News 1/8/20

Top News

Ambulatory-focused health IT and RCM vendor MTBC acquires Miami-based competitor CareCloud. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though MTBC touts the acquisition as its largest transaction to date. Its only other acquisition was medical billing and coding company MediGain in 2016.

Webinars

January 29 (Wednesday) 2:00 ET. “State of the Health IT Industry 2020.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenters from Medicomp Systems: Dave Lareau, CEO; Jay Anders, MD, MS, chief medical officer; Dan Gainer, CTO; James Aita, MBA, director of strategy and business development. Despite widespread adoption of EHRs, healthcare professionals struggle with several unresolved systemic challenges, including the lack of EHR usability, limited interoperability between disparate systems, new quality reporting initiatives that create administrative burdens, and escalating levels of physician burnout. Join the webinar to learn how enterprises can address current industry roadblocks with existing market solutions and fix health IT’s biggest challenges.

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

People

Former Athenahealth CMO Kevin Ban, MD takes on a similar role at Walgreens. Ban will be involved in helping to steer physical and digital healthcare services at the company, which announced several months ago that it will close 40% of its in-store clinics and that it is considering going private.

Employer-focused primary care company Proactive MD hires Jon Hernandez (Health Rosetta) as chief strategy officer.

Government and Politics

HHS will use de-identified data from drug testing company Millenium Health’s Emerging Threat Intelligence Program to monitor illicit drug use trends across the country. HHS will then equip local and state public health officials with the necessary resources to develop and implement drug-prevention programs in their communities.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine software development company EVisit raises $5.3 million.

A Philadelphia landlord will offer its tenants discounted telemedicine services from Teladoc. Shift Capital CEO Brian Murray believes the service goes beyond the typical tenant perk: “Ideally, this really helps the mother who has the minimum-wage hourly job, and allows her an opportunity to not have to take the day off from work to take [her kids] to the doctor. It doesn’t take dollars off her table, she doesn’t lose money off her paycheck. That could start a downward spiral.”

Other

Dr. Phil puts his eclectic LA mansion up for sale for $5.75 million. The home includes an art installation of melted guns, a giant staircase made of wooden vines, purple hanging egg chair, and lots of colorful velvets throughout. The talk show host and his son Jay helped to launch Doctor on Demand in 2012.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 1/6/20

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Primary care company One Medical files for a $100 million IPO. The San Francisco-based business offers membership-based care to consumers and contracts with employers like Google, which is also an investor. It operates 77 clinics in nine markets, and has announced plans to expand to three more. Digital offerings include online appointments scheduling, virtual visits, an EHR, and an app.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Welcome to 2020! Now that we’ve celebrated the holidays, it’s time to start counting down to HIMSS. I’ll play a bit of catch up this week, covering news and stories that came across my desk over the break. Feel free to send me anything I might have missed.

Thanks to the following companies that recently supported HIStalk Practice. Click a logo for more information.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

A developer purchases Athenahealth’s campus in Watertown, MA for $525.5 million. The company is leasing half of the 29-acre space.

Announcements and Implementations

Patient Pass announces GA of its secure, text-based patient messaging software.

Violence Intervention Program Community Mental Health Center in Los Angeles selects EHR technology from Qualifacts.

People

Senior-focused primary care company ChenMed promotes Jason Barker to COO.

Kaiser Permanente promotes Kimberee Phelps to VP of quality.

Government and Politics

A local paper in Iowa covers Mitchell County Regional Health Center’s transition to e-prescribing using software from RXNT. As of January 1, providers in Iowa, Arizona, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island are now required to submit prescriptions for controlled substances electronically. A federal mandate for the e-prescribing of controlled substances will go into effect January 1, 2021.

Telemedicine

Modern Day Health Care expands its telemedicine and house call services to include Colorado, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Sherlonda Adkins launches PsychConnect, a telepsychiatry practice in Charleston, SC using technology from OnCall Health. The state is one of eight that has yet to legislatively address how private payers should reimburse providers for virtual visits.

Research and Innovation

An analysis of 1.5 million Yelp reviews finds that consumers are more likely to review their experiences with providers than with restaurants and hotels. The study found that providers, hotels, and restaurants typically average 3.5 out of 5-star ratings, yet physicians are 64% more likely to receive a five-star review and 194% more likely to receive a one-star review. Poor customer service, rather than clinical care, seems to have the biggest impact on a provider’s online rating.

Other

Lakewood Family Medicine is one of several practices in Holland, MI involved in the Reach Out and Read Program, which seeks to expose pediatric patients to books at an early age. Participating physician Kurt Lindberg, MD believes the program is helping him make a difference in the lives of his patients: “We live in a region that has a lot of income diversity. There are some people who you give a book to and they have plenty of books at home, so you wonder if this is making a difference. You also have those interactions where you have a teenage mother with no support system. There aren’t any other books at home, so you’re giving something that could change this child’s life.”

Garrick Baskerville, MD opens Music, Entertainment, Technology and Service Industry Care in Austin, TX. The direct primary care practice caters to members of the city’s creative community, who often don’t have traditional insurance and may forego care. Patients pay $69 a month for unlimited visits.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 12/18/19

Top News

A network of nephrology practices partners with Fresenius Medical Care to form InterWell Health, a population health management company that will offer the full scope of kidney care services to payers and providers participating in value-based care business models. The new company has already raised $20 million.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Sounds strange to say, but this will be the last HIStalk Practice post of the decade. I’ll resume publishing the first week of 2020. Happy holidays!

HIStalk Practice Musings

Stumped as to what to give that friend or family member who has everything? Check out “20 Of The Best Books To Give As Gifts This Year.” (And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with gifting a book to yourself.)

I’ll be gifting myself the “Read Harder” reading log soon. I’ve tried to maintain reading lists via Goodreads in the past, but that habit never seemed to stick. Putting pen to paper in a journal that also challenges readers to pick up certain types of books throughout the year seems more fun.

I received my first HIMSS event invite this week, and was surprised that it took this long for them to start arriving. Like Christmas, it seems HIMSS prep starts earlier and earlier every year.

Like Dr. Jayne, I’ll be looking for the perfect walking shoe and show-floor bag to take to Orlando. I opted for a velvety, floral backpack last year. Perhaps I should consider something from Moschino’s latest collection instead. Smartphones are getting bigger, after all, and fanny packs are soooo 2019.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Pediatric behavioral health provider Emilio Health raises $5 million in seed funding from Oak HC/FT. The Palo Alto, CA-based startup combines in-person treatment with digital behavioral health tools that include scheduling, tracking progress, and virtual visits.

Announcements and Implementations

Greenway Health makes the Carequality Interoperability Framework available to its Prime Suite and Intergy EHR customers via the CommonWell network.

Precision Cardiology Consultants (FL) implements remote patient monitoring technology and services from LiveCare for its diabetic patients.

People

GoodRx names Jody Mulkey (Aspiration) CTO.

Government and Politics

HHS Secretary Alex Azar swears in new FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD. Hahn comes to the position from MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he held several positions including chief medical executive, since joining the Texas-based organization in 2015.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD publishes an e-guide, “The ABCs of Patient Engagement.”

Blog Posts

• Closing the Data Gap to Improve Outcomes (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 12/16/19

Top News

Australian healthcare company GenesisCare acquires Fort Meyers, FL-based 21st Century Oncology for nearly $1 billion. GenesisCare will invest $300 million in the cancer care company, which operates 294 clinics in 15 states.

21st Century Oncology emerged from bankruptcy nearly two years ago after a string of settlements and fines related to a data breach, alleged fraudulent billing, and fraudulently attesting to Meaningful Use.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Folks are publishing their “best of” reading lists like there’s no tomorrow. If you’re looking for reading suggestions over the holiday break, check out lists from Literary Hub and The What. What books would make your top of 2019 list? Email me and let me know.

Bibliophiles sometimes have to clean out old books to make way for new tomes. If you’re in that boat this holiday season, perhaps this article will inspire you to put your books to a practical use.

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

Fertility clinic and technology company Kindbody secures an undisclosed amount of financing from the former Google Ventures, bringing its total funding to $32 million. The company has opened three brick-and-mortar clinics, and offers mobile clinics and telemedicine for mental health and nutritional counseling. Kindbody will use its latest investment to further scale its services for self-insured employers, which launched in April.

Virtual care management and clinical trial company VirTrial acquires telehealth vendor SnapMD.

VerityStream, a credentialing subsidiary of workforce development company HealthStream, acquires ambulatory-focused credentialing software vendor CredentialMyDoc.

Telemedicine

PursueCare announces GA of addiction treatment programs through its telemedicine software for providers in Kentucky and West Virginia. The app-based program includes counseling, medication treatment, and access to PursueCare’s mail-order pharmacy. The Middletown, CT-based company is also opening a clinic in Somerset, KY to help patients who need in-person assessments.

Other

I had no idea this was a thing: There are companies, like Aroma360, that specialize in scents for commercial spaces including physician practices. In fact, according to the company, calming patient distress through careful “fragrancing” is a key solution to helping people overcome their fear of the doctor (and here I thought folks were putting off care because of a fear of high bills). Bespoke scents can also be crafted to embody a practice’s philosophies.

Sponsor Updates

• Healthwise receives a Gold Digital Health Award for a patient education video in the Health Information Resource Center’s 2019 fall competition.
• Nordic releases a new podcast, “Avoiding common pitfalls of an affiliate extension program.”

Blog Posts

• The Role of Patient Engagement in Remote Patient Monitoring (PerfectServe)
• Key Benchmarks for Process Improvement & Success (EClinicalWorks)
• This Groundbreaking Program Proves the Value of Health Literacy (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 12/11/19

Top News

Mt. Laurel, NJ-based Insight Telepsychiatry merges with Chicago-based Regroup Telehealth to become the largest telepsychiatry vendor in the country. Regroup founder and CEO Robert Cohn will become the newly merged entity’s chief growth officer.

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

Bridge Connector, which integrates CRM systems with EHRs and other health IT, raises $25 million, which it will use to help launch its new integration platform-as-a-service that connects health data systems without the need for code.

People

American Family Care (AL) promotes Claudius Moore to CIO.

Summit CityMD names Robert Scoskie (Northwell Health) chief business development officer and Matt Gove (Piedmont Healthcare) chief marketing officer. With locations in New Jersey and New York, the 200-clinic company is the result of the merger earlier this year of multispecialty Summit Medical Group and urgent care provider CityMD.

Announcements and Implementations

Practice Builders announces GA of online reputation management and patient acquisition software.

CHC Strategies, a network of FQHCs in Missouri, implements NextGen Population Health.

Telemedicine

MTBC adds telemedicine capabilities to its TalkEHR.

Research and Innovation

Primary care physicians in the US lag behind their international counterparts when it comes to the digital exchange of health information, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study. The survey of 13,000 PCPs in 11 countries found just about half of US physicians receive alerts when their patients are seen in the ER or admitted to the hospital, while between 79% and 85% of physicians in the Netherlands and New Zealand receive such notifications. US physicians also lag behind when it comes to their ability to exchange data with physicians outside of their practice. American patients, however, have better access to patient engagement technologies that enable them to schedule appointments and refill medications online, and access health histories and lab test results through portals.

Other

Remember when consumer DNA tests were the hot Christmas gift? Who knew Fido was feeling left out? A dozen companies now offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits for canines so that owners can better understand their dog’s breeding background. Experts say consumers should take these results with a grain of salt, as the companies don’t typically publish their methodologies, the tests aren’t regulated by the FDA, and results can be inaccurate. As with humans, privacy concerns are a consideration, especially when it comes to certain breeds: “Once you have given away your dog’s DNA and some company has the results, you may not have control over what happens to that information.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.