News 1/5/26

Top News

CMS establishes the Office of Rural Health Transformation. The new office will oversee distribution of $50 billion in grants to all 50 states through the five-year Rural Health Transformation Program. It will also offer technical assistance to program participants, coordinate partnerships, and ensure program oversight.

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People

Former US Marine Gregory Alexander (Ellipsis Health) joins Syra Health as CEO.

CareCloud promotes Stephen Snyder to CEO and A. Hadi Chaudhry to chief strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

TherapySouth will implement Stride’s EHR and RCM software across its 51 clinics in three states.

Richstone Center (CA) implements the Qualifacts InSync EHR.

Government and Politics

The CDC will revise the childhood immunization schedule, recommending 10 vaccines instead of 17 and reassigning non-consensus vaccines to certain high-risk groups or populations and shared clinical decision-making.

CMS will no longer require states to report childhood and adolescent immunization statuses as it works on developing new vaccine measures.

Other

The Electronic Frontier Foundation includes HCRG Care Group among its Breachies 2025 (dis)honorable mentions. The British provider group earned the nod for its ineffective attempt to legally shame a US media outlet into taking down coverage of a ransomware attack on the group. 

West Virginia Public Broadcasting profiles Richard Cole, MD owner of and sole physician at Patrick County Family Practice. Founded 35 years ago, the practice cares for 38,000 patients – more than double the number of county residents. Cole, who operated an urgent care for several years before closing it due to lack of personnel, envisions finally being able to retire as young medical professionals begin committing to working in the county: “I’ve never seen so much interest in young doctors wanting to come here and practice. It opens up the door for me to finally retire.”

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Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/17/25

Top News

Ambulatory health IT vendor Tebra announces $250 million in new financing.

The company, born out of the merger between Kareo and PatientPop in 2021, will use the funding to further incorporate AI throughout all of its solutions.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Valerie Health announces $30 million in Series A funding and the creation of a regional operations hub in Chattanooga, TN. The San Francisco-based company offers independent practices AI tools for front-office tasks.

Announcements and Implementations

AssociatesMD (FL) implements Sunoh.ai’s AI medical scribe software across its nine locations.

CenterWell Senior Primary Care and Conviva Senior Primary Care begin offering virtual cancer care services from Thyme Care.

North Broward Radiologists (FL) outsources its revenue cycle services to Healthcare Administrative Partners.

Utah Cancer Specialists selects Canopy’s Enterprise AI for Oncology.

Government and Politics

The Department of Justice indicts online mental healthcare company Done Global for its scheme to illegally distribute Adderall over the Internet, commit healthcare reimbursement fraud, and obstruct justice. Florida-based practice Mindful Mental Wellness was also named in the indictment. The legal filing comes several weeks after Done Global’s founder and CEO and clinical president were convicted for their roles in the $100 million scheme.

Occupational healthcare provider Concentra will pay $112,500 to settle allegations that it violated HIPAA by taking over a year – rather than the federally mandated maximum of 30 days – to provide a patient with their health records.

Other

Technical.ly profiles PostCare.AI, a Maryland-based startup focused on using AI to ease the administrative burdens of solo physicians and small practices, with a particular focus on offering providers a more comprehensive final visit overview. It is working with four allergy specialists to fine-tune its software before launching to additional specialties.

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Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/15/25

Top News

Behavioral health IT vendor Ritten raises $35 million in Series B funding. The company has raised $52.5 million since launching in 2020.

Ritten CEO Noah Whitehead is a US Army veteran who served in Afghanistan.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Virtual cardiology company Auxira Health raises $7.8 million in seed funding. Auxira offers cardiology practices remote services that include access to advanced practice providers, care coordination, patient engagement, medication management, and system integration. MedStar Health (MD) launched Auxira in May through a collaboration with Abundant Venture Partners.

Virtual therapy company Handspring Health acquires competitor Joon Care. Handspring will use the acquisition as a springboard to further develop AI-powered clinical workflow technology for its providers.

People

CentralReach names Samantha Goldman (Metropolis Technologies) chief marketing officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Summit Radiology (IN) will outsource its RCM to Healthcare Administrative Partners.

Research and Innovation

University of Michigan Addiction Center researchers determine that primary care providers who use AI tools such as ambient note-taking and documentation may be able to more effectively identify and care for patients with risky drinking behaviors.

Other

Gateway Rehab becomes the first provider in Pennsylvania to offer substance use disorder treatment entirely online, thanks to a new state licensing model. The facility also plans to launch a telehealth hub where they will train other providers from around the state on how to launch and manage virtual services.

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Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/10/25

Top News

CVS Health ups its total revenue guidance for 2026 to $400 billion, citing momentum across Aetna, CVS Caremark, and CVS Pharmacy, and the breakeven potential of its Health Care Delivery Business. The company will also launch an AI-based engagement platform that will it scale across its businesses.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Empathy Health Technologies raises $7.6 million, bringing the startup’s total funding to $11.4 million. The company offers the Sober Sidekick app for peer and professional support during recovery.

Canada’s Competition Bureau obtains a court order allowing it to move forward with its investigation of Well Health’s acquisition of Healwell, parent company of Orion Health. The investigation will seek to determine if the acquisitions have stifled competition within the AI transcription market. In addition to health IT, Well Health Technologies operates over 200 clinics in Canada.

Announcements and Implementations

Athenahealth will give AthenaOne users access to Microsoft’s Dragon Copilot tool as a part of the EHR, practice management, billing, and patient engagement system’s ambient note-taking capabilities.

Other

ProPublica looks at the methods some FQHCs use to settle patient debts, with some sending balances of as little as $25 to collections and others escalating to lawsuits. Eastern Shore Rural Health (VA), for example, has filed more than 7,000 lawsuits for unpaid bills over the last 10 years. Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas founder Krista Postai points out that, “If your goal is really keeping people healthier, it makes more sense to deliver care at the lowest cost possible and not drive them into ERs and hospitals.”

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Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/8/25

Top News

Canadian Well Health Technologies subsidiary Wellstar Technologies raises $62 million in a Series B funding round. Wellstar is preparing to go public next year.

Mr. HIStalk reported a few weeks ago that Canada’s competition bureau is investigating Well Health Technologies over concerns that its recent acquisitions are reducing competition in the AI transcription market.

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Announcements and Implementations

Faith Healthcare (KY) will offer virtual consult and care coordination services from Gazuntite.

Spike Technologies develops AI agents to assist specialty care providers with administrative workflows related to insurance eligibility and benefits, prior authorizations, claims, and care coordination.

Texas Family Wellness Clinic implements AI medical scribe capabilities from Sunoh.ai.

Other

The Missouri Farm Bureau works with Rezilient Health to open an employee clinic in Jefferson City. Built on Rezilient’s CloudClinic model, the facility will offer tech-enabled direct primary, specialty, and urgent care; and care coordination services. Rezilient launched in 2016 and operates 11 clinics in three states.

Contacts

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