The article about Pediatric Associates in CA has a nugget with a potentially outsized impact: the implication that VFC vaccines…
News 5/4/16
Top News
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus acquires DocuTap for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2000, the South Dakota-based company offers EHR, PM, and RCM software for primary and urgent care practices. It has raised $30 million in private equity over the last three years, adding 350 urgent care clinics in the last year alone. Founder and CEO Eric McDonald hopes the sale will help DocuTap expand its offerings to pediatric and more primary care physicians. “For DocuTap, the clients, the team, this is nothing but good news,” McDonald said. “They’re not moving the headquarters. They’re excited to get behind the leadership team, and they love the Sioux Falls community, so there aren’t any concerns on anybody’s part of downsizing or shifting gears.”
Webinars
May 5 (Thursday) 2:00 ET. “Reducing CAUTI and Improving Early Sepsis Detection Through Clinical Process Measurement.” Sponsored by LogicStream. Presenters: Jen Biltoft, director of quality improvement, SCL Health; Marla Bare, EHR architect, SCL Health. This webinar will describe how SCL Health reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 30 percent in just three months through clinical process measurement. The SCL Health presenters will also share their plans for applying a similar process to the early detection of sepsis.
May 11 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Measuring the Impact of ACA on Providers.” Sponsored by Athenahealth. Presenters: Dan Haley, general counsel, Athenahealth; Josh Gray, VP, AthenaResearch. Athenahealth will share the findings of real-time analysis of its provider network. The presenters will describe how patient financial obligations have changed, how physician reimbursement is trending, the patterns created by increased ACA coverage, and the effect of the latest ACA trends on physician practices.
Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.
People
Debra Mathias joins Freed Associates as a consultant.
Apple hires Yoky Matsuoka, a co-founder of Google’s X lab and most recently head of technology at Nest, which Google acquired in 2014. Matsuoka will work on several health-related projects at Apple, including HealthKit, ResearchKit, and CareKit. She seems to be a true Renaissance woman: Injury waylaid her plans to become a tennis star, so she decided to pursue neurorobotics, for which she won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 2007.
Announcements and Implementations
Medical Center Radiologists (VA) renews its agreement with Zotec Partners for RCM services.
Telemedicine
Marijuana Company of America begins offering virtual medical marijuana consults from Hello.MD to members of its Club Harmoneous subsidiary.
MyTelemedicine.com relocates and expands into new offices in McKinney, TX. The company which was founded in 2014 by former AmeriDoc CMO Rey Colon, is also enhancing its 24-hour call center for provider and employer clients.
Philadelphia-based Tandigm Health, a primary care-focused joint venture between DaVita HealthCare Partners and Independence Blue Cross, partners with TouchCare to offer virtual consults to its network of 380 physicians.
In related news, Durham, NC-based TouchCare adds a check-in feature to its mobile app.
Healthx adds Teladoc services to its member services platform for payers.
Research and Innovation
A study in JAMA Dermatology finds that giving Medicaid patients access to virtual dermatology visits sharply increases the use of those services. Researchers saw the number of patients who received care from a dermatologist nearly double after the introduction of teladermatology services. Those services were used primarily by younger, healthier patients for less-severe skin conditions like warts and acne. The findings almost beg the question, “Did the increased use result simply from availability, or because the services were genuinely needed?”
A survey of 500 patients reveals that just 22 percent use access to their EHR to make healthcare decisions, despite the fact that 60 percent have access to them. The majority of respondents access their EHRs to simply stay informed, indicating there is an actionable gap between hard health data and a patient’s willingness to act upon it. The gap highlights the challenge that providers have had with patient engagement since MU attempted to incentivize it – you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink unless you explain how the act of drinking will benefit it (and you).
Other
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, part two: The New Republic tells the fascinating tale of University of Amsterdam Professor of Clinical Psychology Merel Kindt and her development of a treatment that can “neutralize” fearful memories with a pill traditionally used to treat heart disease.
Sponsor Updates
- AdvancedMD releases a new ebook, “Advanced Practice Training: Changing the Game in Financial Reporting.”
- Aprima will exhibit at the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting 2016 May 5-7 in Washington, DC.
- KLAS recognizes Nordic’s Epic implementation support and staffing services, also ranking the company for the first time in the IT Advisory segment with a 92.6 score.
- EClinicalWorks will exhibit at the IMGMA Spring Conference May 5-6 in Indianapolis.
- Healthwise will exhibit at the EClinicalWorks 2016 Health Center Summit May 11-13 in Boston.
Blog Posts
- Revenue Management: Pay Attention to Your No-Show Rates (E-MDs)
- Preventing readmissions through enhanced care team collaboration (PerfectServe)
Contacts
Jennifer, Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg
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