News 4/8/19

Top News

Women’s health and wellness membership clinic Tia scales back services after an intense marketing push results in higher-than-expected membership applications. The New York City-based company, which got its start as a period-tracking app, seems to have put the PR cart before the clinical horse: The startup has capped new memberships, stopped seeing new patients for several weeks, and experienced issues with opening its only clinic in a building still under construction. (And yet it is still welcoming semi-celebrities and lifestyle magazines to its office for photo spreads.)

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

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Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Women’s medical group Advantia Health acquires Pacify, a maternal and pediatric telemedicine company, for an undisclosed sum. Both companies are based in Washington, DC.

Announcements and Implementations

Wellbox adds RCM services to its line of chronic care management solutions as through its partnership with Aria Health Services from EMDs.

Brault adds patient-account tracking capabilities to its RCM and practice management software for emergency and urgent care practices.

People

Innovista Health Solutions names Gary Wainer, DO (Northwestern Medicine) CMO and president of the population health management company’s Illinois market.

Telemedicine

Researchers at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh find that direct-to-consumer telemedicine pediatricians prescribe antibiotics more often than their in-person counterparts. The researchers, who analyzed the database of a health plan that covers 4 million children and that directly contracts with a telemedicine vendor, found drugs were prescribed during 52% of virtual visits, during 42% of urgent care visits, and during 31% percent of PCP office visits. Their analysis also found that antibiotics prescribed via telemedicine were less likely to line up with clinical guidelines.

Other

I love this: For years, the Netherlands has accepted books in lieu of tickets on its state-owned railway line during the country’s annual book week. The rail company has been a long-time sponsor of the week-long series of events, even holding book-signings with popular authors on its trains. Americans celebrate National Library Week this week, by the way, so do yourself a favor and patronize your local branch. Turns out there are more of them than there are Starbucks in the US. As I’ve written about before, you’ll be surprised at all of the perks today’s libraries offer with a (typically) free membership.

And I’m a big believer in this: Researchers determine that people who exercise more are happier than those who exercise less but make more money. Exercise with a social aspect (like my favorite sport, tennis) ups the happiness factor even more.

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe will exhibit at ANIA April 10-13 in Las Vegas.

Blog Posts

• From weekend warrior to Epic trainer: how the military prepared Tech St. Stephen Hornsey for a career in healthcare IT (Nordic)
• 4 reasons why patient education should be a priority (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 4/3/19

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Mental health assessment software startup Blueprint (fka HelloJoy) raises $1.3 million in a seed round led by Lightbank and Hyde Park Angels. The Chicago-based startup has developed a patient-facing app that collects and analyzes patient information, including sleep, movement, and exercise data from phone sensors, combines it with patient assessments, and then delivers those datasets to providers so that they can develop tailored care plans. Founder Danny Freed has dabbled in app-based data-collection before. He developed the Companion app while at the University of Michigan to help users keep track of family and friends as they walked home alone late at night.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The local paper looks at the impact noncompete clauses have on the patients of physicians who leave hospital employment to work for themselves or a medical group, noting that nearly half of 2,000 physicians surveyed across five states are bound by such agreements. Continuity of care seems to be thrown out the window in favor of legally binding business arrangements that prevent physicians from working within a certain radius of their old employer, and/or seeing former patients – a situation that leaves many patients feeling abandoned and afraid.

Announcements and Implementations

PCG Software launches a cloud-based, real-time claims and billing review subscription service for physician practices.

EZClaim adds Alpha II’s ClaimStaker clinical claim and encounter scrubbing technology to its medical billing and scheduling software.

People

Behavioral health-focused Aligned Telehealth promotes Miles Kramer to chief development officer.

Research and Innovation

A new report from Fair Health finds that traditional care settings are still more popular than headlines and VC funding would have you believe. While utilization of telemedicine, retail clinics, urgent care facilities, and ambulatory surgery centers have increased, ERs still topped the list of access points outside of office settings. Telemedicine had the biggest increase – 53 percent – overall.

Other

E

Going to the mattresses (sort of): Staffers in the technology and healthcare industries with low levels of sleep satisfaction are almost assuredly looking for other job opportunities, according to data from an online mattress company. Perhaps a new mattress is just the perk your burnt out employee needs to keep them from taking the leap.

Y’all know I love a good library story: This article highlights the cool ways libraries across the country are catering to the tastes and needs of their patrons. When it comes to healthcare, many are going above and beyond making Dr. Google available in the computer lab. The Free Library of Philadelphia loans out blood pressure monitors and helps patrons access community-based resources. Nurses and social workers are also on site every day. The Miami Library in Oklahoma has incorporated diabetes prevention, yoga, and cooking classes into its stacks; and has added a community garden. And while not strictly related to healthcare, the Duluth Public Library in Minnesota offers a seed library for gardeners, who keep the resource sustainable by returning their harvested seeds to the collection.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD will exhibit at the American Society of Addiction Medicine meeting April 4-7 in Orlando.
• Aprima will exhibit at the CORHIO Forum April 4-5 in Denver.

Blog Posts

• Lessons Learned: What NOT to do When Insourcing VBC RCM (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 4/1/19

Top News

San Francisco-based independent physician network Brown & Toland Physicians selects Epic’s ambulatory software.

And speaking of Epic, it looks like the Verona, WI-based company has finally made its first acquisition, snatching up Fitbit on the advice of new financial advisor Jim Cramer.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

Announcements and Implementations

Practice Velocity adds chronic problem management features to its EHR for urgent care and primary care providers. 

AdvantageCare Physicians (NY) will integrate HealthReveal’s AI-powered clinical decision support tool with its Epic system across all of its sites within the next two months.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Hematology Oncology of Indiana joins practice management company American Oncology Network.

People

OneOncology names Lee Schwartzberg, MD (West Cancer Center) CMO.

Care management software vendor TCS Healthcare Technologies promotes Deborah Keller, RN to CEO.

Government and Politics

Florida’s Department of Children and Families will leverage data collection, assessment, hosting, and support services from FEI Systems to improve its opioid-response initiatives.

Telemedicine

DrChrono adds Beam Health Group’s telemedicine functionality to its EHR.

Research and Innovation

A new workforce and practice survey of nearly 13,000 American Urological Association members finds that:

• Urologists working in private practice are down 2 percent from the year before to 57 percent.
• Nearly 100 percent now use an EHR in their practice; outliers include men 45 and older and those working in solo practices.
• Less than 12 percent have utilized telemedicine within the last year; the majority of those who have believe their utilization will increase over the next three years.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic will present at the Quality of Care Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions April 5-6 in Arlington, VA.

Blog Posts

• Nordic’s five guiding principles for delivering revenue improvement (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 3/27/19

Top News

Patient check-in technology vendor Clearwave raises an undisclosed amount of money from Frontier Capital. The company had raised over $5 million before this particular round of financing. HGP served as Clearwave’s advisor for the deal.

Webinars

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

People

EHR and practice management vendor InSync Healthcare Solutions hires Zack Kilburn (CareCentrix) as CTO.

Announcements and Implementations

With help from Pivot Point Consulting, Acumen Physician Solutions adds legacy data archiving technology powered by SMART on FHIR from Trinisys to its Acumen 2.0 powered by Epic software for nephrology practices.

Telemedicine

FQHC Nevada Health Centers contracts with VisuWell for telemedicine services across its 24 offices, school-based clinics, and mobile health programs.

Other

PCP Billy Branch, MD hopes his appearance on this summer’s edition of American Ninja Warrior will inspire others to realize that fitness is important to health. Branch, who lost 80 pounds while training for the show, says he and his training partner always “preach ‘do it today’ because tomorrow is never guaranteed. We think that being healthy and helpful leads to happiness, and try to impact others around us in the same way. We’d love for that to be our message and something that might light a spark in others.”

All eyes are on Charlotte, NC as hospital-owned physician practices around the country wait to see how former Atrium Health and Novant Health medical groups fare now that they’ve declared their independence. Physicians with the former Atrium-owned Mecklenburg Medical Group have gone on to form Tryon Medical Group, while over 40 former Novant providers have joined Tennessee-based Holston Medical Group – a move some say is not unlike signing on with a health system. Both offer access to capital, technology, and management infrastructure. Holston Medical Group provider Ehab Sharawy, MD adds that patients will benefit from more personalized care and lower costs, due to the fact that the now-independent physicians no longer feel pressured to send their patients to higher-cost hospital facilities.

I know parents will appreciate this: CampDoc adds facial-recognition and photo-sharing capabilities from Waldo Photos to its EHR and online registration software for camps. Parents can now log in to the CampDoc system and view images of their child, or sign up to receive them via text.

Sponsor Updates

• Culbert Healthcare Solutions will exhibit at AMGA March 27-30 in National Harbor, MD.

Blog Posts

• What’s an ePatient? (AdvancedMD)
• Aprima EHR Adoption Improves Neurology Practice Workflows and Communication (Aprima)
• The Changing Role of the CIO: Mapping Applications to Business Tactics and Strategy (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 3/25/19

Top News

Urgent and primary care company American Family Care offers up to $30 million in financing from ApplePie Capital to new and existing franchisees. The company, which also offers occupational medicine, operates its 180 clinics across the country on DocuTap’s EHR and practice management software.

Webinars

March 27 (Wednesday) 2:00 ET. “Waiting on interoperability: What can payers and providers do to collaborate?” Sponsored by Casenet. Presenter: Amy Simpson, RN, director of clinical solutions, Casenet. A wealth of data exists to identify at-risk patients and to analyze populations, allowing every payer and provider to operate readmissions intervention and care management programs. Still, payer and provider care managers are challenged to coordinate and collaborate to improve outcomes because of the long road ahead to interoperability. Attend this webinar to learn what payers and providers can do now to share information and to coordinate their efforts to create the best healthcare journey for members and patients.

Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for information.

People

Hudson Physicians (MN) hires Matt Brandt (Multicare Associates) as its first CEO. Brandt says his top priorities will be renovations and technology upgrades across the six-facility, independent practice.

Announcements and Implementations

In Georgia, Resurgens Orthopaedics implements Notable Health’s automated administration tools across its 24 practices.

The Orthopaedic Institute Surgery Center (IL) selects Surgical Spotlight analytics software from ORhub.

Good News Clinics (GA) will connect to Northeast Georgia Health System’s Epic software thanks to a $100,000 grant from local foundations.

Texas-based HIE HASA selects patient-matching software from 4medica.

Telemedicine

Seattle-based Clocktree launches a service that helps patients find telemedicine services in the areas of mental health, therapy, addiction counseling, and nutrition. It launched a provider-facing version of its services in 2017. The company includes several former Microsoft programmers, including co-founder and CTO David Chalmers, who wrote the code for the now infamous “control-alt-delete” command.

Other

Pediatrician Clement Bottino, MD pens a short, heartfelt essay on why he shares his phone number with every patient he sees. The stats he shares are interesting:

• Since opening his practice in 2009, he has shared his number with 769 patients plus hundreds more from urgent care visits.
• Less than 20 percent of his patients texted him last year.
• He received 2,097 texts from patients in 2018.
• He sent 1,969 texts in 184 threads (some in different languages thanks to Google Translate.)
• Of the patients that did text him, 80 percent sent fewer than 20 messages.
• 3 percent sent more than 100.

He says, “Most of my paid clinical time is spent rushing through 15-minute visits and slogging through electronic paperwork. With texting, the rush disappears. Patients can text me when they want and there are no boxes to tick. I can answer questions, put worried parents’ minds at ease and prevent unnecessary ER visits. It feels invigorating, the opposite of burnout. Still, my family and colleagues often question my work-life balance. I sometimes worry that the thousand or so patients who have my number will all text me at once.”

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe will exhibit at the AMGA 2019 Annual Conference March 27-30 in National Harbor, MD.

Blog Posts

• The Net Impact of Poor Patient-to-Provider Communication (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.