News 5/31/17

Top News

The DoJ announces that EClinicalWorks will pay $155 million to settle a federal False Claims lawsuit alleging that the Westborough, MA-based company misrepresented its EHR product and paid customers kickbacks for promoting it. Its website states that over 70,000 facilities run its software – including 125,000 physician and NP end users. The company and three of its founders will pay the settlement. Mr. H provides a more thorough analysis of the settlement (and the reader-reported events that preceded it) here.

Webinars

June 22 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Social Determinants of Health.” Sponsored by Philips Wellcentive. Presenter: David Nash, MD, MBA, dean, Jefferson College of Population Health. One of the nation’s foremost experts on social determinants of health will explain the importance of these factors and how to make the best use of them.

June 29 (Thursday) 2:00 ET. “Be the First to See New Data on Why Patients Switch Healthcare Providers.” Sponsored by Solutionreach. As patients pay more for their care and have access to more data about cost and quality, their expectations for healthcare are changing. And as their expectations change, they are more likely to switch providers to get them met. In this free webinar, we’ll look at this new data on why patients switch and what makes them stay. Be one of the first to see the latest data on why patients leave and what you can do about it.

July 11 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET.  “Your Data Migration Questions Answered: Ask the Expert Q&A Panel.” Sponsored by Galen Healthcare Solutions. Presenters: Julia Snapp, manager of professional services, Galen Healthcare Solutions; Tyler Suacci, principal technical consultant, Galen Healthcare Solutions. This webcast will give attendees who are considering or in the process of replacing and/or transitioning EHRs the ability to ask questions of our experts. Our moderators have extensive experience in data migration efforts, having supported over 250+ projects, and migration of 40MM+ patient records and 7K+ providers. They will be available to answer questions surrounding changes in workflows, items to consider when migrating data, knowing what to migrate vs. archive, etc.

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

Announcements and Implementations

Nextech Systems develops single sign-on capabilities for its EHR and PM software, enabling users to automatically log in to Nextech Select when logging into Windows.

Skyland, NC-based Allergy Partners, a GE Centricity customer, will implement patient portal and billing software from Medfusion at its facilities across the country.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

San Francisco-based Genome Medical launches its genetic consultation services with an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by venture firm Canaan Partners. The company offers virtual consultations directly to consumers and as an outsourced service for physicians. CEO Lisa Alderson (Invitae), Robert Green, MD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) and Randy Scott (Invitae) founded the company last year.

Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School will fund the formation of Brown Physicians Inc., a Rhode Island-based nonprofit that will bring together six independent, academic physician practices eager to insulate themselves from the stranglehold of a healthcare landscape increasingly dominated by just a few health systems. The new organization will enable its 500-plus physician members to pool resources related to care coordination, research, and administrative needs.

Digital patient education tech vendor Outcome Health raises $500 million in a Series A round led by Goldman Sachs. The Chicago-based company hopes the cash infusion will help it meet its goal of supporting 70 percent of all practices in the US by 2020; and expanding its customer base to include payers, pharmacies, clinical trials, and international markets. CEO Rishi Shah founded the company as ContextMedia in 2006 with President Shradha Agarwal while both were at Northwestern University.

People

Michael Pollack (KBL) joins Rennova Health as interim CFO.

ClearHealth Quality Institute hires Doug Clarke (American Telemedicine Association) as executive director.

Telemedicine

The Alabama Dept. of Public Health will use a $139,650 Appalachian Regional Commission grant to build and install telehealth carts in 19 county health clinics. “The use of telehealth technology greatly eases the burden on patients in rural areas by eliminating the need to travel to see a doctor or specialist in one of our major metropolitan areas like Birmingham or Mobile,” said Governor Kay Ivey during her announcement of the grant.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Lakeshore Foundation Research Collaborative prepare to launch a study to determine telemedicine’s efficacy in treating patients with multiple sclerosis. Over 800 patients from Alabama and Mississippi – states that face a dearth of MS rehabilitation expertise – will be given tablets loaded with 36 exercises to perform at home. Organizers are eager to see if patient adherence and outcomes are similar to or better than those achieved in traditional clinic settings.

Government and Politics

CMS releases more details about its identity theft-prevention plans to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare ID cards. Social Security-based Health Insurance Claim Numbers will be replaced by randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers unique to each beneficiary. CMS will start mailing new cards in April 2018 in hopes of meeting the final replacement deadline of April 2019. Physicians will have nearly two years of transition, during which they can use both the old and new numbers.

Research and Innovation

A 33-page RAND report outlines the hold chronic conditions have on patients (and their pocketbooks) in the US: As of 2014, sixty percent had at least one chronic condition, and forty percent had more than one. Older adults tended to have two or more diseases at the same time. Given their longer life spans, women are more likely then men to suffer from such disease states. The proliferation of such disease states has taken a toll on individuals, the collective health system, and the economy, as daily headlines and the figures above can attest. Statistics like these put in stark relief the need for preventative health services grounded in population health management programs that focus more on social determinants of health than the latest wearable device.

AMA digs into its latest Physician Practice Benchmark Survey to find that 47.1 percent of the 3,500 survey respondents own their own practice – the first time fewer than 50 percent of physicians have reported such a stat since the survey launched several decades ago. Nearly 56 percent work in practices owned by other physicians. Most continue to work in practices with 10 or fewer physicians.

Other

Managed care company Molina Healthcare shuts down its patient portal as it investigates a likely data breach. The breach was initially brought to its attention last month by an anonymous member who inadvertently discovered the ability to view the online medical claims of other members. The Long Beach, CA-based company made news several weeks ago when it fired CEO Mario Molina (son of the company’s founder) – a move he attributes to his vocal criticism of Republican repeal-and-replace efforts.

Sponsor Updates

• GE Healthcare previews its upcoming film, “Heroines of Health.”
• EClinicalWorks will exhibit at the 2017 MPHCA Annual Conference May 30-June 2 in Biloxi, MS.
• Intelligent Medical Objects will exhibit at the 2017 International MUSE Conference May 30-June 2 in Dallas.
• As of May 18, people have counted on Healthwise information 2 billion times.
• AdvancedMD publishes a MIPS Improvement Activities fact sheet.
• Aprima will exhibit at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies Annual Meeting June 5-7 in Boston.

Blog Posts

• Recap of expanded Community Giveback Week (Nordic)
• MACRA Overview – Is Your Organization Prepared? (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 5/25/17

Top News

STAT publishes a well-written look at former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt’s new life as a “wonk-turned-evangelist,” focusing on his seemingly non-stop efforts to protect the Affordable Care Act through a series of town hall events. “It’s not about a bunch of policy arguments,” Slavitt emphasizes. “It’s about getting out here in the real earthy world where people are going to have to place their votes, and it’s one senator at a time.”

Slavitt maintains that sponsoring organizations – of which there seem to be few aside from the Save My Care coalition – are not in fact bussing people in to attend his in-person appearances, as Rupert Murdoch has recently asserted. “That’s what he said,” Slavitt says. “And you know, we just had 3,300 people on a call from Alaska. Where do they get bussed in from?”

Webinars

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

Announcements and Implementations

Charlotte County Public Schools taps Marathon Health to take over operations of its onsite health center, upping the company’s presence in Florida to 21 facilities.

Onsite primary care clinic company Activate Healthcare will implement Twine Health’s Employee Health Activation platform, which helps employers enroll and engage employees in the management of chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. Activate will integrate Twine technology with its NextGen EHR via Redox’s interface engine.

Innovaccer offers consultation services for IPAs looking to transition to ACOs.

People

Allscripts adds Mara Aspinall (Health Catalysts) to its Board of Directors.

Telemedicine

The Delaware Health Information Network offers virtual consult services courtesy of MDLive as part of a consumer engagement effort that also includes the launch of a PHR, and text-based messaging service that will alert patients when lab results from participating providers are available for viewing.

Research and Innovation

One year after debuting a mental health screening tool built in partnership with Mental Health America, Walgreens finds that 75 percent of users who complete screenings actively follow up on recommendations, particularly in the areas of treatment and resource referrals, and further screening for anxiety and PTSD. Of that group, over 30 percent enter into treatment and 24 percent discuss results with family, friends, or a provider. MHA will expand its partnership wit Walgreens this summer when it adds a pharmacy chat feature to its website.

Government and Politics

The local paper highlights the optimism physician practices in the Buffalo region of New York have thanks to the recently announced inclusion of the area in the second round of the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus program. Area providers believe the program will help some struggling practices stay in business, attract new providers and practices to the area, and better enable the remote monitoring of patients. Nearly 3,000 practices are participating in the first round of the program. Another thousand are expected to participate in round two, which kicks off in January 2018.

Other

The first rule of Drop Out Club is …: Scientific American looks at the increasing popularity of online forums geared towards letting physicians air and commiserate about their burnout grievances. Drop Out Club is one such network, offering its 37,000 members an advice forum, job board, and private messaging. “Reading all these stories of people trying to leave made me realize I wasn’t crazy for being unhappy in this career I had worked so hard for,” says former emergency physician Maryam Shapland, MD who is now a medical director at a life insurance company. “Leaving medicine felt like giving up a big part of my identity. But I’m proud of what I do now. Most importantly, I’m happy and thriving.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 5/24/17

Top News

Competition for primary care patients heats up in Seattle as Portland, OR-based ZoomCare opens two new clinics in the metro area. The tech-friendly managed primary care company will open another three later this year. Notice of the new facilities comes amidst Seattle-based direct primary care company Qliance Medical Management’s closure and One Medical’s opening of its first clinic in the area. ZoomCare’s insurance arm, Zoom Health, closed last month amidst financial instability and concurrent investigation by state health insurance officials.

Webinars

None scheduled in the coming weeks. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services, including turn-key production and promotion.

Announcements and Implementations

Femwell Group Health will offer HealthGrid’s patient engagement platform including mobile check-in, automated appointment reminders, and population health management to the physician practices it managers in South Florida.

SocialClime enhances its Web-based patient feedback and engagement tools with RosettaHealth’s data standardization technology.

People

ClearHealth Quality Institute is looking for volunteers to serve on its Board of Directors and new Telemedicine Standards Committee. The Institute is in the process of taking over the American Telemedicine Association’s accreditation program.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Nomad Health launches its online, broker-free clinical work-finding tool in California. Both states are experiencing physician shortages: California is experiencing a dearth of PCPs while 35 counties in Texas are facing a doctor desert. The New York City-based company launched in 2015 and has raised $4 million.

Dermatology-focused PM company Dermatologists of Central States receives an undisclosed amount of funding from Sheridan Capital Partners. DoCS provides non-clinical resources to dermatology practices in Ohio through partner practice Dermatologists of Southwest Ohio.

Government and Politics

Former Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) joins CMS as head of the HHS regional office in Atlanta. Ellmers, who is also a nurse, made a name for herself in health IT circles with the introduction of several pieces of legislation aimed at curtailing the scope of Meaningful Use.

Industry insiders weigh in on President Trump’s budget proposal and its implications for healthcare-related departments and initiatives.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD focuses his first official blog post on ways in which the agency can fight the opioid epidemic. Gottlieb outlines high-level plans for a new Opioid Policy Steering Committee, which will seek to, among other things, determine whether the mandated education of healthcare professionals on appropriate prescribing recommendations will make a dent in addiction levels. He adds that he and the steering committee will seek input from stakeholders to determine next best steps.

Sponsor Updates

• State of the Union Address (AdvancedMD)
• Healthcare On-Demand: An Experience with Epic MyChart (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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Contact us online.
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News 5/23/17

Top News

President Trump releases his proposed 2018 budget a day after HHS posts its 104-page portion online – a move some media outlets have construed as an accident. HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD says the budget is “focused on making strategic investments to protect the health and well-being of all Americans. Our budget focuses resources on direct health services and patient-centered care. It also ensures that important programs like Medicaid serve our most vulnerable citizens – the people such programs are intended to help.”

Impacts to HHS would include sharp cuts to ONC, among other departments and services. I haven’t yet had a chance to read through the entire document. For those in need of a high-level overview, check out Federal News Radio’s breakdown by agency. I’d love to hear from readers as to how they feel this fiscal spending will impact physician practices. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Webinars

None scheduled in the coming weeks. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services, including turn-key production and promotion.

Announcements and Implementations

Behavioral health EHR vendor ClinicTracker adds an automated collections interface from TSI, giving users the ability to forward delinquent patient accounts to TSI for expedited collections.

Harbin Clinic (GA) will add Meridian Medical Management’s PrecisionBI analytics engine to its Athenahealth EHR and PM platform. With 20 locations and 220 providers, the clinic is Georgia’s largest physician-owned multispecialty clinic.

Prompted by its EHR vendor, EClinicalWorks, Indiana-based FQHC HealthNet (IN) enlists the services of Array Networks to bolster its disaster recovery and virtualization strategies. The practice, which has 16 locations across greater Indianapolis, won a HIMSS Davies Award in 2015 for improving pediatric care with its EHR resources.

People

The Iowa Osteopathic Medical Association elects Joel Baker, DO president.

Telemedicine

Subscription telemedicine company Alvin Healthcare partners with prepaid processing company Epay to make its services available at retail locations like Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. The company, which offers medical consults via Teladoc and EDocAmerica through its Hello Alvin brand, supplies its annual fee-based service through prepaid cards similar to gift cards.

School nurses are not happy about the introduction of HippoMD telemedicine services at schools within the Sacramento City Unified School District. Twenty-six of the system’s 27 nurses signed a three-page letter of protest listing their objections to the expansion and use of teachers (non-medical personnel) to assist with the virtual visits. Also included in their list of grievances is the fact that teachers receive a $500 classroom supplies bonus for gaining student consent to the service.

Research and Innovation

An AAFP-sponsored survey of over 22,000 adults finds 86 percent of respondents feel primary care leads to healthier patients, higher-quality care, and lower costs. A similar number of respondents believe physicians should practice value-based care rather than fee-for-service, and that care should be affordable. Nearly 90 percent believe a patient-physician relationship is important – a stat that should give telemedicine vendors pause regarding the ways in which they market their services directly to consumers, and to practices looking to meet their patients where they already are – online.

And speaking of affordable healthcare, the results of a year-long study of employees at two large companies don’t bode well for the role healthcare price transparency tools will eventually play in helping American consumers become savvier cost-conscious patients. Just 11 percent of participating families used such a tool at least three times, and just 1 percent used it at least once – most being in the young, high-income, high-deductible bracket. The study’s authors conclude that employers and payers should target marketing of these tools to groups with lower Internet use rates, particularly those who may also have lower levels of health literacy. I wonder if CMS has tried tying in the marketing of price transparency tools to Medicare services.

Other

And I thought the phrase “cloud computing” was soooo 2013: American Thoroughbred Cloud Computing wins the Preakness Stakes – the second leg of the Triple Crown – unexpectedly beating out top contenders Always Dreaming and Classic Empire. His owners, hedge fund managers Seth Klarman and William Lawrence, chose his name “based upon their pattern of using terms from the finance industry to name their horses,” according to Wikipedia. Other examples include Takeover Target and Currency Swap. (Diehard HIStalk fans may remember that “cloud” won a HISsies award in 2013 in the Most Overrated Technology category.)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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Contact us online.
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News 5/22/17

Top News

Seattle-based direct primary care provider Qliance Medical Management shuts down six of its primary care clinics without giving patients or employees notice of any kind. The company, which had planned a more organized closure, attributes the abruptness to an improper withdrawal of $200,000 made by one of its lenders, which cited Qliance’s default and a presumably related investigation of co-founder and CEO Erika Bliss as the reason for its seizure of funds. The company opened for business as BlissMD in 2006 with backing from Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, and game show host Drew Carey (who also happens to own the Seattle Sounders soccer team.) I assume One Medical, which opened its first location in Seattle last week, will welcome Qliance’s 13,000 patients with open arms.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

VoiceNation launches an answering service division for healthcare professionals. Director of Operations Eric Schurke will head up the new business line.

New York City-based secure text messaging startup OhMD joins Athenahealth’s More Disruption Please program.

Announcements and Implementations

MTBC releases an updated version of its portal app for patients with new features that include appointment scheduling, online check-in, and secure messaging.

Monroe Urgent Care (OH) implements Practice Velocity’s VelociDoc EHR.

People

James Aylward (PatientPoint) joins physician referral management IT vendor Preferral as CEO.

BluePrint Healthcare IT’s Care Navigator business promotes Trish Ambrosio, RN to VP of product and care management, and hires Jodi Goudreau (Big White Wall) as platform adoption and market management director.

Government and Politics

CMS publishes a Technical Resource Guide to help providers participating in the Quality Payment Program locate assistance and resources in their respective regions.

Iowa State Pharmacy Board Director Andrew Funk previews the state’s plans to upgrade its PDMP so that it is easier to use – a move he hopes will encourage more prescribers to register with the program. Just 42 percent of physicians have registered with the PDMP since it launched in 2009. “The limitations of the current system, especially the difficulty navigating the program and the lack of integration with (EHRs), have led many prescribers who initially tried to utilize the PMP to not continue doing so and led many to not start in the first place,” says Dennis Tibben, director of government affairs for the Iowa Medical Society. “While we’ll never get to 100 percent prescriber registration, once some of these upgrades are made to make the system more functional and integrated, and make the records more complete, I expect utilization will grow at a more rapid pace.”

Telemedicine

San Francisco-based Lemonaid Health raises $11 million in a Series A round led by Novartis Venture Fund and Hikma Ventures. The company differentiates itself from its numerous mom-and-pop telemedicine competitors with an online prescription delivery service courtesy of Phil Inc.

Other

A twisted sense of benevolence: This media outlet highlights the damage the ransomware attacker known as The Dark Overlord is doing to clinics. In one particularly heinous situation, the TDO launched an attack against Cancer Services of East Central Indiana – Little Red Door, an Indiana-based nonprofit that found its eight computers encrypted with malicious code just as a board meeting was about to begin. The clinic opted not to pay the $43,000 ransom, despite TDO’s reasoning that “news of the breach would generate sympathy for the center, and donations would increase beyond what the ransom would cost.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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