seeking a different approach, a more aggressive treatment approach, or a more conservative approach. It really depends on that individual.

Sometimes the recommendation is for a procedure that may not be available locally. In those cases, patients often transfer care, sometimes to Cleveland Clinic, but at other times to perhaps a academic medical center that’s in their own geography.

Do local physicians and health systems see the second opinion service as competitive or as an unwelcome review of their decisions? Does the patient tell their own doctor ahead of the time that they are seeking a second opinion?

We believe firmly that healthcare is a team sport and that you get the best outcomes with multidisciplinary teams. If you have a local physician who is not open to input from their peers, we think that should set off a red flag. We try to be collaborative. We will facilitate conversations between the treating physician and the Cleveland Clinic specialist if there are questions.

We see this as supplementing and providing additional level of expertise as opposed to competing. Unfortunately, there are some misaligned incentives. There are times where there are some recommendations for overtreatment. We may ruffle a few feathers, but at the end of the day, the recommendation that the Cleveland Clinic physician is providing is always what is in the best interest for that patient.

Do the physicians who render second opinions volunteer for that work? Do they carry out a normal practice as well?

We have a large cohort of Cleveland Clinic specialists who participate in the program. They all have day jobs, so they are all working day-in, day-out, whether it’s cardiac surgery or medical oncology. They’re doing this in addition to their normal clinical responsibilities.

There are a couple of drivers behind this. One is that they realize that there are care deserts out there. More than half of the counties in the US don’t have a cardiologist. They realize that Cleveland Clinic quality care is not available everywhere.

The other thing is that these are generally complex cases. They are interesting cases for clinicians at an academic medical center like Cleveland Clinic. There’s the motivation to be helping these patients with the most complex conditions.

What happens once the patient has completed the intake and initial paperwork?

Our process end to end is generally 10 to 14 days. It can go quicker if we’re able to get medical records instantaneously. But generally, the long pole in the tent is the medical record. After the nurse intake, we gather all the medical records, the imaging, pathology, and any other testing data that’s available. Our team assembles that electronically for ease of review by the Cleveland Clinic specialists. A lot of the value that we add is in matching the patient with the right specialist, the right subspecialist.

The typical consumer who is coming in just knows that they want the best. Often we’ll have people say, “I want Dr. Jones or Dr. Smith. I see that they are head of the department.” That actually may not be the best match based on their specific conditions. We put a lot of energy into the matching.

Once we match the patient and the physician, the review is usually one to two days as they are reviewing and preparing for the second opinion. They are drafting a written second opinion report. The bulk of the time, they will have a video consult with the patient. Then the patient receives the written second opinion report.

Much of the perceived value is the Clinic’s brand name and its lack of financial misalignment. Could that philosophy change how medical services are delivered generally?

I don’t think you can paint all physicians with the same brush. Cleveland Clinic physicians are all staff physicians. They have zero financial incentive to recommend anything other than what is in the best interest of the patient. Not all medical institutions operate with that same model. So part of it is the DNA of the Cleveland Clinic physician. Another part of it is that the second opinion program is one step removed, which also helps improve objectivity.

Based on that, we have been able to show that on average for employers and health plans, we are saving them $8,700 per patient or per employee who goes through the program. Those savings generally come down to avoiding unnecessary procedures, unnecessary surgery. 

It’s common for us to see a patient coming in who is scheduled for back surgery, but our review indicates that it isn’t necessary for the patient, and that less-invasive, more conservative approaches would be in that patient’s best interest. You can imagine not only the cost savings, but the personal impact of avoiding surgery and the ensuing recovery. 

What does the ability to render second opinions remotely using existing patient records mean for the future of healthcare?

As medicine advances, it becomes more specialized, more subspecialized. The mismatch between demand and availability of specialists will only get worse. We believe that digital tools and digital programs can be that force multiplier that would expand the reach of an individual specialist so that they can treat even larger populations. The digital tools also eliminate that need for the patient to travel to that specialist, so we can cover broader geographies.

We see a future where digital tools and programs leverage the specialists, the local physician, APPs, and pharmacists through integrated programs to help dramatically improve the health and wellbeing of large populations of people who are living with chronic disease and get them access to the care that they normally wouldn’t be able to access on their own.

About 800,000 Americans are misdiagnosed each year. Large swaths of the country don’t have access to high quality specialists. We believe that programs like the Second Opinion program by Cleveland Clinic help fill an important gap that not only saves money, but also makes a fundamental impact on the quality of people’s lives.

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Morning Headlines 9/16/24

September 15, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/16/24

Ozempic Is Selling So Well An Insurer Wants $1 Million In Payments Back

Elevance Health’s Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield accuses physicians of falsifying patient medical records with the intention of getting the insurer to pay for improper prescribing of the diabetes drug Ozempic for weight loss, a use that is not approved by the FDA.

Phishing Email May Have Impacted Personal Information

Atrium Health notifies patients that an unauthorized third party gained access to multiple employee email accounts in a two-day phishing attack.

Nirvana Raises $24.2M Series A to Revolutionize Health Insurance Verification

Nirvana, a New York City-based startup specializing in AI-powered health insurance verification software, raises $24.2 million.

23andMe settles data breach lawsuit for $30 million

23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of failing to protect the records of 6.9 million of its users whose information was exposed in a 2023 breach.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/16/24

Monday Morning Update 9/16/24

September 15, 2024 News 4 Comments

Top News

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Elevance Health’s Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield accuses physicians of falsifying patient medical records with the intention of getting the insurer to pay for improper prescribing of the diabetes drug Ozempic for weight loss, a use that is not approved by the FDA.

The insurer is demanding that those prescribers reimburse the company directly and is sending them bills. It warns providers that falsifying medical records or prior authorization requests to obtain insurance payment constitutes fraud.

Anthem notified one physician that he had submitted prior authorization forms for 125 Ozempic prescriptions for 22 patients and asked him to pay the $126,00 that the company had covered for patients. The doctor said that he did not submit any PAs and never claimed that the 22 patients were diabetic – he says he just issued the prescriptions and Anthem paid.

Experts suggest that it is unlikely that doctors can be compelled to pay the insurer since they did not benefit directly from issuing the prescriptions. They also note that providers can legally prescribe a drug for any purpose regardless of FDA’s approval for a given condition, although insurers make their own decisions about coverage.


Reader Comments

From Bigdog: “Re: S&P Consultants. Did they divorce from Nordic?” Nordic acquired the company in December 2021. The LinkedIn of Andrew Splitz says he worked for Nordic / S&P from the acquisition until September 2023, then lists him as S&P’s founder and CEO as of September 2024. Also updating LinkedIn from Nordic to S&P effective this month is newly announced S&P president Zach Johnson. The old website still had Nordic on the logo until that site was inactivated in December 2023.


HIStalk Announcements and Requests

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Poll respondents have seen modest impact on their health and happiness that can be attributed to the IT decisions of their providers and insurers.

New poll to your right or here, because of a comment by Dr. Jayne: In the past two years, have you carried your paper medical records from one provider to another?


Webinars

September 17 (Thursday) noon ET. “Level Up Your Stars – Innovative Approaches to Boosting Quality Performance.” Sponsor: Navina. Presenters: Dana McCalley, MBA, VP of value-based care, Navina; Michael S. Barr, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, PreferCare; Yair Lewis, MD, PhD, chief medical officer, Navina. The presenters will explore strategies to boost quality performance and close care gaps effectively. Topics include enhancing quality metrics, developing strategies for care gap closure, leveraging AI for enhanced performance, and optimizing workflows.

September 19 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Cutting-Edge Conversations: A Fireside Chat With Top CMIOs.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Drex DeFord, MSHI, MPA, This Week Health; Lacy Knight, MD, MSMI, Piedmont Health; Jake Lancaster, MD, MSHA, MS, Baptist Memorial Health Care; Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, chief medical officer DrFirst. This fireside chat will distill key points from 15 CMIO participants of the 229 Executive Summit. Topics include the impact of AI on clinical workflows, strategies for optimizing healthcare operations, addressing physician burnout and patient safety, and advances in population health management.

October 3 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Navigating AI-Powered Medical Interpretation: Insights for Health Leaders.” Sponsor: Globo. Presenter: Dipak Patel, CEO, Globo. AI is redefining how providers can communicate with patients who speak limited English. However, not all LLMs are created equal, and their potential and limitations need to be examined further. Globo has published its results from testing several LLMs. This webinar will address the promises and perils of AI-enabled medical interpretation in summarizing that research in four key domains: the process of AI interpretation, how to measure it, the state of AI tools today, and the areas where AI falls short with interpretation.

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


Sales

  • Bergen New Bridge Medical Center chooses NeuroFlow’s tools to identify and prioritize the behavioral health needs of ambulatory care patients. 
  • Curry Health Network (OR) goes live on Epic via the Community Connect model, replacing CPSI Evident Thrive.

People

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Virtual nursing solution provider Collette Health promotes Holly Miller to CEO and hires Leif Cefalo, MBA (TraceLink) as VP of revenue operations and Terri Davis, MA (HealthEC) as VP of marketing.


Announcements and Implementations

UTHealth Houston will collaborate with OpenAI to give students, faculty, and staff access to ChatGPT Education to develop HIPAA-compliant applications.

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A new KLAS report on EHR/PM in practices with 10 or fewer physicians is topped by NextGen Healthcare and Athenahealth, with all other vendors trailing significantly. Elation Health and Epic Community Connect scored well but with limited user feedback. The top add-on solutions clients that sought elsewhere are telehealth, patient engagement, patient intake, RCM, and analytics.


Privacy and Security

Atrium Health notifies patients that an unauthorized third party gained access to multiple employee email accounts in a phishing attack. The health system says that the two-day incident affected only patients and employees whose information was contained in the emails or attachments of the affected accounts.

23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of failing to protect the records of 6.9 million of its users whose information was exposed in a 2023 breach.


Sponsor Updates

  • CereCore wins ClearlyRated’s 2024 Best of Staffing Client and Talent 5 Year Diamond Awards for service excellence.
  • Knox Public Health improves revenue with EClinicalWorks EHR and RCM optimization services.
  • Healthcare IT Leaders releases a new podcast, “Focus on Employee Health and Cost Savings at Northwell Direct.”
  • Waystar will exhibit at the HBMA Revenue Cycle Management Fall Conference September 17-19 in Austin.
  • Optimum Healthcare IT launches a data and analytics governance offering and hires Terri Mikol (Clearsense) as principal data governance advisor.

Blog Posts


Contacts

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

Morning Headlines 9/13/24

September 12, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/13/24

MPulse Acquires Zipari, A Leader in Healthcare CX and Engagement Technology

MPulse acquires insurer consumer engagement technology vendor Zipari.

LVHN reaches $65 million settlement over patient data breach. Here’s what you need to do.

Lehigh Valley Health Network will pay a $65 million settlement for a Russian hacker group’s cyberattack that exposed patient information and images of nude cancer patients on the dark web.

PathPresenter Raises $7.5 Million to Accelerate Adoption of Digital Pathology Workflows

PathPresenter, which offers image-sharing technology for pathology, raises $7.5 million in a Series A funding round.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/13/24

News 9/13/24

September 12, 2024 News 1 Comment

Top News

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Revenue cycle automation vendor Candid Health raises $29 million in a Series B funding round.

Co-founder and CEO Nick Perry, who came from Palantir Technologies, earned an MS in biomedical informatics from Stanford. 


Reader Comments

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From Dr. Lovestrange: “Re: AI. Just came across this resource, which makes me think that we are underestimating the potential problems that are associated with AI.” The MIT-developed AI Risk Repository is a taxonomy of 700 AI risks that were documented in 43 frameworks. My search for “privacy” as a keyword turned up 41 sources.

From Oracle client: “Re: Oracle. While its earnings were higher, the company laid off client account execs on the Oracle Health side, continuing the ongoing gutting of support.” Unverified.

From Boingo: “Re: CVS. They are exiting the HDMS data analytics by the end of 2025, which leaves clients scrambling as they are in the throes of annual benefit planning. The only obvious players they can switch to on short notice are Optum or Truven. Once again, we have a great example of large players who think they can fix healthcare failing miserably.” CVS must have really ruined the business, which dropped into their lap as part of their $70 billion Aetna acquisition in late 2018, if the best option is to shut it down rather than turf it off to private equity.


HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Google released a test version of NotebookLM, a personalized research assistant that is powered by its Gemini 1.5 pro LLM, so of course I had to try it. I sent it a link to Tuesday’s news post and asked it to create what is basically a podcast. Here’s the resulting file, which sounds no less annoying or inexpert than many of the health tech podcasts that have proliferated like loquacious weeds. I need to play with the tool more since it seems to do a lot.


Webinars

September 17 (Thursday) noon ET. “Level Up Your Stars – Innovative Approaches to Boosting Quality Performance.” Sponsor: Navina. Presenters: Dana McCalley, MBA, VP of value-based care, Navina; Michael S. Barr, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, PreferCare; Yair Lewis, MD, PhD, chief medical officer, Navina. The presenters will explore strategies to boost quality performance and close care gaps effectively. Topics include enhancing quality metrics, developing strategies for care gap closure, leveraging AI for enhanced performance, and optimizing workflows.

September 19 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Cutting-Edge Conversations: A Fireside Chat With Top CMIOs.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Drex DeFord, MSHI, MPA, This Week Health; Lacy Knight, MD, MSMI, Piedmont Health; Jake Lancaster, MD, MSHA, MS, Baptist Memorial Health Care; Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, chief medical officer DrFirst. This fireside chat will distill key points from 15 CMIO participants of the 229 Executive Summit. Topics include the impact of AI on clinical workflows, strategies for optimizing healthcare operations, addressing physician burnout and patient safety, and advances in population health management.

October 3 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Navigating AI-Powered Medical Interpretation: Insights for Health Leaders.” Sponsor: Globo. Presenter: Dipak Patel, CEO, Globo. AI is redefining how providers can communicate with patients who speak limited English. However, not all LLMs are created equal, and their potential and limitations need to be examined further. Globo has published its results from testing several LLMs. This webinar will address the promises and perils of AI-enabled medical interpretation in summarizing that research in four key domains: the process of AI interpretation, how to measure it, the state of AI tools today, and the areas where AI falls short with interpretation.

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


Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

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MPulse acquires insurer consumer engagement technology vendor Zipari.


People

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Mount Sinai Health System names Lisa Stump, MS, RPh (Yale New Haven Health) as chief digital information officer and dean for information technology.

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Ambient AI vendor Corti hires Chad Compton, MBA (Microsoft) as chief revenue officer; Frederik Brabant, MD (Microsoft) as chief medical strategy officer; and Yvonne Kirsch (Philips) as VP of partnerships.

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Veritas Labs hires Rich Kenny, RN, MMCi (SAS) as chief clinical officer.


Announcements and Implementations

Salesforce announces out-of-the-box AI services for 15 industries, including patient services and benefits verification for healthcare.

NEJM will present “AI in Health Care – Putting Patients First,” a free virtual event on October 9.

NHS England’s procurement body will create a supplier framework that covers diagnostics and AI,  valued at $1 billion.

AvaSure will collaborate with Oracle Cloud and Nvidia to develop a virtual hospital concierge solution for nurses and families.

Netsmart launches Bells Virtual Scribe, which offers transcription and ambient documentation.


Government and Politics

Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), who is a physician, tells the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee that Oracle Cerner “should be abandoned today” because it was not a good choice for the VA. He says the VA should admit, “We screwed up, we made a mistake, we picked the wrong system, and we move on to a better system.”


Privacy and Security

Lehigh Valley Health Network will pay a $65 million settlement for a Russian hacker group’s cyberattack that exposed patient information and images of nude cancer patients on the dark web.


Other

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I had given up on HIMSS ever filing their IRS Form 990 information returns and they never answer my requests to send them my way, but I accidentally ran across what seems to be a recent filing for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 (it seems like they should have filed for 2022 and 2023 by now and I didn’t find those). Highlights:

  • Total revenue increased from $65 million to $87 million.
  • Total expenses jumped from $47 million to $106 million.
  • Net income dropped from $17.9 million to –$19 million.
  • Net assets dropped from –$8.4 million to –$29.9 million.
  • HIMSS sold 25% of its assets, $21 million, to fund operations during the COVID-19 downturn. It was paid $775,000 in insurance proceeds (presumably related to the cancelled HIMSS20) and took in $5.4 million in federal PPP COVID-19 funds.
  • HIMSS employed 404 people at the time of filing.
  • President and CEO Hal Wolf earned $1.2 million.
  • Others topping the HIMSS compensation list are Chief Operating and Strategy Officer Sebastian Krolop ($770,000 – left in January 2023), EVP Bruce Steinberg ($597,000 – left in December 2023), VP of Media Sales Frank Bilich (433,000), and HIMSS Analytics EVP Reid Oakes ($402,000).
  • HIMSS paid $10.3 million for consulting, including $1 million to McKinsey.
  • Conference and meeting revenue was $31.7 million, which was 42% of total revenue, while membership dues totaled $10.2 million..
  • The organization spent $2.3 million for legal services, $11.1 million for IT, and $129,000 for lobbying.
  • HIMSS launched the Office of Scientific Research in November 2020, which reported zero income for 2021.

The New York Times investigates the conversion of a 1,200 acre Utah ranch into a luxury hunting retreat by Mike Siaperas, founder and CEO of medical RCM and credentialing firm Med USA. The Times found that he received $5 million from Utah lawmakers to clear cut his property using a technique that can flatten 100 acres of trees per day, which the state supported as an ecology project. The Times notes that Utah’s legislative session lasts just 45 days, leaving part-time lawmakers – who are overrepresented by developers and real estate investors – with little time to seek expert opinion or public feedback.

In India, a teen dies following a failed gallbladder operation that was being performed by a fake doctor who was following along with YouTube surgery tutorial videos on his phone while cutting. The “surgeon,” who dismissed the family’s concerns during the operation with “Am I the doctor here, or you?” is the subject of a police search after he fled following the teen’s death.


Sponsor Updates

  • EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Skyrocket RCM Productivity with EClinicalWorks & Healow.”
  • Ellkay will exhibit at the Athenahealth Thrive event October 28-30 in Austin.
  • Findhelp welcomes North Star Health, Southeast Community Health Systems, and All Hours Adult Care to its network.
  • FinThrive will present at the Florida HFMA Central Education & Networking Event September 20 in Clearwater.
  • Behavioral health software vendor ContinuumCloud will integrate medication management solutions from DrFirst into its EHR platform.
  • Impact Advisors will exhibit at Workday Rising 2024 September 16-19 in Las Vegas.
  • Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City in the Middle East upgrades to InterSystems TrakCare Mobile Enabled User Interface.
  • Laudio publishes a new case study, “How Novant Health Alleviated Pressure on Nurse Managers, Improved Employee Engagement, and Reduced RN Turnover by 15%.”
  • Australia-based software startup DidgUgo will add interoperability, FHIR, and AI functionality to its visit verification solution using InterSystems Iris for Health.
  • Linus Health will exhibit at the AAFP’s FMX 2024 conference September 24-28 in Phoenix.
  • Med Tech Solutions publishes a new guide, “How Cloud EMR/EHR Can Transform Your Practice in 90 Days.”
  • MRO will exhibit at the 2024 Tri-State HIM Summit September 15-17 in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Blog Posts


Contacts

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

EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 9/12/24

September 12, 2024 Dr. Jayne Comments Off on EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 9/12/24

AI alert. One of the topics around the public health informatics virtual water cooler this week was about whether Google’s AI Overviews are negatively impacting patients.

Physicians have had a longstanding love / hate relationship with the so-called Dr. Google as a source of health information. Although many health systems spend a lot of time and money providing high-quality patient education materials, it’s just so convenient to type a clinical question into the Google search bar and hope for the best.

One of my colleagues noted that when you get an AI Overview for certain clinical topics, there’s a disclaimer that says, “This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional. Generative AI is experimental.” When I replicated the topic he mentioned on my PC with 24-inch monitor, the disclaimer scrolled off the bottom of the window, so I doubt that people who are using devices with smaller form factors see it easily.

Health literacy is woefully low in the US, with the Office of the Surgeon General reporting that only 12% of US adults possess proficient health literacy skills. Many can’t understand drug labels or understand how to identify and access healthcare resources, so it’s not surprising that they’re going to turn to consumer-level resources. For care delivery organizations that have robust patient education solutions and consumer resources, I’m challenging you to double down on those and increase their visibility so that patients know how to access them and when to use them. It doesn’t have to be a complicated omnichannel campaign – it can be as simple as having signs in exam rooms and waiting rooms, or even those paper table tents we used to see in the hospital cafeteria in the olden days.

A recent KLAS Arch Collaborative report shows that despite interoperability advances, clinicians are still struggling with synthesizing information from disparate systems. Almost half of the 33,000 clinicians surveyed said that they found it difficult to find key patient information from outside sources, with the same proportion noting that they are challenged with addressing duplicate data.

I’m sad to say that I’ll become part of the problem in a couple of weeks when I show up for a subspecialist visit with paper copies of critical records, because I don’t trust the various providers to share what needs to be shared in a timely manner. I’ve already tried to send digital copies of a pathology report to my care team and they were rejected, so I’ll be there with my manila folder in hand.

From Jersey Collector: “Re: branding. I know this has been a hot topic for you. Hospitals and health systems are getting into the act with the WNBA, which makes sense since women make the majority of healthcare decisions for their families.” That’s certainly a valid statistic, but I’m still not sure how much seeing a hospital or health system logo on a professional athlete’s uniform impacts someone’s choice of healthcare providers. I would say that the number one driver would be insurance coverage, followed by recommendations, ratings and reviews, and also the acuity of a problem.

If a loved one is having a significant issue, people tend to go to the closest facility that accepts their insurance. They don’t care  who they sponsor or what celebrity might endorse a given hospital. Some of the jersey deals run in the millions and I’m certainly glad to see women’s sports receiving sponsorships, but I can’t help but think that nurses who are looking for raises or families who are struggling with medical bills might be less than impressed.

It’s been a while since I saw a major healthcare bombshell reported, but reports out of the University of Virginia certainly meet that description. The Cavalier Daily reports that faculty have called for the immediate removal of UVA Health’s CEO as well as the dean of the school of medicine at the University of Virginia. The letter is signed by 128 members of the faculty, who accuse the two of creating a toxic work environment that compromises patient safety and has led to “an ongoing exodus of experience and expertise.”

Additional allegations include retaliation against physicians who raised safety concerns by denying promotion, encouraging staff to bypass safety processes, harassment and bullying of trainees, and financial mismanagement. One call-out in the letter mentions “disregarding valid reports of fraudulent billing and requests by senior leaders to fraudulently modify patient records in order to obfuscate adverse outcomes and boost productivity metrics.” CMS doesn’t look too kindly on this sort of thing, so I hope the institution has its compliance auditors and attorneys on standby.

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The non-profit Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) has released a report showing that the vast majority of diagnostic errors occur during the testing process. They reviewed 3,000 patient safety adverse events and near misses. Leading issues include technical and processing errors, lack of skill in performing a test, sample mix-ups, wrong-patient issues, and communication failures. The report specifically calls out “productivity pressures that prevent providers from exploring all investigative options or from consulting other providers” as a factor in causing diagnostic error. Time pressure is also a factor when test results aren’t reviewed quickly or when results aren’t appropriately communicated to patients.

Those of us on the informatics side should take note of their findings with regard to health equity, where women and underrepresented populations can be at greater risk for diagnostic errors. They specifically call out the potential for race-based biases in medical algorithms and communication barriers, both of which can be significantly improved by thoughtful application of healthcare technologies. For organizations looking at artificial intelligence solutions, it’s going to be critical that they appraise how systems handle these biases and how the potential for hallucinations might contribute to additional opportunities for diagnostic errors.

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Speaking of patient safety, World Patient Safety Day is right around the corner on September 17th. I have yet to see anyone who I regularly interact with, including my own clinical employer, making plans to mark the day. This year’s theme is focused around improving the safety of the diagnostic process, with the slogan “Get it right, make it safe!” Although this seems like a simple concept, we’ve learned that it can be more complicated than one can imagine.

My own loved one presented for a scheduled surgery this week to find that it had been booked for the wrong side of the body, leading to confusion and delay as well as stress to the family. Fortunately, the patient safety processes in place at the hospital worked and a wrong-side surgery was avoided, but it’s staggering to know that this is still a risk in 2024.

What is your institution doing to mark World Patient Safety Day? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

Comments Off on EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 9/12/24

Morning Headlines 9/12/24

September 11, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/12/24

Circadian Health Garners HC9 Ventures’ Investment to Accelerate Value-Based Specialty Care

Virtual specialty care provider Circadian Health announces $7.5 million in new funding led by HC9 Ventures.

Salesforce Launches Industries AI: 100+ Out-of-the-Box AI Capabilities that Tackle Industry-Specific Pain Points Across 15 Industries

Salesforce announces out-of-the-box AI services for 15 industries, including patient services and benefits verification for healthcare.

Candid Health Announces $29 Million Series B Led by 8VC to Transform Revenue Cycle Automation

Revenue cycle automation company Candid Health raises $29 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $47 million.

Concentra Adds Advanced Primary Care to Close Health and Wellness Gap in the Workplace

Occupational healthcare provider Concentra, which went public in July, will invest in Epic to accommodate new advanced primary care services offered through its workplace-based Onsite Health division.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/12/24

Healthcare AI News 9/11/24

September 11, 2024 Healthcare AI News Comments Off on Healthcare AI News 9/11/24

News

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Apple announces Apple Intelligence, which will add AI capabilities to the latest models of IPhones, MacBooks, and IPads with the launch of IOS 18 later this month. It will include:

  • Writing tools that can rewrite text, proofread, summarize, and suggest content for an email reply.
  • A new version of Siri that supports voice and typing.
  • Photo tools for removing unwanted objects, searching by content, and creating user-defined memory movies.
  • Phone call recording and transcription.
  • Coming later will be Visual Intelligence (searching by taking photo), an emoji generator, custom image creation, and connections to ChatGPT and third-party apps.

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Apple adds sleep apnea detection for the Apple Watch using a new Breathing Disturbances metric and AI analysis.

OpenAI will reportedly release its Strawberry reasoning-focused AI as part of ChatGPT within two weeks. The system “thinks” for up to 10-20 seconds before responding to provide better responses. 


Business

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Japan’s drug and medical device agency approves IRhythm’s Zio AI-interpreted, 14-day cardiac monitoring patch that patients mail in to the company for analysis and reporting to their physician as an alternative to the Holter monitor.

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Salesforce announces out-of-the-box AI services for 15 industries, including patient services and benefits verification for healthcare.

Philips will significantly expand its health technology work in India, especially that related to AI. The company’s innovation campus in Bengaluru houses 5,000 employees who focus on generative AI solutions for healthcare.

Drug maker Gilead Sciences contracts with Genesis Therapeutics to use its molecular AI platform to discover therapies. Gilead will pay Genesis $35 million upfront for three potential drugs, with additional payments for meeting development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Genesis, which has raised $280 million in funding, is led by 32-year-old co-founder and CEO Evan Feinberg, PhD.


Research

Researchers from MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School develop ScribblePrompt, which segments biomedical images from human annotations.


Other

Hippocratic AI and healthcare education firm Adtalem Global Education will develop clinician AI training modules that will emphasize the learning needs of nurses.

A survey of UK doctors finds that nearly 90% are worried that patients who use generative AI for medical inquiries will receive misinformation. More than half are enthusiastic for using AI to provide diagnostic and treatment options to doctors themselves, while 83% think that government or medical associations should oversee AI’s use in healthcare.

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Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, which established a dedicated AI center in 2019, has developed 20 AI-powered diagnostic and treatment applications. The applications automate tasks such as summarizing medical literature and monitoring patient progress, which it says has reduced bed wait times from 32 hours to six.


Contacts

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

Comments Off on Healthcare AI News 9/11/24

Morning Headlines 9/11/24

September 10, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/11/24

Oracle shares jump 13% on earnings and revenue beat

Oracle reports Q1 results: revenue up 7%, adjusted EPS $1.39 versus $1.19, beating Wall Street expectations for both and sending ORCL shares to an all-time high.

Pieces Technologies Raises $25M Growth Round to Expand Leading Suite of Generative AI Solutions

Clinical generative AI company Pieces Technologies announces $25 million in new growth funding from investors that include OSF HealthCare (IL) and Children’s Health (TX).

Highlander Health Launches to Modernize Clinical Research and Patient Care

Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD (Verily) and Brad Hirsch, MD (Verily) launch Highlander Health, which will focus on evidence generation and related investment.

NeoPrediX Secures Investment From Springhood Ventures to Advance Neonatal Health Innovations

NeoPrediX, a predictive analytics business focused on neonatal and maternal care, announces new funding from Springhood Ventures.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/11/24

News 9/11/24

September 10, 2024 News Comments Off on News 9/11/24

Top News

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Oracle reports Q1 results: revenue up 7%, adjusted EPS $1.39 versus $1.19, beating Wall Street expectations for both and sending ORCL shares to an all-time high.

Cerner / Oracle Health was not mentioned in the earnings call except that Larry Ellison used healthcare as an example in response to an analyst’s general question about monetizing AI:

  • Oracle uses AI to prepare a pre-visit patient summary for the physician.
  • Ambient AI is used to document the visit.
  • Stanford needed three people to find his son’s X-rays in Epic, but with Oracle, the physician just says “Oracle, please show me Larry Ellison’s latest X-ray.” He adds, “Our user interface is so different than Epic.”
  • Ellison says that “all of Cerner is the monetization,” where AI will fuel expansion of the health business, but won’t be sold as a separate product.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

On the musical front, I’m still digging deeper and longer into the REM catalog and can confidently recommend “All The Way to Reno,” “Crush with Eyeliner,” and the magnificent “Find the River.” Original drummer Bill Berry retired after collapsing on stage in 1997 with a brain aneurysm and seems to still suffer from some of the effects in recent interviews, but pre-1997 concert videos show his energetic, symphonic drumming and harmonizing, not to mention that his absence as a songwriter changed the band’s sound a lot for their remaining five albums. He and bassist Mike Mills were the most experienced and musically trained members of the band, but selflessly plugged away on the seemingly simple rhythm instruments because someone had to do it.


Webinars

September 17 (Thursday) noon ET. “Level Up Your Stars – Innovative Approaches to Boosting Quality Performance.” Sponsor: Navina. Presenters: Dana McCalley, MBA, VP of value-based care, Navina; Michael S. Barr, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, PreferCare; Yair Lewis, MD, PhD, chief medical officer, Navina. The presenters will explore strategies to boost quality performance and close care gaps effectively. Topics include enhancing quality metrics, developing strategies for care gap closure, leveraging AI for enhanced performance, and optimizing workflows.

September 19 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Cutting-Edge Conversations: A Fireside Chat With Top CMIOs.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Drex DeFord, MSHI, MPA, This Week Health; Lacy Knight, MD, MSMI, Piedmont Health; Jake Lancaster, MD, MSHA, MS, Baptist Memorial Health Care; Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, chief medical officer DrFirst. This fireside chat will distill key points from 15 CMIO participants of the 229 Executive Summit. Topics include the impact of AI on clinical workflows, strategies for optimizing healthcare operations, addressing physician burnout and patient safety, and advances in population health management.

October 3 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Navigating AI-Powered Medical Interpretation: Insights for Health Leaders.” Sponsor: Globo. Presenter: Dipak Patel, CEO, Globo. AI is redefining how providers can communicate with patients who speak limited English. However, not all LLMs are created equal, and their potential and limitations need to be examined further. Globo has published its results from testing several LLMs. This webinar will address the promises and perils of AI-enabled medical interpretation in summarizing that research in four key domains: the process of AI interpretation, how to measure it, the state of AI tools today, and the areas where AI falls short with interpretation.

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


Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

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The private equity owners of Zelis consider selling their minority stake in the healthcare payments company in a potentially $17 billion deal. Bain Capital and Parthenon Capital merged Zelis with payment data company RedCard Systems in 2019 in a transaction valued at $6 billion.

Global investment firm EQT will acquire revenue cycle and health information management company Gebbs Healthcare Solutions from ChrysCapital for a reported $850 million. EQT is also reportedly considering strategic alternatives for RCM vendor AGS Health, including a potential sale. EQT’s health IT investments also include Citius Tech, Lumeon, and Waystar.

Clinical generative AI company Pieces Technologies announces $25 million in new growth funding from investors that include OSF HealthCare (IL) and Children’s Health (TX).

AMA releases CPT 2025, which includes 270 new codes, 112 deletions, and 38 revisions.

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Healthcare IT Leaders will open an Overland Park, KS office on the Aspiria campus and will add 25 positions there.


Sales

  • Gillette Children’s Hospital (MN) selects data, analytics, and care management technology from HealthEC.
  • Healthcare-at-home service provider CareRing Health will implement WellSky’s EHR and analytics software across its locations in five states and Washington, DC.

People

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Glenn Wada (Blue Ocean Go to Market Partners) joins Iris Telehealth as chief growth officer.

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MDClone hires Bruno Lempernesse, MS (Health Catalyst) as president.

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Industry long-timer Mark Erwich, MBA (Verato) joins Health Launchpad as chief strategy officer.


Announcements and Implementations

Mercy Cedar Rapids Women’s Center (IA) goes live on Volpara Health’s breast cancer risk assessment and care management software.

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Renown Health (NV) implements DetectRx drug diversion monitoring software from IatricSystems.

Royal Columbia Hospital in British Columbia goes live on Meditech Expanse as part of Fraser Health’s facility-wide implementation.

LogicSource will collaborate with Cleveland Clinic to create non-clinical procurement best practices and benchmarking.

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Apple adds sleep apnea detection to the Apple Watch and incorporates hearing features in AirPods Pro that include passive noise reduction, a clinical grade hearing test, and the ability to use AirPods Pro as an over-the-counter hearing aid for mild to moderate hearing loss.

Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD (Verily) and Brad Hirsch, MD (Verily) launch Highlander Health, which will focus on evidence generation and related investment.

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A KLAS Arch Collaborative Report on EHR interoperability finds that a major clinician pain point is using outside patient data.


Privacy and Security

Five hospitals in Ontario and their shared IT services provider will spend $6.6 million on recovery efforts stemming from a ransomware attack in October 2023. Bluewater Health restored all of its systems, including Meditech, in February of this year. It will go live on Oracle Health in November. Windsor Regional Hospital, which is still working on a full recovery, has spent the majority of its recovery costs on staff overtime.

Just 20% of small and rural hospitals are taking advantage of free and low-cost cybersecurity resources from Microsoft and Google, according to new stats from White House officials. The vendor offerings are part of a federal initiative launched in June designed to help select healthcare facilities shore up their cybersecurity defenses.


Sponsor Updates

  • EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Skyrocket RCM Productivity with eClinicalWorks & Healow.”
  • AGS Health will exhibit at the Revenue Integrity Symposium September 12-13 in Oak Brook, IL.
  • Altera Digital Health releases a new e-book, “Sunrise: The Flexible EHR to Meet Your Evolving Needs.”
  • The Department of Commerce appoints Arcadia Chief Strategy Officer Aneesh Chopra to its National AI Advisory Committee.
  • AvaSure will host its 2024 Symposium October 2-4 in Grand Rapids, MI.
  • Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast, “Customer Care in Healthcare: Setting a Higher Bar, with Will Tafoya.”
  • CereCore releases a new podcast, “5 Communication Tactics for Better IT and Business Alignment.”
  • The “InteropNow” podcast features Consensus Cloud Solutions EVP of Healthcare Strategy and Policy Bevey Miner, “Bringing Healthcare to Structured Data with Consensus Cloud Solutions.”
  • Laudio publishes a case study titled “How Novant Health Alleviated Pressure on Nurse Managers, Improved Employee Engagement, and Reduced RN Turnover by 15%.”
  • CloudWave publishes a new whit epaper, “Patient-centric Incident Response in Healthcare: A New Approach – What You Need to Know.”

Blog Posts


Contacts

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

Comments Off on News 9/11/24

Morning Headlines 9/10/24

September 9, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/10/24

EQT to acquire GeBBS Healthcare Solutions, a leading healthcare technology solutions provider

Global investment firm EQT will acquire revenue cycle and health information management company Gebbs Healthcare Solutions from ChrysCapital.

Aledade Launches Recruiting Service to Connect Primary Care Practices to Talent

Primary care network management company Aledade launches a physician recruiting service.

Cyberattack recovery costs hit $8.9M for SW Ontario hospitals — so far

Five hospitals in Ontario and Transform Shared Service Organization, their shared services provider, are on track to spend $6.6 million on recovery efforts stemming from a ransomware attack in October 2023.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/10/24

Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 9/9/24

September 9, 2024 Dr. Jayne 4 Comments

As I work on optimization projects with different care delivery organizations, I’m shocked by how much waste I see within the system. Many large health systems spent a significant amount of time and money over the last two decades investigating in process improvement initiatives. However, it seems like once focus is lost, waste creeps back into the system and becomes an impediment to efficient patient care.

End users such as physicians and nurses are often experiencing some degree of burnout and may not want to spend the effort pushing back against processes that they know aren’t serving patient care. Others may experience learned helplessness, where repeated stressors cause them to feel that they have no ability to change the situation, so they don’t even try.

Some of the inefficiencies I see are caused by people over-interpreting regulations. For example, two-factor authentication for electronic controlled substances is required. However, it is not required for electronic prescriptions for drugs that are not controlled substances. Organizations that don’t understand the ability of EHRs to have different settings for different types of medications may require two-factor authentication or a password input for all medication, resulting in millions of wasted clicks each year and countless hours of frustration among clinicians.

Other inefficiencies are caused by outdated attitudes towards patient management. In past decades, some institutions taught policies that hinted at the idea that patients can’t be trusted. For example, if a patient was due to have a follow-up visit in 90 days, one shouldn’t write them a prescription with more than 90 days’ worth of refills because then the patient would be forced to come for an appointment or at least to call the office. In contrast, practice management journals have advocating for years that this approach isn’t supported in the medical literature and just creates additional risk of patients running out of their medications as well as extra work for ambulatory practices as they field refill requests.

Practice management journals have also advocated having patients schedule their follow-up appointments before they leave the office, yet many do not. My own primary care practice refused to schedule my annual appointment before I left last year, citing the fact that physician schedules weren’t open yet. They said that normally they have patients fill out a postcard that they mail when the schedules open, but that they were out of postcards and would fill one out on my behalf when they were restocked and schedules were open.

It’s been a full three months, and I have zero confidence that this multi-step process is happening in the office. Given the lag time on getting an appointment in this particular practice, I should probably call this week to set myself up for nine months from now. Of course they don’t have online scheduling open either, so it’s lots of wasted effort when you add up how many patients are impacted by this lack of process.

I also see physicians who continue to retake blood pressures on every patient, regardless of whether values are in or out of range. I would propose that if you don’t trust the blood pressure readings that your staff members are doing, you have two options. One, you could teach them to take readings exactly the way you want them to so they can perform proficiently moving forward. Or, you could have them stop altogether, freeing up their time to do other support tasks. But continuing to repeat on every single patient is just wasteful. I also see the documentation of irrelevant vital signs just for the sake of documenting vital signs. Temperature is generally irrelevant for well visits and most chronic disease follow-up visits, so why does everyone end up with a thermometer under their tongue?

On the positive side, many organizations have taken the advice of their EHR vendor to filter the number of “thank you” messages that make it to physician EHR inboxes. Although this can decrease inbox burden, some of my colleagues report that they miss those expressions of gratitude and that it feels like their inbox is now only full of demand messages. Some ambulatory organizations are focusing on routing messages to ancillary staff, such as medical assistants, before escalating to nurses and to physicians only if needed. I’m seeing a few places adopt delegated refill policies, although there is still much more hand-wringing about these types of protocols than there ought to be.

I’m also seeing more organizations configure EHR message routing so that ambulatory physicians aren’t inundated with inpatient test and diagnostic results. Some are also stopping the practice of automatically copying the primary care physician on tests that are ordered by other ambulatory physicians. This is a plus in two ways – not only does it cut down on inbox volume, but it also prevents confusion as to who is responsible for managing the test results. This creates extra work for consulting physicians, though, who may need to send a specific communication back to the primary care physician to let them know what is going on with the patient. This shouldn’t be too much of a shock to them as they theoretically should be sending a consultation letter already, especially if the primary care physician referred the patient for evaluation.

The most widespread optimization efforts that I’m seeing are in the implementation of ambient documentation solutions. Adoption was slow at first, but is really taking off. At some point, it’s going to become a requirement for facilities that want to attract top physicians. If I was a graduating resident at an institution that had implemented it and I was used to using it every day, you can bet that it would be a must-have criterion for a future workplace. Organizations that aren’t ready to go all-in on the technology should consider other bridge solutions, such as virtual scribes, or at a minimum, human scribes.

In other technology news, I was able to catch a glimpse of NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, also known as ACS3, flying through the sky at an altitude of 600 miles on Sunday night. Temperatures have dropped into the 50s overnight here, so it was a perfect excuse to pull out the fire pit, pour an adult beverage, and chill out in a lawn chair as I prepare for the coming week. I’ll have another prime viewing opportunity Monday night, so here’s to crossing my fingers and hoping for a crisp and cloudless night. If you’re interested in trying to spot it yourself, more information can be found here.

What activities help you recharge and get ready for the busy work week? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

Morning Headlines 9/9/24

September 8, 2024 Headlines Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/9/24

EQT Is Said to Consider Sale of US-Headquartered AGS Health

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Kipu Health Acquires Hatch Compliance to Strengthen Behavioral Health Technology Portfolio

Behavioral health technology vendor Kipu Health acquires Hatch Compliance, which specializes in compliance and risk management software for behavioral health providers.

Comments Off on Morning Headlines 9/9/24

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