News 9/26/18

Top News

Bankers Healthcare Group acquires a 20-percent stake in Simple Admit, which will incorporate the bank’s lending services into its patient engagement technology.

---

Webinars

None scheduled in the coming weeks. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

---

Announcements and Implementations

Aprima will offer HIPAA compliance programs from Abyde.

Azalea Health adds chronic care management capabilities from ChartSpan Technologies to its EHR.

---

People

CipherHealth names Jake Pyles (Paradigm) CFO.

---

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Behavioral health and human services EHR vendors Foothold Technology and Exym merge under the Alpine SG corporate umbrella, leading me to surmise from the vaguely worded press release that parent company Alpine Investors has purchased some sort of stake in both companies and swept them into its group of SaaS companies.

---

Telemedicine

19labs introduces the Gale Digital Health Center for on-site care that includes virtual consult software and diagnostic devices. The California-based startup launched in 2015 with the intent of targeting rural clinics, and has now expanded its sales funnel to include employers, community centers, and nursing homes. Founder and CEO Ram Fish spent several years beforehand as VP of mobile health at Samsung. 

---

Research and Innovation

A survey of independent practices finds that nearly 70 percent have been approached with acquisition deals by private equity firms, and 60 percent by health systems. PE firms ended up acquiring practices in 75 percent of the aforementioned situations, though the resulting business arrangement seems to have left some physicians wondering if they wouldn’t have been better off with hospital ownership. Respondents noted that investment firms seemed to be “just in for what they could get out the practice,” while hospitals “would allow the practice to carry on … with local control.”

---

Other

Say it ain’t so: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine launches a #BreakUpWithBacon campaign in Washington, DC to encourage people to stop eating processed meats, and hospitals to stop serving them. The campaign highlights the fact that such food, though delicious, is a contributor to colon cancer.

---

Sponsor Updates

• The Wisconsin State-Journal profiles Nordic Data & Analytics Services Delivery Manager Eric Pennington.
• Healthwise launches its FHIR app in Epic’s App Orchard.
• AdvancedMD will exhibit at WebPT’s annual Ascend conference September 28-29 in Phoenix, AZ.
• Nordic’s managed services division has signed 20 clients and expanded to 100 consultants.
• Aprima and Culbert Healthcare Solutions will exhibit at MGMA September 30-October 2 in Boston.

Blog Posts

• The Rise of Digital Healthcare (AdvancedMD)

---

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

Get HIStalk Practice updates.
Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.