The article about Pediatric Associates in CA has a nugget with a potentially outsized impact: the implication that VFC vaccines…
News 12/21/15
Top News
OrbiMed launches a new venture capital fund, OrbiMed Private Investments, with nearly $1 billion in partner commitments. The fund will target healthcare IT, medical devices, diagnostics, and biopharmaceutical companies in North America and Europe. Past healthcare IT investments include Practice Fusion, Sikka Software, TigerText, and Treato.
Webinars
Here’s the video of Wednesday’s webinar, “A Sepsis Solution: Reducing Mortality by 50 Percent Using Advanced Decision Support,” sponsored by Wolters Kluwer Health and featuring guest presenter Rick Corn, VP/CIO of Huntsville Hospital (AL).
Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.
Announcements and Implementations
The Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus launches ourhealthcarequality.org to offer consumers a look at Ohio-based physician performance data. The website includes data on nearly 200 physicians and advance-practice nurses on three measures, plus national goals.
Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock
21st Century Oncology, a chain of treatment centers based in Florida with locations throughout the US and Latin America, pays nearly $20 million to settle fraud charges stemming from a whistleblower lawsuit. The whistleblower and former 21st Century medical assistant brought to light a spate of medically unnecessary tests ordered between 2008 and 2012 that were then billed to Medicare and Tricare. The individual will receive $3.2 million for bringing the matter to light.
People
Jaime Ojeda (Point of Care Decision Support) joins Meridian Medical Management as general manager and executive vice president of its PrecisionBI division.
Telemedicine
Dave Soleymani, MD develops the Dermio secure messaging app to offer patients an easier way to correspond with him about skin ailments. A video consult version is in the works.
Government and Politics
More than 6 million people sign up for January 1 coverage at Healthcare.gov, the deadline for which was extended by two days. The federal government expects over 10 million users to sign up for coverage through the entire enrollment period, which lasts through January.
Research and Innovation
Booz Allen Hamilton’s annual healthcare perceptions study finds that over half of the 1,000 consumers surveyed believe the sharing of PHI is essential to better coordinating and managing care amongst their providers.On a less tech-y note, 24 percent of the 400 physicians surveyed are optimistic about the direction in which healthcare is heading, a stat that remains unchanged from last year.
Other
Fox River Counseling Center (WI) alerts 509 patients of a data breach that resulted from the theft of an employee’s unencrypted laptop. The stolen data included the usual personal stats, plus more sensitive medical histories, diagnoses, mental status interviews, psychological testing results, and work-capacity statements. The center has since updated its encryption software.
Security incident response times need improvement: This amusing video depicts the Galactic Trade Federation’s decision to hire a cybersecurity consulting firm to ensure rebels can’t hack the Death Star.
Sponsor Updates
- Medicity is positioned in the Leaders category in the 2015 IDC MarketScape.
Blog Posts
- What do cross-country skis have to do with your EHR running more efficiently? (Nordic)
- 10 Tips for Choosing the Right RTLS for Your Hospital (Versus Technology)
- 5 questions with Nordic CEO Bruce Cerullo (Nordic)
Contacts
Jennifer, Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan
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