News 7/7/16

Top News

CMS proposes three changes to primary care payments in the Medicare physician fee schedule beginning next year:

• Increasing payments for routine office visits for treating patients with mobility-related disabilities.
• Increasing payments to geriatricians or family practice physicians.
• Proposing to pay for care using the behavioral health Collaborative Care Model.

While the AMA seems to support the proposed changes, independent physicians may not see this in quite the same light. Several on Twitter have noted that, if passed, the reimbursement increases will do little to offset the costs of MU-related technology, which now almost have to include cybersecurity tools, plus assistance in understanding and following the seemingly constant release of proposed rules and new regulations. 

Webinars

July 13 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Why Risk It? Readmissions Before They Happen.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenter: Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Readmissions generate a staggering $41.3 billion in additional hospital costs each year, and many occur for reasons that could have been avoided. Without a clear way to proactively identify admitted patients with the highest risk of readmission, hospitals face major revenue losses and CMS penalties. Join this webinar to discover how to unlock the potential of patient data with intelligence to predict which admitted patients are at high risk for readmission.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel. Ask Lorre about her “Summer Doldrums Special” sale.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

A StartUp Health mid-year report on digital health funding finds that 2016 is on track to rival 2014’s $7 billion investment record. Just under $4 billion has been raised during the first half of the year, with patient/consumer experience and wellness taking the top two most active market spots thus far. Population health, which seemed to have such buzz last year (as evidenced by Evolent Health’s IPO), has only managed to make it to number 10 thus far.

People

Former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley joins Amida Technology Solutions as an advisor. He will no doubt bring a wealth of knowledge to the open-source health data company, having overseen the 2009 establishment of Maryland’s CRISP HIE during his tenure.

Telemedicine

SkyMD formally launches its teledermatology service for physicians. The New York City-based company has signed 50 dermatologists since opening for business last fall.

Research and Innovation

An Athenahealth analysis of the opioid prescribing habits of its customers finds that such prescriptions decreased by 25 percent since January 2015 – a figure nearly double the national average of 13 percent. The Boston Globe dug deeper into the prescribing rates in Massachusetts –  Athenahealth’s home state, finding that patients receiving opioid prescriptions in the first three months of 2015 versus 2016 declined from 391,000 to 345,000, according to data from the state’s prescription drug monitoring program. The data also showed that the number of patients who obtained prescriptions from more than three providers or pharmacies dropped from 781 to 484. Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, MD cautions that there’s still work to be done: “It’s too early to say this will continue to decline. It took a long time to get into the current situation we’re in. It will take a while to get out of it.”

Other

For your summer reading list: Nebraska native Sean Conroy pens what could be the first published account of life as a physician assistant. Conroy had trouble finding tomes that truly helped him to understand the life of a PA, settling instead for study guides, ethics books, histories, or specialty-specific books. He notes in the introduction that “I saw an area of literature not yet served: a first-person perspective on the early molding of PAs.”

Rebekah Bernard, MD cites impending MACRA red tape (not to mention the length of the final rule) as her main reason for opening a direct primary care practice in Naples, FL this week. After working for a nonprofit clinic, hospital-affiliated physician group, and urgent care center, Bernard decided it was time to take back control. “I want to be my own boss,” she says. “I’m really interested in helping working people.”

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

News 7/6/16

Top News

HHS escalates efforts to stem the opioid epidemic with a number of new initiatives, including requiring Indian Health Service clinicians to check state prescription drug monitoring program databases before prescribing or dispensing any opioid for more than seven days. The department has also decided to sever ties between a physician’s pain management HCAHPS scores and Medicare payments to hospitals, primarily to dispel the notion that EPs face financial pressure to give patients what they want rather than what they need.

HIStalk Practice Musings

I am amazed by the Domino’s Pizza Tracker app. It takes customers step by step through the pizza-making process, even going so far as to tell you which person is making your pie. Perhaps next they’ll equip their pizza makers with GoPros to truly document your pizza’s progress, with embedded options to tweet out props to said artisan. All kidding aside, I’d love to see this kind of app retooled for my PCP’s office. There’s nothing more frustrating than not knowing why I’ve been kept waiting for 45 minutes. I’d be less likely to bother the receptionist multiple times if I could follow my care team’s progress before I’m called in from the waiting room.

Webinars

July 13 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Why Risk It? Readmissions Before They Happen.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenter: Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Readmissions generate a staggering $41.3 billion in additional hospital costs each year, and many occur for reasons that could have been avoided. Without a clear way to proactively identify admitted patients with the highest risk of readmission, hospitals face major revenue losses and CMS penalties. Join this webinar to discover how to unlock the potential of patient data with intelligence to predict which admitted patients are at high risk for readmission.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel. Ask Lorre about her “Summer Doldrums Special” sale.

Telemedicine

An Aspirus urgent care clinic in Wisconsin closes up shop after a decline in patient volume over the last several years. Aspirus Clinics President Dean Danner seems sure the health system’s somewhat new telemedicine offering will fill the void, noting that, “We could provide the same kind of low-cost help without what we call a retail clinic option.”

Government and Politics

Connecticut’s HealthyCT health insurance exchange teeters on the brink after receiving a federal requirement that the ACA co-op pay $13.4 million to HHS as part of the ACA’s risk-adjustment and risk-corridor programs. The exchange, which covers 40,000 consumers with individual and employer-sponsored plans, has been placed under the supervision of the state insurance commission due to its “hazardous financial standing.” It will likely be the 14th of 23 state-based co-ops to fail due to financial loss.

I missed this a few weeks back: HHS solicits research papers outlining healthcare use cases for blockchain, especially those that relate to interoperability, patient-centered outcomes research, and precision medicine. Papers are due July 29. I find it amusing that the department has requested that submissions be no more than 10 pages in length, given its propensity for final rules that run into the hundreds of pages. Selected authors will present their papers at a “Blockchain & Healthcare Workshop” co-hosted by ONC and NIST.

People

Michael Fraser (Pennsylvania Medical Society) joins the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials as executive director.

Other

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution publishes a nationwide expose of physician sexual misconduct, highlighting the propensity of the healthcare system to hide criminal acts and even accept disciplined physicians back into the fold for fear of further diminishing an already shrinking workforce. Of the 2,400 doctors publicly disciplined for sexual misconduct in the last year, half still have active medical licenses today.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons issues a strange press release calling for physicians to pull out of Medicare and its related MACRA/MIPS/Meaningful Use hoopla. While the statistics the APS shares are certainly valid (“almost four in 10 physicians in solo and small group practices predict an exodus from Medicare” due to MACRA’s new payment plan), I can’t help but see it as a thinly veiled ad membership.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Advanced Practice Training: AdvancedInsight Reimbursement Analysis (AdvancedMD)
• Declaration of Health Independence (Healthwise)

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

News 7/5/16

Top News

In response to 83 comments on its request for information on assessing interoperability for MACRA, ONC decides to use existing hospital and office-based physician surveys from the AHA and CDC to measure the exchange of health data, each of which asks who is sending, receiving, finding, and integrating patient data from outside sources. Office reps note that, “As these surveys touch providers across the country in a variety of practices, they are not limited to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.”

HIStalk Practice Musings

While I’m certainly not the most tech-savvy person around, I do consider myself to be smarter than the average joe when it comes to recognizing phishing emails. Even my anxiety level was raised, however, when I received the email above. I tamped down my thankfully fleeting feeling of panic and proceeded to visit LinkedIn to see if my account had indeed been wiped out (It had not), and read through the email more carefully to see if anything odd stood out. The following seemed suspicious:

• There was no salutation.
• The “from” email address did not match any I recognize as being affiliated with LinkedIn customer support.
• The fine print mentioned LinkedIn Ireland, which seemed off, and used incorrect grammar.
• It was sent on July 4, which I felt could have been the hacker’s attempt to take advantage of account users with downtime on their day off.

Needless to say, I did not click the link, and immediately reported the email to LinkedIn customer support, including a screenshot. They replied the same day with the following:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

The email you’ve provided has been identified as a fraudulent email and was not sent out by LinkedIn or anyone associated with the company. Please be cautious in opening any attached files included in these types of malicious spoof emails as they may contain malware which may be damaging to your system.

To fight against fake emails putting our domain names in the "From:" line, we’ve implemented DMARC standards (http://www.dmarc.org/) to authenticate all our emails. We suggest you contact your email administrator to implement DMARC so they can discard unauthenticated emails, too.

Your privacy is always a top concern for us at LinkedIn. We’ve worked hard to earn and keep your trust, and adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy:

• We will never rent or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes.

• We will never share your contact information with another user without your consent.

• Any personally identifiable information that you provide will be secured with all industry standard protocols and technology.

No doubt this phishing scam is a byproduct of the LinkedIn breach earlier this year. It came as a bit of a wakeup call to me. These types of emails are becoming more sophisticated and personalized. Readers, how do you identify suspicious emails? Share your red flags by commenting below. 

Webinars

July 13 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Why Risk It? Readmissions Before They Happen.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenter: Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Readmissions generate a staggering $41.3 billion in additional hospital costs each year, and many occur for reasons that could have been avoided. Without a clear way to proactively identify admitted patients with the highest risk of readmission, hospitals face major revenue losses and CMS penalties. Join this webinar to discover how to unlock the potential of patient data with intelligence to predict which admitted patients are at high risk for readmission.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel. Ask Lorre about her “Summer Doldrums Special” sale.

Announcements and Implementations

Sciton, a light- and laser-based medical device company based in Palo Alto, CA, launches a practice support program for aesthetics practices that includes clinical training, marketing tools, business development, and company-sanctioned tools and courses.

Telemedicine

Atlanta-based MyIdealDoctor adds behavioral health sessions to its virtual consult services.

Government and Politics

Vermont Information Technology Leaders presses for a policy change that would require patients to opt out rather than opt in to its information-sharing program via the state’s HIE. Physicians have apparently called the current opt-in policy “HIPAA on steroids,” and feel it creates extra work, adds administrative burden, and limits the flow of information. The ACLU of Vermont has expressed concerns about patient privacy, pointing out that the current program already has limited privacy controls for patients.

Bye bye Crackberry: Blackberry’s 10-year-plus tenure in the Senate ends. Officials will no longer issue the devices to new staffers once the current supply runs out, though support will continue for the forseeable future. Those interested in upgrading will be able to opt for Samsung S6 Android devices and the 16GB iPhone SE.

Other

Apple will add an organ donor sign-up button to its Health app as part of a software update this fall. Users that register as organ donors will also have the ability to add that fact to an optional emergency information display that can be seen when the phone is locked. Facebook added a similar feature in 2012, which led to thousands of new registrations. Apple CEO Tim Cook was inspired to develop the feature after watching company founder Steve Jobs endure waiting for a kidney transplant in 2009. Jobs passed away from complications related to pancreatic cancer in 2011.

Scientists unwittingly find an answer to AMA concerns about the potentially harmful effects of LED street lighting – glowing trees. Siberian and Russian researchers are working with a newly discovered “fungal luciferin” in the hopes of creating “an autonomously luminescent plant.” You can already order glowing plants on Kickstarter.

The Oxford English Dictionary adds over 1,000 new words, a good chunk of which seem to pertain to Internet/texting slang. Fun fact: Some of the earliest Internet slang to be documented by the OED includes ‘IDK,’ first used in 1931 when a doctor wrote it on a patient’s “sick note,” another new OED addition that was first used in 1836.

Sponsor Updates

• Advanced Practice Training: AdvancedInsight Collections Per Total RVU (AdvancedMD)
• Managed Services: Your EHR challenges, our solutions (Nordic)
• Building an effective care team collaboration strategy: 4 focal points (PerfectServe)

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

News 6/30/16

Top News

Teladoc acquires HealthiestYou, a Scottsdale, AZ-based telemedicine company focused on the employer market. Teladoc will add its telemedicine services to the HealthiestYou platform, which includes physician locator, prescription pricing, and benefits lookup tools. As a result of the acquisition, Teladoc has upped its anticipated revenue for the year to between $126 million and $130 million.

Webinars

July 13 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Why Risk It? Readmissions Before They Happen.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenter: Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Readmissions generate a staggering $41.3 billion in additional hospital costs each year, and many occur for reasons that could have been avoided. Without a clear way to proactively identify admitted patients with the highest risk of readmission, hospitals face major revenue losses and CMS penalties. Join this webinar to discover how to unlock the potential of patient data with intelligence to predict which admitted patients are at high risk for readmission.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel. Ask Lorre about her “Summer Doldrums Special” sale.

HIStalk Practice Musings

I finally signed up for Amazon Prime a few weeks ago. My 30-day trial period is just about up, and so I’m trying to decide whether to continue the membership. I originally signed up to save on shipping, and haven’t had much time to explore its other benefits. I have enjoyed the ad-free streaming music service, but haven’t dived into any of its movies or TV shows. Lately, I’ve found myself more inclined to curl up with a good library book than a screen. I’m just about done reading “Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine,” so perhaps I’ll check out the Kindle lending library that comes with Prime membership. I’d love to hear how HIStalk Practice readers get the most out of their Prime memberships. Share your favorite Prime hacks and summer reading suggestions in the comments section below.

Announcements and Implementations

Chronic disease management software vendor CareSync enhances its care-coordination capabilities with the addition of Phyzit transitional care management tracking services. Set to be rolled out later this year, the new CareSync tools will enable providers to take advantage of Medicare’s TCM reimbursement.

Shawano Chiropractic (WI) selects EHR and RCM services from IPatientCare.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

On the heels of the first Cancer Moonshot Summit, Healthcare Research & Analytics launches a market research business specializing in oncology that will offer custom, quantitative, qualitative, and syndicated research, as well as online educational activities, and live conferences and meetings.

Cintrifuse, a startup incubator based in Cincinnati, launches Spry Labs to help providers and healthcare entrepreneurs quickly put together business plans, and design and create prototypes during three-to-five day workshops. Cintrifuse CEO Wendy Lea says the idea was borne out of a need she’s noticed “for more healthcare startups,” a sentiment I’m not sure I entirely agree with given the industry’s startup glut and slowdown in VC funding.

Telemedicine

Detroit-based Ortele Health adds dermatology to its line of specialty telemedicine services. The company was founded in 2013 as Ortele Telemedicine, and focused solely on orthopedic care.

Government and Politics

CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt cautions followers about so-called MACRA “experts.” The proposed rule has certainly provided fodder for consulting companies looking to prey on already overwhelmed physicians. As one tweeter astutely pointed out in response: “MACRA is plenty complex without any additional hype – many consultants perform a valuable service in helping providers digest it.” The exchange reminds me of the fear-mongering “Stop Zika!” mosquito extermination ads that have popped up lately.

Other

Sara Childers, RN submits her official notice to Western State Hospital (WA) via sheet cake, which I assume she decorated herself. Childers, who worked at the psychiatric hospital for seven months, cited low pay, long hours, and lack of training opportunities as reasons for her departure. Her concerns are backed up by a recent federal assessment of the facility that found its patients “received minimal treatment and were yelled at or ignored by staff members who had problems using gloves, washing their hands, and lacked proper training.”

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

News 6/29/16

Top News

HHS selects nearly 200 physician practices and 17 payers to participate in the Medicare arm of the Oncology Care Model, which will offer participants performance-based payments for episodes of care related to chemotherapy administration, and monthly care management payment for each Medicare beneficiary. The five-year program, which kicks off July 1, will be an Advanced Alternative Payment Model under the proposed MACRA Quality Payment Program. “The Oncology Care Model encourages greater collaboration and information sharing so that cancer patients get the care they need,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “This patient-centered care model furthers the goal of the Vice President’s Cancer Moonshot to improve coordination, care, and outcomes while spending dollars more wisely.” Her announcement was made during the first Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, DC.

Webinars

July 13 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Why Risk It? Readmissions Before They Happen.” Sponsored by Medicity. Presenter: Adam Bell, RN, senior clinical consultant, Medicity. Readmissions generate a staggering $41.3 billion in additional hospital costs each year, and many occur for reasons that could have been avoided. Without a clear way to proactively identify admitted patients with the highest risk of readmission, hospitals face major revenue losses and CMS penalties. Join this webinar to discover how to unlock the potential of patient data with intelligence to predict which admitted patients are at high risk for readmission.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel. Ask Lorre about her “Summer Doldrums Special” sale.

Yesterday’s webinar by West Healthcare Practice drew nearly 500 registrants and will no doubt generate many YouTube page views after the fact. Lots of readers are apparently interested in what Henry Ford is doing with contact centers. Those with shorter attention spans can check out the tweet recap here.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

IHealth secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Fulcrum Equity Partners. The consulting firm, which acquired RCM vendor DNA Healthcare just over a month ago, will use the cash infusion to ramp up service-line development, expand its customer base, and plan for future acquisitions.

Definitive Healthcare acquires Atlanta-based market intelligence company Billian’s HealthData for an undisclosed sum. It’s the second acquisition for the Natick, MA-based company this year; it acquired The Max database of healthcare providers from US Lifeline in January. 

Announcements and Implementations

DocGraph announces during the Cancer Moonshot Summit that it will release an open cancer dataset that includes information on nearly 1 million Medicare cancer patients and over 10 million claims. The –based company will work with analytics business CareSet Systems to develop challenges that will prompt researchers and digital health companies to discover actionable insights from the data.

Health record aggregator MediPortal joins the National Association for Trusted Exchange (NATE) ahead of its official launch this later this summer.

GoHealth Urgent Care selects Orion Health’s Rhapsody Integration Engine to more effectively connect with its growing network of health system partners. The chain of clinics operates 23 centers in New York City and 14 in Portland. It plans to open its first urgent care facility in San Francisco later this summer.

Other

The local paper publishes a humorous look at what a trip to the office of “Dr. Trump” would look like: “The problem with modern medicine is doctors want too much information,” the hypothetical doctor explains. “It’s kind of like the IRS when they audit me each year. They want too much information. So my medical practice is based on fewer patient facts and less information. I focus on the person. I am the anti-establishment doctor and I’m great.”

A local staffing agency is still struggling to fill the now infamous physician vacancy at a remote practice in New Zealand. The job listing, which has generated hundreds of “trash applications,” gained notoriety earlier this year thanks to its $400,000 starting salary and pleas for its fulfillment from one of two resident physicians, both of whom are desperate to retire but don’t want to leave their 600 patients in the lurch.

Motherboard compiles a list of criminal activities hackers could engage in with stolen healthcare records:

• Medical insurance fraud.
• Pose as a doctor to lure patients into giving away more personal data.
• Apply for credit using the names of victims.
• Steal a victim’s tax refund.
• Purchase a mobile phone in a victim’s name.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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