Re: Walmart Health: Just had a great dental visit this morning, which was preceded by helpful reminders from Epic, and…
News 1/8/13
Athenahealth announces plants to buy Epocrates for $293 million in cash, which represents a 22 percent premium over the January 4 closing price. Athenahealth views the acquisition an opportunity to increase its name recognition among the 340,000 physician users of Epocrates. CEO Jonathan Bush took to the airwaves Monday to discuss the purchase.
Passport Health Communications acquires California-based Data Systems Group, a provider of revenue cycle software solutions.
The 25-provider Orthopedic Associates of Dutchess County (NY) implements Sectra’s PACS.
Physician recruiters say job opportunities for physicians will be more plentiful and varied in 2013 and hospitals and groups will offer bigger incentives to entice prospective candidates. One reason for the increased demand: physicians are seeing 17 percent fewer patients than they were five years ago and working about six percent fewer hours.
The AMA and about 40 national physician organizations urge CMS to stop the implementation of the ICD-10 code set for outpatient diagnosis coding, saying the burden of the transition “will force many physicians in small practices out of business.” AMA estimates the move to ICD-10 will cost physicians between $83,290 and more than $2.7 million, depending on practice size.
Medline’s 1,100-member sales force will co-market NextGen Healthcare solutions to Medline’s customer base of physician practices and hospitals.
The Office of the Actuary at CMS estimates 2011 healthcare spending grew at 3.9 percent in 2011, which is identical to the spending growth rates for 2009 and 2010. The growth in personal healthcare spending was largely driven by increased utilization of healthcare goods and services.
