News 12/6/23

Top News

Peregrine Health launches with $7 million in Series A funding. Created through the merger of Integrative Life Network and Integrative Health Centers, Peregrine offers unified mental and behavioral healthcare through its residential, partial hospitalization, outpatient, and telemedicine programs. CEO Ryan Chapman founded both ILN and IHC.

Webinars

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

People

Community Care Cooperative names Jenny Carney (Milliman) COO.

Announcements and Implementations

Walmart will offer mammography services using technology from RadNet at its Supercenter in Milford, DE (not, interestingly, a Walmart Health location). The MammogramNow pilot will use RadNet’s DeepHealth AI as part of the breast cancer screening service.

Athenahealth adds generative AI capabilities to its AthenaOne platform encompassing EHR, practice management, billing, and patient engagement technologies.

Research and Innovation

K Health develops a machine learning model using de-identified data from 17,000 Mayo Clinic primary care encounters that physicians have used to optimize blood pressure medication and treatment in hypertension patients.

A survey of physicians in the ambulatory space finds that most don’t have established relationships with post-acute care providers. While nearly 90% report receiving notifications when their patients are admitted or discharged from a hospital, just 63% are notified when their patients are discharged from a post-acute care facility. Notifications typically come via phone call or fax.

Other

The local paper profiles the Idaho Health Neighborhood Center, which makes a point of hiring physicians from other countries as medical assistants while also providing them with time to study for their US medical licenses. Managed by Cornerstone Whole Healthcare Organization, the clinic values the expertise and cultural sensitivity these physicians bring to its rural and underserved patient populations.

The profile reminds me of a great movie I saw a few months ago on Prime: Based on a true story, Peace by Chocolate is, among other things, the story of a Syrian refugee who struggles to become a physician in Canada. If you’re looking for something uplifting and encouraging to watch during the holiday break, I highly recommend it.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new Designing for Health Podcast, “Interview with Billy Nicolich.”

Blog Posts

• Help Your Patients Pay Less for Their Prescriptions (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 12/4/23

Top News

Private equity firm Resurgens Technology Partners acquires mental health-focused EHR and practice management software company Valant Medical from GemSpring Capital.

Webinars

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

People

Justin Pierce (Ventra Health) joins CareCloud as chief sales officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Texas Family Wellness Clinic will adopt Sunoh.ai’s AI-powered natural language clinical documentation software.

Health insurer Louisiana Healthcare Connections announces a new partnership with the Louisiana State Medical Society and that it will invest $1 million in helping eligible practices implement EHR software.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic expands its partnership with Fortified Health Security to strengthen security operations and deploy global response capabilities for customers.
• A Black Book Market Research survey of top cybersecurity customers ranks PerfectServe a top vendor in secure communications platforms, physician practices.
• EClinicalWorks publishes a new customer success story, “Transforming Care with RPM Seamless Integration.”

Blog Posts

• Before implementation, think about prehabilitation (Nordic)
• How Patient Journey Mapping Improves the Patient Experience (PerfectServe)
• The Sequoia Project Annual Meeting Recap: This Event Was FHIR! (HealthMark Group)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/29/23

Top News

Patient payment app startup PayGround raises $19.7 million in a Series A funding round, bringing its total raised to over $25 million.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

NextGen Healthcare will lay off close to 250 employees over the next several months, according to employment-related filings in Missouri, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The company was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo earlier this month in a take-private deal valued at $1.8 billion. NextGen kicks off its annual UGM today in Orlando.

People

Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute promotes Ken Sturtz to chief information and administrative officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Kipu Health adds Eleos Health’s natural language understanding technology to its EHR for behavioral healthcare providers, enabling them to automate documentation and analysis of patient interactions.

Brandon Area Primary Care (FL) implements EClinicalWorks.

New York City-based house call provider Expert Medical Services selects remote patient monitoring services from Health Recovery Solutions.

Pacific Cataract & Laser Institute implements InteliChart’s Healthy Outcomes patient portal and intake software across its 17 locations in six states.

Other

The local paper profiles Physicians for Wishes, an Indiana-based nonprofit that aims to grant the vacation wishes of patients struggling with severe illnesses. Gregory Taylor, DO an Air Force flight surgeon and professor of emergency medicine, launched Physicians for Wishes earlier this year, inspired by the anonymously paid-for vacation he and his family went on in 2008 during his mother’s battle with terminal cancer in 2008.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/27/23

Top News

RepeatMD raises $40 million, bringing its total funding to $56 million. The Houston-based company offers patient acquisition and retention software to aesthetics and wellness practices. The company expects to hire an additional 20 staff, bringing its total headcount to 150, by the end of the year.

Webinars

December 7 (Thursday) 2 ET. “Waystar + Epic Workflow 101: How to Maximize your Epic Investment.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenters: Christine Fontaine, solution strategist, Waystar; Lori Anderson, channel partner director, Waystar; Ashley Rose, associate director of client consulting, Waystar. Many users are curious about enhancing their Epic environments, but how do you know which features your organization needs? During this session, you will be provided a proven process to help you evaluate Epic-related decisions, tangible examples of need versus want criteria, and concrete steps to extract full value from Epic workflows and environment.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Walgreens launches direct-to-consumer virtual healthcare services in nine states, with non-urgent care treatments ranging from $33-45.

Hybrid behavioral healthcare company UpLift acquires Minded, a virtual psychiatry startup for women. With the acquisition, UpLift will expand its reach to a total of nine states and Washington, DC.

People

Joe Lopez (ModMed) joins Annexus Health as head of product.

Yosi Health names Matt Order (Buoy Health) VP of business development.

Announcements and Implementations

Renaissance Physician Partners in Houston selects administrative, operational, and practice management services from Florence Health.

MyTelemedicine adds EHR software to its white-label telemedicine platform.

RadNet will implement Maverick Medical AI’s autonomous medical coding technology across its network of imaging centers via its DeepHealth informatics software.

Physician’s Computer Company (PCC) integrates the open-source Immunization Calculation Engine developed by HLN Consulting with its pediatric EHR.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic names Claire Staple VP of strategy and country manager in Ireland.

Blog Posts

• ECW – Your AI-powered EHR (EClinicalWorks)
• How Patient Journey Mapping Improves the Patient Experience (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/22/23

Top News

Medical imaging technology company Medmo, which matches patients with partner imaging centers, raises $9 million.

HIStalk Practice Musings

I finally received an email about Amazon Health’s One Medical deal for Prime members, which, similarly to when I first read about it in the trade papers, left me underwhelmed. It’s basically a price cut for services that I likely wouldn’t take enough advantage of to justify the (granted) low price of $9 per month. There is a One Medical office within an hour or so drive of my home, so that would be a benefit, provided I could find a timely appointment – something that many patients are finding it hard to come by, as evidenced by another email that appeared in my inbox around the same time.

This Nextdoor thread, started by a neighbor’s frustration at being unable to find a timely PCP appointment, prompted 32 comments on the state of timely ambulatory care. Folks chimed in with several mentions of their PCPs moving to concierge medicine so as to avoid administrative burdens, others with similar laments on how the healthcare system in general is failing patients, and still more with suggestions of PCPs that do see patients in a timely manner. After having read the Amazon Health email, and then the Nextdoor comments, it became glaringly apparent to me that sick people want to be seen by a real person (preferably someone they have an established relationship with) at a brick-and-mortar location in real time. They do not want to see someone on a screen, chat with a bot, or sit in some sort of pod. As one commenter said, “The unfortunate situation is that the business of healthcare has completely corrupted the service aspect of it. As a primary care doctor you are often times double booked, with 15 min to see very complex patients. You might see doctors charting in the room to save time or spend 2 hrs a day after clinic or on weekends doing the charting mandated. The system is for the most part not made for doctors or patients but for administrators and insurance companies. Patients have no idea how much time their PCPs spend on the phone getting necessary tests approved, reading hospital records, trying to ensure meds prescribed are on their insurance plan. There is minimal support for primary/preventative care with limited healthcare dollars spent.”

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Maia Oncology launches with $4.25 million in seed funding. The virtual primary care clinic for cancer patients will use the investment to help launch a pilot project with a cancer center. Takeda Digital Ventures, one of the round’s leading investors, also negotiated for Maia to acquire the assets of Maia founder Liya Shuster-Bier’s previous startup, cancer companion company Alula.

E-consult and referral management software vendor AristaMD acquires specialist care video consult and provider network company Sitka and announces a $16.5 million Series C round of funding. Founder and former Sitka CEO Kelsey Mellard will become president of AristaMD.

People

Duly Health promotes Ryan West to president of Chicagoland operations, and names Dana Rye (US Renal Care) chief value-based care officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Whole Health Rheumatology in Cape Cod will implement CareCloud’s Complete EHR and practice management software.

OrthoConnecticut selects practice management software and services from Healthcare Outcomes Performance Company.

Cora Physical Therapy adopts Medsender AI to streamline its data entry and fax routing processes across 250 clinics.

Government and Politics

The Texas HHS Office of the Inspector General identifies several telemedicine billing errors providers should be careful to avoid:

• Billing for multiple telemedicine services for the same client in a short period of time.
• Billing for more than 24 hours in a day.
• Billing for telephone-only services that should be lumped in with a previous in-person or virtual visit.
• Billing for excess time.

Research and Innovation

Boston-based clinical researchers determine that orders for diagnostic tests and referrals are more likely to be completed in a timely manner when given at in-person appointments versus virtual visits.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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