News 11/11/20

Top News

RxVantage acquires OnPoint Oncology, which offers oncologists reimbursement data and analytics related to cancer care. RxVantage will incorporate OnPoint’s software into its app, which connects providers with resources and reps from life sciences companies.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Did you make your bed this morning? (Crawling into a made bed at the end of the day brings me no end of happiness for some reason.) As Admiral William H. McRaven writes in “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life … and Maybe the World,” “It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.” McRaven’s book is one of several included in this list of popular self-help books every doctor should read. Perhaps more fitting for today’s clinic workloads is “The Resilient Practitioner: Burnout and Compassion Fatigue Prevention and Self-Care Strategies for the Helping Professions” by Thomas M. Skovholt and Michelle Trotter-Mathison.

Clinicians, can you recommend other books that have helped you with maintaining physical and emotional well-being? Or have served as good ‘ole escapes at the end of a long, hard day? Please email me with your suggestions.

On a lighter note, Hulu is bringing back The Hardy Boys as an original series in early December. Being more of a Nancy Drew fan myself, I had no idea that Frank and Joe have been around since 1927. The series should arrive just in time for binge-watching over the holidays.

Webinars

November 12 (Thursday) 5 ET: “Getting Surgical Documentation Right: A Fireside Chat.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alex Dawson, product manager, IMO; Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO; Lou Ann Montgomery, RN, BSN, nurse informaticist, IMO; Whitney Mannion, RN, clinical terminologist, IMO. The presenters will discuss using checklists, templates, the EHR, and third-party solutions to improve documentation without overburdening clinicians. They will explore the importance of surgical documentation in perioperative patient management, the guidelines and requirements for surgical documentation and operative notes, how refining practices and tools can improve accuracy and efficiency, and the risks and implications of incomplete, inconsistent, and non-compliant documentation.

November 16 (Monday) 1 ET. “COVID-19 and Beyond: A CISO’s Perspective for Staying Ahead of Threats.” Sponsor: Everbridge. Presenter: Sonia Arista, VP and global chief information security officer, Everbridge. While hospitals worldwide work to resume elective care amid COVID-19, they’re quickly adapting and responding to a variety of emerging risks that have tested their resilience, including a surge in cybersecurity and ransomware attacks. This webinar will highlight emerging IT vulnerabilities and best practices designed to help hospitals anticipate and quickly mitigate cybersecurity risks. A former hospital CISO will share her expertise in responding to high-impact IT incidents and mitigating risks during critical events given the “new normal” that COVID-19 has created.

November 18 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Do You Really Have a Telehealth Program, Or Just Videoconferencing?” Sponsor: Mend Family. Presenters: J. D. McFarland, solutions architect, Mend Family; Nick Neral, national account executive, Mend Family.  Healthcare’s new competitive advantage is telehealth, of which a videoconferencing platform is just a small part. This presentation will describe a comprehensive patient journey in which an organization can acquire new patients, reduce check-in time, reduce no-shows, and increase patient satisfaction, all using virtual care. Health systems did a good job in quickly standing up virtual visits in response to COVID, but telehealth and the digital front door are here to stay and now is a good time to re-evaluate tools and processes that support patient scheduling, digital forms, telehealth, and patient engagement as part of a competitive strategy.

November 18 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “Leveraging a Clinical Intelligence Engine to Solve the EHR Usability Crisis.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenter: Jay Anders, MD, MS, chief medical officer, Medicomp; David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp. Healthcare is long overdue for a data makeover. Clinician burnout is fueled by inaccurate, inconsistent, and incomplete clinical data, but that can be improved without scrapping existing systems. The presenters will describe the use of tools that work seamlessly with EHR workflows to deliver actionable data, improve interoperability; support the clinician’s thought process; and improve usability for better decision-making and accurate coding.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Los Angeles-based clinic operator Titanium Healthcare acquires Farid Shakibai, MD Primary Care in Fountain Valley, CA. Titanium will help the practice implement and manage telemedicine services, as well as other care management services.

Oncology analytics company Cota receives a $10 million investment from Varian, its third from the company this year. Cota will work with Varian, which offers similar, cancer-focused technologies, to develop new decision-support tools.

Announcements and Implementations

San Francisco Otolaryngology implements 2bPrecise’s precision medicine software, which combines genomic data from labs with clinical data from EHRs.

The Nebraska Health Information Initiative and Iowa Health Information Network consider merging their HIE operations, which serve a combined 1,000 organizations.

Advanced Imaging Concepts (FL) selects radiology image and data management software from RadNet’s ERad subsidiary.

Other

Ninety year-old Korean War veteran James Nicholson, MD tandem skydives in Kansas City, MO as part of Veterans Day celebrations at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Nicholson, who was joined by 19 other veterans between 28 and 96, has had a family practice in Greenville, MO for the last 62 years. He’s now a supervising physician who still sees patients.

USA Today profiles Barbara Hummel, MD a family physician who has been practicing in the Milwaukee area for 15 years. The 77 year-old says COVID-19 has taken its toll on her practice: Face-to-face appointments have decreased, causing her revenue to plummet 60% and forcing her – now the sole employee – to pay for expenses from her own pocket. She says telemedicine isn’t a viable option, as reimbursement is nil and her mostly older patients don’t have smart phones or computers. Demand for PPE from local health systems has overshadowed her own, forcing her to buy from consumer-facing retailers at higher prices. She offers COVID testing as a community service, despite the fact it brings in no revenue. At the end of the day, however, she has no interest in hanging up her stethoscope: “I’m concerned, I take all the precautions I can. I know that if I get COVID I’m probably at risk of being one of the fatalities, but if I dwell on that I wouldn’t leave my house and I can’t do that. I have an obligation to be here and to help provide care for my patients and I understand that obligation.” 

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• How to save money on prescription drugs with GoodRx and RXSaver (AdvancedMD)
• How Little River Medical Center Thrived During the Pandemic (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/9/20

Top News

CVS Health reports Q3 results: revenue up 3.5%; EPS of $1.66, beating analyst expectations for both.

The company has been in the midst of a nationwide roll out of HealthHubs, which emphasize healthcare services over the company’s traditional retail footprint. CVS now has 450 hubs in 30 states, with another 150 expected to open by year’s end.

On the earnings call, President and CEO Larry Merlo announced that EVP Karen Lynch will take over when he retires early next year. Merlo started with the company 40 years ago as a pharmacist.

Webinars

November 11 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Beyond the Firewall: Securing Patients, Staff, and the Healthcare Internet of Things.” Sponsor: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. Presenter: Daniel Faurlin, head of network solutions for healthcare, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. The biggest cybersecurity risk for healthcare IoT isn’t the objects themselves, but rather the “network door” they can open. This network infrastructure-oriented webinar will address overcoming the challenges of architecting a network to provide security, management, and monitoring for IoT, devices, and users using ALE’s Digital Age Networking blueprint, a single service platform for hospital networks. Digital Age Networking includes an autonomous network, onboarding and managing IoT, and creating business innovation with automated workflows. Specific use cases will describe enabling COVID-19 quarantine management, contact tracing, locating equipment and people, and ensuring the security of patients and more.

November 12 (Thursday) 5 ET: “Getting Surgical Documentation Right: A Fireside Chat.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alex Dawson, product manager, IMO; Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO; Lou Ann Montgomery, RN, BSN, nurse informaticist, IMO; Whitney Mannion, RN, clinical terminologist, IMO. The presenters will discuss using checklists, templates, the EHR, and third-party solutions to improve documentation without overburdening clinicians. They will explore the importance of surgical documentation in perioperative patient management, the guidelines and requirements for surgical documentation and operative notes, how refining practices and tools can improve accuracy and efficiency, and the risks and implications of incomplete, inconsistent, and non-compliant documentation.

November 16 (Monday) 1 ET. “COVID-19 and Beyond: A CISO’s Perspective for Staying Ahead of Threats.” Sponsor: Everbridge. Presenter: Sonia Arista, VP and global chief information security officer, Everbridge. While hospitals worldwide work to resume elective care amid COVID-19, they’re quickly adapting and responding to a variety of emerging risks that have tested their resilience, including a surge in cybersecurity and ransomware attacks. This webinar will highlight emerging IT vulnerabilities and best practices designed to help hospitals anticipate and quickly mitigate cybersecurity risks. A former hospital CISO will share her expertise in responding to high-impact IT incidents and mitigating risks during critical events given the “new normal” that COVID-19 has created.

November 18 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Do You Really Have a Telehealth Program, Or Just Videoconferencing?” Sponsor: Mend Family. Presenters: J. D. McFarland, solutions architect, Mend Family; Nick Neral, national account executive, Mend Family.  Healthcare’s new competitive advantage is telehealth, of which a videoconferencing platform is just a small part. This presentation will describe a comprehensive patient journey in which an organization can acquire new patients, reduce check-in time, reduce no-shows, and increase patient satisfaction, all using virtual care. Health systems did a good job in quickly standing up virtual visits in response to COVID, but telehealth and the digital front door are here to stay and now is a good time to re-evaluate tools and processes that support patient scheduling, digital forms, telehealth, and patient engagement as part of a competitive strategy.

November 18 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “Leveraging a Clinical Intelligence Engine to Solve the EHR Usability Crisis.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenter: Jay Anders, MD, MS, chief medical officer, Medicomp; David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp. Healthcare is long overdue for a data makeover. Clinician burnout is fueled by inaccurate, inconsistent, and incomplete clinical data, but that can be improved without scrapping existing systems. The presenters will describe the use of tools that work seamlessly with EHR workflows to deliver actionable data, improve interoperability; support the clinician’s thought process; and improve usability for better decision-making and accurate coding.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Canadian Well Health Technologies acquires virtual care and charting automation company INSIG. The clinic operator and EHR vendor had previously owned 40% of INSIG, integrated its technology with its Oscar EHR, and used it to power its VirtualClinic+ telemedicine service.

MTBC reports record Q3 revenue of $31.6 million, an 88% increase over the year before. CEO Stephen Snyder says the company expects to close the year with $130 million in revenue. MTBC acquired EHR vendor Care Cloud in January, and Meridian Medical Management in June.

Bastion Health raises $2.2 million from Werth Family Investment Associates, an affiliate of UConn’s Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Founded by UConn graduate Reza Amin, the startup offers online telemedicine and prescription delivery focused on men’s reproductive health. Amin and his team are working to develop a smartphone diagnostic tool that will provide quick results for men’s fertility tests.

People

PatientPop names David McNeil (HubSpot) president.

Health Plus Management hires Michael Jablon (Varsity Healthcare Partners) as SVP of business development and finance.

Announcements and Implementations

Kareo announces GA of Patient Collect, patient-friendly billing software that includes multiple payment options, email and text reminders, and EHR integration.

Government and Politics

The FCC begins accepting applications for its Connected Care Pilot Program, which will provide up to $100 million to help providers cover costs related to connectivity for telehealth programs. Applications are due by December 7.

Research and Innovation

Texas A&M professors and students are in the process of developing a van that can bring telemedicine services to patients in rural areas. Equipped with remote diagnostic devices and video conferencing capabilities, the self-driving “ENDEAVRide” will also transport patients to healthcare facilities as needed.

Other

Advanced Urgent Care (FL) notifies patients of a ransomware attack in March that encrypted backup files containing the PHI of 14,000 patients, which the hackers made available on a file-sharing site after AUC refused to pay the ransom.

Staff at Amicus Health GP practice in Devon, England take part in an eight-week trial of a mood-tracking wearable from Moodbeam. Users can log their moods, which an accompanying app tracks and analyzes, pointing out triggers and patterns. Employers can then see aggregated mood data on a dashboard, enabling them to offer resources to strained workers.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• A leadership conversation with President of Managed Services Vivek Swaminathan (Nordic)
• Building More Efficient Schedules for Academic Hospitals (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/4/20

Top News

The local business paper reports that health data integration vendor Bridge Connector will shut down operations. The Nashville-based company launched in 2017 and has raised $45.5 million, including a $25.5 million Series B round announced a few months ago.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Fall has been in full force in my area for several weeks now. I’m hoping the colorful foliage lasts a few more so that I can have one last look when I head back to the North Georgia mountains. If not, perhaps my favorite mountain towns will have already started decorating for Christmas.

No matter what color the leaves are, there’s still plenty of time to indulge in favorite fall activities. Camping and seasonal baking top my list. I chuckled when I came across “7 Books to Read Based on Your Favorite Fall Activity.” (Curling up with a good book is always a favorite past time, no matter what the season.) There are suggestions for those who love hiking, baking, apple-picking, football, roasting s’mores, and putting up early Christmas decorations.

It would be fun to come up with books based on health IT-related activities and topics like go lives, ransomware attacks, HIPAA violations, meeting CMS reporting requirements, and the like. Feel free to email me with your suggestions.

If those books don’t pique your interest, check out former hospital CIO and StarBridge Advisors Principal Sue Schade’s recent blog on how good books can help you break your “doomscrolling” habit.

Webinars

November 11 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Beyond the Firewall: Securing Patients, Staff, and the Healthcare Internet of Things.” Sponsor: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. Presenter: Daniel Faurlin, head of network solutions for healthcare, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. The biggest cybersecurity risk for healthcare IoT isn’t the objects themselves, but rather the “network door” they can open. This network infrastructure-oriented webinar will address overcoming the challenges of architecting a network to provide security, management, and monitoring for IoT, devices, and users using ALE’s Digital Age Networking blueprint, a single service platform for hospital networks. Digital Age Networking includes an autonomous network, onboarding and managing IoT, and creating business innovation with automated workflows. Specific use cases will describe enabling COVID-19 quarantine management, contact tracing, locating equipment and people, and ensuring the security of patients and more.

November 12 (Thursday) 5 ET: “Getting Surgical Documentation Right: A Fireside Chat.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alex Dawson, product manager, IMO; Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO; Lou Ann Montgomery, RN, BSN, nurse informaticist, IMO; Whitney Mannion, RN, clinical terminologist, IMO. The presenters will discuss using checklists, templates, the EHR, and third-party solutions to improve documentation without overburdening clinicians. They will explore the importance of surgical documentation in perioperative patient management, the guidelines and requirements for surgical documentation and operative notes, how refining practices and tools can improve accuracy and efficiency, and the risks and implications of incomplete, inconsistent, and non-compliant documentation.

November 16 (Monday) 1 ET. “COVID-19 and Beyond: A CISO’s Perspective for Staying Ahead of Threats.” Sponsor: Everbridge. Presenter: Sonia Arista, VP and global chief information security officer, Everbridge. While hospitals worldwide work to resume elective care amid COVID-19, they’re quickly adapting and responding to a variety of emerging risks that have tested their resilience, including a surge in cybersecurity and ransomware attacks. This webinar will highlight emerging IT vulnerabilities and best practices designed to help hospitals anticipate and quickly mitigate cybersecurity risks. A former hospital CISO will share her expertise in responding to high-impact IT incidents and mitigating risks during critical events given the “new normal” that COVID-19 has created.

November 18 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Do You Really Have a Telehealth Program, Or Just Videoconferencing?” Sponsor: Mend Family. Presenters: J. D. McFarland, solutions architect, Mend Family; Nick Neral, national account executive, Mend Family.  Healthcare’s new competitive advantage is telehealth, of which a videoconferencing platform is just a small part. This presentation will describe a comprehensive patient journey in which an organization can acquire new patients, reduce check-in time, reduce no-shows, and increase patient satisfaction, all using virtual care. Health systems did a good job in quickly standing up virtual visits in response to COVID, but telehealth and the digital front door are here to stay and now is a good time to re-evaluate tools and processes that support patient scheduling, digital forms, telehealth, and patient engagement as part of a competitive strategy.

November 18 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “Leveraging a Clinical Intelligence Engine to Solve the EHR Usability Crisis.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenter: Jay Anders, MD, MS, chief medical officer, Medicomp; David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp. Healthcare is long overdue for a data makeover. Clinician burnout is fueled by inaccurate, inconsistent, and incomplete clinical data, but that can be improved without scrapping existing systems. The presenters will describe the use of tools that work seamlessly with EHR workflows to deliver actionable data, improve interoperability; support the clinician’s thought process; and improve usability for better decision-making and accurate coding.

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

Announcements and Implementations

First 1,000 Days Sarasota (FL) implements social services and healthcare referral software from Unite Us. The county-run program connects parents in need with services vital for prenatal through early childhood development.

The Mississippi State Medical Association partners with the Konza Nationwide Network, an HIE operator, to launch the Mississippi Health Access Exchange.

Government and Politics

The City of New Haven in Connecticut will pay $202,400 to the HHS Office of Civil Rights to settle potential HIPAA violations related to its health department’s failure to implement employee termination procedures, enabling a former staffer to download the PHI, including STD test results, of nearly 500 patients.

Other

Alamance Skin Center, an affiliated practice of Cone Health (NC), notifies patients of a July ransomware attack that left the practice unable to recover some patient data.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Protecting Your Practice from Growing Telehealth Cybersecurity Threats (Part 1) (AdvancedMD)
• Looking Back at Our First Virtual National Conference #eCWNC20 (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.

News 11/2/20

Top News

Austin, TX-based Remedy lays off 82 employees, many of whom were “recent hires that had been added during the peak of the COVID-19 volumes during the summer,” according to Chief Marketing Officer Keith Munro, who insists the company’s core business is still on solid footing.

The company offers app-based house calls, virtual visits, and office visits at its clinic in an Austin Whole Foods. It raised a $10 million Series A financing round last year, bringing its total to just over $12 million since launching in 2015.

Founder and CEO Jeremy Gabrysch, MD spent the preceding years the Chief Medical Officer for a 150-bed teaching hospital in Ethiopia, where he helped to stand up a CT scanner, digital radiology, PACS system, and EHR.

Webinars

November 11 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Beyond the Firewall: Securing Patients, Staff, and the Healthcare Internet of Things.” Sponsor: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. Presenter: Daniel Faurlin, head of network solutions for healthcare, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. The biggest cybersecurity risk for healthcare IoT isn’t the objects themselves, but rather the “network door” they can open. This network infrastructure-oriented webinar will address overcoming the challenges of architecting a network to provide security, management, and monitoring for IoT, devices, and users using ALE’s Digital Age Networking blueprint, a single service platform for hospital networks. Digital Age Networking includes an autonomous network, onboarding and managing IoT, and creating business innovation with automated workflows. Specific use cases will describe enabling COVID-19 quarantine management, contact tracing, locating equipment and people, and ensuring the security of patients and more.

November 12 (Thursday) 5 ET: “Getting Surgical Documentation Right: A Fireside Chat.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alex Dawson, product manager, IMO; Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO; Lou Ann Montgomery, RN, BSN, nurse informaticist, IMO; Whitney Mannion, RN, clinical terminologist, IMO. The presenters will discuss using checklists, templates, the EHR, and third-party solutions to improve documentation without overburdening clinicians. They will explore the importance of surgical documentation in perioperative patient management, the guidelines and requirements for surgical documentation and operative notes, how refining practices and tools can improve accuracy and efficiency, and the risks and implications of incomplete, inconsistent, and non-compliant documentation.

November 16 (Monday) 1 ET. “COVID-19 and Beyond: A CISO’s Perspective for Staying Ahead of Threats.” Sponsor: Everbridge. Presenter: Sonia Arista, VP and global chief information security officer, Everbridge. While hospitals worldwide work to resume elective care amid COVID-19, they’re quickly adapting and responding to a variety of emerging risks that have tested their resilience, including a surge in cybersecurity and ransomware attacks. This webinar will highlight emerging IT vulnerabilities and best practices designed to help hospitals anticipate and quickly mitigate cybersecurity risks. A former hospital CISO will share her expertise in responding to high-impact IT incidents and mitigating risks during critical events given the “new normal” that COVID-19 has created.

November 18 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Do You Really Have a Telehealth Program, Or Just Videoconferencing?” Sponsor: Mend Family. Presenters: J. D. McFarland, solutions architect, Mend Family; Nick Neral, national account executive, Mend Family.  Healthcare’s new competitive advantage is telehealth, of which a videoconferencing platform is just a small part. This presentation will describe a comprehensive patient journey in which an organization can acquire new patients, reduce check-in time, reduce no-shows, and increase patient satisfaction, all using virtual care. Health systems did a good job in quickly standing up virtual visits in response to COVID, but telehealth and the digital front door are here to stay and now is a good time to re-evaluate tools and processes that support patient scheduling, digital forms, telehealth, and patient engagement as part of a competitive strategy.

November 18 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “Leveraging a Clinical Intelligence Engine to Solve the EHR Usability Crisis.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenter: Jay Anders, MD, MS, chief medical officer, Medicomp; David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp. Healthcare is long overdue for a data makeover. Clinician burnout is fueled by inaccurate, inconsistent, and incomplete clinical data, but that can be improved without scrapping existing systems. The presenters will describe the use of tools that work seamlessly with EHR workflows to deliver actionable data, improve interoperability; support the clinician’s thought process; and improve usability for better decision-making and accurate coding.

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

Here’s the recording of last week’s Bright.md webinar titled ““How Presbyterian Healthcare Services Is Preparing for a Post-Pandemic Future Using Digital Care Tools,” featuring PHS SVP/Chief Innovation Officer Ries Robinson, MD as interviewed by Bright.md co-founder CEO Ray Costantini, MD.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Gas station and convenience store QuikTrip launches a chain of urgent care clinics in Oklahoma under the MedWise brand. The Tulsa, OK-based company plans on opening 15 locations across the state within the next two years.

In Canada, Well Health Technologies forms a new business unit, the Well Billing and Backoffice Group, through its acquisition of Toronto-based DoctorCare for $13.6 million.

People

Jack Nathan Health, well known in Canada for its chain of primary care clinics in Walmart stores, names Serge Cinelli (Bluewater Imaging) CTO.

Announcements and Implementations

Frazier Wellness Services implements EHR software from Procentive, which specializes in health IT for mental and behavioral health providers.

Research and Innovation

A very small survey of physicians, practice leaders, and investors finds that 51% of respondents expect patient volume to return to pre-COVID levels by early next year. Physicians were split regarding job satisfaction over the last nine months, with half saying there’s been no change and half reporting it’s gotten worse. While 60% say the pandemic hasn’t pushed them to consider selling their practices, a third believe it has propelled physician retirements.

Other

A man exploring an out-of-the-way World War II landmark in St. Louis discovers the abandoned medical records of almost 60 patients of a nearby DaVita dialysis clinic. A Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services representative says its unclear if the boxes were dumped by the clinic or its records storage company.

This seems strange to me: Healthcare Advisory Network and BasiCare Plus partner to offer a telemedicine membership program to consumers and businesses on Amazon. Virtual visits are provided through MDLive’s network, and it is apparently one of Amazon’s few listed telemedicine providers that offer prescription benefits. Readers, feel free to educate me on why a company would list this kind of service on Amazon.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• How to find your broken EHR windows (Nordic)

• 10-Point Checklist: Deploying Shared Devices for Nurses (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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

News 10/28/20

Top News

Anonymous sources report that Outcome Health, which offers pharma-backed advertising software for waiting and exam rooms, is in talks to merge with competitor PatientPoint in a deal that could value the combined company at $600 million.

Chicago-based Outcome Health was once valued at $5 billion before allegations of fraud prompted it to pay a $70 million settlement and admit that some of its high-level employees, several of whom were brought to trial, engaged in fraudulent activities between 2012 and 2017.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Still undecided on a Halloween costume? Check out these “15 Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas for Book Lovers.” I’ll likely end up raiding the closet of a family member who performed in “Singing in the Rain” several years ago.

I was pleased to discover that one of my local libraries has finally opened its doors again. I haven’t had the chance to visit (curbside check-out has spoiled me), but I do wonder if it – like these facilities – have done anything creative for Halloween.

I’ll be on the look-out for creative, health IT-related Halloween costumes over the weekend. (Remember when folks dressed up as Blue Button?) Send me any get-ups you come across. Hopefully we can all have some much-needed fun this Saturday.

Webinars

October 29 (Thursday) 1 ET. “How Presbyterian Healthcare Services Is Preparing for a Post-Pandemic Future Using Digital Care Tools.” Sponsor: Bright.md. Presenters: Ries Robinson, MD, SVP/chief innovation officer, Presbyterian Healthcare Services; Ray Costantini, MD, MBA, co-founder and CEO, Bright.md. Presbyterian Healthcare Services changed the way New Mexico patients access healthcare with its pres.today digital front door, which has given patients easy access to care during a global crisis. The health system’s digital care strategy goes beyond simply offering virtual visits and instead makes every episode of care — regardless of where it is delivered — better by streamlining clinical workflows and by directing patients to the most appropriate venue of care. The presenters will describe how Presbyterian has continued to meet patient needs during the pandemic, how it is deploying digital tools to tackle the combined COVID-19 and flu seasons, and how the health system is innovating care delivery to prepare for a post-pandemic future.

November 11 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Beyond the Firewall: Securing Patients, Staff, and the Healthcare Internet of Things.” Sponsor: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. Presenter: Daniel Faurlin, head of network solutions for healthcare, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. The biggest cybersecurity risk for healthcare IoT isn’t the objects themselves, but rather the network door they can open. This webinar will address meeting the challenges of security, management, and monitoring using ALE’s Digital Age Networking, a single service platform for the network infrastructure that includes an autonomous network, onboarding and managing IoT, and creating business innovation with automated workflows. Specific use cases will be described, including COVID-19 quarantine management, locating equipment and people, and ensuring the security of patients.

November 12 (Thursday) 5 ET: “Getting Surgical Documentation Right: A Fireside Chat.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Alex Dawson, product manager, IMO; Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO; Lou Ann Montgomery, RN, BSN, nurse informaticist, IMO; Whitney Mannion, RN, clinical terminologist, IMO. The presenters will discuss using checklists, templates, the EHR, and third-party solutions to improve documentation without overburdening clinicians. They will explore the importance of surgical documentation in perioperative patient management, the guidelines and requirements for surgical documentation and operative notes, how refining practices and tools can improve accuracy and efficiency, and the risks and implications of incomplete, inconsistent, and non-compliant documentation.

November 16 (Monday) 1 ET. “COVID-19 and Beyond: A CISO’s Perspective for Staying Ahead of Threats.” Sponsor: Everbridge. Presenter: Sonia Arista, VP and global chief information security officer, Everbridge. While hospitals worldwide work to resume elective care amid COVID-19, they’re quickly adapting and responding to a variety of emerging risks that have tested their resilience, including a surge in cybersecurity and ransomware attacks. This webinar will highlight emerging IT vulnerabilities and best practices designed to help hospitals anticipate and quickly mitigate cybersecurity risks. A former hospital CISO will share her expertise in responding to high-impact IT incidents and mitigating risks during critical events given the “new normal” that COVID-19 has created.

November 18 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “Do You Really Have a Telehealth Program, Or Just Videoconferencing?” Sponsor: Mend Family. Presenters: J. D. McFarland, solutions architect, Mend Family; Nick Neral, national account executive, Mend Family.  Healthcare’s new competitive advantage is telehealth, of which a videoconferencing platform is just a small part. This presentation will describe a comprehensive patient journey in which an organization can acquire new patients, reduce check-in time, reduce no-shows, and increase patient satisfaction, all using virtual care. Health systems did a good job in quickly standing up virtual visits in response to COVID, but telehealth and the digital front door are here to stay and now is a good time to re-evaluate tools and processes that support patient scheduling, digital forms, telehealth, and patient engagement as part of a competitive strategy.

November 18 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “Leveraging a Clinical Intelligence Engine to Solve the EHR Usability Crisis.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenter: Jay Anders, MD, MS, chief medical officer, Medicomp; David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp. Healthcare is long overdue for a data makeover. Clinician burnout is fueled by inaccurate, inconsistent, and incomplete clinical data, but that can be improved without scrapping existing systems. The presenters will describe the use of tools that work seamlessly with EHR workflows to deliver actionable data, improve interoperability; support the clinician’s thought process; and improve usability for better decision-making and accurate coding.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Primary and urgent care company Zoom+ Care expands beyond its Pacific Northwest roots with clinics in Colorado and Idaho. The company will also offer its VideoCare service to patients of the three new clinics, which are expected to open in late December and early 2021.

People

VillageMD names Andy Thompson (Bon Secours Mercy Health) COO.

Announcements and Implementations

Georgia Clinic adopts DocNow’s appointment-scheduling across its 16 clinics in Atlanta.

Barry University’s School of Podiatric Medicine implements MTBC’s CareCloud EHR, RCM, and practice management software at its outpatient clinics.

PromptEMR integrates BetterPT’s BetterTelehealth virtual visit software for physical therapists with its PT-focused software.

Child Development Institute (CA) selects EnSoftek’s DrCloudEHR.

Central Oregon Radiology Associates goes live on RoyalMD’s Provider Prime referral management software and accompanying mobile app.

Arizona-based HIE Health Current deploys NextGen’s Health Data Hub to improve delivery of patient care alerts, including COVID-19 test results, to participating providers.

Research and Innovation

No surprise here: A survey of 1,000 consumers finds that 73% of men and 39% of women admitted to multitasking during virtual visits. Top distractions included texting and online activity, and watching some sort of media. (Just under 10% admitted to imbibing “quarantinis” during their appointments.) Funnily enough, 29% say they “dress up” more for a telemedicine appointment than an in-person appointment. Top respondent suggestions for improving video visit interactions include improving video clarity, giving users the ability to ask a physician a question in advance via text, and giving patients the ability to self-schedule their virtual visits.

Other

Pain management specialist Jeff Cara, DO turns his office in Jupiter, FL into an art gallery to uplift the spirits of his patients and give local artists a chance to exhibit their work while galleries are closed during the pandemic. “We thought that patients needed color and optimism,” he said. “We wanted it to feel more like a home or a gallery than a doctor’s office. The patients love it. They ask if they can walk around the office to look. It beats just sitting in a waiting room.”

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• The Benefits of E-Prescribing for High-Risk Patients During COVID-19 (AdvancedMD)
• Know the Issues on Your NC20 ‘Ballot’! (EClinicalWorks)
• Battle Resident Burnout with Better Scheduling (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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