News 7/22/24

Top News

Palomar Health Medical Group (CA) restores its phone, EHR, appointment scheduling, e-prescribing, and patient portal systems after a cyberattack in early May took its computer systems offline. The provider has not yet released details around what type of attack forced it to revert to downtime procedures.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Grocery store chain Kroger will close four in-store Little Clinics in Richmond, VA. The company, through its Kroger Health division, operates over 200 clinics across the country. While at first glance the closures seem to be a localized business decision related to patient volume and reimbursements, I can’t help but wonder if this is a sign of things to come, a la Walmart Health, Walgreens, and CVS Health. Aside from these four closures, The Little Clinic seems stable. It announced earlier this month that its providers will begin offering popular weight-loss management medications via in-person and virtual appointments.

Announcements and Implementations

Utah Navajo Health System, CenterPlace Health (FL), Access Health Louisiana, and PrimeCare Health (IL) select Suki’s ambient clinical assistant.

Advanced Heart Group (IL) will implement EHR, practice management, patient portal, and AI clinical assistant software from NextGen Healthcare.

Other

In West Virginia, three people suffer injuries when a car smashes through the front of Charleston Area Medical Center’s Telemedicine Center. Several patients were in telemedicine exam rooms, though the local news reports that some of the injured were outside of the facility at the time of the accident.

Frustrated with a lack of access to primary care and crowded ERs, a group of seniors living in the same condo complex in Ottawa organize a monthly wellness clinic that typically serves 27 patients. The residents have partnered with a local university, pharmacist, paramedic, health center, and aging-in-place program to offer wellness checks, referrals, and lunch in one of the condo’s communal rooms.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new “Designing for Health” podcast, “Interview with Mitesh Patel, MD.”
• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Say Hello to Easy Joint Documentation with EClinicalWorks.”

Blog Posts

• The 2024 EClinicalWorks and Healow National Conference: Grapevine Awaits You! (EClinicalWorks)
• Navigating Recovery: Helping Patients Who Struggle with Substance Abuse & Addiction (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 7/17/24

Top News

Thyme Care, a value-based oncology care company based in Nashville, raises $95 million in a Series C funding round that  brings its total raised to $178 million. Thyme Care, which partners with oncology practices and payers, plans to expand beyond its current 25 markets.

Webinars

July 18 (Thursday) noon ET. “New CMS Final Rule: Strategies to Get EHR and IT Vendors Up to Speed.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Nick Barger, PharmD, VP of product, DrFirst; Tyler Higgins, senior director of product management, DrFirst. The new final rule that was issued by CMS on June 13, 2024, goes beyond a basic upgrade of SCRIPT standards and improves care connections among doctors, pharmacies, and patients. The presenters will lead EHR and IT vendors through the final rule, provide details on key provisions and compliance deadlines, offer tactics to tackle roadmap development, and provide direction on where and how partners can best leverage the requirements for the benefit of their customers.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Virtual maternal mental healthcare company Seven Starling announces $10.9 million in Series A funding. The company, co-founded by former Warby Parker manager Tina Keshani is looking to expand its services to more Medicaid plans and to further develop its technology.

People

VSP Vision promotes Charlie Biegel to president of its Eyefinity EHR and practice management company.

Announcements and Implementations

Teladoc Health begins offering pediatric and family-focused mental healthcare using clinical services and software from Brightline Health.

Priority Care Pediatrics (MO) selects EHR and patient engagement technology from EClinicalWorks, and AI medical scribe software from Sunoh.ai.

Texas Oncology subsidiary Precision Health Informatics will implement Cota’s AI-powered Cailin health data curation software across its Texas Oncology facilities.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 7/15/24

Top News

Headway, which helps patients find, book, and pay for mental healthcare appointments online, reportedly raises $100 million in a funding round led by Spark Capital. The three year-old company’s valuation has doubled in the last year to $2.3 billion.

Webinars

July 18 (Thursday) noon ET. “New CMS Final Rule: Strategies to Get EHR and IT Vendors Up to Speed.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Nick Barger, PharmD, VP of product, DrFirst; Tyler Higgins, senior director of product management, DrFirst. The new final rule that was issued by CMS on June 13, 2024, goes beyond a basic upgrade of SCRIPT standards and improves care connections among doctors, pharmacies, and patients. The presenters will lead EHR and IT vendors through the final rule, provide details on key provisions and compliance deadlines, offer tactics to tackle roadmap development, and provide direction on where and how partners can best leverage the requirements for the benefit of their customers.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Occupational healthcare provider Concentra hopes to raise up to $585 million through its yet-to-be-scheduled IPO, potentially achieving a valuation of $3.3 billion. Parent company Select Medical Holdings, which operates hospitals and outpatient clinics, announced earlier this year that it would pursue carving out Concentra as a separate entity.

People

CirrusMD promotes Sara Herstad, MD to VP of operations and clinical care.

Douglas Newton, MD (SonderMind) joins Rula Health as CMO.

Raintree Systems names Chris Farrell (Nextech Systems) chief marketing officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Coastal Spine and Pain Institute (TX) implements AI-powered medical scribe technology from Sunoh.ai.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• 3 ways automation and AI advance patient-centered care (Nordic)
• Reduce Time to Treatment with Care Team Alerts (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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News 7/10/24

Top News

Remote patient monitoring and chronic care management company Accuhealth acquires competitor Signallamp Health. An investment from Sunstone Partners helped to fund the deal.

Webinars

July 18 (Thursday) noon ET. “New CMS Final Rule: Strategies to Get EHR and IT Vendors Up to Speed.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Nick Barger, PharmD, VP of product, DrFirst; Tyler Higgins, senior director of product management, DrFirst. The new final rule that was issued by CMS on June 13, 2024, goes beyond a basic upgrade of SCRIPT standards and improves care connections among doctors, pharmacies, and patients. The presenters will lead EHR and IT vendors through the final rule, provide details on key provisions and compliance deadlines, offer tactics to tackle roadmap development, and provide direction on where and how partners can best leverage the requirements for the benefit of their customers.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

UberDoc secures an undisclosed amount of funding from ambulatory health IT vendor CharmHealth and health IT venture firm Bioverge. UberDoc offers direct-pay patients online appointment scheduling with its network of physicians.

RCM outsourcing vendor TharWorx rebrands to Optimize RCM. The company, which has offices in Pennsylvania and India, plans to open a call center in the Philippines next year.

Private equity firm FFL Partners acquires health IT, cybersecurity, and compliance company Medicus IT from 424 Capital. Medicus acquired BlueNovo, a health IT consulting company focused on community health centers, three months ago.

People

Agilon Health promotes Karthik Rao, MD to CMO.

Announcements and Implementations

ACO management company Next Healthcare Solutions selects The Garage’s Bridge population health management software.

Other

Heads up, philatelists: The United States Postal Service will soon offer a commemorative Thank You Healthcare Community stamp.

Community Health Net, an FQHC serving the Lake Erie region in Pennsylvania, will launch a new telemedicine program that will bring virtual care services to homeless patients via stops at community centers and homeless shelters.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 7/8/24

Top News

HarmonyCares, an in-home provider of primary care to Medicare patients in 15 states, raises $200 million. The company will use the new funding to expand into new markets, improve its EHR, and develop new technology.

Webinars

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

People

ChenMed Executive Chairman Chris Chen, MD reportedly takes on the CEO title once again, following the departure of Steve Nelson after six months in the role. Fun fact: Walmart expressed interest in acquiring ChenMed last year in what would have been a multi-billion dollar deal.

Announcements and Implementations

Ohio Behavioral Health Providers Network will leverage technology and services provided through Alera Health’s Onecare Network model to better integrate its offerings with local primary care providers.

Qualifacts adds Computalogic’s MethodOne controlled medication dispensing solution to its EHR for behavioral health.

Other

Amazon’s One Medical primary care company comes under fire after the Washington Post discovers that certain call center employees were in mid-February scheduling a spate of patients with “red flag” symptoms for appointments, sometimes days out, rather than immediately connecting them with a virtual healthcare provider (or, presumably, suggesting they call 911 or go straight to the nearest emergency room).

CentroMed restores its computer systems, including its NextGen EHR and patient portal, after a ransomware attack forced them offline May 1. The provider operates a chain of 25 federally funded clinics in and around San Antonio.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new “Designing for Health” podcast, “Interview with Jeff Mounzer, PhD, and Peter Kriss, PhD.”
• Waystar will exhibit at the EClinicalWorks Denver Day Show July 10.

Blog Posts

• Nurses of Note 2024: The Clinical Nurse Educator (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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