News 9/29/15

Top News

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell awards $685 million to 39 regional and national healthcare networks (including medical group practices) as part of the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative – one of the federal government’s largest investments into the support of clinicians across all 50 states. The funds will enable awardees to make improvements in a number of areas related to healthcare technology including patient communication via email and other IT tools; real-time notification alerts for providers caring for high-risk patients; centralized data reporting; and technical assistance with quality improvement targets. 

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

There’s still time to celebrate! Check out this list of deals and freebies from local roaster and national retailers. I’m celebrating from my home office with an extra cup of half-caff in my almost-vintage HIStalk mug. I switched to the less buzzy version a few years ago in order to justify drinking more throughout the day. My cup will runneth over with the real stuff soon enough: I can’t seem to get through healthcare events like the upcoming MGMA conference without copious amounts of java from the press room.

Webinars

October 7 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Develop Your Analysts and They’ll Pay for Themselves.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenters: Peter Monaco, senior business intelligence developer, Health Catalyst; Russ Stahli, VP, Health Catalyst. It takes years for analysts to develop the skills they need to build reports and dashboards that turn data into valuable insights. This webinar will describe how to cultivate those analytical skills, including technical prowess and adaptive leadership. Leaders will learn how to develop a culture that fosters improvement, how to encourage analysts to develop the right skills, and ways to remove the barriers that stand in their way.

Contact Lorre for webinar services.

Announcements and Implementations

Claims clearinghouse vendor ClaimRemedi develops a Web-based client portal with improved workflow, data analytics, and reporting.

Chronic Care Management launches a suite of software tools to assist physicians with chronic care planning and management. Most intriguing (and refreshing) to me is the My Wishes, My Words feature, which gives patients the ability to document their healthcare goals so that physicians can better integrate them into care plans.

Panorama Orthopedic & Spine Center implements Skywriter MD’s virtual EHR assistance technology at its three locations in Denver.

Meditab Software integrates CoverMyMeds electronic prior authorization technology into its Intelligent Medical Software platform.

SourceMedical Solutions adds DrFirst’s e-medication management software to its software, analytics, and RCM tools for ambulatory surgical centers and rehabilitation centers.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

EClinicalWorks opens an office in Austin, TX that will employ 50 and include a training facility. The company is also expanding its Westborough, MA headquarters with the $21.5 million purchase of a 193,230 square-foot property five minutes from its current location. CEO Girish Navani plans to invest an additional $30 million to build it out over the next 12 months to accommodate 1,000 new employees.

People

Harbin Clinic (GA) promotes Kenna Stock to CEO. She is the first non-physician, and the first woman, to hold the position since the multispecialty group was founded in the late 1800s.

Telemedicine

The local news highlights the positive impact telemedicine services from Doc On are having at the Open Door Mission in Omaha, NE. The mission’s clinic now sees 200 patients a week via the virtual service. “It doesn’t compare to anything,” explains shelter resident Justin James. “When you’re down and out, you need places like this.”

American Well partners with workers’ compensation company CorVel Corp. to offer on-demand physician evaluations via telemedicine for employees with workplace injuries.

Research and Innovation

An 18-month home blood pressure-monitoring pilot project conducted by AMGA and Withings finds that blood pressure control rates of 150 patients improved from 38.6 percent to 70 percent between the first and last recordings using the Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor. The project, part of AMGA’s Measure Up/Pressure Down hypertension campaign, also helped to establish best practices for home blood pressure monitors in ambulatory care settings, such as patient recruitment, enrollment, and engagement; care process and therapy modifications; and patient and provider satisfaction.

Other

The AAFP’s annual Congress of Delegates policy meeting convenes in Denver to cover a wide range of issues affecting family medicine. The always intertwined issues of physician burnout and EHR dissatisfaction seem to be hot topics thus far.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 9/28/15

Top News

The clamor for HHS to postpone Stage 3 of Meaningful Use continues, with over 100 members of Congress writing to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell and OMB Directive Shaun Donovan with just such a directive. Congressional leaders including Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Tom Price (R-GA), and David Scott (D-GA) want to tweak the program to “incentivize technology that enables interoperability and improved health outcomes rather than incentivizing technology that counts how many times a provider performs an activity.” Their letter comes less than a week after AMA and dozens of other trade groups penned a similar plea.

Webinars

October 7 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Develop Your Analysts and They’ll Pay for Themselves.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenters: Peter Monaco, senior business intelligence developer, Health Catalyst; Russ Stahli, VP, Health Catalyst. It takes years for analysts to develop the skills they need to build reports and dashboards that turn data into valuable insights. This webinar will describe how to cultivate those analytical skills, including technical prowess and adaptive leadership. Leaders will learn how to develop a culture that fosters improvement, how to encourage analysts to develop the right skills, and ways to remove the barriers that stand in their way.

Contact Lorre for webinar services.

People

Kaiser Permanente promotes Rahul Rastogi, MD to COO of Northwestern Permanente.

Government and Politics

The World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and World Bank establish the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative to better enable countries to monitor, track, and share key performance data for primary care. The initiative will track 25 performance indicators across 135 countries to help global health policy makers and workers better understand primary care outcomes. “We know that better measurement can guide smarter, more effective planning and action,” says Bill Gates. “It’s time to get serious about tracking and measuring primary health care performance, so that countries have the data they need to efficiently direct resources to improve the health of their citizens, especially women and children.”

NIST and the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence extend the deadline to submit public comments on their guide to securing EHRs on mobile devices to October 23.

The ACP calls out four shortcomings in ONC’s Federal Health IT Strategic Plan:

• Lack of prioritization around health IT’s role in reducing unnecessary administrative burdens;
• Disregard for the documentation burden caused by legacy billing systems;
• Lack of reconciliation between the plan’s goal of establishing a responsive health IT infrastructure with what Stage 3 of Meaningful Use will likely bring – “a fixed infrastructure that is impervious to the future findings of the learning health and healthcare system.”
• A need for health IT to sometimes be obtrusive, especially in cases related to medication safety.

Announcements and Implementations

Nuance launches the Dragon Medical Advisor computer-assisted physician documentation tool, which automatically provides physicians real-time quality feedback during patient-encounter documentation.

Affinity Billing releases the ClinicMind GEMs Plus ICD-10 code-selection tool for mental health practices.

Houston-based Pediatric Consultants, PA implements DocsInk’s mobile charge-capture and secure messaging platform to better enable its on-call physicians to avoid lost charges.

The MitoCanada Foundation partners with RelayHealth to launch a personalized portal for patients suffering from mitochondrial disease. The Web-based portal will offer patients access to their EHRs and secure storage of personal health data, including appointment history and test results.

Telemedicine

Fort Lauderale, FL-based ScribeAmerica acquires eScribe for an undisclosed amount. Both companies specialize in providing medical scribes to hospitals, specialty physician practices, and urgent care facilities. ScribeAmerica will fold eScribe’s virtual scribe program into its TeleScribe service for physicians in rural areas and/or smaller practices. The acquisition marks the second for ScribeAmerica this year: It acquired Medical Scribe Systems in April.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield partners with Greenwood Village, CO-based Script Adviser to offer members in Colorado access to infectious disease specialists via telemedicine.

Research and Innovation

MGMA’s latest cost and revenue survey finds that physician-owned multispecialty practices spent close to an average of $21,000 more than the previous year for healthcare IT – an increase of nearly 12 percent. Practice spending on technology has increased 34 percent since 2010. I wonder how spending figures correlate with exhibitor sign-ups and hall foot traffic at MGMA’s annual conference. This year’s event kicks off October 11 in Nashville.

Selecting and implementing new technology are at the bottom of physician to-do lists, according to a Kareo and AAPP survey of 862 providers representing insurance-based practices and concierge/direct-pay practices. Physicians who have jumped into new business models rank patient recruitment and financial viability as top priorities, while more traditional physicians focus on financial viability and hiring and keeping qualified staff.

A Surescripts patient experience survey reveals a majority of patients have more love for DMV license renewal than they do for the process of becoming a new patient, largely due to missing or incomplete medical records (not to mention the inability to transfer records from one provider to another without hassle). This lack of interoperability has led to some surprising patient revelations: 61 percent said their physician isn’t aware of their allergies; 49 percent indicated their physician has no idea what prescriptions they’re taking; and 40 percent say their physicians aren’t aware of their existing medical conditions. While Surescripts has a vested interest in promoting the need for interoperability (the company launched a record locator and exchange service in May), these results highlight a pretty basic lack of patient/provider communication, and a continued need for patient education and health literacy resources. 

Other

Polish medical students learn to empathize with their elderly patients after donning suits that simulate the effects of geriatric ailments related to joints, mobility, and vision.

Good news for occasional or constant fidgeters, particularly those that sit at desks for the majority of their work day: Research shows that fidgeting may prevent ailments associated with sitting too much, including diabetes, heart disease, and premature death. Non-fidgeters have a 30-percent higher risk of death when sitting for seven more hours per day, regardless of exercise.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic posts video highlights from its open house during Epic’s user group meeting. It was brilliant – they worked with a local brewery to create a custom beer, distributed it to 14 bars and restaurants, and donated $1 for every pint poured to The Road Home Program for veterans. I was trying to figure out ways to shamelessly steal their idea for the HIMSS conference.

Blog Posts

• Your Peers Think You Should Go the VUE – Here’s Why (Versus Technology)

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.

Population Health Management Weekly Wrap Up 9/27/15

Symphony Technology Group subsidiary Evidera launches a real-time analytics platform for a variety of data sources including claims, EHRs, and registries. Analysis Apps are included for such areas as drug safety, epidemiology, health economics, and comparative effectiveness.

Seattle-based data analytics firm Atigeo raises $18.4 million in a funding round led by a super-angel investor, with contributions from Ascension Ventures and other private investors. The company, which markets its XPatterns software to providers looking to jump to value-based business models, plans to double its staff over the next year.

Summit Medical Group (TN) selects Athenahealth’s AthenaCommunicator Enterprise solution to advance population health management initiatives across its 54 locations in 12 East Tennessee counties. Management services organization Summit Strategic Solutions will handle the implementation.

John Muir Health (CA) chooses Health Catalyst’s enterprise data warehouse and analytics platform.

The National Governors Association offers states advice on how to use data to better serve healthcare super users and big spenders, highlighting the success several have seen with sharing data via HIE. (I was amused to see that even the NGA lets “HER” slip into official reports.)

Genesis Accountable Physician Network and University of Texas Southwestern Clinically Affiliated Physicians partner to form the UT Southwestern Accountable Care Network in an effort to better align primary and specialty care across providers and payers. The network, made up of UT faculty physicians and independent physicians, will offer its members access to technologies for population risk stratification, predictive modeling, sophisticated disease registries, point-of-care management, and automated appointment reminders.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

News 9/24/15

Top News

Healthcare can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to cyber security concerns: A Raytheon|Websense study finds that healthcare sees 340 percent more security incidents than the average industry and is that much more likely to be impacted by data theft. (Health data is now 10 times more valuable on the black market.) Researchers have also found that one in every 600 attacks in healthcare involve advanced malware, and that the industry is 74 percent more likely than others to be impacted by phishing schemes. There doesn’t seem to be much of a silver lining here, other than to point out that any organization that hasn’t yet been breached has ample opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. (I can’t decide if if the image of clipboard and paper above is intentionally ironic or actually quite fitting given the report’s dismal statistics around digital health data.)

Webinars

October 7 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET. “Develop Your Analysts and They’ll Pay for Themselves.” Sponsored by Health Catalyst. Presenters: Peter Monaco, senior business intelligence developer, Health Catalyst; Russ Stahli, VP, Health Catalyst. It takes years for analysts to develop the skills they need to build reports and dashboards that turn data into valuable insights. This webinar will describe how to cultivate those analytical skills, including technical prowess and adaptive leadership. Leaders will learn how to develop a culture that fosters improvement, how to encourage analysts to develop the right skills, and ways to remove the barriers that stand in their way.

#HIStalking Tweet Chat

Check out the recap of today’s #HIStalking tweet chat, hosted by @iatricFJF.

Announcements and Implementations

AristaMD will integrate the University of California, San Francisco’s Electronic Physician Referral and Consultation Platform into its software and service referral support program as part of a five-year licensing agreement.

RxNT partners with FlavorX to enable pediatricians to choose a patient’s medication flavor via its e-prescribing or EHR tools.

Entrada updates its mobile documentation and communication platform to include a real-time view of clinical schedules, care coordination and secure messaging tools, and quick reference to clinical data synced from the EHR.

Mountain Medical Physician Specialists, a radiology practice with 70 physicians serving patients in Utah and Idaho, moves from an in-house billing system to RCM services from Medical Billing Experts.

Government and Politics

FDA’s Associate Director for Digital Health Bakul Patel tweets out the agency’s need for three digital health scientists. Job duties include: review digital health policies and programs to determine their impact on current operations or regulations; researching emerging digital health technologies; identifying opportunities for innovation and collaboration; and improving processes and policies to remove barriers to the development and incorporation of digital health technologies.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker names Fay Donohue (DSM/Dentaquest), Bill Geary (Flare Capital Partners), and Colin Hill (GNS Healthcare) to the Health Information and Analysis Oversight Council, which is developing the research agenda and analytic priorities of the state’s Center for Health Information and Analysis. The council, which met for the first time yesterday, also includes Marylou Sudders, state secretary of HHS, and Kristen Lepore, state secretary of administration and finance.

Telemedicine

Hello Health announces the successful physician practice implementation of and reimbursement for its Wellbox telemedicine chronic care management system.

TelehealthOne opens a walk-in clinic at Fred’s Pharmacy in Flora, Mississippi. It’s the first walk-in clinic in the town of just under 2,000 people.

Northern Oswego County Health Services Inc. (NY) receives $1 million in funding from HHS as part of the ACA Health Infrastructure Investment Program. NOCHSI, which serves 30,000 patients across, will use part of the financing to provide telemedicine services to its primary care practice locations.

Research and Innovation

A survey of 400 physicians reveals that quality patient interaction is key to experiencing joy while practicing medicine, and yet 80 percent of physicians feel those experiences are highly difficult to attain. Between 80 and 90 percent feel it’s becoming harder to authentically engage patients; focus on their needs, treatments, and methods; and develop intimate professional relationships with them. The results aren’t surprising, given the proliferation of screens between physician and patient, and the decreasing amount of time available to physicians – particularly PCPs – to spend with them during office visits.

Other

A ComScore report shows that Americans spent up to 70 hours using smartphone apps in June; those in the 18-24 bracket spent almost 90 – compelling statistics for companies looking to get into the mobile healthcare app business. Seventy hours would seem like plenty of time to explore dozens of apps, and yet just three took up the biggest chunk of time for users – Facebook, YouTube, and Facebook Messenger. Fitbit, as well as Under Armor’s Myfitnesspal and Mapmyfitness, were singled out as the fastest-growing health and wellness apps.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

#HIStalking Tweet Chat Recap