News 11/21/22

Top News

Interstate Health Systems launches with pre-seed funding to develop a network of primary care, urgent care, and telemedicine services along the nation’s highway system. It is initially planning to build 60 clinics near truck stops and travel centers within the next two years. Led by former Lifepoint Health executive Jeff Seraphine, IHS will also develop a technology platform, including telemedicine and e-prescribing, that will integrate with trucking software.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, as is the rush of holiday activities that quickly follow. I encourage you to maintain an attitude of gratitude as you spend time in long lines, with family members you don’t necessarily get along with, and/or stuck at airports or in traffic traveling to and from grandma’s house. Giving thanks has, after all, been scientifically proven to increase levels of happiness. I am particularly thankful to a friend for sharing this pumpkin bar recipe, which I will attempt to bake in the coming days. I am also very thankful for you, dear readers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Behavioral health IT vendor Lightning Step secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Gallant Capital Partners. The company, which offers EHR, RCM, and CRM software, has grown through its acquisitions of Ava Billing and ZenCharts.

Home Health Care News reports that DispatchHealth has raised $330 million in a funding round led by Optum Ventures. Initially focused on house call-based urgent care, the company has expanded with hospital-at-home services in select markets. This latest investment will no doubt further its development of proprietary technology dubbed, “the Last Mile Health Technology Platform,” which will offer logistics, clinical support, and care coordination and management.

Research and Innovation

According to The Physicians Foundation’s latest report on practice challenges, one in three physicians has experienced staffing shortages in the last year, with the biggest contributing factors being administrative burdens, increased workloads without compensation, and reduced salaries/benefits. Primary care practices are particularly challenged by administrative burdens like EHRs and prior approvals.

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe announces the full integration of AnesthesiaGo with its Lightning Bold scheduling platform, and new automation capabilities for improved integration between Lightning Bolt and its clinical communication solutions.
• EClinicalWorks releases a new series of podcasts on “Achieving Success Through Data Capture and Effective Communications.”
• AdvancedMD releases its fall update, adding 35 features.

Blog Posts

• The Growing Threat of Cyberattacks in Healthcare (TigerConnect)
• Anatomy of Effective Landing Pages (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/16/22

Top News

Remote patient monitoring and care-at-home company Community Wellness opens a patient monitoring and training facility in Danville, KY. It expects to hire 450 employees at the site, which will serve as its national headquarters for training telehealth nurses.

HIStalk Practice Musings

I found time to watch Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series and, as a fan of all things Middle Earth, was not disappointed. After blazing (though not quite bingeing) through the first season’s eight episodes, I picked up “The Silmarillion,” which is Tolkien’s collection of stories about the first age, many of which are alluded to or mentioned in the series. It was a challenging read on par with the LOTR books. I found the glossary at the back most helpful.

Being a big LOTR fan, I can also recommend the Rings of Power podcast, which features interviews with the cast, crew, and even composer, who has put his own enchanting spin on Howard Shore’s movie scores. Whether or not you are a Tolkien fan, I can also recommend the biopic “Tolkien,” which recounts the author’s life into early adulthood. Now you have plenty of media to consume over the Thanksgiving break!

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Mental telehealthcare startup Options MD raises $2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Bread & Butter Ventures.

People

Digital behavioral health vendor Cognoa promotes Sharief Taraman, MD to CEO. Sharief is also an attending and physician informaticist at Children’s Health of Orange County (CA).

Announcements and Implementations

Elation Health integrates Ribbon Health’s provider directory software into its primary care EHR for improved referral management.

Rocky Mountain Internal Medicine (CO) implements CareCloud’s remote patient monitoring technology.

Government and Politics

On Canada’s Prince Edward Island, health officials are warning patients that a data entry issue with the island’s newly implemented clinic EHR has caused delays for 700 gynecological referrals. Health PEI has manually reviewed the referrals and identified 15 patients that need fast-tracked appointments. Roll out of the Telus Health system was paused earlier this year to address usability issues.

Research and Innovation

A survey of 1,000 patients finds that 61% have opted out of medical appointments because scheduling was too much of a hassle. Seventy percent noted that they had tried to schedule an appointment through a portal, website, or app, but were directed to call an office to finalize the appointment. Those that did make and go to an appointment spent an average of 29 minutes in the waiting room.

A survey of 1,800 cancer patients reveals a lack of patient engagement when it comes to medical record access: 55% of survey-takers reported not having full access to their medical records. Of those that did have access, 25% couldn’t understand the information. A quarter of patients first learned of their cancer diagnosis through a patient portal, rather than through personal interaction with their care team.

Other

After drifting off to sleep in an exam room, patient Dianne King wakes to find American Family Care clinic staff has left for the day. King checked in at 4pm, was shown to an exam room at 6pm (!), fell asleep after being swabbed, and woke up at 7:55pm. She documented her experience via Facebook Live, walking the halls to see if she had indeed been left behind.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Achieving Success Through Data Capture and Effective Communications.”
• After switching to the EClinicalWorks Cloud, Hyndman Area Health Center reduces its expected five-year costs by over 50% and improves overall practice performance.

Blog Posts

• How administrative staff burnout impacts the patient experience (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/14/22

Top News

Pediatric health IT company Connexin Software, parent company of the Office Practicum brand, notifies over 100 customers and their patients of a data breach in late August in which a hacker was able to access an offline patient data set used for data conversion and troubleshooting and remove some of that information from its internal network. Customer medical records, systems, and databases were not impacted, according to the company, though some PHI may have been compromised.

Webinars

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

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Lorre has published a children’s book and will send a copy to anyone who donates $20 or more to the non-profit animal sanctuary where she volunteers. She is personally covering the printing and shipping costs, so the entire tax-deductible donation goes toward taking care of the animals.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Canadian Well Health Technologies reports record quarterly revenue for Q3 2022 of $146 million, driven in part by its US-based Circle Medical and Wisp virtual care businesses. The company wrapped up its acquisition of CloudMD’s Cloud Practice business, including its Juno EHR and Clinical Aid billing software plus three primary care clinics.

The US Patent Office awards ModMed a patent that the company says protects some of its core EHR functionality. The specialty-focused health IT vendor agreed earlier this month to pay $45 million to settle a 2017 whistleblower lawsuit that claimed the company falsely attested that its EHR met Meaningful Use criteria, ignored patient-endangering software defects, illegally paid kickbacks, and sold systems to providers who were promised increased revenue through upcoding.

Maven Clinic raises $90 million in a Series E funding round, bringing the women’s and family tech-enabled care company’s total raised to $300 million.

People

Canvas Medical names JP Patil (Included Health) chief product officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Behavioral health EHR vendor Valant announces GA of its MYIO patient engagement app, which includes EHR-integrated intake and telemedicine capabilities.

The Vermont Department of Health will incorporate VisualDX’s clinical decision support system with its Clinical Support Initiative, designed to give physicians easy access to clinical images, potential diagnoses, and treatment plans.

Government and Politics

Ananthakumar Thillainathan, MD pleads guilty to healthcare fraud and illegal kickback offenses he committed through his MDCareNow practice in Connecticut. Thillainathan submitted nearly $900,000 in fraudulent claims for unnecessary psychotherapy services that weren’t needed or provided. He also admitted to paying a patient recruitment company over $1 million to transport over $1,000 Medicaid patients to his practice.

The VA opens its first telehealth station in Hawaii in an effort to help vets access care.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic publishes a new infographic, “Consolidating an ERP: 9 steps for a smoother, more efficient transition.”
• Nordic publishes a new episode of its monthly DocTalk series titled “Healthcare’s labor pains.”

Blog Posts

• Nurses of Note Awards: The Public Health Director (PerfectServe)
• CIO Guide to Contextual Communication (TigerConnect)
• Attributes of a Health-Literate Organization (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 11/9/22

Top News

Specialty Networks acquires Gastrologix, a GI-specific group purchasing organization that caters to independent physician practices. Specialty Networks is the parent company of private practice-focused UroGPO, GastroGPO, PPSAnalytics, United Rheumatology, and SNResearch.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

NextGen reports Q2 2023 results ahead of its UGM in Nashville: revenue up 6.8%, EPS of $0.25 vs. $0.29, exceeding analyst expectations for both.

CareCloud reports a 12% decrease in revenue for Q3 2022, which the company attributes to the loss of two large hospital clients that were acquired and migrated to the systems of their parent organizations.

Virtual pediatric mental healthcare company Brightline reportedly lays off 20% of its staff, according to Behavioral Health Business. It has raised $212 million since launching in 2019.

Announcements and Implementations

AbsoluteCare (MD) will implement ZeOmega’s Jiva care management, utilization management, and clinical assessment support technology.

TytoCare announces GA of Home Smart Clinic, a collection of virtual care devices, technology, and support services that providers and payers can use within their virtual primary care programs.

Other

Bruce Hodges, MD puts his collection of more than 5,000 medical artifacts up for auction. The collection – categorized by antiquities, Africa and Egypt, Native America, and apothecary – was exhibited in the Medicine’s Hall of Fame & Museum in Shawnee, KS. The museum, created and funded by Hodges, closed last month.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic posts a video titled “The Download: Optimizing Performance to Address Labor Shortages.”

Blog Posts

• 3 tips to manage the front office staffing shortage (AdvancedMD)
• Tired: Help desk. Wired: How desk! (Nordic)
• The Answer for Today’s Multidimensional Healthcare (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.

News 11/7/22

Top News

Primary care company VillageMD will acquire provider Summit Health for $9 billion.

Walgreens owns a majority stake in VillageMD, having invested over $5.2 billion in the company last year to co-locate its clinics with its retail pharmacies.

Once the deal is done, VillageMD, which merged with urgent care provider CityMD in 2019, will operate nearly 700 primary, specialty, and urgent care facilities in 26 markets.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Hybrid musculoskeletal care company Limber Health raises $11 million in a Series A funding round. A randomized control trial conducted at Mayo Clinic in 2020 found that patients with knee pain who used Limber’s digital exercise therapy app had superior functional and pain improvement compared to those who had in-person physical therapy.

Eye care management and adherence software vendor Lumata Health raises $4 million in a Series A funding round.

People

Faiza Hughell (RingCentral) joins Tebra, the umbrella brand of Kareo and PatientPop, as chief revenue officer.

UpHealth names Melissa Frieswick (Total Brain) chief growth officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Kansas-based community health center CareArc goes live on Epic.

Other

DirectTrust reports that 208 million Direct Secure messages have been sent and received over the course of Q3 2022 – a 9% increase over the same period last year. Consumers and healthcare organizations engaged in Direct messaging and active DirectTrust addresses all experienced Q3 decreases, which the organization attributes to data quality improvement efforts and healthcare mergers and acquisitions.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Don’t Get Spooked by Cloud Call Center Solutions (PerfectServe)
• CIO Guide to Security and Patient Privacy (TigerConnect)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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