News 1/19/26

Top News

Black Book Research releases its 2026 list of top-ranked EHRs for ambulatory care, with ModMed, Epic, and NextGen Healthcare noted as top leaders in multiple categories.

Athenahealth’s technology achieved top user satisfaction marks in the family practice/primary care and pediatrics categories, while Netsmart earned the top ranking for behavioral health and Experity for urgent care/occupational medicine.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Virtual Physician Scribes rebrands to Virtual Practice Solutions.

Announcements and Implementations

Rincon Family Services in Chicago implements the Qualifacts Credible EHR to enhance its Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic services.

Fullscript integrates biometric data from Oura’s smart ring with its clinical workflow. Fullscript offers practice management software for functional medicine providers.

Community Care of North Carolina selects Innovaccer’s Healthcare Intelligence Cloud population health analytics platform.

Other

The Qilin ransomware group threatens to release data stolen during a January 17 cyberattack on Orthopaedic Specialists of Massachusetts. The practice’s website is still down.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

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

News 1/14/26

Top News

Rehab therapy and post-acute care technology vendor Net Health acquires musculoskeletal management and treatment software developer Keet Health from WebPT.

Net Health will incorporate Keet Health’s technology into its Limber digital MSK care platform, which will become the preferred solution for WebPT customers.

Net Health acquired Limber Health last summer.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

People

Cityblock Health names Alberto Toledo (White Star Capital) CTO.

Announcements and Implementations

Net Health announces GA of Optima Unity, its AI-enhanced EHR for rehab therapists.

Government and Politics

A federal judge sentences Benjamin Washington to 65 months in prison for his role in a years-long e-prescribing scheme in which he used information stolen from physicians to create fake e-prescribing accounts that his accomplices then used to issue thousands of fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances, which they picked up at pharmacies and sold for profit. The conspirators also obtained fake drivers’ licenses, paid off phone company employees to reassign legitimate physician cell phone numbers to burner phones, stole a master USPS post office box key, and stole mail.

Research and Innovation

Behavioral health and post-acute care providers find their interoperability efforts hampered by transaction or integration fees, slow vendor onboarding and timelines, and APIs that don’t fit their everyday workflows, according to Black Book Research.

Other

NextGen Healthcare will pay $19.4 million to settle a class action lawsuit related to a 2023 data breach that it allegedly failed to prevent, resulting in the compromise of patient data.

Kaiser Permanente will pay $46 million to settle a class action lawsuit pertaining to third-party tracking tools on its website and apps that class members say allegedly shared user data without their consent. Kaiser has begun sending settlement notices to 13 million members in eight states and Washington, DC.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

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

News 1/12/26

Top News

Virtual maternity care provider Pomelo Care announces $92 million in Series C funding, bringing its total raised to $171 million. The company, which partners with payers and employers, is expanding its services to include pediatric care and care for women beyond the post-partum period.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

VieCure announces $43 million in new funding, bringing its total raised to $113 million. The company offers oncology-focused EHR and clinical decision support software.

C3 HealthcareRx, a virtual behavioral health and medication management company, acquires chronic care management vendor Wellbox Health.

Virtual women’s precision medicine startup Xella Health raises $3.7 million in pre-seed funding. The company expects to launch its services this spring.

Announcements and Implementations

Primary care health IT vendor Elation Health enhances its Clinical Insights patient chart summary solution with Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant.

PQT Health launches its AI-enhanced Dyvine EHR for rural providers and small practices.

Walmart launches Better Care Services, a digital healthcare hub that offers users access to telehealth providers, LilyDirect for online weight loss medication, and Walmart Pharmacy for prescription delivery and pick-up. Readers (or, like me, patients) may remember that the retailer shut down its chain of Walmart Health primary care clinics in 2024 due to rising costs and declining reimbursements. The five-year experiment saw 51 clinics open in five states, and the enterprise implementation of Epic.

Virtual Nurse Rx announces GA of its virtual managed clinical teams service for practices looking to expand clinical operations.

Behavioral health IT vendor Kipu Health debuts its AI-powered Helix behavioral health operating system.

Cardiovascular Associates of America will implement Ascertain’s automated administrative workflow software across its 100 clinics in eight states.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

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

News 1/7/26

Top News

Digital mental healthcare company Oasys Health raises $4.6 million.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Announcements and Implementations

RepuGen launches RepuGenie, healthcare reputation management software that comprises online reputation, patient satisfaction, and search and AI visibility tools.

CardioOne announces GA of its Connect platform that combines diagnostics, chronic care management, and remote patient monitoring.

Chronic care medication services company TwelveStone Health Partners selects Tennr’s automated patient referral processing technology.

Other

Georgia Southern University’s Institute for Health Logistics & Analytics pilots its first Care Station on its City Campus in Statesboro. The kiosk offers a variety of health, wellness, and testing products. The pilot, which will expand to a second kiosk in Vidalia, aims to reduce healthcare disparities in the area.

A federal judge sentences Angela Boston, a former doctor, to 10 months in prison for using a stolen identity to apply for a job with the Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority in Oklahoma. Boston was prosecuted in 2020 for using the same stolen identity to illegally obtain controlled substances.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

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

News 1/5/26

Top News

CMS establishes the Office of Rural Health Transformation. The new office will oversee distribution of $50 billion in grants to all 50 states through the five-year Rural Health Transformation Program. It will also offer technical assistance to program participants, coordinate partnerships, and ensure program oversight.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

People

Former US Marine Gregory Alexander (Ellipsis Health) joins Syra Health as CEO.

CareCloud promotes Stephen Snyder to CEO and A. Hadi Chaudhry to chief strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

TherapySouth will implement Stride’s EHR and RCM software across its 51 clinics in three states.

Richstone Center (CA) implements the Qualifacts InSync EHR.

Government and Politics

The CDC will revise the childhood immunization schedule, recommending 10 vaccines instead of 17 and reassigning non-consensus vaccines to certain high-risk groups or populations and shared clinical decision-making.

CMS will no longer require states to report childhood and adolescent immunization statuses as it works on developing new vaccine measures.

Other

The Electronic Frontier Foundation includes HCRG Care Group among its Breachies 2025 (dis)honorable mentions. The British provider group earned the nod for its ineffective attempt to legally shame a US media outlet into taking down coverage of a ransomware attack on the group. 

West Virginia Public Broadcasting profiles Richard Cole, MD owner of and sole physician at Patrick County Family Practice. Founded 35 years ago, the practice cares for 38,000 patients – more than double the number of county residents. Cole, who operated an urgent care for several years before closing it due to lack of personnel, envisions finally being able to retire as young medical professionals begin committing to working in the county: “I’ve never seen so much interest in young doctors wanting to come here and practice. It opens up the door for me to finally retire.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

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