News 4/26/16

Top News

Veritas Capital acquires Verisk Health from Verisk Analytics for $820 million, confirming rumors that have been circulating since last fall that the company was looking to sell. After closing, most likely at the end of June, Verisk Health will be renamed and operate as an independent company at its Waltham, MA headquarters.

Webinars

May 5 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Reducing CAUTI and Improving Early Sepsis Detection Through Clinical Process Measurement.” Sponsored by LogicStream. Presenters: Jen Biltoft, director of quality improvement, SCL Health; Marla Bare, EHR architect, SCL Health. This webinar will describe how SCL Health reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 30 percent in just three months through clinical process measurement. The SCL Health presenters will also share their plans for applying a similar process to the early detection of sepsis.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Announcements and Implementations

Just in time for summer camp season, CampDoc.com releases a public API so that camps can sync camper and staff data with the company’s EHR and registration system.

Healthix, a HIE serving 500 healthcare organizations in New York, selects predictive analytics and performance analysis services from HBI Solutions. Healthix piloted HBI’s Spotlight Data Solution earlier this year with New York City-based behavioral health organization ICL.

Practice Fusion signs the HHS Interoperability Pledge, joining 22 vendors, 17 health systems, and 23 industry organizations since the pledge was introduced in February.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Nokia announces plans to acquire Withings, a France-based developer of popular connected health devices, for just over $191 million dollars. The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter of this year, seems to be part of Nokia’s push back into the consumer devices market. It sold its devices business to Microsoft in early 2014.

E-MDs completes its bi-annual NCQA Credentials Verification Organization review and has received the NCQA CVO certification through May, 2018.

People

Faye Stetch (Falcon Physician) joins the HIMSS EHR Association as vice-chair of its Clinician Experience Workgroup.

Telemedicine

Health benefits consulting firm Mercer signs a three-year renewal with Teladoc for telemedicine services for its employees and clients.

The American Telemedicine Association pens its support for the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act, which would permit skilled nursing facilities to apply for funding from the Universal Service Fund’s Rural Health Care Program and enable them to receive funding for broadband and telecommunications services. The ATA asks in its letter to the House that the bill also include sites where telemedicine services are provided under Medicaid or Medicare, school-based clinics, and EMS providers.

Research and Innovation

The AMA partners with student-run biotechnology incubator IDEA Labs to support healthcare technology development of students at Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, and Washington University. “We look forward to collaborating with the AMA to spread the IDEA Labs model to more institutions and clinicians,” says IDEA Labs Incubator Network President Stephen Linderman, MD. “By bringing together top universities across the country, connecting budding companies with the talent, mentors, and investors needed to thrive, this new collaboration will accelerate medical technology development and entrepreneurial education.”

Government and Politics

CMS issues an updated rule on Medicaid – the first time it has done so in a decade. CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt summarizes the 1,425-page rule in a blog post, emphasizing the adoption of “21st Century tools” a new Medicaid and CHIP quality rating system, electronic notices, and online provider directories.

Other

The University of Florida hosts the first thought-controlled drone race. Sixteen pilots used a brain-computer interface – a device that measures electrical signals from their brains – to direct the drones with thoughts of moving forward.

Contacts

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

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Readers Write: Promoting Positive Outcomes with Communication and Technology

Promoting Positive Outcomes with Communication and Technology
By Jonathan Karl

Patient engagement is emerging as a top priority in the healthcare community as growing evidence shows a strong link between more involved patients and improved outcomes. Meaningful Use requirements and the US healthcare system’s shift to a pay-for-performance model are two other driving forces behind this important development.

With these priorities and pressures in mind, it’s important to look at where providers are making progress in encouraging greater patient engagement and what still lies ahead. To better understand how this movement is influencing patient and provider priorities, motivations and behavior, CDW Healthcare surveyed 200 physicians and physician assistants and 200 patients for its Patient Engagement Perspectives report, uncovering pain points, areas for improvement and new insights into how communication and technology are shaping the patient engagement equation.

Patient Engagement Priorities
Our survey found that 60 percent of providers say improving patient engagement is a top priority at their organization, citing top motivating factors including it being an important part of improving overall care (70 percent), technology advancements (64 percent) and Meaningful Use requirements (46 percent). However, although providers are prioritizing this, patients aren’t exactly seeing these actions – only 35 percent of patients say they have noticed their providers becoming more engaged with them.

Communication’s Critical Role
Changing a behavior is easier said than done, but it’s becoming very clear that patients value communication with their providers. Fifty percent of patients ranked greater communication with their healthcare provider as being just as influential as a life event in terms of encouraging more active involvement with their care. These findings are encouraging, as providers can start looking toward improving two-way communication with their patients to enhance their engagement strategies.

Leverage IT to Improve Interactions
What can providers do to improve two-way communication with patients? Our research shows that both groups realize the value of technology as a path forward: Seventy-four percent percent of patients believe having greater online access to their personal healthcare information would help them take a more active role in their healthcare. This is a sentiment providers share, as 60 percent say that providing patients with greater online access to their personal information would improve quality of care.

Break Down Barriers With Online Access
Patients and providers are also on the same page when it comes to the most valuable methods for encouraging patient engagement: Web-based access to general healthcare information and online patient portals. Providers, however, see significantly greater value in mobile applications than patients, and patients see significantly greater value in online chat capabilities than providers. These technologies will be important moving forward, as they help to promote two-way feedback and encourage active participation outside the walls of the clinic or hospital.

Providers Prepare for Action
Sixty-seven percent of providers are working on a way to make personal healthcare records easier to access. Additionally, 28 percent of providers say they either provide or plan to provide patients the ability to merge information stored on their mobile devices or wearable technologies with the provider’s online patient portal.

The Future of Patient Engagement
Patients and providers both welcome increased engagement, which is easier than ever before in today’s increasingly digital world. However, encouraging engagement requires creating the perfect balance of incentives and tools, which continues to remain a challenge for providers – although not one that is impossible to overcome.

To promote a more effective patient engagement strategy, providers should turn to technology to improve communication between the caregiver and patient, and deliver relevant and timely information, in turn enabling informed decisions and better patient outcomes. In addition, leveraging technology to simplify access to health information and ensure the security of protected health information is an important step. Working with a trusted IT partner can help healthcare providers to power patient care through technology and alleviate strain on the IT department, helping to return the focus to what’s most important – providing the highest quality patient care.

Jonathan Karl is a director at CDW Healthcare in Vernon Hills, IL.

Contacts

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

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News 4/25/16

Top News

The local news covers the exodus of four executives at Zoom+, a chain of 25 neighborhood clinics in Portland that is trying to make a name for itself in the world of integrated care. The executives – all of whom had roles in the company’s health plan – left in the last month. The lack of C-suite leadership has prompted the company to add three new vice presidents and one clinical leader. “We began this movement 10 years ago … and everyone said we would lose our shirt because everyone wants traditional care, medical homes, and now everyone is trying to follow our lead,” says CEO and co-founder Dave Sanders, MD in response to rumors the company is going through hard times. “You can’t just throw down a new product. You have to figure out how to make it work. We’re doing multi-year innovations at a phenomenal pace and are in the lead.”

HIStalk Practice Musings

Dr. Jayne made mention of her summer plans in last week’s EPTalk, which got me thinking about my potential for adventure in the coming months. Temperatures are perfect for camping this time of year, so I took some time this past weekend to go ahead and plan a quick getaway. The campsite amenities were amazing, though I couldn’t bring myself to take advantage of the WiFi. Why look at a screen when you can enjoy beautiful views? I’m not sure how much I’d enjoy camping in the high heat of summer. I have several friends who take week-long camping trips to their favorite beach, and they seem to enjoy it. What summer camping adventures are you considering? Email me or share via the comments below.

Webinars

April 26 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Provider-Led Care Management: Trends and Opportunities in a Growing Market. ”Sponsored by HIStalk. Presenter: Matthew Guldin, analyst, Chilmark Research. This webinar will provide a brief overview and direction of the provider-led care management market. It will identify the types of vendors in this market, their current and longer-term challenges, product capabilities, partnership activity, and market dynamics that influence adoption. It will conclude with an overview of key factors for vendors and solutions moving forward.

May 5 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Reducing CAUTI and Improving Early Sepsis Detection Through Clinical Process Measurement.” Sponsored by LogicStream. Presenters: Jen Biltoft, director of quality improvement, SCL Health; Marla Bare, EHR architect, SCL Health. This webinar will describe how SCL Health reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 30 percent in just three months through clinical process measurement. The SCL Health presenters will also share their plans for applying a similar process to the early detection of sepsis.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Personal health record and chronic care management services startup ChartSpan raises $3.2 million in a venture funding round led by a group of Texas investors. The Greenville, SC-based company will use the funds to hire up to 300 staff and relocate to larger office space in the coming months. Founded in 2011, it has raised $6 in the last three years.

McKesson Business Performance Services partners with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona to form ACO Partner, a “Maximum Services Organization” that offers providers and payers physician engagement, care management, and population health services and technology. McKesson National Vice President and General Manager of Accountable Care Services will serve as President and COO of the new joint venture.

Announcements and Implementations

Michigan State University HealthTeam selects Athenahealth’s suite of EHR, PM, and care coordination services to support its 260 physicians across 30-plus ambulatory facilities.

CancerLinq, a nonprofit subsidiary of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, signs on 36 practices to implement its data analytics solution for cancer care. The organization will work with the practices to refine its quality reporting methods and to collect clinical data.

Consulting firm Genesis Healthcare Solutions offers customers access to DocsInk’s charge capture software and secure communications platform. 

Government and Politics

Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic (NC) pays a $750,000 fine to settle OCR HIPAA violation charges stemming from a 2013 handoff the X-ray films and related PHI of 17,300 patients to a potential business partner without first putting a business associate agreement in place.

Telemedicine

Global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson signs a three-year contract with Teladoc for telemedicine services. The agreement is a continuation of the relationship Teladoc had with Willis and Towers Watson before they merged earlier this year.

Other

Spoiler alert: Technical University of Munich students design a machine-learning algorithm that analyzes data from Game of Thrones wikis and Twitter, and predicts the demise of characters. In looking at data from the 2,028 characters across the book and television series, the algorithm has found that higher rank does not improve a character’s chances of survival, and female characters have a higher chance of survival than their male counterparts.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 4/21/16

Top News

Lawmakers introduce the Flexibility in Electronic Health Record (EHR) Reporting Act (HR 5001) in an attempt to implement a 90-day reporting period for Meaningful Use in 2016. Sponsored by the usual legislative suspects, the bipartisan bill hopes to offer providers the option of choosing any three-month quarter for the EHR reporting period in 2016 to quality for MU. “Representative Ellmers’ bill allows for a 90-day reporting period and supplies providers with the flexibility to avoid harmful, bureaucratic penalties,” says bill co-author Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.) “This administration has constantly failed to offer patients, and the provider community, with the resources necessary in order to provide quality care.”

Webinars

April 26 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Provider-Led Care Management: Trends and Opportunities in a Growing Market.” Sponsored by HIStalk. Presenter: Matthew Guldin, analyst, Chilmark Research. This webinar will provide a brief overview and direction of the provider-led care management market. It will identify the types of vendors in this market, their current and longer-term challenges, product capabilities, partnership activity, and market dynamics that influence adoption. It will conclude with an overview of key factors for vendors and solutions moving forward.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Telemedicine

Dictum Health partners with Creekridge Capital to offer financing options to its telemedicine customers. The company’s Virtual Exam Room received FDA clearance at the end of February, and formally launched in early March.

HealthTap launches a free, online training and certification program for virtual care. The course will provide physicians with one hour of CME credit, plus an opportunity for advanced training.

Children’s Health Fund heads to the Hill to advocate for pediatric telemedicine. The Congressional briefing coincides with the release of a CHF white paper outlining the benefits of telemedicine access, particularly for underserved children and those living in rural areas.

Salus Telehealth and Covenant Technology Group develop a bluetooth stethoscope for physicians looking to conduct virtual visits.

Announcements and Implementations

Flatiron Health will enhance its OncoEMR and OncoAnalytics tools to help oncologists meet new CMS Oncology Care Model reporting requirements. Updates will include automated reporting of quality measures, embedded pathways at the point of care, and the ability to create care plans. I had the opportunity to chat with Robin Zon, MD at Michiana Hematology Oncology (IN) about her practice’s OCM plans. You can read my interview with her here.

The Greater Houston Healthconnect HIE completes its accreditation from the Texas Health Information Exchange Accreditation Program in partnership with EHNAC and the Texas Health Services Authority. Established in 2010, the HIE serves 39 percent of the region’s physicians and just over half of the hospital market.

Other

ClearHealthCosts.com partners with local news outlets to launch PriceCheck, a searchable online database that combines healthcare procedure costs with information and reviews from patients living in South Florida and the Tampa Bay area. “People should know what things cost in healthcare,” says Jeanne Pinder, a healthcare journalist and founder of ClearHealthCosts.com. “We’ll use the power of our communities to reveal the secrets of the marketplace, and join hands to make this opaque system more transparent.”

In other healthcare cost transparency news, Vitals pays homage to Bob Barker with The Price is Varied, a map that highlights the extreme price differences for six procedures across the country. Mapmakers point out that California has the highest costs across the board, while Maine has the most “rational,” with minimum cost differences for four of the six categories.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 4/20/16

Top News

ONC reports to Congress on the feasibility of improving healthcare IT comparison and selection tools, highlighting four areas (targeted technical assistance, improved awareness, data collection and sharing, and increased collaboration) where public and private sectors have room for improvement, especially when it comes to helping smaller healthcare organizations with fewer resources make HIT purchasing decisions.

Webinars

April 26 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Provider-Led Care Management: Trends and Opportunities in a Growing Market.” Sponsored by HIStalk. Presenter: Matthew Guldin, analyst, Chilmark Research. This webinar will provide a brief overview and direction of the provider-led care management market. It will identify the types of vendors in this market, their current and longer-term challenges, product capabilities, partnership activity, and market dynamics that influence adoption. It will conclude with an overview of key factors for vendors and solutions moving forward.

Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Announcements and Implementations

Everseat offers users the ability to schedule a ride with Lyft through its doctor appointment scheduling app.

People

HealthLoop names Harry Kirschner (The Advisory Board) chief revenue officer and Beverly Miner (Allscripts) chief marketing and business development officer.

Telemedicine

The Center for Connected Health Policy publishes a 236-page update on the state of telemedicine and Medicaid programs across the country. All but three states – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Utah – have some form of reimbursement in place. Live video is the predominant method of telemedicine and subsequent reimbursement, followed by store-and-forward services, and remote patient monitoring.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute hosts a briefing on the power of telemedicine as part of series of health briefings on Capitol Hill. AMA Senior Washington Counsel Sylvia Trujillo highlighted barriers, while ATA Chief Policy Officer Gary Capistrant stressed the alternative care delivery model’s ability to reach underserved patients.

Online retail healthcare marketplace SingleCare officially launches in Pittsburgh. The member-based website, which offers pharmacy and appointment-booking services and price-comparison tools, has added telemedicine visits through a new partnership with American Well.

Research and Innovation

A new WEDI report outlines gaps in care and the data-exchange challenges that exacerbate them. Technical barriers include interoperability (of course), accuracy, completeness, provenance, timeliness, and transparency. The authors advocate for consensus on the development and standardization of quality measures and methodologies for data exchange between providers, patients, and payers.

Other

Good news for cord-cutters like me: Amazon will offer its video-streaming service as a stand-alone product for $8 a month, slightly cheaper than Hulu and Netflix, which will raises its rates by $2 next month. Amazon’s videos were previously accessible only to members of Amazon Prime, which came with an annual price tag of $99. I’ll have to compare the offerings of all three services and see which, if any, I should add or drop. My Netflix subscription, which I’ve had for years, has quite satisfactorily satisfied my binge-watching habits thus far. 

Sponsor Updates

• Aprima will exhibit at the Boulder Valley Individual Practice Association meeting April 26 in Lafayette, CO.
• EClinicalWorks will exhibit at the California MGMA 2016 Annual Conference April 22-23 in Sonoma.

Blog Posts

• Medical billing & EHR software tips for tackling 1,900 new ICD-10 codes (AdvancedMD)
• Physician Quality Reporting (PQRS) (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)
• The Do’s and Don’ts of Credentialing (E-MDs)
• Costs Should Be Part of the Equation (Healthwise)

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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