News 7/21/16

Top News

Theranos attempts to move past its CMS sanctions with the addition of two new hires. Dave Wurtz (Thermo Fisher Scientific) joins the company as vice president, regulatory and quality, to oversee laboratory and device development standards. Daniel Guggenheim (McKesson) joins as chief compliance officer. His will likely be the most high-profile role, given the monumental turnaround task of ensuring the startup follows federal and state health regulations. (I can’t help but question the men’s motivation behind joining such an unstable enterprise, not to mention how the company can afford to pay employees at this point.) The company has also formed a new compliance and quality committee to oversee Theranos executives and directors. Board member Fabrizio Bonanni believes the turnaround “will take forever – it is a never-ending process. We will build a bunch of things first, then we will improve on them, then we’ll be inspected and we’ll get additional suggestions. You will only be as good as the last inspection was. You’ll never rest.”

Webinars

None scheduled in the next few weeks. Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Announcements and Implementations

Healthcare CRM vendor Updox debuts care coordination software for pharmacists that helps them exchange secure messages with physicians, receive transitions of care, and offer patients the ability to schedule services like vaccines and screenings.

Vasco Data Security International launches identity proofing, credential issuance, fulfillment, and authentication services for providers and health IT vendors.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Athenahealth EVP and COO Ed Park will step down at the end of this year, transitioning to a seat on the Board of Directors. SVP and Chief Product Officer Kyle Armbrester, who also leads the company’s inpatient efforts, will take over Park’s role. Park has been with the company since 1998. The news came during release of the company’s latest earnings, which included a 20-percent revenue growth over the last six months, and a $2.7 million net loss as of the six months ending June 30. The company added 5,000 new physician and 80 new hospital customers.

People

Amy Mechley, MD (Christ Hospital Health Network) joins Pershing Yoakley & Associates as a principal within its Strategy & Integration business.

Telemedicine

Premier Diversified Holdings will acquire up to $500,000 of units (or 2 millions shares) of telemedicine company MyCare MedTech, which provides virtual consults via its GoEvisit app. Premier President and CEO Sanjeev Parsad will take a seat on the MyCare board. The deal marks Premier’s first foray into telemedicine. Its current holdings include medical diagnostic clinics in Canada and China, a reinsurance business based in Bermuda, and a Canadian craft beer brewery.

Talkspace implements Agora.io’s video-for-telemedicine cloud service as part of its Unlimited Messaging Therapy and LiveTalk Online Therapy programs. The Agora technology will offer Talkspace users higher-resolution, real-time voice and video calls during therapy sessions.

Government and Politics

CMS hunts for a new CTO. Applications for the position, currently occupied by George Linares, who has been with the agency since 2003, are due by August 21. The selected candidate will “provide executive direction, leadership, and support to the entire organization with regard to the Health Insurance Marketplace,” as well as ensure efficient and effective use of all IT resources related to marketplace programs.

Research and Innovation

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute awards Group Health Research Institute $2.8 million to compare methods of measuring blood pressure in confirming new diagnoses of hypertension. Methods will include home BP monitoring, clinic BP monitoring, and taking measurements via retail kiosk. They’ll be compared to 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring for accuracy, comfort, and convenience. It would be interesting to also determine which method most seamlessly transfers BP readings to physician EHRs.

A survey of 1,000 employees working for large companies finds that a majority believe that workplace health and wellness programs have had a positive impact on their physical health. An even higher percentage – 91 percent – regardless of income or age, noted they would participate more if they were rewarded. Just under 50 percent had participated in a program to help them improve their physical health. I wish the study had dived into what type of rewards employees would respond to most – money, time off, cheaper health benefits …

Other

Denmark for the gold: Danish authorities reveal a nationwide 2015 data breach that occurred when two CDs containing unencrypted health data on 5,282,616 citizens were mistakenly mailed to a firm contracted by China’s embassy in Denmark. Datatilsynet, Denmark’s data protection authority, has verified that personal and health data was exposed in the breach, including national identification numbers.

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

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News 7/20/16

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The Theranos saga, which Mr. H has admirably been keeping up with at HIStalk.com, veers into physician practice territory with the filing of a lawsuit filed by a patient in Arizona. The lawsuit (the company’s ninth) alleges that the company’s now-invalidated tests contributed to the patient’s heart attack. The patient, who is referred to as “R.C.,” had an annual heart panel done at a Walgreens Theranos facility at the behest of his physician. Though results came back normal, no doubt setting R.C.’s mind at ease, he later suffered an attack. The suit argues that valid testing might have led R.C. to seek additional care, preventing the heart attack. R.C. is also suing Walgreens, which finally cut ties with Theranos last month.

Webinars

None scheduled in the next few weeks. Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

People

Wayne Dix (UnitedHealth Group) joins SSA & Company as vice president, healthcare.

Zillion promotes Andy Brooks to CFO.

Government and Politics

The local news gauges consumer reaction to the HHS report addressing privacy and security gaps in apps, wearables, social media platforms, and other entities not covered by HIPAA. When asked if they are bothered by such gaps, or the fact that many vendors sell their health data to third parties, reactions ranged from mild outrage to a total lack of concern:

• "I guess I feel cheated by just the fact that these companies are selling my personal information and stuff that I’m doing in a gym or walking around my neighborhood and they’re making extra profit off of it.”
• "My social security number is not really attached to it and you know if they want to know how many hours of sleep I sleep, great! Let them have it. I don’t really see any problem with giving that information.”
• "I haven’t read the policy. To be honest with you, like, 99 percent probably haven’t either.”

That last comment reminds me of one of my favorite documentaries, Terms and Conditions May Apply, which “exposes what corporations and governments learn about people through Internet and cell phone usage, and what can be done about it … if anything.” It seems to me that, until consumers call for it, there won’t be much emphasis given to developing more robust standards around the use of consumer-generated health data.

Research and Innovation

An AMGA survey shows that physician compensation in 2015 remained relatively flat, with a 3.1-percent average increase for all specialties.  Emergency medicine (9.6 percent), cardiac/thoracic surgery (8.1 percent), and cardiology (6.9 percent) experienced the biggest jumps. Primary care docs saw saw an increase of 3.6 percent, which is relatively good news given that their compensation experienced a 0.3-percent decrease in 2014.

A Cybersecurity Ventures survey finds that companies do a lackluster job of managing user passwords for employees with the most access. Twenty-five percent, in fact, have the same level of security for privileged users as they do for standard users. Also alarming is the fact that 30 percent of companies surveyed still have not changed their default passwords on privileged accounts, and 30 percent allow passwords and accounts to be shared. The more these types of studies come out, the more I’m convinced that cybersecurity issues stem from human nature than a lack of technology and protocols.

Interviews with 25 PCPs working within the Johns Hopkins health system (MD) reveal that (surprise, surprise) a majority like some of their patients more than others, though favorite patients may not be the most compliant or similar to the physician. Favorites tend to be those whom the physician has known over a period of time, and/or those the physician has seen more frequently. “Doctors are human too, and as humans we like some people more than others – in both our personal and professional lives,” says researcher Albert Wu, MD. “We want our doctors to be humanistic, and patients benefit from positive regard. It is good to recognize it, to avoid playing favorites, which is different than having favorites.”

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• What Is Interoperability? (AdvancedMD)
• Wait Time Management: Why The Problem With Waiting Isn’t Waiting (Clockwise.MD)
• Swedish Medical Group Clinics Optimize Care Delivery with Versus Advantages Clinic (Versus Technology)

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

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News 7/19/16

Top News

HHS continues its HIPAA-awareness efforts with the release of a 32-page report highlighting the privacy and security gaps that have surfaced between HIPAA-covered entities and non-covered entities thanks to the proliferation of social media platforms, apps, and wearables. It allocates quite a bit of ink to addressing the opaque (not to mention hard to find) privacy policies and notices that consumer-facing companies typically use, as well as an industry-wide lack of encryption.

Webinars

None scheduled in the next few weeks. Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Rock Health’s mid-year review of digital health funding should give entrepreneurs cause to rejoice: Over $2 billion in venture funding has been spent in the first half of this year; a figure in keeping, but not surpassing, 2014 and 2015 totals. A “record-breaking” 151 companies have raised $2 million so far. Analytics, wearables, and population health management make up 2016’s top three funding categories.

People

James Dye (MedSynergies) joins Global Healthcare Alliance as vice president of business development.

Telemedicine

AHIP includes greater telemedicine utilization in its recommendations for alleviating physician shortages, which hamper the ability of payers to meet ACA-mandated network adequacy standards. Specialty physician group supply rates currently fall far below the national average for one or more specialty physician groups in a number of states, according to the trade group’s analysis. It also advocates for simplifying the processes by which physicians educated abroad obtain the right to work in the US, increasing government financing for residency training slots, and enabling physicians and PAs to work to the top of their licenses and training to ensure more “robust” care.

Other

Medical scribes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, according to an editorial in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The authors point out that physicians should be aware of potentially negative patient reaction to scribes, particularly during intimate/highly sensitive medical encounters. With regard to workflow, they add that “subjecting scribes to EMR inefficiencies by delegating clinical documentation and EMR navigation to a less highly paid person does not necessarily mean we have created ‘efficiency.’”

Direct primary care company R-Health launches an ACO in Southeastern Pennsylvania that will initially consist of 100 smaller, independent PCPs. The new Care is Primary ACO, which will serve 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries, marks R-Health’s second foray into ACOs. It acquired Philadelphia-based Advanced Comprehensive Care Organization in May.

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

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News 7/18/16

Top News

NASA selects telemedicine technology from PM13 Preferred Medical Solutions to help care for the six astronauts who will spend 16 days 62 feet underwater as part of the agency’s 21st Extreme Environment Mission Operations Expedition. The NEEMO program, which launches today off the coast of Key Largo, FL, acts as a training ground for astronauts, helping them to simulate living on a spacecraft and test spacewalk techniques for future space missions. Irish clinician Derek O’Keeffe, who has worked with NASA in the past, has been tapped to monitor the crew’s health topside.

Webinars

None scheduled in the next few weeks. Contact Lorre for webinar services. Past webinars are on our HIStalk webinars YouTube channel.

Announcements and Implementations

Intermedix adds patient no-show prediction to its analytics software for physician practices. It is the first major release from the company’s new analytics division.

Revere Health (UT) implements Basware technology to automate purchasing, invoicing, and budget-tracking activities across its 100-facility network of family  and specialty practices.

PCIHIPAA develops OfficeSafe to help small to mid-sized physician and dental practices comply with HIPAA regulations. The new set of resources includes HIPAA policies and documents, emergency and disaster recovery planning protocols, and staff training tools. Fun fact: PCIHIPAA operates under the Data Momma LLC umbrella.

People

Sylvan Waller, MD joins MDLive as CMO. Waller seems to have walked away from Atlanta-based telemedicine startup Alii Healthcare, which he co-founded in 2014 after spending time as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Advanced Technology Development Center.

Telemedicine

HHS announces $9 million in AHRQ grants to help improve opioid-addiction treatment in primary care practices in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. Participants in the three-year initiative will leverage Project ECHO telemedicine training principles to connect urban physicians with their rural counterparts.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Atlanta-based Azalea Health closes a $10.5 million Series B round of financing led by Kayne Partners that it will use to accelerate growth, potentially through acquisitions. It acquired EHR vendor SimplifyMD in July 2014. Nishita Cummings, partner at Kayne Partners, will join Azalea’s Board of Directors.

Government and Politics

Former US CTO Aneesh Chopra, now president of population health tech vendor NavHealth, signs an open letter from technology leaders decrying Donald Trump’s plan for the presidency. “We stand against Donald Trump’s divisive candidacy,” the 149 authors write, “and want a candidate who embraces the ideals that built America’s technology industry: freedom of expression, openness to newcomers, equality of opportunity, public investments in research and infrastructure, and respect for the rule of law.”

ONC announces the first-phase winners of the Consumer Health Data Aggregator Challenge and Provider User Experience Challenge, both of which seek to highlight FHIR- and open API-friendly apps that make electronic health information easier to access and use. The eight winners of the two challenges each receive $15,000. Initially announced at HIMSS16 in March, both challenges now move on to second phases that will include app evaluations and the chance to win up to $100,000.

Other

File this under “Whoops:” The Maine Dept. of Health and Human Services accidentally lists the number of a phone sex line on some of its EBT cards. The number, which was nearly identical to the department’s line for lost and stolen cards, has been corrected on new issues.

Get your Hot Pockets ready: MGMA taps comedian Jim Gaffigan to headline its annual conference, taking place October 30-November 2 in San Francisco. I’ve enjoyed the event the last several times I’ve attended, but am a bit put off by the fact it’s being held over Halloween this time around. Gaffigan’s “keynote” may make up for it, though. I’ve seen him live once before and it was worth every penny.

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

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Population Health Management Weekly Wrap Up 7/17/16

Chris Hammack (Patientco) joins population health management consulting group Aegis Health Group as SVP of sales and business development.

Medecision launches Aerial for Medicaid and Medicare Advantage, a population health management system.

Delmarva Health Network ACO selects population health management and analytics technologies from EQHealth Solutions to help better manage the care of its 18,000 members in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

Evolent Health will acquire the majority of Valence Health for $145 million, the companies have announced. The deal, which involves $35 million in cash and the remainder in Evolent shares, excludes Valence’s state insurance cooperative contracts, which will continue to operate under a newly created entity. Mr. H expands on the news here.

Medical Information Network – North Sound, a community-based HIE based in Mount Vernon, WA, selects Jiva population health management software from ZeOmega to support its 20-facility network. MIN-NS has also expanded its use of Jiva HIE, which it signed up for five years ago, by adding care transitions and enhanced HIE capabilities.

Middle Tennessee State University turns to population health management principles to help boost student retention rates. Consulting and research company Education Advisory Board has helped the university use predictive analytics to identify students who are at low risk, rising risk, and high risk of not coming back; and to provide each group with the appropriate outreach services. The 23,000-student institution has seen its retention rate rise by 400 students – equal to $1.5 million – in just one year.

Sponsor Updates

• Teknovation.biz interviews PerfectServe CEO Terry Edwards.
• Nordic is named to Modern Healthcare’s list of “Best Places to Work in Healthcare 2016.”

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg

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