News 8/10/15

Top News

Indiana resident James Young files a class-action lawsuit against Indiana-based Medical Informatics Engineering alleging that the company did not adequately protect its software from a cyberattack, disclose the attack in a timely manner, or disclose pertinent facts related to the breach. MIE discovered in early May that its NoMoreClipboard subsidiary had been breached, potentially compromising the personal data of up to 3.9 million consumers. Young, who is joined by over 100 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, contends that he “suffered actual injury from having his [personally identifiable information] and [personal health information] compromised and stolen in and as a result of the MIE data breach.” A similar suit from a trio of patients was also initiated in Indiana against MIE within days of Young’s legal action.

Webinars

None scheduled in the next two weeks. Previous webinars are on the YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for webinar services including discounts for signing up by Labor Day.

Tweet Chat

Don’t miss the next #HIStalking tweet chat on August 20 at 1pm ET. Amy Gleason (@ThePatientsSide), COO of CareSync and White House Champion of Change for Precision Medicine, will host. Stay tuned for topics.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The local paper highlights the building buzz around Epharmix, a St. Louis-based startup that has tapped into local physician expertise to develop technology that sends automated, follow-up text messages to patients. Twenty two year-old founder and CEO Blake Marggraff has already helped the company secure $100,000 in seed funding from BioGenerator, plus undisclosed amounts from Google and Yahoo executives. Express Scripts has also shown interest in the technology’s ability to improve medication adherence among health plan members.

Announcements and Implementations

The SmartCare Version 4.0 EHR from behavioral health technology company Streamline Healthcare Solutions achieves ONC Meaningful Use 2014 Edition Certification for ambulatory and inpatient facilities.

Hoke County Health Department (NC) implements Patagonia Health’s Pharmacy App in lieu of purchasing a pharmacy software system. Health Director Helene Edwards noted the app’s ability to document dispensing pharmaceuticals from the pharmacy through the patient’s EHR was a key factor in the decision. I’m willing to bet price was also a factor.

RelayHealth Financial launches ICD10Central.com to equip physicians with specialty coding resources, peer support, payer guidance, and real-time performance indicators.

Summit Software Technologies integrates SwervePay Health’s cloud-based payment processing technology into the GE Centricity platforms of its customers.

Athenahealth updates its Patient-Centered Medical Home Accelerator Program with automatic NCQA credits to help streamline physician pathways towards formal PCMH recognition.

Telemedicine

HelloMD pivots from offering traditional telemedicine visits to focusing strictly on member-based services for medical marijuana patients. In addition to video consults, the company offers users on-demand membership with vetted dispensaries.

HealthGains, an Aventura, FL-based chain of health and wellness facilities, launches a virtual wellness video portal as part of its age-management program. In addition to video consults, the portal can sync with  wearable fitness devices to track and monitor a patient’s progress.

Hot on the heels of Mr. H’s assessment of China’s dismal attempts at healthcare reform comes news that the country’s largest mobile health platform will offer USARad’s Second Division telemedicine and teleradiology services to its 70 million customers.

An analysis from global analytics firm IHS finds that an increase in health insurance coverage will cause the number of virtual video consults between PCPs and patients to double in the next five years, jumping to nearly 27 million in the U.S. market. Specialty consultations via video are predicted to increase from 14.5 million to 21.5 million.

Government and Politics

The House Energy & Commerce Committee releases findings from a year-long study on HHS network security, highlighting the fact that hackers have breached at least five HHS divisions within the last three years. Blame is laid squarely at the feet of the agency, which lacks transparency into its own networks and suffers from poor staff training. The study authors recommend transferring all information security responsibilities from the CIO to the CISO, who should be the primary authority responsible for information security at HHS and its operating divisions.

The Indiana Business Journal puts its own spin on the rising tide of healthcare hacks, noting that the cost of data breaches over the last six years – about $30 billion – has already surpassed the amount of Meaningful Use incentives that the federal government has paid out to providers.

The Senate unanimously approves The Electronic Health Fairness Act before its summer recess. If approved by the President, the bill will exempt patient encounters in ambulatory surgery centers from Meaningful Use requirements – a logical and likely long overdue move given that ASC MU certification standards were not included in the HITECH Act.

Research and Innovation

A study of patient and staff experience during the primary care process at three clinics in Philadelphia finds technology to be one of the biggest impediments to a smooth visit for both parties. Surveyed staff noted that, “The sheer volume of information in the electronic health record can obscure some of the important details,” while patients expressed frustration at having to repeat their health histories – supposedly stored in their EHRs -multiple times to different staff members.

The American Academy of Private Physicians partners with EHR and PM vendor Kareo to launch an annual study on independent physician perceptions of payment models including fee-for-service, concierge, and private pay. Results will be presented at AAPP’s Fall Summit September 25-26 in Washington, D.C.

Researchers find Twitter to be a highly effective tool for breast cancer education and support. Of 200-plus cancer patients surveyed, 80 percent noted an increase in overall knowledge about their disease, while nearly 86 percent felt more knowledgeable about survivorship. Similar figures were reported across a variety of categories including cancer types and biology, and clinical trials and research. My only gripe with the survey results is that the survey was issued on Twitter and Facebook, where respondents had already likely become quite comfortable with using the social networks as data-gathering tools and support networks. It would be more interesting to me to discover the value Twitter holds for cancer patients who have little to no experience with it.

Other

The Houston Chronicle spotlights the mounting struggles faced by independent physicians in Texas, including (but not limited to) technology expenses, declining reimbursements, and ever-aggressive hospitals looking to gobble up practices. “The fun-to-hassle ratio has gone way down,” explains Michael Gorback, MD. “It gets harder and harder every year. They just keep heaping more and more on us.” Texas takes its independence seriously – 29.2 percent of physicians in the state are in solo practice, while 32 percent are in practice with 10 or fewer physicians.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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Population Health Management Weekly Wrap Up 8/7/15

Top News

Premier acquires supply chain and performance services vendor CeCity for $400 million. The company offers PQRS reporting, an educational platform, clinical data registries, and a performance and population health management system. CEO Lloyd Myers, a pharmacist, founded the Pittsburgh-based company in 1996.

Webinars

None scheduled in the next two weeks. Previous webinars are on the YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for webinar services including discounts for signing up by Labor Day.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Healthcare analytics startup Care at Hand raises $560,000 from financial management services firm PCG Public Partnerships. The San Francisco-based company’s mobile-friendly technology, geared towards home and community-based case managers, uses survey data from non-clinical workers to predict and prevent hospitalizations.

Announcements and Implementations

Reid Health (IN) implements Influence Health’s Patient Engagement Cloud solution, including the Empower enterprise patient portal and Navigate population health management solutions.

The Delaware Valley ACO signs a five-year agreement with Wellcentive for expanded care management and population outreach capabilities, data aggregation, and analytic and workflow solutions. DVACO, which covers 65,000 Medicare patients, is owned by five Philadelphia-based health systems including Thomas Jefferson University Health System, Main Line Health, Doylestown Health, Holy Redeemer Health System, and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital.

Department of Vermont Health Access chooses eQHealth Solutions for population health management technology.

Inovalon signs a multi-year agreement with HP to provide quality analytics technologies to the State of Georgia Dept. of Community Health’s Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs. HP will integrate Inovalon’s iPORT cloud-based data integration platform and QSI healthcare data quality analytics platform into the enterprise IT services it provides to the department.

People

Raymond Vogel, Jr. (VA) joins Phase One as director of healthcare development.

SRG Technology, which offers population health management technology it developed with Massachusetts General Hospital, hires Adrian Zai, MD as CMIO.

Research and Innovation

Apple’s ResearchKit gets its first international use as Stanford’s MyHeart Counts app is made available to people living in Hong Kong and UK. The app asks participants once every three months to monitor a week’s worth of physical activity, complete a 6-minute walk fitness test, and provide feedback on their behaviors and risks. “Every type of research study is different,” explains Michael McConnell, MyHeartCounts researcher and professor of medicine at Stanford, “so this may not apply to all future research, but for studying population health and the impact of real-world, daily activities, a mobile research platform has many advantages."

Government and Politics

HHS awards $2.2 million to the Community Health Peer Learning Program as part of a $38 million bundle of funding for three national health IT programs. (I covered the other programs in an update earlier this week.) The two-year CHPLP program will turn the funding over to health services and policy research organization AcademyHealth to work with 15 communities on population health strategies. Communities will be required to identify data solutions, accelerate local progress, share best practices and learning guides, and help inform national strategy around population health challenges.

Other

The National Quality Forum releases “Multistakeholder Input on a National Priority: Improving Population Health by Working with Communities,” the latest version of its Community Action Guide. The 66-page report incorporates feedback from 10 field testing groups engaged in population health improvement work across the country.

Wired highlights the work of Danish researchers in collecting and analyzing the fecal emissions of global airline passengers in an effort to identify impending epidemics. As one of the researchers so succinctly put it, “DNA analysis of airplane poop could help flush out signs of emerging outbreaks.”

Sponsor Updates

• Medicity CEO Nancy Ham co-authors the HFMA article “The Financial Impact of Population Health Analytics in the Shift to Value-Based Models.”
• Billian’s HealthData invites responses from professional marketers in a survey on marketing practices.
• Nordic offers the latest video in its “Making the Cut” series on Epic conversion planning.
• NVoq offers “Your iPhone has Good Dictation. Why Doesn’t Your Enterprise Application?”
• PerfectServe offers “Put down the phone, and other communication lessons from healthcare professionals.”
• EClinicalWorks offers “1.5 Million Referrals Exchanged via P2POpen.”
• Greenway Health offers “CMS Expands ICD-10 Grace Period Guidance.”

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 8/6/15

Top News

ADP announces that its AdvancedMD  division will be acquired by Marlin Equity Partners for an undisclosed sum. ADP AdvancedMD President Raul Villar will continue as CEO of the now independent company. He notes that, “Under Marlin ownership, we are well positioned to accelerate product investment and will continue to deliver best-in-class implementation and service to our loyal clients and partners.”

Webinars

None scheduled in the next two weeks. Previous webinars are on the YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for webinar services including discounts for signing up by Labor Day.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois partners with DuPage Medical Group, the largest independent physicians group in Chicago, to give physicians access to its data on the cost and quality of services patients receive when they get care outside the group. DMG’s 425 physicians will likely use the data to determine which hospital provides the best quality and cost for a particular procedure in the hopes of receiving incentives for sending patients to that facility.

Telemedicine

The local paper covers Oregon’s recent decision to pass Senate Bill 144A, legislation that will require private payers to cover telemedicine services regardless of where the patient is located. Telehealth Alliance of Oregon Executive Director Cathy Britain calls the move “a really exciting time for telemedicine.” The Alliance plans to launch a statewide registry of physicians offering telemedicine services next year.

San Diego’s Craigslist posts a pretty sweet deal for qualified physicians: $100-$200 per hour to provide medical marijuana evaluations over video. Perks from the unnamed company include cloud-based EHRs, an “excellent” bonus structure, and the ability to “work as little or as much as you want.”

Announcements and Implementations

Madison, WI-based Tascet grandly announces the launch of its Unique Patient Identifier solution, yet offers little detail about how the UPI and its security features will ensure the safety of patient records. The website it directs confused readers to is almost as vague.

AAFP partners with HealthFusion to offer the company’s MediTouch EHR to its 120,900 family physician members.

Government and Politics

The Senate HELP committee postpones today’s hearing on Karen DeSalvo,MD’s nomination to be HHS Assistant Secretary until after its summer recess. Kudos to @AmyOnHealth for calming the health IT masses.

Research and Innovation

Black Book Research’s latest study finds that 77 percent of all orthopedic practices have rolled out, are implementing, or are in the midst of selecting an EHR system. Survey respondents ranked Modernizing Medicine, which recently acquired GMed and its gastroenterology EHR, first in orthopedic EHR systems.

Other

Press Ganey is accepting nominations for its inaugural Physician of the Year Award, which will recognize a physician who “demonstrates exceptional leadership; practices compassionate, connected care; and has realized tangible success in improving the patient experience by reducing both patient and caregiver suffering.” Nominations will be accepted through September 25. The award will be presented at the Press Ganey National Client Conference November 10-12 in Orlando.

Charleston, S.C. physician Edward Gilbreth puts a humorous spin on his favorite ICD-10 codes highlighted in “Struck by Orca; ICD-10 Illustrated,” edited by HIStalk contributor Niko Skievaski:

• R46.1 — Bizarre personal appearance. (And who’s to be the judge of that, may I ask?)
• Z62.891 — Sibling rivalry. (Don’t we need one for “Modern Family” as well?)
• W56.22xA — Struck by orca, initial encounter. (I’m not making this up, as Dave Barry would say.)
• S10.87XA — Other superficial bite of other specified part of neck, initial encounter. (This code is found only in the teen version of ICD-10.)
• W220.2XD — Walked into lamppost, subsequent encounter. (Or as my grandpappy used to say, “Son, there ain’t much edication in the second kick of a mule.”)
• W61.62XD — Struck by duck, subsequent encounter. (As opposed to President Jimmy Carter’s attacking rabbit.)

For my fellow tennis fans: Women’s professional tennis comes out of the “data dark ages” with the introduction of courtside iPads loaded with tennis stats fed to the devices from the chair umpire’s electronic scoring system. Coaches, who have the opportunity to confer with players for 90 seconds during each set, will use the data to point out areas for improvement. Both parties will wear live mics during the exchange, which could make for some fun live television.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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

DOCtalk with Dr. Gregg 8/6/15

Requiem for a Portal

Your beautiful face will be missed, more than words can say.

Thank you all for coming. We gather today to mourn the loss of our dear friend, Kid Koncierge, our wonderful “Online Care Center.” She was far too young to have her brilliant light turned out. She was far too wonderful, too useful, too enjoyable, to have gone so early. She will be, oh, so sorely missed.

Most of the world won’t even notice her passing. Most were never lucky enough to have seen her, to have been bedazzled by her. Most of the world never even knew she existed.

But here in our little corner of the world, we knew what she was. We knew just how blessed we were to have her. We knew the value and the truth and the grace she bestowed upon us.

My dear friends, isn’t it amazing just how quickly we became dependent upon her? Isn’t it remarkable just how easily she inserted herself into our daily lives and became a part of our complete care system? Our workflow wasn’t disrupted when she was born into our midst; rather, our workflow was smoothed, our communications enhanced, our daily lives enlightened by her wonderful, unique ways.

She gave us beauty, yes. Her initial appeal was the gorgeous face she shown upon us all. But her depth was the clincher. The values she brought, the ease of use she displayed, the simplified grace with which she executed all her daily duties – those were the things that truly endeared her to us more than words can describe.

Those of us who worked with her knew how much she helped us. She helped us to be better care providers. She helped us to be better communicators. She helped us do our jobs better – from work, from home, when away – from wherever and whenever we needed.

Those of you who used her for your children’s care knew how much she gave, too. She provided insights and health details. She provided education about your children’s’ growth and development. She provided wisdom and consolation about healthcare issues and concerns. She allowed easy communication with her healthcare providers and enabled online scheduling without so much as a dial tone. You could ask for school or sports forms when your child needed them, uploading the blank form and receiving back the completed version ready to turn in. You could request prescription refills or specialist referrals, night or day. You could see growth parameters and curves. You could see all your children’s immunizations and know what they needed next. You could print the immunizations out to give to their school. You could even get automated reminders when vaccines were due (or when appointments were pending.)

All of this she gave to all of us – from our Web browser of choice, from our tablets, or from our phones. She helped us whenever she could, whenever we wanted, however we needed. She was always there for us.

When corporate needs dictate the closing of such a tool, the phrase “It’s only business” is often used. That may be ultimately true, but for those of us who knew her and used her in our day-to-day lives, it nevertheless feels somehow the rationalization. She wasn’t business; she was personal. She was deeply part of the care we gave, of the care we received. She was our friend.

There will be others who will eventually take her place, others who will fill the roles she left empty when she departed. Hopefully, those who come after will learn from her, will build upon her strengths, and will shine with a light of their own. But, they will all be challenged to ever reach the glorious glow she so easily shone.

We mourn today the passing of Kid Koncierge – our patient portal; our colleague; our beautiful, beautiful friend.

From the trenches …

“And then she left, and it broke my heart so completely I could hardly breathe.” – Lauren Oliver, Requiem

Dr. Gregg Alexander, a grunt in the trenches pediatrician at Madison Pediatrics, is Chief Medical Officer for Health Nuts Media, an HIT and marketing consultant, and sits on the board of directors of the Ohio Health Information Partnership.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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News 8/5/15

Top News

EVisit closes on $1 million in its first round of seed funding. The telemedicine software company, which has 1,000 physician users, will use the injection of cash to grow its sales, marketing, and customer acquisitions. CEO Bret Larsen has boldly proclaimed the company will go international by the end of next year. (I love that the demo screen above features a smiling “Dr. Bill Murray.”)

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

It’s hard to believe that HIMSS16 is just six months away, meaning now is about the time marketing folks start dreaming up creative ways to get their message heard above the hue and cry of a thousand other vendors in the exhibit hall. That being said, there are still a few HIStalkapalooza sponsorship packages available including the all-access CEO Rock Star package and access to the HIStalkacabana, plus custom packages for a variety of budgets. Contact Lorre if you’re interested in impressing clients and prospects with a great venue, band, and schmoozing opportunities.

Listening: I had the opportunity while on vacation to catch a beachside set from Grammy nominee Bryan Lee. Known for his New Orleans-style blues, the blind musician got everyone’s mostly bare feet moving.

Webinars

None scheduled in the next two weeks. Previous webinars are on the YouTube channel. Contact Lorre for webinar services including discounts for signing up by Labor Day.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

In its first earnings call since the DoD EHR bid announcement, Cerner says (without naming names) that it’s gaining ambulatory business at the expense of Athenahealth because it offers better service and value. Mr. H shares other juicy tidbits from the call here.

Five independent physician groups in Ohio band together to form the statewide Ohio Independent Collaborative in an effort to compete with healthcare behemoths like Cleveland Clinic and Mercy Health. OIC’s 400-plus member physicians hope to leverage their unity in dealing with GPOs and payers, all while staying independent. “Can we hold off as independent forever? I don’t know,” says OIC President Gary Pinta, MD. “I hope so, but we’ll fight and do our best to stay out there and do things the way our patients like us to do them and in a way we like to do them,” said Dr. Gary Pinta, president of the collaborative and a physician with Pioneer Physicians Network who practices in Cuyahoga Falls. We’ve been successful, and patients have chosen us for a reason. They feel a difference.”

Announcements and Implementations

Healthpac integrates its medical billing software with ClaimRemedi’s insurance claims clearinghouse technology.

OpenEMR developer ZH Healthcare launches Health IT as a Service (HITaaS), a cloud-based service that works with SaaS and IaaS platforms to manage IT infrastructure, security, servers, storage, contracts, and interfaces.

Medical Direct Care, a single-physician family practice in Clarksville, TN, implements iPatientCare’s EHR.

Multi-specialty Premier Physician Network (NJ) goes live on GE Healthcare’s Centricity Practice Solution PM module and EDI hosted solution.

Government and Politics

CAPG expresses (in a somewhat out-of-the-blue and belated manner) its support for Andy Slavitt’s nomination as CMS administrator. “We are hopeful that under his leadership, CMS would continue its strong commitment to new alternative payment models,” writes CAPG President and CEO Donald Crane. “CAPG also would welcome the opportunity to continue to work with Mr. Slavitt to secure a strong future for Medicare Advantage.” Slavitt has held the position on an interim basis since Marilynn Tavenner stepped down in February.

In other Andy Slavitt news, he will provide stakeholders with an update on the national implementation of ICD-10 during a national provider call on August 27.

Research and Innovation

University of Cambridge researchers find that the digital Wizard brain-training game helps to improve the cognitive functions of 22 schizophrenia patients over a four-week period. Part of of the Peak app, the game also helps to facilitate everyday tasks. Researchers believe the results to be important given that they demonstrate that the memory game can help where drugs have so far failed.

Other

Ireland’s Health Information and Quality Authority announces it will pilot a national Individual Health Identifier program in clinical information systems at three locations, including a multi-physician general practice, over the next five months in preparation for assigning an IHI to every citizen using health and social care services. “The Individual Health Identifier will be a major step forward in modernizing our health service,” explains Minister for Health Leo Varadkar. “It will allow us to follow patients and staff as they move through the health service in a way we currently can’t. This will improve patient safety, reduce duplication and errors, and give us a huge amount of new data that we can use to make services more efficient and improve planning.”

Unbelievable: A three-month-old chicken from Black Thistle Farm in Massachusetts undergoes surgery to replace a torn tendon with a $2,500 prosthetic limb created on a 3-D printer. Farm owner Andrea Martin believes the procedure will give “Cicely” a new lease on life: “Anytime you do surgery on a bird, it’s a risk, but I am optimistic. I think this will make her very happy. It’s worth it.”

Sponsor Updates

• ADP AdvancedMD offers “5 ways to enhance your current ICD-10 transition plan.”
• Aprima will hold its user conference August 7-9 in Dallas.
• Culbert Healthcare Solutions will exhibit at the Allscripts Client Experience August 5-7 in Boston.
• Billian’s HealthData offers “Traversing the Path to Patient Data Access.”
• Jaffer Traish, director of Epic consulting with Culbert Healthcare Solutions, publishes a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe titled “Celebrating strides being made in electronic health records.”
• The Detroit News features Clockwise.md in a profile of the Henry Ford QuickCare Clinic.

Contacts

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

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

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