News 9/19/18

Top News

Roman raises $88 million and rebrands to Ro in an effort to move beyond its erectile dysfunction roots and launch a virtual smoking cessation program for men and women. The company, which launched last year with $3 million in funding to offer virtual consults and prescriptions for erectile dysfunction, has jumped from five to 70 employees. Its new quit-smoking kit offers a progress-tracking and motivational app plus prescription cessation medication and nicotine gum. The company ultimately hopes to become an online pharmacy for a variety of healthcare ailments; women’s health products are next up on its roadmap.

Fun fact: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined Ro’s Board of Directors. His brand ambassador activities include sporting Ro accessories at his wife Serena William’s tennis matches.

Webinars

September 26 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “How to Ensure Patient Records are Always Available.” Sponsor: Goliath Technologies. Presenter: Goliath Technologies engineering staff. This webinar will discuss how an early warning system can help your organization ensure your EHR systems and patient records are always available. You’ll also learn how to proactively anticipate, troubleshoot, prevent, and resolve end user experience issues before users or patients are impacted.

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

Announcements and Implementations

Rio Grande Valley Health Alliance, a Texas ACO made up of 19 independent primary care practices, begins  patient onboarding of care coordination, virtual visit, and real-time patient monitoring software from Reliq Health Technologies.

CareCloud will leverage Google Cloud’s Healthcare API in an effort to enhance interoperability of its cloud-based EHR, practice management, and billing technologies for medical groups. Google, along with several other tech giants, made a high-level pledge to remove interoperability barriers at the Blue Button 2.0 Developer Conference last month. I find it ironic that Google will gobble up publicity for moving towards open data-sharing standards but eschews Congressional transparency around its search results.

La Clinica de Familia, an FQHC with 155 providers across 19 locations in New Mexico, will implement EClinicalWorks software.

People

Text-based telemedicine company Pager adds Steven Shulman (Magellan Health) to its Board of Directors.

Government and Politics

HHS awards $1 billion in grants through SAMHSA, HRSA, and the CDC to fund nationwide public health programs related to reducing the opioid epidemic.

HHS seeks healthcare investment and innovation experts to join a year-long collaborative with HHS personnel that aims to highlight emerging opportunities, and the federal government’s potential role in them. The Deputy Secretary’s Innovation and Investment Summit will convene quarterly meetings and culminate in an “Industry Day” gathering. Prospective participants are invited to apply through October 3.

Telemedicine

Carie Health launches with a white-label telemedicine solution that includes patient onboarding and digital marketing tools, plus as-needed appointment scheduling at brick-and-mortar practices.

Research and Innovation

The Physicians Foundation’s annual report on the state of practice patterns and physician morale is chock full of timely observations, culled from 9,000 providers:

• Independence continues to decrease, with that designation going from 48.5 percent in 2012 to 33 percent today.
• Employed physicians work more, yet see fewer patients than their independent counterparts.
• Eighty percent of physicians describe themselves as working at full or over capacity; Nearly half admit to wanting to make a career change.
• Sixty-two percent are pessimistic about the future of healthcare, while over half admit to low morale – a percentage that hasn’t budged over the last several years.
• Nearly 80 percent have experienced some level of burnout, which may tie into the fact that 23 percent of respondent time is spent on non-clinical paperwork.
• Just 18.5 percent offer some type of telemedicine.
• Physicians point to EHRs as their greatest source of job dissatisfaction; patient relationships keep them going.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD will host its EVO18 annual user conference October 3-5 in Salt Lake City.
• Aprima will exhibit at the Ohio MGMA Fall Conference September 19-21 in Columbus.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 9/17/18

Top News

Automated patient outreach vendor Relatient wraps up a growth equity round led by Powered Health.

For those readers who like to keep count of the industry’s female leaders, the company notes that its bookings have increased by 50 percent since hiring CEO Michele Perry (MPB Strategies) and Director of Customer Success Debbie Crook (Phreesia) within the last year. Neither woman, to the best of my knowledge, has attributed that growth to her gender.

Webinars

September 26 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “How to Ensure Patient Records are Always Available.” Sponsor: Goliath Technologies. Presenter: Goliath Technologies engineering staff. This webinar will discuss how an early warning system can help your organization ensure your EHR systems and patient records are always available. You’ll also learn how to proactively anticipate, troubleshoot, prevent, and resolve end user experience issues before users or patients are impacted.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Saykara raises $5 million from a group of investors led by SpringRock Ventures. The Seattle-based startup has developed app-based virtual assistant software to help physicians with documentation. Pilot site and orthopedic practice OrthoIndy (IN) is in the midst of expanding its initial deployment.

WeShareMD will open three medical-office-on-demand spaces in California next month, with plans to open two more by the end of the year. Providers can rent the spaces by the day, week, or month. Memberships in the pop-up like business model start at $300 a month, with WeShareMD providing staff, medical equipment, and maintenance, plus any associated overhead costs.

Government and Politics

An HHS GAO report calls out California’s Medicaid program for its inability to file reports electronically. Program officials say it’s impossible due to the fact that they use 92 different computer systems, though modernization efforts are in the works. In 2016, Medi-Cal officials scrapped much-delayed efforts to bring its IT system up to date after spending $45 million with Xerox. Another attempt is projected to cost $50; meanwhile, state taxpayers are shelling out millions to maintain the 40 year-old patch worked system.

Telemedicine

AAFP officially gets into the telemedicine game with the launch of virtual consult software for family physicians. The association has partnered with Zipnosis and Surescripts to offer AAFP Virtual Care and e-prescribing to its members as a white-label service.

Vibrent Health develops virtual consultation software for dermatologists and referring physicians. Vibrent Health’s technology powers the participant portal of the NIH’s All of Us precision medicine research program.

PlushCare founder Sas Ponnapalli launches Beam Health Group, an app-based telemedicine service for small physician practices that includes messaging and billing capabilities.

Research and Innovation

A study in the American Journal of Managed Care finds that Medicare Advantage members who see their primary care providers more often incur 28-percent less in costs and experience 50-percent fewer hospital admissions. Patients in the “high-touch” care group also used preventative medications 41 percent more often, leading the study’s authors to attribute the better outcomes to a combination of improved medication adherence and optimization, and more timely diagnoses and procedures such as vaccinations and screenings. It seems costs could be driven down even further (and patient convenience increased) if virtual consults could replace in-person visits when appropriate.

In JAMA, a retrospective study on flu vaccination rates in office settings finds them to be higher earlier in the day, implying physicians suffer from decision fatigue as their days wear on; and in practices that use clinical decision support tools within the EHR to proactively suggest or order vaccines. The authors caution, however, that physicians who rely on such digital tools may wind up trading decision fatigue for alert fatigue.

Other

HIE Hixny adds nine counties to its Eastern New York territory. New providers include Dialysis Clinic, Hurley Avenue Family Medicine, Premier Dialysis Center, and family physician Yuk-Wah Chan, MD.

Sponsor Updates

• The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association names Nordic a “Get with the Guidelines”-compatible vendor.
• PerfectServe will co-host the Hospital for Special Surgery Educational and Networking Open House September 21 in New York City.

Blog Posts

• Four simple steps for reducing third-party service costs (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 9/12/18

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Tennessee Oncology, New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, and West Cancer Center (TN) band together to form OneOncology, a New York-based company that aims to offer oncology patients access to providers, treatments, and clinical trials typically unavailable in smaller, community settings. OneOncology will leverage Flatiron Health’s cloud-based EHR, giving the vendor access to de-identified patient data that it can then sell to researchers, drug manufacturers, or clinical trial recruiters.

The company has launched with a $200 million investment from General Atlantic, and has named former CVS Health EVP Tracy Bahl president and CEO.

Webinars

September 26 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “How to Ensure Patient Records are Always Available.” Sponsor: Goliath Technologies. Presenter: Goliath Technologies engineering staff. This webinar will discuss how an early warning system can help your organization ensure your EHR systems and patient records are always available. You’ll also learn how to proactively anticipate, troubleshoot, prevent, and resolve end user experience issues before users or patients are impacted.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Population health management vendor Evolent Health expands its specialty care management capabilities with the $217-million acquisition of New Century Health, which specializes in tech-enabled cancer and cardiac care management.

Envision Medical Group signs on for VillageMD’s practice management services, making it the company’s flagship practice in Michigan. Envision will use VillageMD’s data analytics, physician-based care coordination, and support services across its nine locations in metro Detroit.

Humana adds 10 more Iora Health primary care practices to its Medicare Advantage plan network in Arizona, Georgia, and Washington. The company’s EHR, Chirp, was developed in-house to offer patients records access, appointment scheduling, and provider messaging.

Medical billing company Fellow Health Partners acquires competitor Physicians Management for an undisclosed sum.

Announcements and Implementations

Graybill Medical Group (CA) selects automated dashboard reporting software from Practical Data Solutions.

Government and Politics

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval approves $1.2 million to expand HealtHIE Nevada, a statewide HIE that has received the majority of its funding from the federal government.

Telemedicine

San Diego-based Sharp Community Medical Group offers virtual consults from PlushCare to members of its HMO.

Other

Aledade CEO Farzad Mostashari, MD shares one staff member’s heartwarming attempt to go above and beyond ahead of a major weather event, presumably Hurricane Florence.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD will exhibit at the Healthcare Business Management Association Conference September 12-14 in Charlotte, NC.
• Aprima recaps its ninth annual user conference.
• University of Texas Medical Branch CEO Donna Sollenberger joins Nordic’s Board of Directors.

Blog Posts

• The Changing Role of the CIO: Data Stewardship and Analytics (Culbert Healthcare Solutions)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 9/10/18

Top News

In keeping with its expansion plans, Chicago-based primary care company Oak Street Health acquires the Medicare business of Philadelphia-based CityLife Neighborhood Clinics. Oak Street, which caters to Medicare patients, plans to hire new staff and roll out its technology platform, which includes Greenway’s EHR and Lightbeam Health’s population health management software, at the newly acquired clinics.

Webinars

September 26 (Wednesday) 12:30 ET. “How to Ensure Patient Records are Always Available.” Sponsor: Goliath Technologies. Presenter: Goliath Technologies engineering staff. This webinar will discuss how an early warning system can help your organization ensure your EHR systems and patient records are always available. You’ll also learn how to proactively anticipate, troubleshoot, prevent, and resolve end user experience issues before users or patients are impacted.

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

Announcements and Implementations

The Fostering Hope Initiative in Western Oregon selects healthcare collaboration software from Act.MD. Led by Catholic Community Services, the initiative will enable government, public, and private organizations to work together to improve access to healthcare and social services in underserved neighborhoods.

HealthLynked adds group chat capabilities to its membership-based patient-provider digital network.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Philadelphia-based mental health technology startup NeuroFlow raises $1.2 million as part of a seed funding rounding led by NJ JumpStart. The company has developed cloud-based software for office-based physicians that combines data from wearables and digital questionnaires with guided meditation, patient messaging, and incentives to improve a patient’s mental health.

Health policy professor and author Timothy Hoff insists direct primary care is not as patient-friendly a business model as marketing materials might suggest, pointing out that:

• Its lack of scalability doesn’t truly give patients unlimited 24×7 access to their providers. (There’s only so much physician to go around, after all.)
• The very nature of the business model leans towards keeping provider-patient interaction to a minimum so as to maximize profit margins.
• The cost of a DPC membership contributes to health inequities, catering to more affluent patients and pricing out those who could truly benefit from more direct care.
• Patients sign up for the bells and whistles, but wind up burdened with having to navigate their DPC and health insurance policies.

He concludes: “There’s a bit of smoke and mirrors here, as direct primary care tries to convince patients that the rest of the health care system, like hospitals and specialty physicians, doesn’t really exist. But it does. And as long as many patients have to deal with the rest of that system on a consistent basis as they acquire more serious conditions and have constant needs throughout their lives for complex diagnostic and treatment care, direct primary care will be of limited help.”

Government and Politics

MGMA includes a number of technology-related recommendations in its letter to CMS addressing the proposed rule for Medicare programs:

• Promote access to care by providing reimbursement for communications-based technology and telehealth services, including remote patient monitoring.
• Provide free clinical decision support mechanism software as part of the Appropriate Use Criteria program, which MGMA recommends making voluntary in 2020.
• Reduce data-reporting obligations by decreasing MIPS reporting requirements and shortening the reporting period.
• Allow MIPS and APM participants to use 2014 or 2015 Edition Certified EHR Technology in 2019 and 2020.

Research and Innovation

A five-year study of 450 primary care patients with high blood pressure finds that adding telemedicine consults with pharmacists helped to lower their blood pressure more effectively than typical in-office care from their PCP. The effectiveness waned, however, after telemedicine consults ceased a year into the study.

Telemedicine

Virtual eye exam company Opternative develops a voice-activated vision test, giving patients the ability to obtain new prescriptions using their mobile devices.

Other

University of Washington researchers develop an algorithm that can determine the state of a city’s health based on its landscape and infrastructure. By using satellite and Google Street View images, the software can make correlations between city planning and obesity levels, and influence future public health campaigns.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issues an RFP for the development and maintenance of a Qualified Clinical Data Registry for sleep medicine physicians and facilities.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Why secure messaging isn’t enough (PerfectServe)
• How to become an EHR consultant (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 9/5/18

Top News

Fast Company profiles Parsley Health, a membership-based primary care provider that focuses on the practices of functional medicine to give patients a holistic view of their health. Founded by Robin Berzin in 2015, the company now has three tech-fueled clinics, offering online access to appointment scheduling, medical records, doctor’s notes, and health coach messaging. “Everyone is busy,” says Berzin. “You shouldn’t beg us to fax you something. All your data should be online so that you can view it 24/7 and download it yourself. We believe you own your data.”

The company, which also offers on-demand blood-testing services, charges members $150 a month and just hired its first pediatrician in response to customer demand. It raised $10 million earlier this year, funding that Berzin will put towards expanding into new markets.

Webinars

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

Announcements and Implementations

JWM Neurology (IN) implements Encoda’s BackOffice billing technology across its 11 locations.

Innovaccer announces GA of InNote, an app that brings relevant clinical data, including referral resources, into a physician’s workflow from within the EHR.

NextGen Healthcare adds electronic prior authorization capabilities from CoverMyMeds to its cloud-based Office EHR (fka MediTouch).

Health IPass offers end users the ability to integrate automated patient messaging from DoctorConnect with its patient payments software.

EZReferral develops the EZAnywhere app to help practices better capture referrals from within their website.

People

Vanessa Bentley (North Med Billing Services) joins Medical Practice Consulting Services as billing manager. The company has also expanded its office space in Statesville, NC.

Software developer WebRTC Ventures hires Ginger Germani (AgilityFeat) as director of telehealth accounts.

Brown & Toland Physicians names Lynn Grennan (Executive Healthcare Consulting) CFO, Therese Crossett (OptumHealth) VP of business development, and Elise Johnson (UnitedHealth) VP of human capital.

Other

In New Jersey, Riverside Medical Group credits its year-over-year growth to its six-year relationship with the the NJ Innovation Institute’s ILab, which focuses on helping practices with administrative tasks, including technology implementations, as they move to value-based care. In Riverside’s case, ILab’s assistance has not only helped it attract physicians unhappy with their hospital employment, but has also helped to improve the workflows of its older, less tech-savvy staff: “If a provider is 60 years of age or more and not comfortable with a new electronic health record system,” Omar Baker, MD explains,” Riverside and NJII together have the resources to support those physicians. If that means I have to invest in a dictation program or in a scribe … we have 20 to 30 scribes. Is that expensive? Sure. But what is my ROI? Are my physicians happier? Does it lead to a better patient experience? If the answer is yes, then it’s worth it.”

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD publishes a new e-guide, “In or Out-Source: Your Value-Based Care (VBC) Revenue Cycle Management.”
• Aprima will exhibit at the Patient-Centered Medical Home Congress September 14-15 in San Diego.
• EClinicalWorks will exhibit at CASA 2018 September 5-6 in Huntington Beach, CA.

Blog Posts

• What are MACRA and MIPS? (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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