News 2/5/24

Top News

SAMHSA and ONC launch the Behavioral Health Information Technology Initiative, which will invest $20 million over the next three years to promote the use of health IT within behavioral healthcare and practice settings.

The initiative will work with SAMHSA’s Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant and Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG) recipients to identify and pilot a set of behavioral health-specific data elements that will help to improve data exchange for behavioral health providers and care coordination with primary care and specialty physicians.

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HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Thanks to Nordic for its continued support of HIStalk Practice. Click the logo for more information.

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Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Aquiline Capital Partners acquires physician practice-focused RCM vendor Health Prime.

Primary care company Cano Health files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a restructuring program first announced in August 2023, the announcement of which coincided with the hiring of new CEO Mark Kent. At the time, the company announced plans to sell off assets and lay off employees as it questioned its ability to stay in business. Cano’s troubles came to light in early 2023, when several high-profile board members resigned, citing mismanagement. The company was valued at $4.4 billion when it went public on the NYSE via SPAC merger in June 2021, but shares have since nosedived. The company’s market cap was down to $32 million in November.

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Announcements and Implementations

No Junk Food Zone, an online health and wellness club serving members in Washington, DC, selects Ensoftek’s DrCloud EHR.

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Other

Moses Lake Community Health Center (WA) notifies 1,200 individuals of a 2023 data breach and payment scam in which hackers gained access to two employee email addresses, and then impersonated legitimate MLCHC vendors by sending phony invoices in an effort to extract payments. The health center was also a victim of the CaptureRx data breach in 2021. That incident forced the pharmacy administrative services business to consider bankruptcy in light of a class-action lawsuit that was ultimately settled for $4.75 million.

The local paper profiles Montana Pediatrics, a nonprofit virtual clinic that connects families with a network of after-hours pediatricians through Ahana software, and offers care coordination services to rural patients with medically complex needs. It will launch several pilot programs this year, including distributing at-home healthcare kits to 5,000 families and offering integrated behavioral healthcare services to 100 patients.

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Sponsor Updates

• Waystar joins Meditech’s Alliance program.
• EClinicalWorks announces that its Sunoh.ai AI-powered ambient listening technology now integrates with EClinicalMobile and EClinicalTouch apps on iOS and Android smartphones, iPads, and Microsoft Windows and macOS devices.
• Hyndman Area Health Center expands its use of EClinicalWorks technology with the addition of AI solutions including the Sunoh.ai virtual scribe.

Blog Posts

• 5 questions to ask when you’re at a crossroads in your EHR strategy (Nordic)
• 5 strategies to overcome patient payment complexities (Waystar)
• Benefits of Medical AI Scribe Integrated within the EHR (EClinicalWorks)

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Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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