News 3/30/22

Top News

EHR vendor Practice Fusion will pay a $200,000 fine to resolve allegations that it failed to adhere to the terms of its deferred prosecution agreement. The DPA was made in 2019 as part of the vendor’s $145 million settlement of criminal charges related to its role in soliciting and receiving kickbacks in return for embedding electronic prompts in its EHR to influence the prescribing of opioid medications.

Allscripts acquired Practice Fusion in 2018 for $100 million.

Webinars

April 6 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “19 Massive Best Practices We’ve Learned from 4 Million Telehealth Visits.” Sponsor: Mend. Presenter: Matt McBride, MBA, founder, president, and CEO, Mend. Virtual visits have graduated from a quickly implemented technical novelty to a key healthcare strategy. The challenge now is to define how telehealth can work seamlessly with in-person visits. This webinar will address patient satisfaction, reducing no-show rates to single digits, and using technology to make telehealth easy to use and accessible for all patients. The presenter will share best practices that have been gleaned from millions of telehealth visits and how they have been incorporated into a leading telemedicine and AI-powered patient engagement platform.

On demand: “Cybersecurity Threats Facing Healthcare Today.” Sponsor: Net Health. Presenters: Jason James, MS, CIO, Net Health; Monique Hart, MBA, CISO, Piedmont Healthcare; Jeffrey Rosenthal, , MBA CIO, Reliant Rehabilitation; David Jollow, MBA, CISO, Healogics. The panel of CIO and CISO leaders will discuss the cyberthreats that healthcare faces today. They will review security priorities for the increasingly complex healthcare IT environment that includes cloud-based applications, an increased number of endpoints that include connected devices and patient wearables, and patient portals.

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

People

Nikhil Abraham (Resident) joins SteadyMD as CFO.

Yuvo Health names Lora Council, MD (Cambridge Health Alliance) chief population health officer.

Announcements and Implementations

TeleSign announces GA of healthcare-specific solutions, including digital patient identity verification, appointment scheduling and reminders, and digital safeguards for medical records.

Medical billing company Nobility RCM selects patient billing, payments, and support software from Inbox Health.

The Village Network in Ohio implements Arize EHR software from Cantata Health Solutions.

The American Oncology Network of practices will implement Inovalon’s ScriptMed Cloud technology.

Government and Politics

Community Health Center in Middletown, CT will use just over $1 million from the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program fund to provide remote patient monitoring and video consults to its 15,000 patients.

Other

Oklahoma City Indian Clinic announces that it was the victim of a cyberattack earlier this month by the Suncrypt ransomware group, which claims to have stolen 350 gigabytes of data. The hack impacted some of the clinic’s computer systems and its auto-refill prescription software. Databreaches.net has reported in the past that the ransomware group had pledged to avoid future attacks on medical entities: “We don’t play with people’s lives. And no further attacks will be carried against medical organizations even in this soft way.”

The Tay River Health Centre in Ontario has filled its exam rooms with creations from students at local schools. Instructed to create their pieces with healthcare in mind, students from four schools in the area have begun submitting canvases, for a total of 24 paintings so far. “It’s allowed us to transition to more difficult conversations a lot easier,” says one of the center’s family physicians. “Frankly, the patients are glad to have these pieces in our rooms; it lightens the mood and makes them feel more at ease. I don’t think any of us anticipated such excellent work coming from our local students here in our community.”

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD awards Client Support Specialist Hannah Dixon an FIT Award.

Blog Posts

• HIMSS22 Outlines Opportunities in Healthcare (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 3/28/22

Top News

Healthcare analytics startup Quinsite raises $2.5 million in seed funding. Based in Chapel Hill, NC, the company plans to expand radiology practices to anesthesiology, pathology, orthopedics, and/or emergency medicine.

Husband-and-wife co-founders Jeff and Jenny Maze, RN launched the company in 2017. The couple has quite a track record in healthcare: Jeff has had previous roles at AGS Health, Zotec Partners, and Anthem. Jenny has worked in nursing at St. Vincent Health, Advanced Cardiac Specialists, and PeaceHealth.

Webinars

April 6 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “19 Massive Best Practices We’ve Learned from 4 Million Telehealth Visits.” Sponsor: Mend. Presenter: Matt McBride, MBA, founder, president, and CEO, Mend. Virtual visits have graduated from a quickly implemented technical novelty to a key healthcare strategy. The challenge now is to define how telehealth can work seamlessly with in-person visits. This webinar will address patient satisfaction, reducing no-show rates to single digits, and using technology to make telehealth easy to use and accessible for all patients. The presenter will share best practices that have been gleaned from millions of telehealth visits and how they have been incorporated into a leading telemedicine and AI-powered patient engagement platform.

On demand: “Cybersecurity Threats Facing Healthcare Today.” Sponsor: Net Health. Presenters: Jason James, MS, CIO, Net Health; Monique Hart, MBA, CISO, Piedmont Healthcare; Jeffrey Rosenthal, , MBA CIO, Reliant Rehabilitation; David Jollow, MBA, CISO, Healogics. The panel of CIO and CISO leaders will discuss the cyberthreats that healthcare faces today. They will review security priorities for the increasingly complex healthcare IT environment that includes cloud-based applications, an increased number of endpoints that include connected devices and patient wearables, and patient portals.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

UberDoc secures an undisclosed amount of funding from business process automation vendor Exela Technologies. The company’s technology enables patients to find, book, and pay for in-person and telemedicine appointments with participating providers. Founder and CEO Paula Muto, MD is a practicing surgeon at the Muto Vein Center (MA), which she opened more than 20 years ago.

Privia Health reports a 29% bump in fourth quarter revenue, with total revenue for the year increasing by 19%. The practice management company, which launched three new ACOs in 2021, went public last year.

Announcements and Implementations

ModMed launches marketing services for practices that include website design and management, digital marketing, reputation management, and online retail.

Compulink adds patient engagement capabilities from Promptly to its Advantage Smart Practice EHR and practice management system for specialty practices.

Rootines launches its flagship patient engagement and patient-reported outcomes software for pediatric behavioral healthcare providers.

Government and Politics

Social services nonprofit Centro will use $975,000 in federal funding to invest in a new EHR and expand telemedicine services.

Other

STAT publishes a great profile of ophthalmologist Will Flanary, MD who has achieved viral fame (admittedly, niche) for his portrayal of an internet celebrity known as Dr. Glaucomflecken. Flanary first flexed his comedic chops doing stand-up while at Texas Tech University, after which he began writing for the school’s satirical magazine and contributing to GomerBlog, a satirical medical blog. Now, along with his day job at a private practice outside of Portland, he creates content for his 2.5 million TikTok, Youtube, and Twitter subscribers. “ … I love building this Glaucomflecken General Hospital of characters,” Flanary told STAT. “I can be pretty specific with different areas of medicine and create this world of, honestly, pretty dysfunctional people. But it’s funny.”

Sponsor Updates

• Medicomp Systems releases a new episode of its Tell Me Where It Hurts Podcast featuring Janae Sharp of The Sharp Index.
• PerfectServe accelerates speed to care with faster delivery of critical lab results.

Blog Posts

• 3 Strategies for Sourcing Patient Health Education (Healthwise)

• Houston, we have a data problem (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.

News 3/23/22

Top News

Membership-based telemedicine company Antidote Health will use a new $22 million investment to enhance its primary and chronic condition care services, and to further develop AI screening and clinical decision support system capabilities.

Webinars

April 6 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “19 Massive Best Practices We’ve Learned from 4 Million Telehealth Visits.” Sponsor: Mend. Presenter: Matt McBride, MBA, founder, president, and CEO, Mend. Virtual visits have graduated from a quickly implemented technical novelty to a key healthcare strategy. The challenge now is to define how telehealth can work seamlessly with in-person visits. This webinar will address patient satisfaction, reducing no-show rates to single digits, and using technology to make telehealth easy to use and accessible for all patients. The presenter will share best practices that have been gleaned from millions of telehealth visits and how they have been incorporated into a leading telemedicine and AI-powered patient engagement platform.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Digital stethoscope company Eko has extended its series C funding by an additional $30 million, bringing the total round to $95 million. Eko has announced it will launch its first clinical decision support software, Eko App, giving providers the ability to immediately capture and analyze ECG data from their stethoscopes.

EHR vendor Qualifacts + Credible rebrands to Qualifacts. The company offers software for behavioral health, human services, and rehab services organizations. Qualifacts and Credible Behavioral Health merged to become one business in 2020.

People

Cityblock Health promotes co-founder Toyin Ajayi to CEO. She takes over from co-founder Iyah Romm, who left the company last fall to focus on his mental health. Former CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt had been serving as interim CEO.

Announcements and Implementations

Virtual behavioral healthcare provider PursueCare expands its services for substance use disorders to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It has also opened its first outpatient clinic. The Allentown, PA-based facility will be followed by another in New Jersey later this month.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD recognizes Channel Marketing Manager Carri Hamilton with a FIT Award.

Blog Posts

• The First Step: Patient-Centered Medical Home (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 3/21/22

Top News

Canopy (formerly Expain Health) launches its platform of EHR-integrated technologies for oncology practices, including care management, analytics, remote patient monitoring, workflow, and automated reimbursement, alongside securing a $13 million funding round.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Practice Platinum Sponsor TigerConnect. The Santa Monica, CA-based company offers the healthcare industry’s most widely adopted and integrated communication platform, bringing together all aspects of care collaboration, physician and resident scheduling, patient engagement, and alarm management into a single, scalable, and mobile solution. TigerConnect modernizes the way doctors, nurses, care teams, staff, and patients communicate – inside a facility, across multiple locations, and throughout the healthcare ecosystem. A cornerstone for digital transformation, the TigerConnect platform integrates with EHRs, nurse call, scheduling, and other systems to unify communication, streamline workflows, reduce costs, and improve patient outcomes. HIPAA-compliant and HITRUST-certified, TigerConnect delivers 99.99% verifiable uptime and is trusted by more than 7,000 healthcare organizations across the US and Canada. Thanks to TigerConnect for supporting HIStalk Practice.

Webinars

April 6 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “19 Massive Best Practices We’ve Learned from 4 Million Telehealth Visits.” Sponsor: Mend. Presenter: Matt McBride, MBA, founder, president, and CEO, Mend. Virtual visits have graduated from a quickly implemented technical novelty to a key healthcare strategy. The challenge now is to define how telehealth can work seamlessly with in-person visits. This webinar will address patient satisfaction, reducing no-show rates to single digits, and using technology to make telehealth easy to use and accessible for all patients. The presenter will share best practices that have been gleaned from millions of telehealth visits and how they have been incorporated into a leading telemedicine and AI-powered patient engagement platform.

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

People

Sycle, an audiology-focused practice management vendor, promotes Joel Lockwood to president.

Steve DeBiasi (EmergeOrtho) joins practice consulting firm Curi as CEO if its new advisory business.

Announcements and Implementations

The VFW in Athens, TX installs a telemedicine pod from Philips so that veterans can take advantage of virtual appointments with their VA or Mesquite Vet Center providers.

Eastern Iowa Health Center partners with Infinity Health, a local FQHC, to offer its patients virtual psychiatric appointments with Infinity providers.

Other

Wheeling Health Right, a primary care clinic operated by United Way, notifies patients of a January cyberattack that forced it to decrypt, recover, and rebuilt its systems. It has also implemented multi-factor authentication for employee email accounts and installed endpoint detection and response software.

The local paper profiles John Turner, MD (right) a family physician based in Tallahassee, FL who felt compelled to offer medical aid to Ukrainian refugees along the Ukraine/Poland border. Turner traveled to Poland without any local contacts and no set plan, despite trying to get in touch with local missionary organizations. His path crossed with a group of German physicians and nurses staying at his hotel and affiliated with a missions organization who were also intent on offering their medical services. Along with them, Turner ended up working 24 hours at the border, supplying medical care, food, clothes, and toys.

“It was a crazy experience across the border,” Turner said. “Cars were lined up for miles, people were lined up for miles. Some had been standing in line for 30 hours. It was freezing conditions, literally, snowing the whole time. I am proud because we did some good work. What was so striking, however, was once the refugees crossed into Poland, the support was so amazing. There were tons of volunteers, translators, supplies. The Polish people are so amazing.”

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Guide to interoperability for healthcare leaders (Nordic)
• Develop a Clinical Communication Governance Strategy (PerfectServe)
• The CNO’s Guide to Alarm Management & Event Notification (TigerConnect)
• Assessing the value of application managed services (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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News 3/16/22

Top News

House Rx raises $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded by former Flatiron Health executives, the startup has developed technology that helps specialty practices and pharmacists collaborate to offer patients timely access to specialty medications.

Launched a year ago, the San Francisco-based company has 30 employees serving 30 providers across four clinics on the West Coast.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Dr. Jayne’s mention of “Howard’s End” in her latest update from HIMSS got me to thinking about my E.M. Forster phase in junior high, when I read and watched “Where Angels Fear to Tread,” “Remains of the Day,” and “Howard’s End.” Having re-read them during the initial days of COVID, I now realize that what I took for British romanticism back then are actually just well-told tales of the miserably repressed upper-crust (or those who aspire to that label, in the case of Leonard Bast).

In any case, fans of Forster may be interested to know that Starz has adapted “Howard’s End” into a four-episode mini-series available on Prime. It could be just the thing for weary road warriors to watch once home from HIMSS.

Webinars

April 6 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “19 Massive Best Practices We’ve Learned from 4 Million Telehealth Visits.” Sponsor: Mend. Presenter: Matt McBride, MBA, founder, president, and CEO, Mend. Virtual visits have graduated from a quickly implemented technical novelty to a key healthcare strategy. The challenge now is to define how telehealth can work seamlessly with in-person visits. This webinar will address patient satisfaction, reducing no-show rates to single digits, and using technology to make telehealth easy to use and accessible for all patients. The presenter will share best practices that have been gleaned from millions of telehealth visits and how they have been incorporated into a leading telemedicine and AI-powered patient engagement platform.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

UK-based menopause care app developer Vira Health raises $12.1 million, which it will use to support employer adoption in the US, clinical trials, and the addition of telemedicine,

Announcements and Implementations

Casper Medical Imaging and Outpatient Radiology (WY) implements patient portal software from Royal Solutions Group.

MedWise Urgent Care (OK) adopts Athenahealth’s medical coding software across its nine clinics.

Other

If headlines are any indication, Canadians seem to excel in recruiting physicians to their rural communities: The Bay It Forward community development and physician recruitment group of Glace Bay in Nova Scotia has successfully recruited their third family physician in as many years. Though the group had to resort to pulling out all of the usual stops virtually because of COVID, they were able to successfully lure physician Isi Aigbe to their community of around 20,000. Bay It Forward’s David MacKeigan puts it nicely:

“In normal times, we would take them on a tour of the Miners Museum, take them on a boat ride along the shoreline and jigging for mackerel — they love that — and introduce them to people,” he said. “We had to do it virtually and that was tough. We contacted 902 Advertising and they did up a promotional video and we did a virtual tour. At the time, there were five doctors who were interested, and it was Dr. Isi who selected to come and she’s a darlin’.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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