News 8/8/22

Top News

As part of its ongoing effort to advance health equity, HHS awards nearly $90 million to 1,400 health centers across the country to help them improve data collection and reporting.

Webinars

August 10 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “Navigating healthcare’s data quality challenge: An actionable discussion.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alastair Allen, CTO, Better; Dale Sanders, chief strategy officer, IMO. Achieving a consolidated patient record is challenging in an environment of hospital M&A, where EHR rip-and-replace projects are expensive and HIEs and FHIR connectivity haven’t significantly accelerated progress. The underlying problem is that systems don’t speak the same language due to a lack of comprehensive, persistent clinical terminology and data standards adoption. UK-based Better offers a unique, FHIR-based approach to integrating disparate EHR data. The presenters will explore how to improve clinical data quality and how interoperable information can be used to support patient safety, reimbursement, and population health management.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

One Medical reports a 27% year-over-year increase in membership during its Q2 earnings review. Net revenue also saw an increase, jumping 112% to $256 million. Amazon announced several weeks ago that it will acquire the membership-based primary care company for $3.9 billion.

Performant Capital combines recently acquired companies DavLong Business Solutions and On Demand Solutions into a new Provider Technology business. The company will offer providers outsourced software and IT services, and RCM and administrative support.

Health information management vendor ScanSTAT acquires release-of-information company Resolve ROI for an undisclosed amount. Both companies are based in Georgia.

People

Ken Persen (Livmor) joins HeartBeam as CTO.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Improving Patient Safety by Avoiding Medical Abbreviations.”

Blog Posts

• Nurses of Note Awards 2022: The Senior Manager of Clinical Professional Development (PerfectServe)
• How to Leverage Communication and Data to Improve Patient Handoffs (TigerConnect)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 8/3/22

Top News

Homeward raises $50 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $70 million. The company partners with health plans to deliver tech-enabled mobile, virtual, and in-home care to Medicare patients in rural communities.

Webinars

August 10 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “Navigating healthcare’s data quality challenge: An actionable discussion.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alastair Allen, CTO, Better; Dale Sanders, chief strategy officer, IMO. Achieving a consolidated patient record is challenging in an environment of hospital M&A, where EHR rip-and-replace projects are expensive and HIEs and FHIR connectivity haven’t significantly accelerated progress. The underlying problem is that systems don’t speak the same language due to a lack of comprehensive, persistent clinical terminology and data standards adoption. UK-based Better offers a unique, FHIR-based approach to integrating disparate EHR data. The presenters will explore how to improve clinical data quality and how interoperable information can be used to support patient safety, reimbursement, and population health management.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Patient adherence software vendor CareTrack secures $2.5 million from Hybrid Capital Partners. The Carrolton, Georgia-based company’s technology helps primary care providers manage Medicare patient care in between appointments. CareTrack co-founders Andrew Mills and Derek Skinner hail from Greenway Health.

People

Joseph Ortiz (Concept 2 Market) joins MedMatch as chief innovations and operations officer.

PatientIQ names Erik Johnson (Verato) VP of marketing.

Ro co-founder Rob Schutz will step down as chief growth officer, transitioning to an advisory role and maintaining his seat on the board. The online prescription delivery and telemedicine company launched in 2017, achieving a $7 billion valuation earlier this year alongside its $150 million funding round. It laid off 18% of its workforce in June.

Announcements and Implementations

Orbit Telehealth (fka Telespine) develops white-label virtual care capabilities for physical therapists.

Athenahealth integrates DrFirst’s RxInform patient medication notification software with its EHR to improve medication adherence.

Silver Health Care implements CareTrack’s patient adherence software for Medicare patients across its five locations in New Mexico.

Other

Frome Medical Practice in Somerset, England, has partnered with the local library to make blood pressure monitors available to patrons, who can then submit their results via the practice’s website. The practice will follow up with those whose readers are higher or lower than normal.

Perhaps library-goers in Frome will check out the fairly new memoir from Vanderbilt pediatric neurosurgeon Jay Wellons, MD. “All That Moves Us: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience” “reflects on triumphant successes, unforeseen complications, and the young patients whose lives have been in his hands,” according to recent BookBub review.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Best Practices for Negotiating Health Insurance Contracts (AdvancedMD)
• Closing the Gap Between Patients and Their Records (EClinicalWorks)
• How to Create Fair (and Pain-Free) Physician Schedules (TigerConnect)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 8/1/22

Top News

Carequality expands its interoperability framework to allow the participation of federal agencies. The expansion comes courtesy of updated agreements with existing member EHealth Exchange, which offers federal agencies HIE capabilities.

Implementers of the Carequality framework includes customers of ambulatory HIT vendors like Athenahealth, EClinicalWorks, NextGen, PCC, Allscripts, and Epic.

Mr. HIStalk interviewed Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, Carequality’s parent organization, earlier this year.

Webinars

August 10 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “Navigating healthcare’s data quality challenge: An actionable discussion.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alastair Allen, CTO, Better; Dale Sanders, chief strategy officer, IMO. Achieving a consolidated patient record is challenging in an environment of hospital M&A, where EHR rip-and-replace projects are expensive and HIEs and FHIR connectivity haven’t significantly accelerated progress. The underlying problem is that systems don’t speak the same language due to a lack of comprehensive, persistent clinical terminology and data standards adoption. UK-based Better offers a unique, FHIR-based approach to integrating disparate EHR data. The presenters will explore how to improve clinical data quality and how interoperable information can be used to support patient safety, reimbursement, and population health management.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Announcements and Implementations

Bright Futures Speech Therapy in San Diego selects Kareo’s EHR, practice management, and billing software.

Research and Innovation

A study of 59 end users and 1,000 patients finds there’s a bit of a disconnect between perceptions of EHR utilization: Just one third of clinicians felt that patients perceived EHR use to be a positive experience. The majority of clinicians reported that, because of the EHR, they maintained less eye contact, listened less carefully, and focused less on their patients – all of which they felt contributed to less personal appointments. Patients felt otherwise, with nearly 92% reporting that their clinician’s use of an EHR was positive.

A survey of 1,000 patients finds that they typically give a practice four chances before seriously considering switching providers. Ease of payment, ability to make online appointments, digital access to medical records, and receptiveness to new technology were cited as factors that help to retain patients.

Innovators develop XRAI Glass, smart glasses for people who are deaf or suffer from hearing loss that use augmented reality to convert audio into captions that are displayed in front of the wearer’s eyes.

Other

Summer’s not over yet: AMA members recommend five novels and eight nonfiction books to add to your summer reading list.

We still have Internet (in case those venomous possums come calling).

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 7/27/22

Top News

Text message-based concierge care provider Summer Health announces $7.5 million in seed funding. The initial version of the company’s app focuses on pediatric-focused urgent and developmental care. Summer Health currently offers its services, which include expert advice, milestone workups, referrals for in-person care, and prescription and lab tests, for $20 per month.

Webinars

August 10 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “Navigating healthcare’s data quality challenge: An actionable discussion.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alastair Allen, CTO, Better; Dale Sanders, chief strategy officer, IMO. Achieving a consolidated patient record is challenging in an environment of hospital M&A, where EHR rip-and-replace projects are expensive and HIEs and FHIR connectivity haven’t significantly accelerated progress. The underlying problem is that systems don’t speak the same language due to a lack of comprehensive, persistent clinical terminology and data standards adoption. UK-based Better offers a unique, FHIR-based approach to integrating disparate EHR data. The presenters will explore how to improve clinical data quality and how interoperable information can be used to support patient safety, reimbursement, and population health management.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Healthcare payments startup Sift Healthcare raises $9 million in Series A funding.

NextGen’s revised 2023 revenue and earnings estimates cause shares to drop 5% in after-hours trading. The company reported 5% revenue growth for Q1 2023, with fully diluted EPS dropping slightly.

People

Victoria Giambattista (CareRev) joins TSI Healthcare as VP of marketing.

Announcements and Implementations

Greenway Health announces GA of medical coding services.

Research and Innovation

MGMA’s latest report on costs and revenues finds that:

• Productivity at physician-owned practices are lower than pre-pandemic/2019 levels.
• Revenue increased last year, jumping especially at physician-owned, non-surgical practices.
• Similar practices saw operating costs increase between 2020 and 2021.

Researchers determine that embedding digital versions of paper-based patient surveys within EHRs enables easier data collection, which in turn leads to increased research efficiency and decreased survey-related labor costs. Survey data can also be tied to a patient’s medical record for contextualization.

Other

Perhaps appointments will be discounted during Prime Day?

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new customer success story featuring Orthopaedic Institute of Ohio, “Prisma: How Better Data Improves Care and Reduces Costs.”

• Nordic releases a new episode of its “DocTalk” video series.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 7/25/22

Top News

Healthie raises $16.5 million in Series A funding. The company has developed white-label EHR, practice management, patient engagement, and billing technology for providers interested in launching virtual care services.

Webinars

August 10 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “Navigating healthcare’s data quality challenge: An actionable discussion.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alastair Allen, CTO, Better; Dale Sanders, chief strategy officer, IMO. Achieving a consolidated patient record is challenging in an environment of hospital M&A, where EHR rip-and-replace projects are expensive and HIEs and FHIR connectivity haven’t significantly accelerated progress. The underlying problem is that systems don’t speak the same language due to a lack of comprehensive, persistent clinical terminology and data standards adoption. UK-based Better offers a unique, FHIR-based approach to integrating disparate EHR data. The presenters will explore how to improve clinical data quality and how interoperable information can be used to support patient safety, reimbursement, and population health management.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Mental health chatbot development company Wysa raises $20 million in a Series B funding round led by HealthQuad. The startup plans to expand further into the US, UK, and India; and to improve integration with WhatsApp.

Lisa Health launches its menopause-focused health and wellness Midday app and announces $2.5 million in seed funding. The app incorporates education material and access to virtual visits from the Mayo Clinic. A premium version of the app that includes symptom tracking will launch later this year.

Announcements and Implementations

Erie Family Health Centers deploys OCHIN’s hosted Epic system at its 13 clinics in Chicago, with assistance from Pivot Point Consulting.

Bedrock Management Services selects CareCloud’s Remote digital health technology to support its home-based exercise physiology program in seven states.

Research and Innovation

Researchers at UCLA determine that informing primary care physicians of how their care stacks up against their peers has no significant impact on their ability to provide preventive care. It does, however, lower their job satisfaction and leads to increased rates of burnout. The nearly 200 PCPs interviewed during the five-month study reported feeling a lack of leadership support when faced with benchmarking interventions, though training the leaders on how to better present the data did take some of the edge off.

Other

One Medical members take to Twitter to voice their discontent with its acquisition by Amazon. Most are concerned with the possibility that Amazon could use their PHI for retail-oriented purposes, though the company has denied it will do so. Their qualms echo those of Dr. Jayne and her colleagues: “Several of us brought up the point that most consumers don’t read terms and conditions, even when there are limited updates to an agreement, so it’s likely that Amazon could obtain such a consent without patients full understanding what they’ve accepted.”

Recommended reading: Urgent care physician Wayne Liebhard, MD has published, “Walking The Tightrope: Trusting Your Life To Telemedicine,” in an effort to help patients better understand the pros and cons of virtual visits. He explains: “Someone needs to sound the alarm when a type of care is being promoted that — if used improperly — may not always be safe, and that is the reason the book was written.”

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic Consulting achieves ISO 27001 certification.
• PerfectServe publishes a case study, “Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Omaha: Centralizing Provider Scheduling Across an Enterprise.”

Blog Posts

• Key Steps for Successful Provider Credentialing (AdvancedMD)
• Cost & Utilization Explorer: Seeing, Understanding, Acting (EClinicalWorks)
• Healthcare interoperability can put people first (Nordic)
• Transforming care delivery with modern healthcare technology (TigerConnect)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.