News 1/10/18

Top News

The Boston Globe highlights the progress EHR vendors like EClinicalWorks are making with embedded virtual assistant technology akin to Alexa and Siri.

EClinicalWorks CEO Girish Navani previewed the technology during the company’s user conference last fall, and rolled it out to customers in December. Epic is reportedly preparing to launch its own virtual assistant before HIMSS. Athenahealth also has one in the works.

Webinars

January 24 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET: “Location, Location, Location: How to Deploy RTLS Asset Management for Capital Savings.” Sponsor: Versus Technology. Presenter: Doug Duvall, solution architect, Versus Technology. Misplaced or sub-optimally deployed medical equipment delays patient care and hampers safety-mandated preventive maintenance. It also forces hospitals to buy more equipment despite an average utilization that may be as low as 30 percent, misdirecting precious capital dollars that could be better spent on more strategic projects. A real-time locating system (RTLS) cannot only track asset location, but also help ensure that equipment is properly distributed to the right place at the right time. This webinar will provide insight into the evaluation, selection, and benefits of an RTLS-powered asset management solution.

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

Announcements and Implementations

PerfectServe will integrate its clinical communication and care team collaboration platform with Microsoft Skype for Business to allow clinicians to conduct video conversations from within the PerfectServe application.

Allscripts adds clinical, financial, and informational point-of-care messaging from OptimizeRx to its EPrescribe, Professional EHR, and TouchWorks EHR software.

Portneuf Quality Alliance (ID) selects population health management technology from Lightbeam Health Solutions.

Shoreline Vision (MI) signs on for support services from Great Lakes Management Services Organization.

People

William Milo (Surgery Partners) joins Physician Partners of America as SVP of practice operations.

Government and Politics

As of January 1, prescribers in Nebraska must report all dispensed prescription drugs to the statewide PDMP. Providers will also now receive alerts when patients receive high dosages of opioids within the last seven to 30 days. The PDMP is powered by e-prescribing and medication management technology from DrFirst, and is one of the only such databases to integrate with the state HIE.

Telemedicine

Youth Villages (TN) adds telemedicine services to its deployment of Mozzaz digital health tools.

WeCounsel develops the VisuWell brand to offer specialists turnkey telemedicine services. VisuWell CEO Sam Johnson founded patient messaging company Relatient in 2012 after a long sales stint with Greenway Health.

Netsmart will embed the virtual doctor service of American Well in long-term care and behavioral health EHR,  giving patients improved access to professionals and allowing them to obtain services from home.

Teladoc integrates its traditional telemedicine services with text-based second opinions from Best Doctors, which it acquired last summer, in a new app.

Research and Innovation

Organizers of the Healthy Nevada Project will offer an additional 40,000 residents Helix DNA kits when phase two of the population health study opens in the spring. Genetic data from study participants will be added to the health, population, and environmental data already being collected to develop a data set that will inform future public health projects.

Other

Road warriors, beware: A Columbia University study finds that people who travel for work two weeks or more out of the month are more anxious and depressed than those who travel less. They are also more likely to smoke, exercise less, and have trouble sleeping.

Sponsor Updates

• Culbert Healthcare Solutions will exhibit at the HFMA Revenue Cycle Conference January 18-19 in Foxborough, MA.
• KLAS recognizes Aprima as a top-tier vendor of ambulatory RCM services for the large and small clinic categories.

Blog Posts

• 2017 Innovator of the Year Awards (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 1/8/18

Top News

Allscripts will acquire Practice Fusion for $100 million in cash. San Francisco-based Practice Fusion has raised over $150 million since launching in 2005. Its EHR and PM technology supports 30,000 ambulatory practices and 5 million patient visits per month.

Webinars

January 24 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET: “Location, Location, Location: How to Deploy RTLS Asset Management for Capital Savings.” Sponsor: Versus Technology. Presenter: Doug Duvall, solution architect, Versus Technology. Misplaced or sub-optimally deployed medical equipment delays patient care and hampers safety-mandated preventive maintenance. It also forces hospitals to buy more equipment despite an average utilization that may be as low as 30 percent, misdirecting precious capital dollars that could be better spent on more strategic projects. A real-time locating system (RTLS) cannot only track asset location, but also help ensure that equipment is properly distributed to the right place at the right time. This webinar will provide insight into the evaluation, selection, and benefits of an RTLS-powered asset management solution.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Cityblock Health raises $20.8 million in a Series A funding round led by Maverick Ventures, which it will use to help deploy its first clinical partnerships and hire additional staff. The New York City-based startup has developed a membership-based care management company focused on serving the primary and behavioral healthcare needs of urban neighborhoods that have historically had little to no access to healthcare services. Andy Slavitt, whose new investment company also contributed to the round, has joined the company’s Board of Directors.

An AMA report on the economic impact of physicians shows that they support 12.6 million jobs and generate $2.3 trillion – 13 percent of the US economy.

People

Kelly Robison (OptumCare) returns to Brown & Toland Physicians as CEO.

Rich Berner (Allscripts) joins MDLive as CEO. Berner replaces Scott Decker, who took the helm in November 2016 after four years at HealthSparq.

SRS Health promotes Khal Rai to president and CEO.

Government and Politics

Physicians in Nevada begin to chafe under the state’s new opioid prescribing law, which requires them to perform a number of steps that have yet to be fully defined. The chance of failure has many erring on the side of caution so as to avoid penalties set forth by the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners. “They’re scared, frankly,” says Daniel Burkhead, MD a pain management physician who has been tasked with overseeing adherence of the bill at his Las Vegas practice. “They’re scared that we’re going to have some flaw in our paperwork, some flaw in our process that opens us all up — all seven providers — to being sanctioned by the board in various ways. So when I’m talking to my providers and telling them how to implement this, I have to go with the most conservative thing I can think of.”

Telemedicine

MediCann will implement Heally’s telemedicine software for medical marijuana consults in California. The companies will also partner on cannabis dosing research for a range of ailments.

Other

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration notifies 30,000 Medicaid beneficiaries of a November data breach that occurred when an employee fell prey to a phishing email scam.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Singletrack: Small is Beautiful, and it Just Might Last (EClinicalWorks)
• If it’s 2018, it must be time for interoperability, data dumping, and changing chart ownership (Medicomp Systems)
• Happy New Year from Nordic (Nordic)
• With SayIt from NVoq, your Cloud-Based Speech Recognition is not just accurate, but always HIPAA compliant (NVoq)
• MACRA Quality: A step-by-step beginner’s guide (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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Readers Write: Telehealth Essential to Overcoming SDOH obstacles

Telehealth Essential to Overcoming SDOH Obstacles
By Jessica Robinson

A recent industry analysis estimates that 40 percent of clinical outcomes are determined by social and economic factors, while 30 percent are due to patient behaviors, and 10 percent are attributed to the physical environment, such as transportation and housing. That leaves only 20 percent of outcomes that are driven by direct clinical care.

For healthcare providers, that small impact on outcomes may seem discouraging. However, what this finding also shows is tremendous opportunity to explore new care delivery methods that confront the other 80 percent. Telehealth, for example, has the potential to engage patients, change behaviors, and overcome some of these non-clinical factors, which are typically grouped under the social determinants of health category.

Defined as “the immediate and structural conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age,” SDOH can be more efficiently and effectively confronted through telehealth for numerous reasons. One of the most important is that it removes many barriers to accessing physical care. Moreover, when used in conjunction with a population health management strategy and platform that is integrated with the telehealth solution, providers can identify and begin overcoming SDOH challenges.

Starting with the basics

Delivering care to patients at their home through a computer or mobile device is gaining strong acceptance across the country, driven mainly by consumers and employers. A recent survey shows that 77 percent of consumers are interested in receiving more care through telehealth, while 96 percent of employers offered telehealth benefits in their company health plans.

Adoption is also poised to increase among providers. The CMS Next Generation ACO program, for example, recently released a waiver that eliminates current medical facility and geographic restrictions for assigned beneficiaries, allowing them to receive telehealth services from their home. Other new legislation, such as the 21^st Century Cures Act, may also remove those restrictions when Congress reviews a report on telehealth payment policies in 2018.

All of these telehealth trends can help overcome many SDOH obstacles, the most immediate of which are transportation challenges. Allowing patients to remain in their home to receive care eliminates that hardship while also enabling patients with physical limitations — another SDOH challenge — to access care more easily.

Understanding social determinants of health

Determining if a patient falls into a social determinant category that would prevent them from accessing care or adhering to a care plan can be a challenge. However, it may be as simple as asking some pertinent questions during registration at an office visit. For example, asking the patient if they have reliable transportation to and from a provider’s facility is an important question, as is inquiring if their work schedule permits them access to care during typical business hours.

Once that data is gathered, it can be aggregated with medical histories and other clinical information to be analyzed through a PHM platform that helps care managers identify and monitor patients who may need additional support. That insight might reveal that a patient is an ideal candidate for a telehealth-augmented care plan. Regardless, PHM and telehealth platform integration is critical to ensure efficiency and that providers have seamless access to the data they need at the point of virtual care.

Further information can be captured about a patient’s SDOH through a home visit combined with a simultaneous virtual visit. Using the organization’s PHM platform, a care manager can arrange a home visit where a nurse or other clinician can meet with the patient to discuss care plan adherence obstacles and conduct an assessment of the home environment. If needed, that clinician can contact a physician or other specialized healthcare professional through a virtual visit so that the patient can ask questions and obtain needed guidance immediately and with less effort, reducing the risk of unnecessary accidents or potential crisis situations from occurring.

Telehealth care quality

Not only can patients overcome some care access challenges more easily, but many patients report a more positive and meaningful care experience through telehealth. That finding is likely because delivering care through telehealth requires physicians to concentrate on the patient through their computer monitor, which can eliminate some of the distractions of a busy medical facility. That concentration, combined with a limitation to only visual and aural observation, means conversations can be more interactive and engaged. The patient, too, is less distracted and more at-ease speaking to the physician from the comfort of their own home.

Further, telehealth is ideal for high-need patients who may need more regular provider visits. Often, regular encounters with these patients serve as check-ins for vital signs and to see how the patient is doing. Most high-need patients have equipment available in their homes to monitor their vitals, and telehealth allows their provider to touch base on how they look and are feeling, without having to work around space or scheduling restrictions. This streamlined visit opens up providers to spent appropriate time and attention on these patients, while opening up their office space and appointment slots for more crucial or urgent cases.

Above all, strengthening that engagement can overcome SDOH obstacles that are leading patients and providers away from their care goals. When used in conjunction with a PHM strategy that helps identify and align telehealth resources with appropriate patients, ACOs and other clinically integrated networks can achieve the outcomes that distinguish themselves in their respective markets as high-performance organizations.

Jessica Robinson is VP of product management and delivery for The Garage in Orlando.

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News 1/4/18

Top News

VillageMD raises $80 million in a financing round led by Athyrium Capital Management, bringing its total funding to $116 million. The Chicago-based primary care management company has grown its physician network to 2,500 in six states.

Webinars

January 24 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET: “Location, Location, Location: How to Deploy RTLS Asset Management for Capital Savings.” Sponsor: Versus Technology. Presenter: Doug Duvall, solution architect, Versus Technology. Misplaced or sub-optimally deployed medical equipment delays patient care and hampers safety-mandated preventive maintenance. It also forces hospitals to buy more equipment despite an average utilization that may be as low as 30 percent, misdirecting precious capital dollars that could be better spent on more strategic projects. A real-time locating system (RTLS) cannot only track asset location, but also help ensure that equipment is properly distributed to the right place at the right time. This webinar will provide insight into the evaluation, selection, and benefits of an RTLS-powered asset management solution.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Patient intake tech company Phreesia secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Echo Health Ventures, marking its seventh funding round. Phreesia’s last round took place in 2014 to the tune of $30 million.

Quartet Health raises $40 million in a Series C round headed up by F-Prime Capital Partners and Polaris Partners. The funds will enable the New York City-based business to further develop its patient screening and referral technology for primary and mental healthcare providers.

Announcements and Implementations

Ortho Montana selects musculoskeletal and quality of life registries from Oberd.

People

Health Payment Systems promotes Terry Rowinski to CEO.

Brad Hill (RemitData) joins Peak Health Solutions as president.

Privia Health hires Doug Wenners as acting CEO. Wenners comes from Brighton Health Group, which acquired Privia in 2014.

Research and Innovation

European researchers develop a bionic hand with a sense of touch that is small enough to transport outside of a laboratory environment. Previous iterations had computer equipment too cumbersome to travel with; now, the user can stow it in a backpack.

Government and Politics

CMS develops a new online performance data submission tool for physicians participating in the Quality Payment Program. The 2017 submission period runs through March 31.

Other

Go Dawgs: In a savvy marketing/SEO move, OrthoAtlanta announces it will be the official orthopedic and sports medicine provider during the 2018 CFP National Championship January 8 in Atlanta.

Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush shares resolutions for the new year.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 1/3/18

Top News

Kipu Systems sues Sanomedics subsidiary ZenCharts for allegedly stealing the intellectual property behind its EHR for behavioral health providers. The $30 million lawsuit goes on to state that Solutions Recovery (FL) owner Dan Callahan enlisted his software developer son to copy Kipu’s proprietary software. The ZenCharts website lists Callahan as co-founder and (presumably) son Sean as a contributing blogger.

Webinars

January 24 (Wednesday) 1:00 ET: “Location, Location, Location: How to Deploy RTLS Asset Management for Capital Savings.” Sponsor: Versus Technology. Presenter: Doug Duvall, solution architect, Versus Technology. Misplaced or sub-optimally deployed medical equipment delays patient care and hampers safety-mandated preventive maintenance. It also forces hospitals to buy more equipment despite an average utilization that may be as low as 30 percent, misdirecting precious capital dollars that could be better spent on more strategic projects. A real-time locating system (RTLS) cannot only track asset location, but also help ensure that equipment is properly distributed to the right place at the right time. This webinar will provide insight into the evaluation, selection, and benefits of an RTLS-powered asset management solution.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Aprima reseller Das Health acquires EMDs reseller Integra IT Solutions for an undisclosed sum. Tampa, FL-based DAS will merge its West Coast operations with Integra’s Las Vegas office.

Dermatology Associates of Northern Virginia joins the US Dermatology Partners network. The arrangement marks the Dallas-based practice management company’s first foray into the state.

Biometric remote patient monitoring company Biotricity announces plans to hire 12 salespeople in Q1 2018 ahead of the launch of its Bioflux remote cardiac monitoring system.

Carrollton Family Clinic (MS) files a class-action lawsuit against EClinicalWorks in an effort to recoup lost Meaningful Use incentive money and related IT expenses incurred after CMS found the EHR vendor’s software to be deficient for Meaningful Use.

People

Brent Rasmussen (Halo Group) joins online vision test company Opternative as CEO.

Government and Politics

The FCC seeks comments on a proposed rule that would increase and potentially reallocate funding for the Rural Health Care Program. The program, which includes the Health Connect Fund, provides funding to eligible providers for broadband and telecommunications services.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announces that HHS Secretary nominee Alex Azar’s confirmation hearing will be held January 9. The former Eli Lily executive and HHS deputy secretary stressed that he will tackle drug prices during his November appearance before the Senate HELP Committee.

Research and Innovation

Coinciding with many a New Year’s Resolution, 23andMe starts recruiting for a weight loss study that will ultimately involve 100,000 of its 1.3 million customers. Participants will be asked to report on the effectiveness of one of three randomly assigned diet and weight-loss plans over a three-month period. The company will use the findings to develop genetically tailored health and wellness plans it can add to its consumer genetic reports. It sounds a lot like what subscription food service Habit already provides.

Telemedicine

Denver-based direct primary care provider PeakMed selects text-based virtual consult technology from CirrusMD. PeakMed founder and CMO Mark Tomasulo, DO told me in a September 2017 interview that telemedicine was indeed on the horizon, courtesy of a $5.5 million funding round.

Other

I’m not sure why they thought it worthwhile, but analysts pore over earnings call transcripts to determine that 2017 was one of the most profanity-filled on record – despite a fairly strong year for markets. Some believe that the “sweariness” stems from CEO attempts to be more relatable to stockholders, which isn’t saying much about the professionalism of either party.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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