News 12/15/21

Top News

Physician performance analytics company Embold Health raises $20 million in a Series B investment round, bringing its total funding to $50 million.

Launched by former Walmart Care Clinics CMO Daniel Stein, MD in 2017, the company was tapped by the giant retailer in 2019 to create lists of physicians its employees can use when selecting healthcare services. Those who wind up seeing a provider not on the list pay more for their benefits.

Reader Comments

From Nasty Parts: “Re: Binge-watching during the holidays. Really like Lost in Space as well! This is the last season so I hope its a good one. Just started. Hallmark movies …. yes. It’s amazing how many princes of small European countries come to NYC to mix with the regular folk.”

Email me with your binge-watching recommendations, please. I’ll be taking a holiday break through the first of the year, and am planning to devote plenty of time to being a couch potato.

Webinars

None scheduled through the end of the year. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

People

NextGen Healthcare promotes CMIO Bob Murry, MD to CMO.

Army veteran Jennifer Peña, MD (Nurx) joins K Health as its first CMO.

Clinical Connect Health Information Exchange in Pittsburgh promotes Phyllis Szymanski to president.

Announcements and Implementations

Konza announces GA of Translate, ambulatory electronic lab-reporting software intended to help physician practices send compliant COVID-19 lab reports to public health registries.

Wheel adds GoodRx’s prescription savings software to its white-label virtual care offering.

Midwest Cardiovascular Institute (IL) implements EHR, analytics, chronic care management, and reporting software from Objective Medical Systems.

CareCloud develops CareCloud Connector, an interface and data management engine.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/13/21

Top News

House call company Pivotal Heath raises $1.3 million in an investment round it hopes will eventually include another $10 million. Launched last year, the startup offers in-home urgent care in Madison, Wisconsin. It will soon launch an appointment-booking app, and expand into Milwaukee.

Pivotal Health CEO Sal Braico helped to launch the company after four years as COO of SymphonyCare.

HIStalk Practice Musings

With the holidays upon us, I’ve carved out a bit of extra time to find and binge-watch movies and shows. My couch-potato time will likely increase as Christmas creeps closer and I finally cross everything off my shopping list. Given my newfound love of Friday Night Lights (which is based on a movie based on a book, by the way) and the newest season of Lost in Space, I was pleased to come across this article highlighting the benefits of binge-watching. Apparently, I’ll be doing myself a favor when I watch several Hallmark Christmas movies in a row! It does mention that healthy snacks should be on hand, so I’ll have to get creative when it comes to indulging in homemade Christmas treats, like these classic sugar cookies.

What will you be binge-watching during the holidays? Have any favorite recipes you’d care to share? Email me.

Webinars

December 14 (Tuesday) 1 ET.  “Using Cloud to Boost AI and Enterprise Imaging.” Sponsor: CloudWave. Presenters: Larry Sitka, MS, VP/CSIO of enterprise applications, Canon Medical Informatics; Jacob Wheeler, MBA, senior product manager, CloudWave. Enterprise imaging has remained a holdout of data center complexity despite the benefits the cloud offers. The presenters will discuss innovative ways to reduce complexity and lead with disruptive technology using AI, enterprise imaging, and the cloud.

December 15 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Improve Efficiency, Reduce Burnout: Leveraging Smart Clinical Communications.” Sponsor: Spok. Presenters: Matt Mesnik, MD, chief medical officer, Spok; Kiley Black, MSN, APRN, director of clinical innovation, Spok. The presenters will identify the technologies that most often contribute to clinician burnout, then explain how improving common clinical workflows can help care teams collaborate better and focus on what they do best—taking care of patients. They will describe how a clinical communication and collaboration platform can automate clinical consults and code calls to alleviate burnout.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Behavioral health IT vendor CentralReach acquires ABA Tools, a company that offers digital learning materials for applied behavioral analysis therapy. ABA Tools co-founder Patrick Roper will join CentralReach as senior instructional designer.

Patient intake technology company Phreesia acquires Insignia Health, developer of the Patient Activation Measure program.

Digital care management company ChronWell raises $6 million, bringing its total funding to just over $13 million. The Florida-based company focuses its programs on chronic GI conditions and, most recently, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Announcements and Implementations

FQHCs including Green River Medical Center in Utah and Northeast Valley Health in Los Angeles have implemented Rimidi’s remote patient monitoring capabilities.

Sponsor Updates

• The Digital Workplace Group honors Nordic Consulting Senior Director Dawn Hancock with its Digital Workplace Leader of the Year Award.

Blog Posts

• Toward the Liberation of Medical Data (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/8/21

Top News

AI-powered medical scribe vendor Robin raises $50 million in a Series B funding round that brings its total raised to $65 million.

Webinars

December 9 (Thursday) 1:30 ET. “Cone Health: Creating Extreme Efficiencies in Surgical Services.” Sponsor: RelayOne. Presenters: Wayne McFatter, RN, MSN and Sharon McCarter, RN co-directors of perioperative services, Cone Health. The presenters will discuss how they have empowered the entire surgical care team, including vendor representatives, to get real-time access to surgery schedules and case requirements in the palms of their hand. RelayOne CEO Cam Sexton will also present the findings of a recent study of 100 hospital leaders regarding their operating room optimization plans for 2022.

December 14 (Tuesday) 1 ET.  “Using Cloud to Boost AI and Enterprise Imaging.” Sponsor: CloudWave. Presenters: Larry Sitka, MS, VP/CSIO of enterprise applications, Canon Medical Informatics; Jacob Wheeler, MBA, senior product manager, CloudWave. Enterprise imaging has remained a holdout of data center complexity despite the benefits the cloud offers. The presenters will discuss innovative ways to reduce complexity and lead with disruptive technology using AI, enterprise imaging, and the cloud.

December 15 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Improve Efficiency, Reduce Burnout: Leveraging Smart Clinical Communications.” Sponsor: Spok. Presenters: Matt Mesnik, MD, chief medical officer, Spok; Kiley Black, MSN, APRN, director of clinical innovation, Spok. The presenters will identify the technologies that most often contribute to clinician burnout, then explain how improving common clinical workflows can help care teams collaborate better and focus on what they do best—taking care of patients. They will describe how a clinical communication and collaboration platform can automate clinical consults and code calls to alleviate burnout.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Lyn Health launches with funding from Summer VC to offer patients with multiple chronic conditions access to virtual care and support services. Co-founder and CEO Rick Abbott comes from Premera Blue Cross, having also done stints at Castlight Health, Imagine Health, and BCBS.

Raintree Systems, which offers EHR, practice management, and RCM software to therapy and rehab clinics, raises funding from Serent Capital.

Pair Team raises $7.3 million, bringing the startup’s total funding to $10 million. The San Francisco-based company provides digital assistants and tech-enabled care teams to community health centers. Co-founders Neil Batlivala and Cassie Choi, RN spent time together at Forward, a vendor of AI-powered primary care and telemedicine, and UCSF Medical Center.

Announcements and Implementations

ExamRoom Live announces GA of its white-label telemedicine app that features billing, time tracking, and secure messaging.

AllianceChicago will offer FQHCs Athenahealth’s EHR software with Wellsheet’s predictive clinical workflow software.

Linc adds GenieMD’s Continuum remote patient monitoring software to its own RPM service.

Monmouth Family Health Center (NJ) selects NextGen’s suite of FQHC-focused health IT.

Government and Politics

The Maryland Department of Health recovers from a ransomware attack over the weekend that forced it to take several systems offline.

Research and Innovation

A Cedar healthcare billing experience survey of 1,500 patients finds that 26% have left a negative review to share their frustration with unexpected costs or a frustrating billing process. Fifty-seven percent say they are more likely to recommend a physician if offered a seamless digital experience.

Other

The healthcare community on Canada’s Prince Edward Island launches a physician recruitment program that incorporates virtual reality. Interested candidates are sent PEI goods and a VR headset pre-loaded with tours of local healthcare facilities. It seems a far cry from the days of “Anne of Green Gables” author Lucy Maud Montgomery and the family doctoring of Anne’s husband, Gilbert Blythe. Speaking of Avonlea, I was happy to come across “Marilla of Green Gables,” a prequel of sorts by Sarah McCoy. Gilbert’s father, John, seems to have been just as mischievously flirtatious as his son.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 12/6/21

Top News

Well Health Technologies acquires CognisantMD, a Canadian developer of patient engagement and referral software, for nearly $14 million.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

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Webinars

December 8 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “What Lies Ahead for the EHR’s Problem List.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: James Thompson, MD, physician informaticist, IMO; Deepak Pillai, MD, MBA, physician informaticist, IMO; Jonathan Gold, MD, MHA, MSc, physician informaticist, IMO. The EHR problem list can be cluttered with redundant, missing, and outdated diagnoses, and displays don’t always help clinicians process the available data correctly. The presenters will discuss how improvements in creating, maintaining, and displaying problems could reduce errors and decrease the cognitive load of clinicians while continuing to optimize reimbursement.

December 9 (Thursday) 1:30 ET. “Cone Health: Creating Extreme Efficiencies in Surgical Services.” Sponsor: RelayOne. Presenters: Wayne McFatter, RN, MSN and Sharon McCarter, RN co-directors of perioperative services, Cone Health. The presenters will discuss how they have empowered the entire surgical care team, including vendor representatives, to get real-time access to surgery schedules and case requirements in the palms of their hand. RelayOne CEO Cam Sexton will also present the findings of a recent study of 100 hospital leaders regarding their operating room optimization plans for 2022.

December 14 (Tuesday) 1 ET.  “Using Cloud to Boost AI and Enterprise Imaging.” Sponsor: CloudWave. Presenters: Larry Sitka, MS, VP/CSIO of enterprise applications, Canon Medical Informatics; Jacob Wheeler, MBA, senior product manager, CloudWave. Enterprise imaging has remained a holdout of data center complexity despite the benefits the cloud offers. The presenters will discuss innovative ways to reduce complexity and lead with disruptive technology using AI, enterprise imaging, and the cloud.

December 15 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Improve Efficiency, Reduce Burnout: Leveraging Smart Clinical Communications.” Sponsor: Spok. Presenters: Matt Mesnik, MD, chief medical officer, Spok; Kiley Black, MSN, APRN, director of clinical innovation, Spok. The presenters will identify the technologies that most often contribute to clinician burnout, then explain how improving common clinical workflows can help care teams collaborate better and focus on what they do best—taking care of patients. They will describe how a clinical communication and collaboration platform can automate clinical consults and code calls to alleviate burnout.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Ambulatory health IT vendor Modernizing Medicine officially rebrands to ModMed.

Greater Good Health launches as a network for nurse practitioners that will focus on offering NPs value-based care training, technology tools, clinical resources, and professional connections. Its goal is to equip NPs with the tools and connections they need to alleviate staffing shortages in primary care. Founder and CEO Sylvia Hastanan has spent time at GE Healthcare, DaVita Medical Group, and Optum.

Announcements and Implementations

Allied Digestive Health in New Jersey selects billing and patient engagement software from Athenahealth.

The Virginia Healthcare Association will implement I2I Population Health’s PriZim analytics to help its members improve their access and quality initiatives.

Government and Politics

Advanced Spine & Pain Management in Cincinnati will pay HHS $32,150 to settle allegations that it failed to provide a patient with a copy of his medical records in a timely manner.

HHS launches a cybersecurity resource website associated with its Aligning Health Care Industry Security Approaches Program.

Research and Innovation

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute allocates $23.5 million for research projects that will use virtual care technologies to help patients with smoking cessation, pain management, and depression.

Other

Gulf Power and PanCare Health (FL) surprise local school telehealth nurse Amber Hartman, LPN with a Christmas lights display. PanCare Florida Telehealth Director Brandon Luke, who nominated Hartman for the holiday makeover, says, “She’s great, all of the parents, faculty, the principal, the students … everyone loves her.”

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• How to Improve Nursing Communication and Collaboration (PerfectServe)
• If you try sometimes, you get what you need (Nordic)
• 3 Tips for Writing Mental and Behavioral Health Content (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.

News 12/1/21

Top News

K Health secures an unspecified amount of funding from actress Gal Gadot and her husband, producer Yaron Varsano. The company, which has raised over $271 million, offers app-based primary and urgent care, including an AI-powered symptom checker that enables users to review the diagnoses and treatments of millions of patients.

Webinars

December 8 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “What Lies Ahead for the EHR’s Problem List.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: James Thompson, MD, physician informaticist, IMO; Deepak Pillai, MD, MBA, physician informaticist, IMO; Jonathan Gold, MD, MHA, MSc, physician informaticist, IMO. The EHR problem list can be cluttered with redundant, missing, and outdated diagnoses, and displays don’t always help clinicians process the available data correctly. The presenters will discuss how improvements in creating, maintaining, and displaying problems could reduce errors and decrease the cognitive load of clinicians while continuing to optimize reimbursement.

December 9 (Thursday) 1:30 ET. “Cone Health: Creating Extreme Efficiencies in Surgical Services.” Sponsor: RelayOne. Presenters: Wayne McFatter, RN, MSN and Sharon McCarter, RN co-directors of perioperative services, Cone Health. The presenters will discuss how they have empowered the entire surgical care team, including vendor representatives, to get real-time access to surgery schedules and case requirements in the palms of their hand. RelayOne CEO Cam Sexton will also present the findings of a recent study of 100 hospital leaders regarding their operating room optimization plans for 2022.

December 14 (Tuesday) 1 ET.  “Using Cloud to Boost AI and Enterprise Imaging.” Sponsor: CloudWave. Presenters: Larry Sitka, MS, VP/CSIO of enterprise applications, Canon Medical Informatics; Jacob Wheeler, MBA, senior product manager, CloudWave. Enterprise imaging has remained a holdout of data center complexity despite the benefits the cloud offers. The presenters will discuss innovative ways to reduce complexity and lead with disruptive technology using AI, enterprise imaging, and the cloud.

December 15 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Improve Efficiency, Reduce Burnout: Leveraging Smart Clinical Communications.” Sponsor: Spok. Presenters: Matt Mesnik, MD, chief medical officer, Spok; Kiley Black, MSN, APRN, director of clinical innovation, Spok. The presenters will identify the most common clinical technology contributors to alarm fatigue and clinician burnout. They will describe how improving three clinical workflows can increase care team collaboration and reduce non-patient care workload and explain how a clinical communication platform simplifies finding care team members and pulling actionable information from the EHR.

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

People

Kaia Health hires Lumeris co-founder Nigel Ohrenstein as CEO.

Announcements and Implementations

The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers will use technology from behavioral health IT vendor Kipu Health to power its Foundation for Recovery Science and Education treatment outcomes programs. The FoRSE programs will offer participating providers site-specific analytics and benchmarking reports using aggregated and de-identified clinical data.

Truepill, a white-label telemedicine, diagnostics, and pharmacy company, develops a COVID-19 virtual care program that includes video visits and prescription and delivery of oral antiviral medication. The company, which already offers COVID-19 testing capabilities, caters its services to payers, pharma manufacturers, and healthcare companies like K Health and GoodRx. It announced a $142 million funding round last month.

Other

Senior-focused Cano Health will install MedAvail pharmacy kiosks at four of its clinics in California. The kiosks enable to virtually consult with pharmacists, fill their prescriptions at the clinic, or have them delivered to their homes. MedAvail markets its SpotRx MedCenter kiosks to clinics that primarily serve Medicare patients.

Healthcare connectivity vendor Ellkay shares its sweet potato casserole recipe that of course includes its “homegrown” honey. The company maintains several beehives on the top of its headquarters in New Jersey. I’m fairly certain it’s a favorite giveaway at tradeshows.

Eko will donate its smart stethoscopes and telehealth kits to 59 clinics affiliated with the National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Vendor HIPAA Breach Affects 319K Patients & Their Providers (AdvancedMD)
• The Future is Online Appointment Scheduling (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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