The article about Pediatric Associates in CA has a nugget with a potentially outsized impact: the implication that VFC vaccines…
News 12/11/19
Top News
Mt. Laurel, NJ-based Insight Telepsychiatry merges with Chicago-based Regroup Telehealth to become the largest telepsychiatry vendor in the country. Regroup founder and CEO Robert Cohn will become the newly merged entity’s chief growth officer.
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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock
Bridge Connector, which integrates CRM systems with EHRs and other health IT, raises $25 million, which it will use to help launch its new integration platform-as-a-service that connects health data systems without the need for code.
People
American Family Care (AL) promotes Claudius Moore to CIO.
Summit CityMD names Robert Scoskie (Northwell Health) chief business development officer and Matt Gove (Piedmont Healthcare) chief marketing officer. With locations in New Jersey and New York, the 200-clinic company is the result of the merger earlier this year of multispecialty Summit Medical Group and urgent care provider CityMD.
Announcements and Implementations
Practice Builders announces GA of online reputation management and patient acquisition software.
CHC Strategies, a network of FQHCs in Missouri, implements NextGen Population Health.
Telemedicine
MTBC adds telemedicine capabilities to its TalkEHR.
Research and Innovation
Primary care physicians in the US lag behind their international counterparts when it comes to the digital exchange of health information, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study. The survey of 13,000 PCPs in 11 countries found just about half of US physicians receive alerts when their patients are seen in the ER or admitted to the hospital, while between 79% and 85% of physicians in the Netherlands and New Zealand receive such notifications. US physicians also lag behind when it comes to their ability to exchange data with physicians outside of their practice. American patients, however, have better access to patient engagement technologies that enable them to schedule appointments and refill medications online, and access health histories and lab test results through portals.
Other
Remember when consumer DNA tests were the hot Christmas gift? Who knew Fido was feeling left out? A dozen companies now offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits for canines so that owners can better understand their dog’s breeding background. Experts say consumers should take these results with a grain of salt, as the companies don’t typically publish their methodologies, the tests aren’t regulated by the FDA, and results can be inaccurate. As with humans, privacy concerns are a consideration, especially when it comes to certain breeds: “Once you have given away your dog’s DNA and some company has the results, you may not have control over what happens to that information.”
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