News 11/24/21

Top News

HHS allocates $35 million to help Title X family planning providers enhance and expand their telehealth infrastructure and capacity. Sixty one-time grants will be awarded to qualifying applicants. Applications are due February 3.

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 15 (Wednesday) 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.

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

Announcements and Implementations

Cranberry Peak announces GA of Scriptaid, software designed to help practices streamline radiology order processing.

Community Care Physician Network (NC) implements Innovaccer’s Health Cloud and its population health analytics.

Other

United Health Centers (CA) announces that it was the victim of an August ransomware attack that resulted in some patient information being found on the dark web. The FQHC, which operates a dozen clinics, restored its systems from backups.

Direct Relief launches its Power for Health program, which will distribute $5 million to community health centers and free clinics in need of back-up generators, batteries, and solar systems.

Sponsor Updates

• Healthwise wins several Digital Health Awards.

Blog Posts

• How to Respond to Negative Reviews (AdvancedMD)
• PDMP: Helping Ensure Safety in Prescribing (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/22/21

Top News

Private equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman will jointly acquire Athenahealth from Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital for $17 billion, confirming reports of a sale that have been circulating for several months. Veritas and Evergreen will retain a minority investment in the company, and the current management team will remain in place.

Hellman & Friedman’s health IT portfolio includes Change Healthcare and PointClickCare, while Bain Capital’s includes HST Pathways.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Announcements and Implementations

Cantata Health Solutions announces GA of Arize, new EHR and care coordination software for behavioral health and human services organizations. Cantata acquired behavioral health software vendor ProComp earlier this month.

Long Valley Health Center selects remote patient monitoring technology from BlueStar Telehealth.

Next Level Urgent Care will implement the Allscripts Touchworks EHR and Microsoft Azure hosting and services across its facilities in Houston.

Florence Health implements Athenahealth’s AthenaOne technology, which incorporates EHR, RCM, and practice management capabilities.

Other

In Chicago, family practice physician Valerie Mayuga, MD kicks off her second annual holiday card drive for hospitalized patients. Last year, she collected over 1,000 cards, which she distributed among three hospitals and four nursing homes. She also collected nearly 100 donated tablets so that patients could visit with loved ones over video. Send your holiday cards to:
Dr. Valerie Mayuga
222 East Pearson Street
Chicago, IL 60611

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• You can’t always get what you want (Nordic)
• Accelerating Speed to Care with Unified Healthcare Communication (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 11/17/21

Top News

Behavioral health telemedicine startup AptiHealth raises $50 million in a Series B round of funding, bringing its total raised to $65 million.

Founded in Troy, NY in 2018, the company plans to move its headquarters to an existing office in Boston, which it plans to expand.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Here’s the recording of our recent webinar titled “Increasing OR Profitability: It May Be Easier than you Think,” sponsored by Copient Health.

People

Tele-mental healthcare company Prairie Health hires Christopher Reist, MD (Relias) as chief medical officer.

Sean Banerjee (SOC Telemed) joins CentralReach as CTO.

Announcements and Implementations

Primary care provider Florence Health adopts the Innovaccer Health Cloud.

Direct care practice management vendor Hint Health adds RubiconMD’s e-consult capabilities to its HintOS member management platform.

Research and Innovation

A Kaiser Permanente analysis of 2.2 million primary care encounters between its providers and members in Northern California between 2016 and 2018 reveals that video, phone, and in-person visits had similar rates of follow-up care. The analysis also found that medication was prescribed and labs ordered at higher rates during in-person visits, though the study’s authors point out that patients may opt for in-person visits because they feel their condition has worsened.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “PDMP Software for Safe Prescribing of Controlled Substances.”
• The Behavioral Healthcare Executive Podcast features AdvancedMD President Amanda Hansen.

Blog Posts

• A Better Billing Solution for Modern Healthcare (EClinicalWorks)
• Engaging Our Community with Event-Based Vaccine Information and Advocacy (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/15/21

Top News

Radiology software vendor Rad AI raises $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Artis Ventures. The San Francisco-based startup’s AI-enabled technology helps radiologists automate repetitive tasks to save time and reduce burnout.

Co-founder Jeff Chang, MD claims to be the youngest radiologist and second youngest physician in US history, having started medical school at the age of 16 and graduated at 20.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

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Webinars

None scheduled in the coming weeks. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Videra Health raises $3 million in seed funding. The company has developed remote patient monitoring tools for mental healthcare patients and providers to use after discharge and/or between appointments. Provider-facing software also provides clinical decision support for timely interventions.

CloudMD, a Canadian clinic operator and health IT developer, will acquire digital mental health care company MindBeacon for $4.78 million plus share consideration. CloudMD will house MindBeacon’s white label, cognitive behavioral therapy software within its Digital Health Services Division.

People

Venkat Chittoor (Vimly) joins Marathon Health as chief product and technology officer.

Research and Innovation

A GoodRx survey of 1,000 patients finds that 40% had more interactions with their providers during the pandemic than before because of telemedicine. That same amount reported spending the same amount of time with their providers during video visits as they had during in-person visits. Moving forward, more than 60% say they’ll use a combination of virtual and in-person care. Of the 600 physicians surveyed, 60% say telemedicine has improved medication adherence. Nearly half found no-show rates for video visits to be equal to or greater than traditional office visits.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 11/10/21

Top News

CVS CEO Karen Lynch tells the Wall Street Journal that the company is looking to hire physicians as part of a broader push to offer primary care at its retail pharmacies. Acquiring that type of clinical talent may also be in cards for the company, according to Lynch.

The company’s plans are in line with those of competitors like Walmart and Walgreens, which has announced it will invest over $5 billion in rolling out primary care clinics in underserved areas across the country through its partnership with VillageMD.

Webinars

November 11 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Increasing OR Profitability: It May Be Easier than you Think.” Sponsor: Copient Health. Presenters: Michael Burke, co-founder and CEO, Copient Health; David Berger, MD, MHCM, CEO, University Hospital of Brooklyn at State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University. The OR is a hospital’s biggest source of revenue and its costliest resource, yet it often sits idle because of unfilled block time even as providers with cases ready to book lack access. AI-powered emerging technologies can help fill unused OR time and provide decision support to structure workflows and optimize block allocation. This webinar explores the biggest challenges to profitability faced in the OR and the fastest, most impactful changes a hospital can make to address them.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Tech-enabled physician practice optimization company Privia Health reports Q3 revenue of $251.5 million, a 21% increase over Q3 2020. The company went public earlier this year, earning parent company Brighton Health Group a $2.75 billion valuation.

Practice management company M2 Orthopedics secures $65 million in a funding round led by Archimedes Health Investors.

People

American Oncology Network hires John Misitis (AmerisourceBergen Oncology Supply) as VP of business development.

Monogram Health promotes Kyle Cooksey to VP of marketing and communications.

Announcements and Implementations

Community Health Centers of Arkansas implements I2I Population Health’s Prizm analytics.

Airrosti Rehab Centers integrates Luna’s in-person, on-demand physical therapy services software with its Airrosti Remote Recovery virtual care service.

Government and Politics

Oak Street Health shares fall on the news that the DoJ has sent the senior-focused primary care company a civil investigate demand about whether or not it violated the False Claims Act. The inquiry seems to be focused on Oak Street’s free transportation service for Medicare beneficiaries and third-party marketing agents. Oak Street brought the matter to light during its most recent earnings call, saying that it will cooperate if and when an investigation moves forward.

Other

Seventy four year-old Patricia Ann Doucet will spend four years in jail and pay nearly $350,000 in restitution for her role in embezzling money for nearly a decade from the dermatology practice where she worked. Her ill-gotten gains came through patient billing schemes and abusing employee profit-sharing accounts.

Dr. Jayne will get a kick out of this: FootwearNews.com covers the fashion event of the week – First Lady Jill Biden’s visit with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD to a pediatric vaccination clinic in Virginia. While no mention was made about her choice of shoes at the school-based clinic, the site does note that her favorite footwear brands include Dior, Jimmy Choo, Stuart Weitzman, and Prada (natch).

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• How to Optimize Texting with Your Patients (AdvancedMD)
• Innova Primary Care: The Upside to Downside Risk (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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