News 9/15/16

Top News

HHS awards $87 million to 1,310 health centers across the country and in outlying regions for health IT improvements, including the purchase of certified EHRs. “This investment will help unlock healthcare data and put it to work,” says HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, “improving health outcomes and building a better healthcare system for the American people.” It’s the first such health IT investment made in health centers since a similar round of funding in 2009.

Webinar

September 27 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Stanson Clinical Decision Support: Survival Kit for Evolving Payment Models and Other Regulatory Requirements.” Sponsored by Stanson Health. Presenters: Anne Wellington, chief product officer, Stanson Health; Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, SVP and chief clinical transformation officer, Cedars-Sinai. Reimbursement models are rapidly changing, and as a result, health systems need to influence physicians to align with health system strategy. In this webinar, we will discuss how Stanson’s Clinical Decision Support can run in the background of every patient visit to help physicians execute with MACRA, CJR, et al.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. View previous webinars on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

HIStalk Practice Musings

This year’s Summit of the Southeast, which wraps up today, was my first foray into Tennessee HIMSS events. The conference had a similar look and feel to the annual event thrown by my native Georgia HIMSS, though SOSE is a two-day affair held at Music City Center, a far more appealing venue than some of Atlanta’s more urban options. I was there for just half a day (having attended HFMA’s full-day HERe conference the day before) and so only caught the morning sessions. The opening fireside chat with Charles Martin Jr. and George Lazenby IV of Martin Ventures did not disappoint. Martin seemed like he could talk for hours, and was in no way short on jaded impressions of the healthcare system at large. It was fairly refreshing to hear a former hospital executive frankly tell a room of 300-plus that hospitals are not excited about healthcare reform, adding that, “The healthcare system will not always be able to hold off ways of improving efficiency.”

I also enjoyed hearing Intel Worldwide Medical Director (and former consultant to the TV show “House”) John Sotos, MD cover the medical mysteries of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. He wasn’t able to get through his slides quickly enough, so I may have to check out his published works on the subject for more historically fascinating medical insight into the couple.

I zipped through the exhibitor hall on my way out in an effort to shake hands with HIStalk sponsors. Honestly, the entire trip – especially the drive – has got me ready for my excursion into the Smokies in just a few weeks.

Announcements and Implementations

CampDoc.com adds one-way email messaging (from parents to campers) to its EHR for camp care teams in an effort to combat homesickness (Insert warm fuzzy here.)

Hixny surpasses 1,000 participant locations. The HIE serves serves 70 percent of physician practices and all non-government hospitals within a 19-county region in New York.

New York City-based HIE Healthix taps Verato to automate its patient record-matching capabilities.

Navigating Cancer develops patient relationship management software to help oncologists better manage the care of and communication with patients.

Henry Schein Medical Systems adds a SaaS-based charting solution from Forerun to its MicroMD PM software for physician practices and urgent care clinics.

MetroCare Services (TX) adds predictive analytics from Pieces Technology to its homegrown software to better enable primary care and behavioral health providers to make personalized treatment recommendations.

People

Former HHS Secretary and Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius joins Solera Health’s advisory board. The Phoenix-based company seems to be focused on connecting employers, payers, and providers with best-fit chronic disease prevention programs. It has raised $7 million since launching several years ago.

Telemedicine

McKinney, TX-based MyTelemedicine launches Spanish-language services including virtual consults, and patient portal and EHR access.

American Well adds psychiatry services to its telemedicine app in six states. Nationwide availability is expected sometime next year.

Government and Politics

Presidential candidate Donald Trump took to Dr. Oz’s show to share a summary of his latest medical exam, leading some to again question the validity of Oz’s expertise in light of AMA’s stance on TV doctors. AMA members have criticized the show for its unproven medical advice and lack of disclosure when it comes to conflicts of interest.

Oh the political irony: Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush donates $10,000 to the Yes on 4 marijuana legalization campaign, which will be on the Massachusetts ballot this November. In confirming the donation, a company spokesperson added that, “He believes this is one of many freedoms Americans should have the right to.”

Other

The St. Louis County Department of Public Health will open a mobile clinic at one of the county’s MetroLink commuter stations. The clinic, which hopes to serve up to 15,000 commuters over the first 18 months, will offer regular health screenings, PCP recommendations, and free transportation vouchers for future appointments. Funding for the clinic was part of $7.3 million in USDOT grants awarded to 19 communities in 16 states.

Contacts

Jenn,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 9/14/16

Top News

Healthcare messaging startup Klara raises a $3 million seed round led by Lerer Hippeau Ventures, whose healthcare IT experience also includes investments in Oscar Health and Doctor on Demand. Launched in 2014 as a telemedicine app, the technology has evolved into a centralized messaging platform for the entire care team, including pharmacies, labs, physicians, and patients.

Webinar

September 27 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Stanson Clinical Decision Support: Survival Kit for Evolving Payment Models and Other Regulatory Requirements.” Sponsored by Stanson Health. Presenters: Anne Wellington, chief product officer, Stanson Health; Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, SVP and chief clinical transformation officer, Cedars-Sinai. Reimbursement models are rapidly changing, and as a result, health systems need to influence physicians to align with health system strategy. In this webinar, we will discuss how Stanson’s Clinical Decision Support can run in the background of every patient visit to help physicians execute with MACRA, CJR, et al.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. View previous webinars on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Announcements and Implementations

Missouri Health Connection signs a master services agreement with XchangeWorx, which it enlisted a few months ago to help the HIE assess its tools and services, and identify potential customer needs. Moving forward, MHC, which serves 7,000 physicians statewide, will work with the consulting firm to develop and act on the assessment.

St. Paul, MN-based debt collection and revenue cycle company IC System joins the Athenahealth More Disruption Please program and marketplace, giving end users access to the collector’s services via Athena’s PM software. I can’t help but assume it’s got to be tough to work at a debt collections agency, though IC System’s Bryan Campbell says that, “Our aim at IC System is to make debt collections in healthcare a more efficient and pleasant experience.”

Access HealthCare, Light Medical, and Physicians Treatment Center – all primary care practices based in Lynchburg, VA – join Privia Medical Group, a nationwide practice that operates as part of population health and practice management company Privia Health.

People

Julie Boughn (CMS) joins Audacious Inquiry as a “champion for transformation,” according to her LinkedIn profile.

Cognitive computing company Apixio names Meg Holland (HealthLoop) COO, Tom McNamara (GNS Healthcare) chief sales officer, Jeff Gill (Yahoo) vice president of engineering, and Tam Pham (Sky Health Innovations) solutions executive.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The California Health Care Foundation’s Health Innovation Fund invests $750,000 in RubiconMD, which has developed technology to connect PCPs with specialists via e-consults. CHCF is especially interested in helping PCPs with patients in the state’s Medi-Cal program, who often live in rural and underserved areas with little to no access to specialists. The three year-old startup has at this point raised over $6 million, with its most recent funding round being a $4 million Series A led by Waterline Ventures this summer.

A federal appeals court rules that Yelp can’t be held liable for negative reviews posted on its site because they are user-generated data. The ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by disgruntled locksmith Douglas Kimzey, who claims that 95 percent of his business dried up after receiving a one-star review on the ratings site. “If you have a one-star rating, people won’t go near it,” says Kimzey, who served as his own attorney during the trial. “They don’t care if you’ve been in business for one week or 25 years.” He also contended, unsuccessfully, that the review was placed by Yelp in an attempt to extort advertising dollars out of him. I’m not aware of any physicians ever bringing a lawsuit against Yelp for negative reviews; it seems like an exercise in futility. Kimzey hasn’t given up, however. He plans to take his case to a higher court.

Telemedicine

Optometry EHR and PM vendor CompuLink Business Systems announces that it will add telemedicine capabilities in the coming months.

Other

The most popular color on the Internet is … pumpkin spice. Just kidding, it’s blue, according to designer Paul Hebert, who conducted research into colors used by the Web’s most popular websites in an effort to keep up with what other companies are doing. “This site is meant to be a living document that I plan to update regularly,” he says, adding that he also plans to research color by country. “Once I have the data, I hope to use it to answer some deep questions I have about color and design – like whether this is an intrinsic aspect of human nature, or whether it varies across cultures and time.”

News that Alphabet and Chipotle will partner to deliver burritos to college campus via drones makes me wonder how much money someone could make offering a similar service at HIMSS. How much would you pay to have lunch literally dropped off outside the convention center? It would have to be better than what you could get in the exhibit hall, of course. Such a service sure would cut down on having to find somewhere to eat with a reasonable wait and prices.

Sponsor Updates

• ComputerWorld profiles GE Healthcare’s move to a new transaction processing engine, and awards the company its Data+ Editors’ Choice Award.
• Aprima and Healthwise will exhibit at AAFP’s Family Medicine Experience September 21-23 in Orlando.

Blog Posts

• Strategic Plan for Medical Practice Management (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 9/13/16

Top News

Diabetes management technology companies Glooko and Diasend merge under the Glooko brand. The companies, which both offer remote monitoring technologies for patients and analytics software for physicians, will serve 4,000 clinics in 23 countries, no doubt aided by a recent $8 million round of equity financing.

Webinar

September 27 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Stanson Clinical Decision Support: Survival Kit for Evolving Payment Models and Other Regulatory Requirements.” Sponsored by Stanson Health. Presenters: Anne Wellington, chief product officer, Stanson Health; Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, SVP and chief clinical transformation officer, Cedars-Sinai. Reimbursement models are rapidly changing, and as a result, health systems need to influence physicians to align with health system strategy. In this webinar, we will discuss how Stanson’s Clinical Decision Support can run in the background of every patient visit to help physicians execute with MACRA, CJR, et al.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. View previous webinars on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

HIStalk Practice Musings

I’m in Nashville this week to take in the sights and sounds of the HERe conference put on by HFMA, and the Summit of the Southeast put on by Tennessee HIMSS. It’s been at least a decade since I visited the country music capitol. While the downtown bike-sharing kiosks are new, the odor of stale beer and aspiring musical talent is definitely not. I didn’t get the chance to cycle, though former Olympian and Knoxville native Missy Kane had us doing squats, lunges, and modified planks during her HERe keynote. I’m a sucker for pretty much any city with a river running through it, and so I hope to get out and see more of “Music City USA” over the next several days.

People

Bridget McKenzie, RN (McKesson) joins Conifer Health Solutions as CNO and vice president of medical management.

Mandy Long (Modernizing Medicine) joins the HIMSS EHRA as chair of its clinician experience workgroup.

New York City-based multispecialty group AdvantageCare Physicians promotes Navarra Rodriguez, MD to president and CMO, and officer at ACP partner Emblem Health.

Nicole Bradberry (Citra Health Solutions) joins Captify Health as CEO.

Telemedicine

AMD Global Telemedicine will add 10,500 square feet of office space to its headquarters in Chelmsford, MA. The company, which supplies telemedicine software, equipment, and services, recently helped Cherokee Health Systems (TN) complete 11,000 patient encounters in local schools.

California approves Medicaid reimbursement for schools using speech therapy services via telemedicine.

Announcements and Implementations

Availity develops a series of on-demand HIPAA training classes to help physician practices better understand its requirements, the ins and outs of data breaches, and relationship to business associates.

Mediware Information Systems adds PQRS reporting capabilities from Healthmonix into its MediLinks Rehab EMR.

Government and Politics

New York-based Empire BlueCross BlueShield announces its participation in the CMS Comprehensive Primary Care Plus five-year program, which kicks off January 1. The payer will likely build off its experience with the Capital District-Hudson Valley Region Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, a pilot that launched in 2012 and will wrap up at the end of this year. Eligible practices located within the 14 CPC+ regions have until September 15 to apply for the program.

AAFP highlights several priorities over the coming year alongside its request for members of Congress to pass the federal budget. They include keeping AHRQ and its $334 million budget intact, funding state grants to implement PDMPS, and working with CMS to ensure a MACRA implementation that is as pain-free for physician practices as possible.

Other

USBKill.com creates a USB stick that uses a high-voltage electrical discharge to effectively sabotage unauthorized computers. The device was created to test against “power surge” and to prevent data theft via a form of malware known as “juice jacking.”  

Contacts

Jenn,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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Contact us online.
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News 9/12/16

Top News

Medical associations quickly weigh in on last week’s “pick your pace” MACRA options from CMS. CAPG President and CEO Donald Crane is “pleased that the agency has taken into account the feedback of physician groups who are ready to go with MACRA implementation in January. CAPG has been calling on CMS to allow physician practices to begin MACRA performance in January 2017 as originally scheduled.” AMA President Andy Gurman, MD applauds the flexibility, adding that it will “help give physicians a fair shot in the first year of MACRA implementation.”

Webinar

September 27 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Stanson Clinical Decision Support: Survival Kit for Evolving Payment Models and Other Regulatory Requirements.” Sponsored by Stanson Health. Presenters: Anne Wellington, chief product officer, Stanson Health; Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, SVP and chief clinical transformation officer, Cedars-Sinai. Reimbursement models are rapidly changing, and as a result, health systems need to influence physicians to align with health system strategy. In this webinar, we will discuss how Stanson’s Clinical Decision Support can run in the background of every patient visit to help physicians execute with MACRA, CJR, et al.

View previous webinars on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Hilton has a smart marketing gimmick going with free WiFi for members of its Honors programs. I was quick to serve up my contact details to save $14.95 for daily Internet connection. The membership program is my first foray into such things, and I wonder if I’ll end up really seeing any benefit aside from free WiFi access. I’ll be traveling quite a bit in the months leading up to HIMSS, so may give some thought to joining other hotel-chain programs based on the conferences I go to. I’d appreciate any insight HIStalk Practice readers can give me as to which programs give you the most bang for your traveling buck.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The NC Academy of Family Physicians, NC Community Health Center, and NC Pediatric Society team with Medicaid managed care network Community Care of North Carolina to form the Community Care Physician Network. CCPA will offer members resources to help practices with data collection and reporting, care and disease management, medication management, behavioral health integration, and palliative care. Group purchasing and coding and billing support may also be added in the near future.

Announcements and Implementations

The Regional Extension Center of New Hampshire reaches its goal of assisting 1,000 PCPs achieve Meaningful Use. The REC was launched in 2010 by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative with a $6.9 million federal award. Of the 62 RECs originally created with HITECH funds, six have gone completely out of business, and 10 have run out of grant money but are still offering services.

The Maine Medical Association endorses e-prescribing software from DrFirst as its preferred solution for members. The state’s e-prescribing mandate, which also requires that prescribers participate in Maine’s PDMP, will take effect July 1, 2017.

Advocare, an independent multispecialty physician group with 190 locations in New Jersey and greater Philadelphia, selects Ethernet services from Comcast Business as part of a infrastructure overhaul to better support its GE Centricity EHR.

EHR services company ITelagen partners with Modern Compliance Solutions to offer a Web-based HIPAA security risk analysis powered by the HIPAA One portal from MCS.

Telemedicine

MDlive incorporates patient insight and analytics technology from Inovalon into its virtual consult platform, enabling its physicians to better understand gaps in care, quality measures, and risk scores.

3PointCare, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Innovation Holdings, signs a 10-year agreement to provide management services to telemedicine company TeleLife MD, including technology, network services, implementation, support, and training.

Government and Politics

OCR Deputy Director for Health Information Privacy Deven McGraw helps spread the word about job opportunities for health information privacy specialists. Employees will develop projects and programs, and review policies and initiatives, among other duties, for between $64,000 and $100,000.

Other

Mario’s move to the Iphone has quite a few media outlets waxing poetic about the Nintendo character’s storied past, which I didn’t know included an early ‘90s stint as a doctor.

This article tells the surprisingly interesting history of the white lab coat (see Dr. Mario above), adopted by physicians in the 19th century as part of an industry-wide facelift that moved from somber black frock coats in an effort to convey an “attitude of cleanliness, purity, and a fresh start for the medical profession.”

Contacts

Jenn,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

Population Health Management Weekly Wrap Up 9/11/16

Hixny promotes Scott Momrow to vice president, population health strategy.

Lumeris names Matt Cox (Duke University Health System) SVP of product and solutions management.

LA County Department of Health Services (CA) chooses Cerner’s HealtheIntent for population health management.

3M Health Information Systems will incorporate Cerner’s HealtheIntent technology into its Patient-focused Episodes software, which helps providers document over 500 inpatient and outpatient encounters.

Turn-Key Health promotes Terri Maxwell to chief clinical officer, Cyndi Seiwert COO, and names John Halsey (Axon Strategy) vice president, business development.

Surescripts announces Medication History for Panel Management, which supports population health management by connecting health systems, ACOs, and analytics vendors to the medication data of 14 nationwide pharmacies.

The local paper covers the Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center’s efforts to train tribal health officials on how to use software to track population health data. The training will help members from Montana’s Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations; and Wyoming’s Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes develop health behavior surveys, and analyze and act on the data.

Off the Scale launches a chronic disease intervention program to help providers transition patients to community care teams in accessible, lower-cost settings.

Sponsor Updates

• NVoq will exhibit at the AAFP Family Medicine Experience Annual Meeting September 16-24 in Orlando.

Blog Posts

• 3 things you can do right now in Epic to kickstart your population health journey (Nordic)
• Hello, Canada! (NVoq)

Contacts

Jenn,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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