News 4/9/18

Top News

AdvancedMD, Drchrono, Epic Systems, NextGen, NetSmart, Modernizing Medicine, and SIS Amkai score top rankings in Black Book Research’s latest customer satisfaction survey on specialty EHRs.

Webinars

April 10 (Tuesday) 3:00 ET. “Using Socioeconomic Data, Not Just Demographics, to Create a Healthier Patient Population.” Sponsor: LexisNexis. Presenters: Erin Benson, director of marketing planning, LexisNexis Health Care; Eric McCulley, director of strategic solutions consultants, LexisNexis Health Care. Did you know that 25 cents of every healthcare dollar is spent on health conditions that are caused by changeable behavior? Use of social determinants of health (SDOH) — including information on households, neighborhoods, relatives, and assets — can directly improve care management and risk stratification. However, it’s important to first define what SDOH is and isn’t. A recent LexisNexis Health Care CIO survey found that only 50 percent of organizations are using SDOH data at all, and even then, they have only limited information from their EHR or from patient surveys. The question is: what are you going to do about it? This webinar will reveal the myths and truths that will help you avoid answering, “Not enough.”

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

Here’s the recording of last week’s webinar titled “Succeeding in Value-Based Care Via a Technology-Driven Approach,” sponsored by Health Fidelity.

Announcements and Implementations

Oregon Oncology Specialists will implement Navigating Cancer’s patient relationship management software that includes remote monitoring and patient education, triage, and symptom management tools.

Triad Radiology Associates (NC) selects billing, coding, and practice management services from Healthcare Administrative Partners.

People

Tyson McDowell (Lead Wingman) joins blockchain-based PHR startup MintHealth as CTO.

NueHealth promotes John Palumbo to executive chairman and names Carl King CEO.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

App-based house call company Remedy secures an early-stage investment from JF2 Capital Partners. Before founding the Texas-based startup, founder Jeremy Gabrysch, MD spent three years as CMO at Soddo Christian Hospital in Ethiopia.

Radiology practice management and technology company Premier Imaging Ventures rebrands to LucidHealth.

The New York Times looks at the changing landscape of primary care, highlighting the convenience-based business models of urgent care and retail clinic chains like Healthy Now (WA) and technology-enhanced models of groups like One Medical. While all eyes wait to see what the “mega-mergers” of CVS/Aetna, Amazon/Berkshire Hathaway/JPMorgan, and Walmart/Humana will mean for primary care, hospitals are continuing to encroach on the footprint of independent practices by opening up their own urgent care facilities. “Everyone is fighting for the primary care patient,” concedes Summit Medical Group CEO Jeffrey Le Benger, MD. Summit Medical has also opened up urgent cares, a move Benger refers to as being a “loss leader” for its unprofitability but importance in maintaining patient market share.

Telemedicine

Doctor on Demand leverages Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network to offer patients lab testing facilities based on location and cost.

Other

A man suffering from shortness of breath credits his visit to a telemedicine kiosk at a local pharmacy for saving his life. (He hadn’t been to the doctor’s in years.) Consulting from nearby New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, the telemedicine doc advised the patient to check himself into the ER, where he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, fluid in his lungs, and diabetes. While the availability of a virtual visit was indeed fortuitous, the story is more of a cautionary tale about the dangers of missing regular health checkups.

The AMA and Google launch the Health Care and Interoperability Innovation Challenge to uncover new ways of monitoring and sharing health data between chronic disease patients and physicians using mobile technology. Up to $50,000 in Google Cloud credits will be awarded to the top three winners.

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe will present at AONE 2018 April 14 in Indianapolis.

Blog Posts

• HIMSS hype or health IT promise: We had 500 people weigh in … (Medicomp Systems)
• Advances in Speech Technology (NVoq)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 4/4/18

Top News

CCS Oncology’s financial struggles compel it to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Court documents show the New York-based chain of practices will cut its physician workforce from 60 to eight as part of an overall staff downsizing from 181 to 74. The company has also decided to jettison its primary care and non-cancer practices.

Webinars

April 5 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Succeeding in Value-Based Care Via a Technology-Driven Approach.” Sponsor: Health Fidelity. Presenters: Adele L. Towers, MD, MPH, senior clinical advisor, UPMC Enterprises; Adam Gronsky, director of advisory services, Health Fidelity. Success in value-based care requires a thorough understanding of how risk-based payment models work. To prosper in this data-laden era of care, providers need to manage their patient populations holistically rather than through a collection of individual episodes and be able to accurately identify, document, and report risk scores. Given the stakes, is your provider organization adequately set up to take on and succeed in managing risk? In this webinar, learn how technology-enabled risk capture optimization is helping providers succeed in risk-based payment models.

April 10 (Tuesday) 3:00 ET. “Using Socioeconomic Data, Not Just Demographics, to Create a Healthier Patient Population.” Sponsor: LexisNexis. Presenters: Erin Benson, director of marketing planning, LexisNexis Health Care; Eric McCulley, director of strategic solutions consultants, LexisNexis Health Care. Did you know that 25 cents of every healthcare dollar is spent on health conditions that are caused by changeable behavior? Use of social determinants of health (SDOH) — including information on households, neighborhoods, relatives, and assets — can directly improve care management and risk stratification. However, it’s important to first define what SDOH is and isn’t. A recent LexisNexis Health Care CIO survey found that only 50 percent of organizations are using SDOH data at all, and even then, they have only limited information from their EHR or from patient surveys. The question is: what are you going to do about it? This webinar will reveal the myths and truths that will help you avoid answering, “Not enough.”

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

Announcements and Implementations

Appriss Health adds HC1.com’s zip code-based Opioid Dashboard to its PDMP technology for government agencies.

C&C Medical Administration launches Web-based coding and billing services.

Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa will replace its Greenway Health EHR with EClinicalWorks V11.

Diagnostic Professionals (FL) implements Royal Solutions Group’s Web-based patient intake kiosk and payment software across its four facilities.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Optum wraps up its $28 million acquisition of Reliant Medical Group (MA). First announced last May, RMG CEO Tarek Elsawy said the acquisition will enable the physician group to remain competitive, and give it access to advanced data analytics capabilities. Optum won out over Massachusetts-based Harvard Pilgrim and UMass Memorial Health Care, according to state filings.

Billing, coding, and practice management company AdvantEdge Solutions acquires competitor Professional Management. Former PM President Dave Nicholson will become AdvantEdge EVP.

Government and Politics

As part of the MyHealthEData Initiative, ONC publishes a consumer-friendly guide to obtaining and using digital health records.

Research and Innovation

A study in Health Affairs finds a disconnect between EHR quality measurement functionality and the federal programs that link payment to such measures. An analysis of 1,500 practices found challenges with EHR upgrade delays, lack of bandwidth to prepare data for reports (or a lack of resources to outsource preparation), and software that lacked customizable measurements.

Telemedicine

AAFP will offer select members access to virtual care tools from Zipnosis as part of a pilot program before rolling it out to all members later this year.

Other

The solar-powered town of Babcock Ranch, FL prepares to open a health and wellness center fueled by energy produced during workouts. The center, which also offers physical therapy, will begin offering primary care through Lee Health’s physician group this summer.

Sponsor Updates

• Aprima will exhibit at the OKMGMA Conference April 5-6 in Oklahoma City.

Blog Posts

• HIMSS hype or health IT promise: We had 500 people weigh in… (Medicomp Systems)
• Black Book recognizes Nordic for highest client satisfaction in Epic IT Advisory Services (Nordic)
• The Calm After the Storm (AdvancedMD)
• Medical Practice Billing Challenges and Some Suggestions to Overcome Them (Aprima)
• Developing a Strong Workforce as We are Faced with Competing Priorities (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 4/2/18

Top News

Veritas Capital will acquire GE Healthcare’s Value-Based Care Division – including Centricity, RCM, and workforce management assets – for $1 billion. GE Healthcare President and CEO Kieran Murphy says the business will move forward with a focus on digital precision health solutions that include smart diagnostics, connected devices, AI, and enterprise imaging.

Webinars

April 5 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Succeeding in Value-Based Care Via a Technology-Driven Approach.” Sponsor: Health Fidelity. Presenters: Adele L. Towers, MD, MPH, senior clinical advisor, UPMC Technology Development Center; Adam Gronsky, director of advisory services, Health Fidelity. Success in value-based care requires a thorough understanding of how risk-based payment models work. To prosper in this data-laden era of care, providers need to manage their patient populations holistically rather than through a collection of individual episodes and be able to accurately identify, document, and report risk scores. Given the stakes, is your provider organization adequately set up to take on and succeed in managing risk? In this webinar, learn how technology-enabled risk capture optimization is helping providers succeed in risk-based payment models.

April 10 (Tuesday) 3:00 ET. “Using Socioeconomic Data, Not Just Demographics, to Create a Healthier Patient Population.” Sponsor: LexisNexis. Presenters: Erin Benson, director of marketing planning, LexisNexis Health Care; Eric McCulley, director of strategic solutions consultants, LexisNexis Health Care. Did you know that 25 cents of every healthcare dollar is spent on health conditions that are caused by changeable behavior? Use of social determinants of health (SDOH) — including information on households, neighborhoods, relatives, and assets — can directly improve care management and risk stratification. However, it’s important to first define what SDOH is and isn’t. A recent LexisNexis Health Care CIO survey found that only 50 percent of organizations are using SDOH data at all, and even then, they have only limited information from their EHR or from patient surveys. The question is: what are you going to do about it? This webinar will reveal the myths and truths that will help you avoid answering, “Not enough.”

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

Announcements and Implementations

Cary Skin Center (NC) implements patient referral coordination and communication software from Infina Connect.

People

Practice Fusion founder and former CEO Ryan Howard (IBeat) joins MTBC as a special advisor to CEO Stephen Snyder. To my knowledge, MTBC is the only ambulatory EHR vendor offering its software to physicians for free, as Practice Fusion did before its Allscripts-influenced move to subscription pricing earlier this year.

Billing company Inbox Health promotes founder Blake Walker to CEO.

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Payspan promotes Rob Pinataro CEO and appoints Mark Chapman (VoApps) president and CFO.

Government and Politics

Alabama becomes the 50th state to pass a data breach notification law requiring organizations to notify citizens affected by a breach of electronically stored information within 45 days. California passed the first such law in 2003.

Other

In JAMA, physicians publish a “Charter on Physician Well-Being,” offering guiding principles and a framework organizations can use to help their physicians avoid burnout.

Middletown Medical (NY) alerts patients to a January data breach caused by an improper radiology interface security setting that may have allowed users to see patient listings and to access certain PHI.

Talk about a paper trail: The local paper looks at the efforts the daughter of a local physician who died last spring is going through to return nearly 7,000 paper medical records to their rightful owners. Darcie Maurice-Garcia, who was also her father’s office manager, has gone so far as to take out an ad in the local paper ahead of her self-mandated “Shred Day” on April 4. “I feel like it’s my duty,” she told the Medical Board of California when she reached out for advice on what to do with the files. “I’ve known a lot of these patients all my life.” 

Sponsor Updates

• HealthcareNow Radio interviews Medicomp Systems CEO Dave Lareau.
• Nordic publishes a podcast titled “How to use change champions for a more successful go-live.”

Blog Posts

• The key to being a great healthcare consultant: flexibility (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 3/28/18

Top News

An analysis of 7 million patient reviews conducted by MGMA and Healthgrades finds that patients place the most importance on the time their physician spends with them, particularly in the areas of their willingness to answer questions, listen to concerns, and ensure patients understand their conditions or procedures. A practice’s technology offerings didn’t come up in terms of patient satisfaction, though 25 percent of reviews did mention appointment scheduling and communication, leading me to believe that practices that offer time-saving tech in these areas likely receive more positive comments than those that rely on paper-based processes.

Webinars

April 5 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Succeeding in Value-Based Care Via a Technology-Driven Approach.” Sponsor: Health Fidelity. Presenters: Adele L. Towers, MD, MPH, senior clinical advisor, UPMC Technology Development Center; Adam Gronsky, director of advisory services, Health Fidelity. Success in value-based care requires a thorough understanding of how risk-based payment models work. To prosper in this data-laden era of care, providers need to manage their patient populations holistically rather than through a collection of individual episodes and be able to accurately identify, document, and report risk scores. Given the stakes, is your provider organization adequately set up to take on and succeed in managing risk? In this webinar, learn how technology-enabled risk capture optimization is helping providers succeed in risk-based payment models.

April 20 (Tuesday) 3:00 ET. “Using Socioeconomic Data, Not Just Demographics, to Create a Healthier Patient Population.” Sponsor: LexisNexis. Presenters: Erin Benson, director of marketing planning, LexisNexis Health Care; Eric McCulley, director of strategic solutions consultants, LexisNexis Health Care. Did you know that 25 cents of every healthcare dollar is spent on health conditions that are caused by changeable behavior? Use of social determinants of health (SDOH) — including information on households, neighborhoods, relatives, and assets — can directly improve care management and risk stratification. However, it’s important to first define what SDOH is and isn’t. A recent LexisNexis Health Care CIO survey found that only 50 percent of organizations are using SDOH data at all, and even then, they have only limited information from their EHR or from patient surveys. The question is: what are you going to do about it? This webinar will reveal the myths and truths that will help you avoid answering, “Not enough.”

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

Announcements and Implementations

Babyscripts adds messaging capabilities for social workers and their patients in a new module aimed at helping expectant mothers in underserved areas stay healthy between OB/GYN visits.

Healthfinch announces GA of its Refills Lite prescription refill management app for practices using AthenaClinicals.

Chiropractic software vendor EZBIS will integrate Ability Network’s all-payer RCM application into its PM system.

San Diego-based Reachify launches cloud-based software for physician practices that helps route digital communications from email, social media, and phone to relevant staff members. Co-founders Richard Balikian, MD a plastic surgeon, and Erik Stark, MD an orthopedic surgeon, provided nearly all of the company’s $2 million in early funding.

People

Patrick Spangler (VigiLanz) and Bryan Archambault (Ghg) join OptimizeRx’s Board of Directors.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

FBI agents raid several CCS Oncology practices to obtain non-medical information as part of an ongoing investigation related to a late-2017 lawsuit brought by Bank of America against CCS for breach of contract. CCS defaulted on over $16.2 million in debt to the bank. The Williamsville, NY-based chain of practices, which continued to see patients during the federal site visits, has faced financial difficulties since being dropped from Independent Health’s network in 2016.

Government and Politics

Representative John Nygren (R-WI) credits the state’s 20-percent drop in opioid prescriptions and 47-percent decrease in doctor shopping alerts to the state’s PDMP and tougher prescribing guidelines. Nygren and other members of the state’s opioid abuse task force will next look to integrate a treatment bed tracker with the PDMP – a feature that would be the first of its kind in the nation.

Other

Soon-to-retire oncologist Mary Ann Allison, MD will miss her patients more than their accompanying paperwork, which typically adds two hours to her day. Allison sees 25 patients in 15-minute increments each day at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Southern Nevada – a routine she is looking forward to transitioning away from in favor of gardening and Pilates. “You get to the point where you really kind of want to back off for a bit,” she says. “And things continue to get more complicated, just all this paperwork.”

DataBreaches.net details the Herculean task it went through to alert a New York-based medical practice with no Web presence that it had left 42,000 patient records and millions of patient clinical notes exposed on a misconfigured rsync backup. Practice staff hung up on the DataBreaches investigator who called to make them aware of the situation, eventually securing the device after an affiliated health system staff member alerted them to the problem. An HHS complaint and request for investigation has since been filed.

Sponsor Updates

• HealthcareNow Radio interviews Aprima COO Neil Simon.
• Heather Espino (Centura Health) joins Culbert Healthcare Solutions as Epic manager.

Blog Posts

• Evolve Beyond Museum Relics in Your Practice (AdvancedMD)
• Make EPCS Compliance Easier, Protect Yourself and Your Patients (Aprima)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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News 3/26/18

Top News

CMS Deputy CIO Janet Vogel will transition into the role of HHS CISO in April following the departure of Chris Wlaschin who is stepping down for unspecified personal reasons. Wlaschin’s resignation puts the Healthcare Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center on even more tenuous ground given the departure of its director and removal of its deputy CISO last year.

The center, which launched last June, was originally touted by Wlaschin as a resource that would “analyze [cybersecurity threats] and deliver best practices and the two or three things that a small provider, a small office, a doc in a box can do to protect his patient’s privacy and information security around those systems.” It has been mired in problems ever since, largely due to personnel issues and policy disagreements, some of which centered on the center’s almost carbon-copy resemblance to the Dept. of Homeland Security National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

Webinars

April 5 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Succeeding in Value-Based Care Via a Technology-Driven Approach.” Sponsor: Health Fidelity. Presenters: Adele L. Towers, MD, MPH, senior clinical advisor, UPMC Technology Development Center; Adam Gronsky, director of advisory services, Health Fidelity. Success in value-based care requires a thorough understanding of how risk-based payment models work. To prosper in this data-laden era of care, providers need to manage their patient populations holistically rather than through a collection of individual episodes and be able to accurately identify, document, and report risk scores. Given the stakes, is your provider organization adequately set up to take on and succeed in managing risk? In this webinar, learn how technology-enabled risk capture optimization is helping providers succeed in risk-based payment models.

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

Announcements and Implementations

SRS Health adds PDMP-checking capabilities to e-prescribing workflows within its specialty-focused EHRs.

OpenEMR announces support for Web-based medical image visualization within patient records.

Relatient launches its MDpay digital patient billing solution after a four-month pilot that saw participating practices collect $900,000 in payments – 14 percent of which were made on a mobile device. CEO Michelle Perry joined the company last November after stints at GetWellNetwork and ThreatConnect.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The local paper looks at the growing trend in healthcare appointment ride-sharing, zeroing in on Minneapolis startup Hitch Health. Its customer base includes local clinics and providers affiliated with Hennepin County Medical Center, which helped propel Hitch Health out of its affiliated Upstream Health Innovations center. Local taxi companies are upset the company has chosen to partner with Lyft for its rides; a decision made, according to co-founder Chip Truwit, MD based on data that shows Medicaid patients have a hard time booking approved taxi rides, resulting in no-shows.

Dallas-based practice management company US Dermatology Partners expands to Oklahoma through the acquisitions of Stillwater Dermatology Clinic and Metcalf Dermatology. Stillwater physician Thomas Hall, MD will take on the role of USDP’s regional medical director for Oklahoma.

Government and Politics

The AAFP weighs in on the recently announced MyHealthEData Initiative, telling CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a letter that it objects to “placing responsibility for the adoption of interoperable systems on physician practices. The creation of standardized interoperable systems should instead be the responsibility of vendors. We strongly urge CMS to require EHR vendors to provide any new government-required updates to such systems without additional cost to the medical practice.”

Other

Early April Fool’s? Foreo, “the world’s biggest beauty tech brand,” develops an emotionally intelligent toothbrush dubbed IssaAlexa that will keep users on top of both their oral health and social activities. For example, the $300 brush can detect when you’ve decided to forego brushing after a night on the town and helpfully “shout from the bathroom, ‘Alcohol enhances bad breath so I’ve cancelled your drinks with friends tomorrow.’” Foreo does indeed exist and manufacture Issa toothbrushes, though the Alexa version doesn’t seem to have hit its website yet. H/T to Politico for alerting me to 2018’s must-have beauty product.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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