News 11/19/18

Top News

Milwaukee-based RCM vendor Sift Healthcare secures $1 million in funding from Winnebago Seed Fund and Wind River Financial, which will help the startup develop and market predictive analytics related to claims workflows, reimbursement, and patient interactions. Formerly known as SiftMD, the company targets its technology and services to providers and RCM vendors. Ken Cunningham, SVP of analytics, seems to be the only employee with any sort of health IT experience, having served as VP of claims insurance analytics at LexisNexis.

Webinars

December 6 (Thursday) 11 ET. “Make the Most of Azure DevOps in Healthcare.” Sponsor: CitiusTech. Presenter: Harshal Sawant, practice lead for DevOps and mobile, CitiusTech. Enterprise IT teams are moving from large-scale, project-based system implementations to a continuously evolving and collaborative process that includes both development and business teams. This webinar will review healthcare DevOps trends and customer stories, describe key factors in implementing a DevOps practice, describe how to assess Azure DevOps, and lay out the steps needed to create an Azure DevOps execution plan.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Announcements and Implementations

New West Physicians (CO) connects to CORHIO, giving its Denver-based primary care practices access to the HIE’s data-exchange services.

Amion adds streamlined on-call scheduling and call-routing capabilities from RingRx to its physician scheduling software.

Remote patient monitoring company ImagineMed selects patient data protection services from Black Ridge Technology.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Software development and consulting company OmniSystems will market EnSoftek’s DrCloudEHR to primary care, behavioral health, and social services providers domestically and in the UK and Caribbean.

Government and Politics

Per the 21st Century Cures Act, a CMS report to Congress on the state of telemedicine adoption bears out the technology’s potential to increase access to care and save money for Medicare beneficiaries. Utilization increased 50 percent between 2014 and 2016, with members in rural areas (with Texas being the biggest adopter) making up the bulk of visits for mostly mental health and chronic conditions. Of Medicare’s 35 million patients, just 90,000 took advantage of telemedicine, leading authors to surmise that utilization would skyrocket if just 1 percent of patients switched their brick-and-mortar visits to virtual consults. Reimbursement issues remain the biggest challenge to provider adoption of the technology.

CMS announces the Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge. The contest will launch next year, and will reward submissions that use AI to predict outcomes, and that can be incorporated into future payment and service delivery programs.

Other

Just in time for my winter tennis season: L’Oreal releases My Skin Track UV, a battery-free wearable that measures UV exposure as well as other environmental factors, and offers skincare recommendations based on the gathered data. The device can store up to three months of data at a time, all of which can be shared with Apple Health via the companion app.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new podcast, “Expert advice on preparing your MSSP submission.”

Blog Posts

• Physician Burnout – the EClinicalWorks Solution (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/14/18

Top News

Pleasanton, CA-based HintMD develops software physicians can use to offer monthly, subscription-based skincare treatments to their patients. The company has raised $15 million since opening for business in 2014. Co-founders Aubrey Rankin and Vojin Kos both came from pharmaceutical company Zeltiq, best known for its CoolSculpting fat-reduction technology.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Announcements and Implementations

DrChrono announces GA of a physical therapy EHR bundle that includes smartphone, tablet, and practice and revenue cycle management software; plus patient engagement and telemedicine support from Physitrack.

NextGen launches an API Marketplace featuring solutions from EHR Integration Services and Otto Health.

Amazing Charts announces GA of a population health tool for independent practices looking for help with chronic care management, to improve patient engagement, meet clinical quality measures, and identify and close care gaps.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

MRO patents IdentiScan, a feature within the company’s ROI Online software that scans for misplaced files during the health records request process. The technology helps to ensure accuracy and reduce the likelihood of an unintentional HIPAA violation due to mixed-up records, an occurrence that happens in one out of every 200 retrievals.

Research and Innovation

Scientists are developing a set of wearables that can assist physicians in diagnosing, treating, and monitoring the treatment of mental health disorders like PTSD, depression, and anxiety. The SysteMD prototype includes a headset, wristbands and ankle band that can monitor a patient’s heart rate, perspiration, respiration, and pupil diameter, which proprietary algorithms then analyze to look for patterns that might indicate mental health issues. In early tests, SysteMD accurately classified 82 to 94 percent of PTSD patients.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks publishers customer success stories from Gastro Health and Big Sur Health Center.

Blog Posts

• HCC in 1-2-3: Three steps to implementing Hierarchical Condition Categories in Epic (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/12/18

Top News

As Mr. HIStalk reported earlier today, private equity firms Veritas Capital and Elliott Management subsidiary Evergreen Coast Capital will acquire Athenahealth for $5.7 billion. Athenahealth will be combined with Veritas-owned Virence Health, which sells the former GE Healthcare financial, ambulatory, and workforce management product lines.

Virence Chairman and CEO Bob Segert, with the company barely two months, will become Athenahealth’s CEO. (Mr. H offers the back story here.)

The sale seems like the end of a health IT era in some respects, though I suppose that happens anytime an unfiltered, over-the-top company honcho like Jonathan Bush is overtly (or covertly) pushed out. The acquisition shares some similarities with Vista Equity Partners’ purchase of Greenway Medical, though the leadership drain from that company during its rebranding to Greenway Health was slower, evoking far less vitriol than Elliott Management’s pressure on Athena.

Webinars

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

Announcements and Implementations

Physicians Computer Company joins Carequality, giving its customers the ability to exchange health data more easily via the initiative’s interoperability framework. PCC’s Jen Marsala says the membership decision was made to help independent physicians stay that way: “Hospitals will no longer be able to say to our independent pediatricians, ‘You need to join us and give up your independence because we can’t share information.’

In North Carolina, Alliance Behavioral Healthcare goes live on ZeOmega’s Jiva 6.1 population health management software.

LStar Imaging selects imaging workflow software and services from RadNet subsidiary ERad. LStar will open in New Braunfels, TX early next year.

Community Health Center Inc. (CT) and the Weitzman Institute (CT) integrate Safety Net Connect’s Converge e-consult software with their Community EConsult Network. The network will use Converge to help community health centers and primary care providers with addiction treatment specialists across the country.

Research and Innovation

A survey of 2,000 patients reveals that the majority of encounters with  their primary care physicians deal with physical well-being, and often fail to address social determinants of health and other aspects of a patient’s health and well-being. Survey facilitator and family physician Wayne Jonas, MD believes that while shortened appointment times and digital record-keeping requirements may have some part to play in a provider’s ability to dig deeper into a patient’s personal life, it really boils down to a shift in thinking. “Speaking personally,” he says, “as physicians we should be asking, ‘What matters?’ instead of just, ‘What’s the matter?’ so we can better understand why our patients want to be healthy and what might be getting in the way of their health goals.

Other

Urgent care provider CityMD’s new ad campaign, which kicks off with the commercial above, is pretty apropos as we head into cold, flu, and holiday gathering season. I say this as an “older, wiser sister,” of course.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD employees pack over 900 weekend pantry packs for students in the Granite School District.
• Aprima publishes a new guide, “How to Switch EHRs.”
• EClinicalWorks will exhibit at the 2018 NNOHA Annual Conference November 12-13 in New Orleans.
• Healthwise will exhibit at NextGen UGM 2018 November 11-14 in Nashville.
• Nordic will exhibit at the HIMSS GC3 event November 14-16 in Mobile, AL.
• PerfectServe will exhibit at the HealthLeaders CNO Exchange November 12-14 in Charleston, SC.

Blog Posts

• Three Ways Telemedicine Improves Care for Providers and Patients (EClinicalWorks)
• BPCI Advanced brings quality measures into the mix. Patient education helps you meet them. (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/7/18

Top News

Greenway Health promotes Kimberly O’Loughlin to president. She came to the company as COO in May, after spending four years at Philips Healthcare. In announcing her promotion, CEO Richard Atkin alluded to the fact that the company is working to build an experienced leadership team. Atkin came to the company in June, while the rest of the executive team has been together for less than two years.

Webinars

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

Announcements and Implementations

DrChrono adds AI-powered coding automation tools from Diagnoss to its tablet-based EHR.

Red Bank Radiology (NJ) selects RCM and practice management technology and services from Healthcare Administrative Partners.

Rothman Orthopaedic Institute implements Allscripts Practice Management at its facilities in Pennsylvania.

NextGen Healthcare announces GA of Quality/Cost Fusion, a population health analytics tool that helps providers assess the value of their care based on clinical and claims data.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

San Francisco-based primary care company Circle Medical raises $3.5 million in a funding round led by A.Capital with help from Well Health Technologies. Well Health hopes to bring Circle Medical’s proprietary technology, including mobile patient engagement app and telemedicine capabilities, to its network of Canadian clinics.

Physician’s Computer Company, The Verden Group, PedsOne Pediatric Billing Specialists, and the Pediatric Management Institute join forces to launch PediatricStartup. The collaborative will offer pediatricians looking to open their own practices consulting services encompassing all aspects of the business.

Healthcare messaging and virtual visit company Medici acquires competitor DocbookMD from Scrypts for an undisclosed sum. Coinciding with the acquisition is the appointment of Anne Hunt (Castlight Health) to VP and head of product.

Government and Politics

IBM’s Health Corps works with the State of Utah to collect data on healthcare staffing shortages and develop workforce optimization software. Once fine-tuned, stakeholders will be able to use the open-source software to identify program and staffing needs, particularly in the area of primary care. Senator Ann Millner says that, “It will help us step back and rethink in ways that we are not accustomed to … to optimize the talents and the experience of the health care teams we assemble for the future, but even more importantly to do that in such that we’re able to provide more accessible, more affordable, quality primary health care access to the residents of Utah, which is our first priority.”

Telemedicine

In Virginia, the Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance and the St. Charles Health Council will use nearly $500,000 in USDA grants to boost telemedicine services for opioid addiction and mental health treatment.

Research and Innovation

An Oliver Wyman survey on consumer healthcare preferences finds that:

• 10 percent of the study’s 2,500 respondents have taken advantage of telemedicine within the last year.
• Interest in most virtual care services has increased over the last three years.
• Barriers to telemedicine utilization include a lack of awareness, and a preference for in-person care.
• Consumers are most willing to share their health data if it helps to ensure high-quality care and helps tailor care.
• Nearly half of respondents feel cost of services should be part of a provider’s discussion of recommended treatment.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks publishes a podcast titled “How PRM Services Boosted Youth Engagement in NYC.”
• The Chicago Tribute names Intelligent Medical Objects as a “Top Workplace.”
• Nordic will host a reception during the Population Health and Connect Summit November 7 from 6:30-8:30pm in Madison, WI.

Blog Posts

• Keep Patients Safe with Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (EClinicalWorks)
• The calm through the storm: How I relied on my Managed Services team during Hurricane Florence (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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News 10/31/18

Top News

The retail healthcare wars heat up: CVS pilots a delivery service for prescriptions and online purchases at 350 stores in Boston. The CarePass program offers free deliveries with an annual membership fee of $48. It also includes discounts on CVS products, access to a pharmacist helpline, and monthly coupons. The move, which CVS Pharmacy President Kevin Hourican attributes to customer demand, takes Amazon’s Prime membership model one step further by bundling prescriptions with retail goods. Though Amazon acquired prescription delivery service PillPack several months ago, it has yet to offer a similar bundling arrangement.

Should the pilot go well, CVS may include MinuteClinic services in an expanded version of the program.

Amazon, meanwhile, has launched a line of medical devices called Choice that includes blood pressure cuffs and glucose monitors. The new line was developed with help from consulting firm Arcadia Group, which has developed similar product lines for Walmart. Arcadia hopes to incorporate the devices into Alexa’s repertoire in the coming months.

Webinars

November 7 (Wednesday) 3:00 ET. “Opioid Crisis: What One Health Plan is Doing About It.” Presenter: Samuel DiCapua, DO, chief medical director, New Hampshire Health Families; and chief medical officer, Casenet. Sponsor: Casenet. This webinar will describe how managed care organization NH Health Families is using innovative programs to manage patients who are struggling with addiction and to help prevent opioid abuse.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Practice and revenue cycle management company Clinicspectrum relocates to expanded headquarters in Union, NJ.

Bloomberg reports that Elliott Management and Veritas Capital have teamed up to bid on Athenahealth. Veritas acquired GE’s revenue-cycle, ambulatory care, and workforce management software business for $1 billion in April.

New York-based HIE HealtheLink expands with new office space in Depew.

Patient engagement and practice marketing company PatientPop raises new capital, increasing its total funding to $75 million.

People

Less than two months after announcing a $24 million Series A funding round, Cricket Health brings on Sam Mankiewicz (Healthvana) CTO, Robert Sepucha (Fresenius Medical Care) chief administrative officer, and Dianna Budgeon, RN (Sound Physicians) head of clinical operations.

Announcements and Implementations

The Michigan Institute of Urology and The Urology Group (OH) go live on Integra Connect’s specialty-focused EHR at a combined 34 locations.

New York-based urgent and primary care provider WestMed Medical Group implements online appointment booking and virtual visit software from Solv Health.

Telemedicine

The American Psychiatric Association and American Telemedicine Association publish "Best Practices in Videoconferencing-Based Telemental Health," offering guidance on technology, settings, privacy and security, and clinical considerations for patients of different ages and backgrounds.

Philadelphia Eyeglass Labs selects 20/20Now’s telemedicine tools for eye care professionals. The five-location practice had been a beta tester of similar technology from DigitalOptometrics.

Other

A Swedish man credits his Apple Watch 4’s fall-detection feature with helping him contact emergency services (and quite possibly avoiding a kitchen fire) after suffering crippling back pain that caused him to collapse in the kitchen. The watch sensed the fall and offered to call an ambulance. The fall-alert feature is set to call an ambulance if a user is unresponsive one minute after a fall is detected.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks posts a podcast titled “Tools and Training to Target Physician Burnout.”
• AdvancedMD will exhibit at APTA PPS November 7-10 in Colorado Springs.
• Aprima will exhibit at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition November 3-5 in Orlando.

Blog Posts

• The Opioid Crisis: How to Increase Patient Safety (EClinicalWorks)
• 7 Key steps for outsourcing RCM for VBC (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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