News 7/3/24

Top News

Walmart is reportedly shopping its Walmart Health clinics to potential buyers that include health insurance companies like Humana.

The retail giant opened its first clinic in 2019 and then grew the business to 51 facilities, all of which shut down June 28.

(My last appointment at their flagship location was in early June. It was bittersweet in that I had to bid my favorite clinician goodbye and best of luck with her next endeavor. She said staff had about as much warning as the general public. And while reimbursement challenges and rising costs no doubt played their part in Walmart’s about-face, I got the feeling while chatting with her that the retail side of the business just really didn’t know what they were in for.)

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Canadian health IT vendor Healwell AI wraps up its $20 million acquisition of interoperability-focused VeroSource Solutions.

Florida-based primary care company Cano Health emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy having shaved off $270 million in costs through selling off medical center assets and exiting underperforming markets. Once valued at $3 billion, the company’s existing investors have committed $200 million in go-forward capital.

CPS Capital will acquire Toronto-based CloudMD Software & Services in a take-private deal valued at $36 million.

Announcements and Implementations

Greenway Health selects software from InstaMed to power its new patient payment processing capabilities.

Other

Equalize RCM notifies Georgia Perinatal Consultants patients of a June 2023 ransomware attack that may have compromised their PHI.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD launches new automation and payment capabilities to help private practices increase productivity and drive more revenue. 

Blog Posts

• Enhancing Healthcare Practices Through Effective Benefit Verification (AdvancedMD)
• Optimizing RCM for Growth Today and Tomorrow (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 7/1/24

Top News

Care enablement technology company Fabric acquires virtual care service provider MeMD from the now shuttered Walmart Health.

MeMD was founded in 2010 and acquired by Walmart Health in 2021, upon which it was renamed Walmart Health Virtual Care. Fabric will incorporate MeMD’s services into its virtual care offerings for employers and payers.

It acquired virtual healthcare assistant startup Gyant and announced a $60 million Series A funding round earlier this year.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Prescribe Fit raises $4.8 million in Series A funding. The company offers remote monitoring, health coaching, and virtual care programs for orthopedic patients. Prescribe Fit investors include Matt Scantland, founder of AndHealth and CoverMyMeds.

People

ModMed names Dan Costantino (Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey) CISO.

Announcements and Implementations

Medical billing vendor Medcare MSO announces GA of its new Maximus web-based practice management software.

Grocery store chain Publix begins offering asynchronous virtual care from WellSync through its pharmacies.

Sponsor Updates

• Waystar takes Black Book’s top spot for end-to-end revenue RCM solutions for health systems.
• AdvancedMD announces a new integration partnership with Mental Health Technologies.

Blog Posts

• The rise of inboxologists in healthcare: Does it really matter who responds? (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/26/24

Top News

AI-enabled RCM vendor Adonis raises $31 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $54 million.

Webinars

June 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Snackable Summer Series, Session 1: The Intelligent Health Record.” Sponsor: Health Data Analytics Institute. This webinar will describe how HealthVision, HDAI’s Intelligent Health Management System, is transforming care across health systems and value-based care organizations. This 30-minute session will answer the question: what if you could see critical information from hundreds of EHR pages in a one-page patient chart and risk summary that serves the entire care team? We will tour the Spotlight, an easy-to-digest health profile and risk prediction tool. Session 2 will describe HDAI’s Intelligent Analytics solution, while Session 3 will tour HDAI’s Intelligent Workflow solution.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Online medical weight loss clinic Form Health raises $38 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $65 million.

People

Michael DeVries (Blue Lantern Health) joins Copilot Provider Support Services as CFO.

Announcements and Implementations

Weave announces GA of enterprise practice operations software encompassing communications, payments, and management capabilities for multiple locations.

US Eye selects revenue cycle and practice management analytics from WhiteSpace Health.

TeleVox announces GA of the TeleVox Website Solution, which includes website-building, virtual assistant, and patient relationship management capabilities.

Imperial Beach Community Clinic (CA) implements Sunoh.ai’s AI-powered medical scribe software across its 31 locations.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/24/24

Top News

Virtual pregnancy and newborn care provider Pomelo Care raises $46 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to over $79 million.

Pomelo Care founder and CEO Marta Kerns spent seven years at Flatiron Health before launching the company in 2021.

Webinars

June 26 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Population Risk Management in Action: Automating Clinical Workflows to Improve Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst; Weston Blakeslee, PhD, VP of population health, DrFirst. What if you could measure and manage medication adherence in a way that would eliminate the burdens of medication history collection, patient identification, and prioritization? The presenters will describe how to use MedHx PRM’s new capabilities to harness the most complete medication history data on the market, benefit from near real-time medication data delivered within 24 hours, automatically build rosters of eligible patients, and identify gaps of care in seconds.

June 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Snackable Summer Series, Session 1: The Intelligent Health Record.” Sponsor: Health Data Analytics Institute. This webinar will describe how HealthVision, HDAI’s Intelligent Health Management System, is transforming care across health systems and value-based care organizations. This 30-minute session will answer the question: what if you could see critical information from hundreds of EHR pages in a one-page patient chart and risk summary that serves the entire care team? We will tour the Spotlight, an easy-to-digest health profile and risk prediction tool. Session 2 will describe HDAI’s Intelligent Analytics solution, while Session 3 will tour HDAI’s Intelligent Workflow solution.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Heyday Health will use $12.5 million in new funding to expand its virtual care and house call services for Medicare patients into new markets in Ohio and Kentucky.

Avail Health launches to help RNs and NPs start and manage their own primary care practices.

Hybrid primary care and weight management company Knownwell acquires online weight-loss clinic Alfie Health. Knownwell will add Alfie Health’s AI-based ObesityRx platform to its clinical decision support workflows.

Pear Suite announces $1 million in funding. The company has developed care and social services navigation software for community health workers.

People

Troy Wasilefsky (Iodine Software) joins Greenway Health as chief revenue officer.

Knownwell names Alfie Health founder and former CEO Alexander Singh head of analytics, James Chaukos (Interwell Health) COO, and John Frager (Pine Medical) chief growth officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Kossuth Regional Health Center (IA) implements Phreesia’s patient intake software.

Oracle Health and NextGen introduce AI-powered ambient listening clinical documentation tools for physician practices.

Government and Politics

HHS finalizes the penalties providers can expect to face if they engage in information-blocking activities.

Other

The local paper profiles the struggles faced by physicians at Community Health Center of Snohomish County in Everett, WA. Clinical staff joined a union last year to have a stronger voice in decisions made by upper management – a move prompted by the unexplained firing of one of the center’s most popular physicians, cutbacks to staff and operating hours, and a downgrade in EHR technology that prompted 25% of the staff to leave.

Sponsor Updates

• Waystar staff across the country celebrate the company’s Nasdaq debut

• Black Book Research publishes the results of its 2024 RCM user survey, recognizing Waystar as a top performer in several categories
• Nordic releases a new “Designing for Health” podcast, “Interview with Joshua Reischer, MD.”
• Waystar will exhibit at the EClinicalWorks Dallas Day Show June 26.
• Nordic and Waystar will exhibit at the HFMA Annual Conference June 24-27 in Las Vegas.

Blog Posts

• Best practices in enterprise care management for patient-centered care excellence (Nordic)
• Top Challenges for CNIOs: Governance, Priorities, and More (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 6/19/24

Top News

Telepsychiatry services provider Talkiatry raises $130 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total raised to $245 million. Launched in 2020, the company partners with payers to offer in-network mental healthcare from 300 employed psychiatrists.

Webinars

June 26 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Population Risk Management in Action: Automating Clinical Workflows to Improve Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst; Weston Blakeslee, PhD, VP of population health, DrFirst. What if you could measure and manage medication adherence in a way that would eliminate the burdens of medication history collection, patient identification, and prioritization? The presenters will describe how to use MedHx PRM’s new capabilities to harness the most complete medication history data on the market, benefit from near real-time medication data delivered within 24 hours, automatically build rosters of eligible patients, and identify gaps of care in seconds.

June 27 (Thursday) noon ET. “Snackable Summer Series, Session 1: The Intelligent Health Record.” Sponsor: Health Data Analytics Institute. This webinar will describe how HealthVision, HDAI’s Intelligent Health Management System, is transforming care across health systems and value-based care organizations. This 30-minute session will answer the question: what if you could see critical information from hundreds of EHR pages in a one-page patient chart and risk summary that serves the entire care team? We will tour the Spotlight, an easy-to-digest health profile and risk prediction tool. Session 2 will describe HDAI’s Intelligent Analytics solution, while Session 3 will tour HDAI’s Intelligent Workflow solution.

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

Announcements and Implementations

One Health (NC) selects HealthPrecision’s Medical Brain AI clinical decision support technology.

Allergy & Asthma Clinic of West Texas and West Texas Allergy rebrand to AllerVie Health, their parent company, and implement Meditab’s Intelligent Medical Software EHR and patient portal.

Nice Speech Lady, a speech pathology clinic in New Mexico, implements Sunoh.ai’s medical scribe software.

Cardiovascular Associates of America selects EHR, RCM, and practice management software from Athenahealth.

Research and Innovation

An AMA survey of 1,000 primary care and specialty physicians finds that prior authorizations likely contribute to physician burnout, with respondents noting that they complete an average of 43 PAs per week. Thirty-five percent have staff dedicated exclusively to handling PAs. The majority of survey-takers say PAs lead to care delays or treatment abandonment. Twenty-four percent say PAs have led to serious adverse events for their patients.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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