News 6/22/22

Top News

Physical therapy-focused practice management software startup Spry raises $7 million in a funding round led by Eight Roads Ventures.

Webinars

July 12 (Tuesday) 1 ET. “Digital Data Stewardship for Trusted, High-Quality Data Exchange.” Sponsor: Clinical Architecture. Presenter: Carol Graham, MS, RN, product manager, Clinical Architecture. Organizations face challenges in ensuring that the patient data they received and send is consistent, accurate, and usable. Use cases include receiving multi-source data across health information networks with variation in formats and content; merging and de-duplicating provider, payer, and research data; uplifting legacy data for current use cases and formats; and normalizing and formatting data for public health surveillance, quality measure reporting, and providing directly to the patient. This webinar will cover Pivot, a comprehensive Digital Data Steward solution that orchestrates format harmonization, content (vocabulary) normalization, de-duplication, and data quality validation into a single solution.

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

People

DispatchHealth promotes Reza Alavi, MD (Optum) to president of its Advanced Care hospital-at-home program.

Announcements and Implementations

Bizmatics integrates Zocdoc’s appointment finder and booking software with its PrognoCIS EHR.

Therapy Brands makes its pediatric Fusion EHR, practice management, and billing system available to physical, occupational, and speech therapy practices serving adult patients.

Research and Innovation

Patient preferences for online conveniences are growing, according to a Phreesia survey of 4,136 patients:

• An average of 83% say they’d book or reschedule an appointment online if given the option.
• Sixty-four percent prefer to see providers who offer online check-in; 29% consider it a must-have when selecting a provider.
• Seventy percent would opt for online payments if given the option.
• Nearly 90% have digitally messaged their physician; 41% say it’s also a must-have.

Other

The American Medical Association highlights physician (and patient) frustrations with prior authorization denials. Several, including Tauseef Ali, MD have taken to Twitter to post de-identified denial letters: “Patients ‘love it – and they get very excited and encouraged that there is a doctor who is advocating on their behalf.’”

Other physicians take a more satirical route. I’d label it as comedy if patient lives weren’t on the line.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD recognizes Product Developer Kylie Jensen with a FIT Award.
• Nordic posts DoctTalk Ep. 106, “Redefining health for a new era of care.”

Blog Posts

• Disease Explorer: Effectiveness Through Cohorts (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 6/20/22

Top News

NBC News points out the decreasing levels of telemedicine access across the country as pandemic emergency waivers lapse and states revert back to traditional licensure rules, giving patients access to virtual visits only with physicials licensed within their same state. Last year, 26 states still allowed patients to be seen by physicians licensed in other states. Now just a dozen still allow for that type of telemedicine access. Several within that group will soon revert back to pre-pandemic access.

Webinars

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

People

Violetta Ostafin (Aon) will join CVS Health as EVP and chief strategy officer.

Former ConnectiveRx and Surescripts executive Rick Ratliff (CAQH) joins Australian medication management app company MedAdvisor as its US-based CEO and general manager.

Rich Steinle (Innovista Health Solutions) joins Carium as CEO. Co-founder and CEO Scott Pradels will transition to COO.

Announcements and Implementations

AdvancedMD notifies users that outages and related performance issues resulting from a code update on June 15 have now been resolved.

Other

You can’t make this stuff up: US Coast Guard and US Customs and Border Patrol officials pick up Ernesto Graveran aboard a broken down jet ski near Key West, thwarting his attempt to escape to Cuba to avoid prosecution for allegedly bilking Medicare out of $4.2 million in fraudulent charges made through his durable medical equipment company.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks announces its continued partnership with Witham Health Services (IN) to further improve patient communications and achieve overall operational efficiency in more than 30 locations.

Blog Posts

• 7 Benefits Digital Health Education Brings to Care Management (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 6/15/22

Top News

Florida-based startup Constellation4Health raises pre-seed funding and acquires Vulcan Health, an offshoot of Florida Eye Specialists & Cataract Institute that specializes in digital referral management technology.

Constellation4Health offers provider data and network management, referral management, and analytics.

Webinars

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

People

Charika Wilcox-Lee (Waystar) joins Health Recovery Solutions as VP of RCM.

Epocrates promotes Andrew Johnson (Athenahealth) to executive director of commercial strategy, and names Bridget Seay (Wiley) executive director of customer experience and commercial consulting.

Government and Politics

HHS announces the Building Bridges to Better Health: A Primary Health Care Challenge. Entrants must develop or speed up the development of low-cost, scalable solutions to help federally-supported community health centers improve patient access to primary care and enhance the coordination of healthcare and social services. A total of $1 million will be awarded over three phases.

Research and Innovation

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute will allocate $50 million in funding this fall for research focused on comparing different approaches to incorporating telemedicine into primary care for the most effective management of multiple chronic conditions.

Other

In California, the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness reports a data breach stemming from an unauthorized staff member logging into its EHR to view patient information. The March 30 breach was discovered earlier this week during the implementation of new cybersecurity protocols.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Healow Payment Services: Convenient, Electronic, and Easy to Use.”

Blog Posts

• A Behavioral Health Module That Behaves Like One (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 6/13/22

Top News

Substance use disorder telemedicine startup Boulder Care raises $36 million in a Series B round that brings its total funding to $50 million.

The Oregon-based company, launched in 2017 by CEO Stephanie Strong, now has 100 employees. It offers its app-based program directly to consumers and by referral from providers and other healthcare organizations.

GeekWire reports that the company got a “boost” during the pandemic when the federal government waived the requirement for an in-person visit for providers to prescribe Suboxone, which is used to treat opioid addiction. It’s a situation similar to the one in which now-embattled telemedicine company Cerebral found itself in with regard to its easier ability to prescribe medications without an in-person visit. That company, founded just two years ago, now faces federal scrutiny for its prescribing practices.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

MedVanta launches as a managed services organization designed to help independent orthopedic and musculoskeletal practices thrive. The founders have based the new company’s business model on The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics, an independent medical group that they launched in 2013.

Government and Politics

HHS issues guidance on how covered healthcare entities can conduct audio-only telehealth appointments in a HIPAA-compliant manner.

Research and Innovation

An Athenahealth survey of 743 physicians finds that satisfaction with interoperability-enhancing technology is lacking when it comes to sharing information with providers outside of their EHR network. Not surprisingly, 80% of respondents find this lack of data-sharing capabilities stress-inducing. Surveyed physicians believe a lack of coordination among different facilities and a lack of desire among EHR vendors are the biggest contributors to the interoperability issue.

Other

Geoffrey Fowler, The Washington Post’s technology columnist, attempts to provide some clarity around the health data-mining practices of companies like patient intake software vendor Phreesia, which uses the data of consenting patients to serve up pharmaceutical ads related to their specific health histories and current issues. Patients who opt out of the data-mining practice (Phreesia doesn’t release that figure) aren’t supposed to see any difference in their ability to use the company’s technology. But as one doctor jadedly told a patient, one of Fowler’s sources, “Your information is all over the web anyhow!”

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic posts a video titled “The Impact of Cloud on Patient Care.”
• Healthwise wins a merit Digital Health Award in the digital health media/publications: video category.
• The Empowered Patient Podcast features Medicomp Systems CEO Dave Lareau.
• Nordic publishes a video titled “Considerations for successful EHR extensions.”

Blog Posts

• Our Mission Together: Healthcare and Digital Transformation in the UK (Nordic)
• Recent HIPAA Breaches: How to Avoid an Email Breach & Secure Your Practice (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 6/8/22

Top News

Virtual opioid use disorder treatment provider Bicycle Health raises $50 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total raised to $83 million. The company offers its services to employers and consumers.

Webinars

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

People

Bryan Adams (Best Buy Health) joins Duo Health as CTO.

American Oncology Network hires Karen Pilley as chief revenue cycle officer.

Announcements and Implementations

LIMS vendor GoMeyra announces GA of its white-label virtual clinic technology, which will initially focus on in-home testing and care management.

Government and Politics

An audit of The Center for Comprehensive Mental Health’s billing for telemedicine visits finds that the Texas-based facility overbilled by $936. After testing 30 claims, auditors found that the center didn’t consistently bill the appropriate Current Procedural Terminology codes based on time duration parameters for telemedicine evaluation and management services with add-on psychotherapy services.

Research and Innovation

A multi-state study conducted at 52 community cancer centers has revealed that patients with advanced cancer who shared their symptoms weekly via digital surveys exhibited 35% better physical function, 16% better management of their symptoms, and 41% better health-related quality of life compared to patients who were evaluated less frequently during in-person appointments. Researchers will now focus on developing implementation models that are efficient for practices.

Other

Adding this to my summer reading list: “I Watch You Sleep: A Doctor’s Tales of Anesthesia and Chain Restaurants” promises to let readers in on “what really goes on when you get knocked out.” Author and amateur stand-up comedian Zach Antonov, MD currently practices somewhere in the South.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Become a sponsor.