News 6/1/20

Top News

Tia will use a $24.75 million funding round to expand its virtual and brick-and-mortar clinical services to new markets. The Series A financing will also enable the company to add pregnancy services, according to co-founder Carolyn Witte, who came to the company from Google.

Tia launched in 2016 with a text-based app that offered women cycle tracking and health and wellness advice. It opened its flagship clinic in NYC last year to offer primary and mental healthcare. Its opening garnered such interest that it was forced to scale back services for a time while it dealt with onboarding new patients and finishing build-out of its facility.

Its virtual visit capabilities, available through its Connected Care Platform, saw a surge in use during COVID-19 quarantine periods, with half of its 3,000 members transitioning to video visits.

HIStalk Practice Musings

I love coming across industry folks who have the same literary leanings: Identity security company SailPoint Chief Product Officer Paul Trulove shares my like for Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge series. Highly recommended if you love 1,000-plus pages, architecture and/or historical fiction. His favorite book of all time is “The Eagle Has Landed” by Jack Higgins – a story that appeals to his fascination with World War II. He’s currently reading “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. Both books are now on my “reserve for curbside pick-up” list! Email me with your recommendations any time.

Webinars

June 10 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “COVID-19: preparing your OR for elective surgeries.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity Inc.; David Bocanegra, RN, nurse informaticist, IMO. The presenters will cover the steps and guidelines that are needed for hospitals to resume performing elective surgeries and how healthcare information technology can optimize efficiencies and financial outcomes for the return of the OR.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Canadian healthcare and technology company Well Health Technologies makes a $250,000 investment in Phelix.ai, which has developed healthcare automation software for patient scheduling, intake, and billing. Well Health will offer its Oscar EMR end users access to Phelix’s technology. The company has also acquired Toronto-based Indivica, its seventh EHR vendor acquisition.

Virtual physical therapy company PT Genie opens its new headquarters in Orlando. It plans to hire dozens of employees by the end of the year.

People

Ambulatory surgery center software company Surgical Notes hires John Carradine (A-LIGN Compliance and Security) as CFO.

Healthwise promotes Landon Reese to chief product officer.

Announcements and Implementations

EHR vendor Exscribe Orthopaedic Healthcare Solutions selects software development and RCM outsourcing services from MTBC Force.

Chicago-based Pinnacle Dermatology implements RCM software from R1.

Research and Innovation

A survey of 2,000 consumers finds that choosing a provider, rather than having one assigned, will be the biggest determining factor in their continued use of telemedicine once brick-and-mortar clinics reopen. Consumers also say they’ll favor telemedicine services that won’t require downloading extra apps or programs.

Other

McKinsey looks at telemedicine’s potential given its COVID-19-induced popularity, estimating that nearly $250 billion of current US healthcare spending could be virtualized. Specifically, analysts believe 24% of outpatient visits could be delivered virtually, and another 9% could be delivered “near virtually;” 35% of home health visits could be virtualized; and 20% of ER visits could be avoided with virtual urgent care offerings.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Like Telehealth? There’s More! (EClinicalWorks)
• 3 Ways Content as a Service Helps You Win at Social Media (Healthwise)
• Studies in reacting to crisis with agility: The power of partnerships (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 5/27/20

Top News

NextGen Healthcare launches an advisory service that will be led by CMO Betty Rabinowitz, MD.

The five-member team will initially focus on helping ambulatory organizations navigate value-based care or risk-bearing contracts while improving quality and outcomes.

HIStalk Practice Musings

It’s finally happened. I’ve gone through all the books in my personal library that I care to re-read, and am now having to borrow from friends until my local public library re-opens. I tried e-reading, but gave up after I couldn’t find titles I was interested in. Reading old favorites over the last few months has made me realize I don’t enjoy E.M. Forster as much as I once did. I was a bit of a Merchant Ivory film fan once upon a time.

What books/authors have you relied on during quarantine? What fun summer reads do you have lined up? Email me or leave a comment below.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Practice management and RCM company Jorie Healthcare Partners, which has offices in Chicago and India, launches a technology division after acquiring an unnamed software vendor.

People

Home health and remote patient monitoring company Electronic Caregiver names Mark Francis (AWS) Chief Digital Health Integration Officer.

Announcements and Implementations

In Columbus, Ohio, the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County selects managed care software from Streamline Healthcare Solutions.

Premier Family Physicians in Austin begins offering app-based house calls and virtual visits from Remedy.

Utah Cancer Specialists implements precision medicine informatics software from Xifin.

Government and Politics

Officials in Franklin County, MO vote to back out of the regional PDMP, citing lack of need and updates on the program’s impact, and concern that it’s being used as a law-enforcement tool. Prescribers have, since 2018, been required to report prescriptions for certain controlled substances through the Web-based program. The county had ranked as one of the highest in the nation for opioid prescriptions, according to CDC data. Missouri is the only state in the country without a statewide PDMP.

Research and Innovation

Telemedicine’s exponential uptick has helped with care continuity during the pandemic, but has left many physicians with billing-induced headaches – hardly ideal at a time when practices are struggling to stay afloat. A survey of 983 physicians conducted by the Pennsylvania Medical Society found that a third of respondents believe reimbursement to be “difficult” or “very difficult.” For all the news around telemedicine’s explosion and headlines shouting “no going back,” I have to wonder if billing difficulties will curtail enthusiasm for virtual visits once the pandemic truly wanes.

MGMA’s latest look at physician compensation finds primary care salaries increased 2.6% between 2018 and 2019 to nearly $275,000. Top-earning specialties were urgent care and pulmonology. These figures will prove to be interesting benchmarks when contrasted with data for 2019-2020, which has so far seen practices reported a 55% decrease in revenue and a 60% decrease in patient volume since the beginning of the pandemic.

Other

After being swamped with patients at his practice seeking testing for COVID-19, Alex Salerno, MD takes matters into his own hands and launches a mobile testing for vulnerable populations in New Jersey’s Orange county. He’s so far spent $100,000 on retrofitting a used van and purchasing PPE, some from the black market. The investment has enabled him to mobilize 100 staffers who offer testing from the van and in the homes of patients. The mayor has been a major proponent: “We have seven senior buildings in a 2.2-square-mile area, so it includes a lot of vulnerable people. We know that the more we get tested, the more we know, the better we can fight this thing. And so having his van is really something that’s tremendous for our community.”

The local news profiles Hixny’s efforts to help the New York State Department of Health better identify and track cases of COVID-19. The HIE began in early March to tailor its flu surveillance capabilities to better identify patients with COVID-19 symptoms. The organization is now preparing to help with contact-tracing efforts.

Sponsor Updates

• Healthwise celebrates its 45th anniversary.
• The Healthcare Technology Report includes AdvancedMD CEO Raul Villar on its list of “The Top 50 Healthcare Technology CEOs Of 2020.”

Blog Posts

• Patient Benefits of an Advanced Automated Answering Service Solution (PerfectServe)
• Routine Care During Nonroutine Times (EClinicalWorks)
• Financially recovering from COVID-19: Strategies to maximize cash flow (Nordic)
• How to Scale & Optimize Your Telehealth Offerings (Part 2) (AdvancedMD)
• Telehealth: Healing Action at a Distance (EClinicalWorks)
• 5 areas to consider when reopening your operating room (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 5/13/20

Top News

Value-based primary care care improvement company Stellar Health raises $10 million in a Series A investment round.

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

Parthenon Capital makes an undisclosed investment in prescription savings and analytics vendor RxSense. WebMD announced earlier this year that it would incorporate RxSense’s consumer-friendly SingleCare prescription savings technology into its own drug discount service.

Announcements and Implementations

Houston-based startup Octagos Health announces GA of remote monitoring software for implanted cardiac devices.

PracticeSuite adds credentialing and coding services from AIMA Business and Medical Services to its line of practice management, EHR, billing, and telemedicine software.

South Bend Clinic (IN) implements DocASAP’s online scheduling software for virtual visits.

Doctor on Demand makes its service available to Medicare Part B beneficiaries, and will waive their copays during the pandemic.

True Women’s Health (MI) launches a virtual care and patient engagement app utilizing OptimizeRx’s RMDY software.

House call company Avalon Physician Services (MI) selects virtual COVID-19 symptom screening and remote monitoring software from Wanda Health.

Zocdoc adds telemedicine services powered by Twilio to its Web-based provider search and appointment-booking tools. It will also offer the software as a white-label service to providers.

People

MTBC promotes Karl Johnson to president of its MTBC Force division.

Steven Sell (Health Net) joins Agilon Health as CEO.

PT Genie names Bob Malone (Fernweh Health) CEO.

Research and Innovation

Just 13% of surveyed consumers report feeling confident enough to return to in-person visits with their local physician within the next two months, according to a Black Book survey of 600 people. Of those that have recently used telemedicine in place of in-person visits, 78% were satisfied with their experience. Since the survey didn’t address the likelihood of that same group continuing with virtual visits for routine care, I reached out to several physicians to gauge their thoughts on the post-pandemic future of telemedicine. You can read their comments here.

Other

Privia Health reports 40,000 seniors used its virtual care technology to connect with their Privia Medical Group providers during the initial months of the COVID-19 outbreak. The company developed its own telemedicine software in 2017 and now performs 7,000 online visits each day.

Urgent care chain CityMD mistakenly tells 15,000 patients that the positive results of their COVID-19 antibody tests mean they are immune to the virus. Public health officials have stressed that positive results do not equal immunity. Blaming the incorrect messaging on an editing error in the patient portal, the company has reached out to affected patients to ensure they have the correct information.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 5/11/20

Top News

Primary and urgent care company Carbon Health adds $26 million to its Series B round thanks to additional funding from investor DCVC. The San Francisco-based company, which also has clinics in Los Angeles and Reno, NV, has raised $62.5 million since opening in 2015.

It has used the money to hire several hundred employees and to expand its COVID-19 testing efforts, which include a readiness program designed to help employers test employees and monitor their exposure. It also plans to expand access to its telemedicine service from 16 states to all 50 by the end of the summer.

Webinars

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

Announcements and Implementations

Equicare Health adds videoconferencing software to its line of cancer care coordination and patient engagement technology.

Bizmatics announces GA of Virtual Md, new white-label telemedicine software.

Safety Net Connect adds access to HubMD physicians through its Converge e-consult software.

DrChrono integrates machine-learning charting capabilities from EHRsynergy with its EHR.

Employer-focused MyTelemedicine launches Zeally Health, giving providers access to customizable virtual visit technology.

People

Asif Ahmad (Dimensional Dental)  joins radiology management company LucidHealth as CEO.

Other

Nonprofit Fair Health develops an interactive telemedicine tracking map that displays comparative data on volume, urban versus rural use, as well as top procedure codes and diagnoses across the country.

Privia Health Chief Clinical Officer Keith Fernandez, MD confirms that the company has sent emails to Privia Medical Group patients asking them to participate in a COVID-19 crowdsourcing survey. De-identified symptom and treatment data collected from the daily questionnaires will be used to help the federal government better assess what treatments are being used and how patients are responding to them. Sixteen thousand Privia patients have opted in thus far. Wake Forest Baptist and Atrium Health in North Carolina have also opted in to the program, which uses portal technology donated by Oracle. 

As states begin to reopen, physician practices say their top challenges will be:

• Developing COVID-19 safety guidelines.
• Ensuring necessary supplies are on hand.
• Dealing with unpredictable patient volumes.
• Managing fear of exposure among patients and staff.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic posts a podcast titled “Rise in telehealth sessions alone won’t create great patient experiences.”
• AdvancedMD publishes a new e-book, “Telehealth: The Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Revenue, Keeping More of What You’re Paid, and Thriving Through Thick and Thin.”

Blog Posts

• Request telehealth and COVID-19 lab payer matrix (Nordic)
• 5 Warning Signs Your Answering Service Might be Hurting Your Practice (PerfectServe)
• Sustaining Medical Practice During COVID-19 (EClinicalWorks)
• Patient Education can Eliminate Three of Your Biggest Challenges (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 5/6/20

Top News

CVS Health shares increase 3% on reports of Q1 sales of $67 billion and EPS of $1.91. CEO Larry Merlo says the retailer has seen a pandemic-induced spike in its digital services, with Minute Clinic’s virtual visits increasing 600%.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Chronic care management technology and services startup TimeDoc Health raises $5.7 million in Series A round of funding led by Vocap Investment Partners. It plans to use the financing to enhance EHR integrations, develop remote patient monitoring capabilities, and expand its sales team.

Announcements and Implementations

EyeXam announces GA of a new app that incorporates telemedicine capabilities from GenieMD with its eye care and diagnosis software.

HealthTalk AI adds access to virtual visits to its patient engagement and relationship management technology.

Health IT and billing company MDS Medical will outsource its revenue cycle management using MTBC Force software and services.

Doximity adds video visit capabilities to its physician networking app. The company will make Dialer Video available to users for free through January 2021.

Online prescription savings service GoodRx adds SteadyMD to its list of pediatric telemedicine providers.

Government and Politics

Walmart returns $12.6 million from the Provider Relief Fund to the federal government with the explanation that it didn’t request the funds. The company operates three healthcare clinics and several COVID-19 testing sites.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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