News 3/9/17

Top News

Senate Republicans break through the Democratic attempt to stall final voting on Seema Verma’s nomination to head up CMS by passing a cloture vote – a move HIStalk Practice readers may recall from the will-they-or-won’t-they voting process for HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD. It looks like the final confirmation vote will happen within the next several days. As with Price, Verma’s eventual confirmation is expected along party lines.

Webinars

None scheduled in the coming weeks. Contact Lorre for information on webinar services.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Global skincare company LEO Pharma’s Innovation Lab invests $5.5 million in five startups, two of which are based in the US. San Francisco-based Pacific has developed an app to help consumers manage stress, anxiety, and depression; and a corresponding dashboard tool for providers. Remedly, also based in San Francisco, has developed an EHR and PM system for dermatologists. 

Announcements and Implementations

Austin-based startup WeInfuse develops cloud-based infusion center management software that includes patient scheduling, insurance pre-authorization, and medication inventory and delivery capabilities.

Casamba adds MedBridge’s patient engagement technology, including home therapy programs, to its TherapySource EHR and PM solution for post-acute therapy providers.

People

CareCloud brings on Greg Shorten (Validic) as chief revenue officer.

Meghan Hendricks (SSM Health) joins prescription drug pricing software company Doc and I as CIO.

Mordechai Raskas, MD (Children’s National Medical Center) joins specialized pediatric urgent care provider PM Pediatrics as director of telemedicine and clinical informatics.

Telemedicine

Akos launches its virtual consult business for consumers and employers in Arizona, with plans to expand to 10 more locations within the next few months. The company, formed last year by InstaMed Health Center Chairman Kishlay Anand, MD and neurologist Swaraj Singh, MD has raised $1 million in seed funding thus far. Its preferred brick-and-mortar provider network for patients that need in-person care seems to be the only thing setting it apart from the many other telemedicine companies popping up with increasing frequency.

Greenway Health software reseller and consulting company MDS Medical will add Otto Health’s telemedicine platform to its service line.

Government and Politics

Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush makes the media rounds this week to weigh in on the release of the GOP’s American Health Care Act, which he admits offers a “glimmer of hope” when it comes to prompting consumers to shop around for their care. He believes three things need to happen to make healthcare “shoppable:”

1. Arm patients and providers with cost/quality information to make better decisions, and reward them financially for doing so.

2. Connect our various care settings so when people do go in and out of certain settings, their health information will follow them.

3. Put all of health care on a national network. The industry can build all the software it wants, but without the connected tissue of a network innovation and knowledge-sharing can only happen in silos. One of many missed opportunities in healthcare that could be resolved with a national network is around scheduling; today only 16% of providers have at least some of their appointments available for web scheduling. A two-sided national network would allow patients to book appointments more conveniently, as well as for providers to fill appointments more conveniently. On the clinical side, with a national network doctors could share and access like-clinical scenarios and outcomes in real-time vs. once a year at an annual conference.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 3/8/17

Top News

Scottsdale, AZ-based telemedicine hardware, software, and medical device company GlobalMed acquires Miami-based TreatMD, a telemedicine company with global providers that also offers billing, EHR, remote monitoring, and wearable integration, plus white-labeling capabilities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TreatMD was launched by Lennick Holdings Managing Partner Bryan Lenett last August.

Webinars

March 9 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “PAMA: The 2017 MPFS Final Rule.” Sponsored by National Decision Support Company. Presenter: Erin Lane, senior analyst, The Advisory Board Company. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 instructed CMS to require physicians to consult with a qualified clinical decision support (CDS) mechanism that relies on established appropriate use criteria (AUC) when ordering certain imaging exams. Providers must report AUC interactions beginning January 1, 2018 to receive payment for Medicare Advanced Imaging studies, with the CDS recording a unique number. Outliers will be measured against a set of Priority Clinical Areas and interaction with the AUC. This webinar will review the requirements for Medicare Advanced Imaging compliance and will review how to ensure that CDS tools submit the information needed for reimbursement.

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

Announcements and Implementations

Parasail Health offers an open API to help developers integrate its patient financing app, which includes tools to help patients comparison shop for loans, into their respective website or payment portal.

Modernizing Medicine will add e-commerce capabilities to its EHR through a partnership with skincare company Galderma Laboratories, giving dermatologists and their patients the ability to more easily order OTC products in tandem with prescription drugs.

Alternative Family Services will replace six IT systems in use at its eight facilities in California with the Cx360 EHR from Core Solutions.

Medical Oncology Hematology Consultants (DE) joins The US Oncology Network, a McKesson Specialty Health-supported company that provides PM tech and services to independent oncologists across the country.

Mental health and substance abuse outpatient provider A Helping Hand of Wilmington (NC) adopts Mediware’s AlphaFlex EHR.

People

Navicure hires Kermit Randa (PeopleAdmin) as its first chief growth officer.

Todd Unger (Daily Racing Form) joins AMA as chief experience officer and SVP of physician engagement.

Government and Politics

The Delmarva Foundation joins 11 other CMS-funded organizations in helping small practices participate in MACRA’s Quality Payment Program. The foundation will specifically provide technical assistance to 5,500 MIPS-eligible practices with 15 physicians or less in Maryland and Washington, DC.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Tips from a Superuser – How to Improve Functionality.”

Blog Posts

• Transform how your front office engages with your patients (AdvanceMD)
• Population Health: An old-school approach to handling requests of your IT team [podcast] (Nordic)
• Patient Access Throughput: The Strategy to Success (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)
• Four Focus Areas in Health IT for Care Coordination Workflow Success (Healthwise)
• #HIMSS17 fun, takeaways, giving [recap] (Nordic)
• Using RTLS Data to Increase Capacity in Ambulatory Care (Versus Technology)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 3/7/17

Top News

A study conducted by RAND Corp. and Harvard Medical School researchers uses commercial claims data from 300,000 patients with acute respiratory illnesses to determine that, while telemedicine may increase access to care, it also has the potential to increase utilization and resultant healthcare spending. Their analysis found that 12 percent of direct-to-consumer virtual visits replaced in-person visits to other providers, 88 percent were new users, and annual spending increased by $45 per user. “If you make something easier to access, people will use it,” says co-author Lori Uscher-Pines. “That lower threshold means that people are using this as an add-on service.”

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Don’t miss the second installment of the HIStalk Practice Winners Circle, an interview series featuring physician practice professionals that have been recognized for their health IT-related expertise. This month features Kids Plus Pediatrics owners Albert Wolf, MD and Todd Wolynn, MD. They entered the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition not once, but three times, finally winning in the healthcare category. I’d ideally like to run at least one of these interviews a month. (February got away from me thanks to HIMSS.) I’m already looking to line up April’s interview. Feel free to email me with suggestions of award-winning physician to reach out to.

Webinar

March 9 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “PAMA: The 2017 MPFS Final Rule.” Sponsored by National Decision Support Company. Presenter: Erin Lane, senior analyst, The Advisory Board Company. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 instructed CMS to require physicians to consult with a qualified clinical decision support (CDS) mechanism that relies on established appropriate use criteria (AUC) when ordering certain imaging exams. Providers must report AUC interactions beginning January 1, 2018 to receive payment for Medicare Advanced Imaging studies, with the CDS recording a unique number. Outliers will be measured against a set of Priority Clinical Areas and interaction with the AUC. This webinar will review the requirements for Medicare Advanced Imaging compliance and will review how to ensure that CDS tools submit the information needed for reimbursement.

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

Announcements and Implementations

Over 120 primary care providers in Maryland partner with management services company Collaborative Health Systems to form the Chesapeake Independent Physician Association. “This new IPA fills a need and offers independent physicians the means to provide better care while transforming their practices as healthcare changes from ‘volume to value,’ notes Gene Ransom, president of The Maryland State Medical Society. “The association prepares physicians to take advantage of value-based contracts with commercial and public payers.”

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

India-based Omega Healthcare Management Services acquires healthcare analytics company WhiteSpace Health for an undisclosed sum. The deal adds Research Triangle Park, NC-based WhiteSpace’s development facility in Hyderabad, India to the Omega fold, bringing its India-based facilities to five.

People

Family HealthCare Network (CA) promotes Paramvir Sidhu, MD to CMO.

Peter Spitzer (Spitzer & Associates) joins Innovaccer’s Board of Directors.

Research and Innovation

Researchers develop technology that enables a human to correct a robot with their mind using an electroencephalography monitor cap, which measures brain waves, algorithms to monitor those brain waves, and output capabilities that can send the brain wave analysis to the robot before it makes a mistake. The scientists have even programmed the robot to blush after being corrected.

Fitbit introduces a new, slimmer wristband with continuous heart-rate monitoring, plus new sleep-tracking capabilities to help users monitor the duration and intensity of their sleep cycles. The product developments come alongside the company’s announcement that two founding employees – Chief Business Officer Woody Scal and Interactive EVP Tim Roberts – are on their way out, and that it will “formally align” around consumer health and fitness, and enterprise health. “2017 is a transition year,” says co-founder and CEO James Park, “and while we continue to lead the connected health and fitness market, we must take important steps to chart our return to profitability and growth. It is essential that we are organized properly so that we can successfully execute our strategy.”

Other

Web application security blogger Anand Prakash shares a payment method entry bug that could have allowed cash-strapped hackers to take Uber rides for free. Prakash alerted Uber about the bug, after which they apparently gave him several free rides in the US and India.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 3/6/17

Top News

Chicago-based First Stop Health raises $1.6 million in an investment round led by co-founder and CEO Patrick Spain and co-founder and CMO Mark Friedman, MD. The company, which has raised $7.2 million since launching in 2011, will use the new capital to accelerate its growth in the employer market.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Thanks to the following companies for their renewing support of HIStalk Practice. Click a logo for more information.

Webinar

March 9 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “PAMA: The 2017 MPFS Final Rule.” Sponsored by National Decision Support Company. Presenter: Erin Lane, senior analyst, The Advisory Board Company. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 instructed CMS to require physicians to consult with a qualified clinical decision support (CDS) mechanism that relies on established appropriate use criteria (AUC) when ordering certain imaging exams. Providers must report AUC interactions beginning January 1, 2018 to receive payment for Medicare Advanced Imaging studies, with the CDS recording a unique number. Outliers will be measured against a set of Priority Clinical Areas and interaction with the AUC. This webinar will review the requirements for Medicare Advanced Imaging compliance and will review how to ensure that CDS tools submit the information needed for reimbursement.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Direct pay tech startup Freedom Healthworks will use a $700,000 in tax credits and training grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to move to bigger office space and grow its workforce from six to 70 over the next five years. Its Indianapolis-based job openings will include administrative, communications, marketing, and account management.

Pediatric-focused tech and services company Office Practicum moves its headquarters from Horsham to Fort Washington, PA in an effort to consolidate its departments and accommodate future expansion. The company, which experienced record sales growth last year, also has offices in Cleveland and Atascadero, CA. The company was born out of a 2007 merger between Visual Data and Anderson Financial Systems, plus the 2014 acquisition of Workflow.com.

Announcements and Implementations

ChartLogic adds its new Connect Patient portal and communications software to its EHR.

ChiroFusion adds digital intake forms to its EHR for chiropractors.

Diagnostic Imaging Services (LA) will implement AbbaDox RIS from IDS at its seven outpatient centers in the areas of New Orleans and Northshore.

People

Kenneth Paulus (ReferenceHealth) joins Teladoc’s Board of Directors.

Government and Politics

CMS opens up applications for the 2018 Next Generation ACO Model. As CMS explains in its 65-page overview of the application process, the Next Generation ACO “offers financial arrangements with higher levels of risk and reward than other current Medicare ACO initiatives, using refined benchmarking methods that: (1) reward quality performance; (2) reward both attainment of and improvement in cost containment; and (3) ultimately transition away from reference to ACO historical expenditures.” Letters of intent are due May 4.

Telemedicine

Charlotte, NC-based 1800MD.com develops new telemedicine software, including patient and provider apps, member portals, and corresponding PM tools.

ClickaClinic.com adds IBM API connectivity, giving end users the ability to connect its telemedicine services to their EHRs. The West Palm Beach, FL-based company has also developed medical billing and mail-order pharmacy capabilities.

Other

Talk about a life hack: Netflix offers subscribers instructions on how to build a digital, Netflix-themed personal trainer that connects to their personal streaming account. The device, which will definitely require some Maker-like talent, connects to a phone via Bluetooth and measures activity via an accelerometer. Should you fall below a pre-determined intensity threshold, a Netflix character will chime in with words of encouragement. Content will cease streaming altogether if activity stops. If exercise isn’t your thing, you can also consider building a device that turns on Netflix, shuts off the light, and orders takeout all at the push of a button.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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Contact us online.
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Population Health Management Weekly Wrap Up 3/5/17

Palmetto Health Quality Collaborative goes live on Caradigm’s population health management solutions.

Casenet integrates its TruCare population health and care management solutions with MCG Health’s evidence-based guidelines to improve the prior authorization process.

Patrick Kennedy (PJ Consulting) and Janet Niles, RN (Timmaron Group) join HealthEC’s Board of Directors.

CDC publishes the 500 Cities Project, which allows visually comparing and downloading the prevalence of 27 chronic health condition measures between cities and down to the census tract level in a chosen city.

Netsmart extends its behavioral population health solutions to post-acute providers.

The nonprofit Central New York Care Collaborative will use IBM Watson’s Care Manager technology as part of a broader population health management program that aims to reduce ED visits and hospital readmissions by 25 percent. CNYCC works with over 170 organizations to coordinate and improve access to care for over 200,000 Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured patients across six counties.

Cascade Health Alliance – one of 16 organizations in Oregon that manage benefits for Medicaid beneficiaries – selects population risk management analytics from Milliman.

The Bronx RHIO – part of New York’s statewide HIE – will implement data management and population health reporting tools from Imat Solutions.

Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield parent company GuideWell Mutual Holdings acquires Tempe, AZ-based PopHealthCare in an effort to formally expand into population health management. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. PHC will operate as an independent subsidiary, focusing on post-acute and in-home care for chronically ill patients and those with complex illnesses. Founded in 2005, PHC uses analytics to help payers identify and care for at-risk patients. PHC CEO Mike Tudeen has done stints at Inspiris, Healthways, and Optum. I assume he’ll stay on to smooth the transition.

Sponsor Updates

• Medicity launches Community Interchange, which creates a single, de-duplicated, and normalized CCD for hospitals.
• NVoq will exhibit at the CHA Rural Health and Hospitals Conference March 8-10 in Denver.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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