News 2/2/22

Top News

Kipu Health appoints Andrew Eckert (Zelis) chairman of its Board of Directors. Eckert is a health IT veteran, having served as CEO of TriZetto and Eclipsys.

Kipu specializes in health IT for behavioral health and addiction treatment providers. It acquired Avea, an RCM vendor for treatment centers, last fall.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Happy Library Lovers Month! Do yourself a favor and check out what your local branch has to offer. Many are beginning to offer services that go beyond checking out the latest best-seller, including passes to local zoos and museums, and hotspots. Some, which I’ve mentioned on this site, are beginning to take the health of their patrons into consideration, offering telemedicine access, bicycle loans, and free at-home COVID-19 tests.

Webinars

February 9 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “2022 – Industry Predictions and Medicomp Roadmap.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenters: David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp Systems; Jay Anders, MD, chief medical officer, Medicomp Systems; Dan Gainer, CTO, Medicomp Systems. The presenters will provide an update on the health IT industry and a review of the company’s milestones and insights that it gained over the past two years. Topics will include Cures Act implications, interoperability, AI, ambient listening, telehealth-first primary care, chronic care management, and new Quippe functionality and roadmap.

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

People

Tom Boggs (Bridges Health Partners) joins Brown & Toland Physicians as CEO.

Announcements and Implementations

Montana-based Big Sky Care Connect bolsters its HIE capabilities with Medicom’s image-sharing technology.

MyConnect Solutions adds Bluestream Health’s virtual care capabilities to its MedConnect platform for community health centers and FQHCs.

Lake County Tribal Health (CA) has adopted NextGen’s EHR, practice management, and patient experience software.

House call and telemedicine company MedConnect selects Spect’s virtual eye-screening technology.

Research and Innovation

A Black Book survey of 2,315 providers finds that nearly all plan to enlist a consulting firm to help their organizations implement value-based care programs. Eighty percent of practices with five or more physicians have yet to implement analytics and/or reimbursement solutions for those VBC plans. Respondents ranked CareAllies a top VBC consulting firm in terms of outcomes, experience, and satisfaction.

A separate Black Book survey of nearly 3,000 cybersecurity users, including physicians and practice managers, rated PerfectServe the top-performing vendor for secure communications. Practice managers noted that 85% of their patient data in Q3 2021 was being shared between physicians through unsecured channels.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 1/31/22

Top News

1-800 Contacts launches Luna Solutions, a new business that will offer providers and retailers vision-focused services and technologies including telehealth and online prescriptions. Luna is the combination of several recently acquired companies, including smartphone-based eyewear prescription vendor 6over6 and online prescription renewal business ExpressExam.

Webinars

February 9 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “2022 – Industry Predictions and Medicomp Roadmap.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenters: David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp Systems; Jay Anders, MD, chief medical officer, Medicomp Systems; Dan Gainer, CTO, Medicomp Systems. The presenters will provide an update on the health IT industry and a review of the company’s milestones and insights that it gained over the past two years. Topics will include Cures Act implications, interoperability, AI, ambient listening, telehealth-first primary care, chronic care management, and new Quippe functionality and roadmap.

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

People

CareSpan promotes Sam Toney, MD to acting CMO.

Announcements and Implementations

Telemedicine company MDLive expands its virtual primary care program to include monitoring of biometrics like blood pressure and glucose levels. Later in the year, it will offer patients digital devices that can send their health data to their MDLive portal for physician review.

The Weichman Clinic, a pediatric mental healthcare provider in Newport Beach, CA, implements Kareo’s telehealth software.

Other

Philadelphia Fight Community Health Centers notifies patients of a November cyberattack on several non-clinical systems.

The local news profiles Mike Simon, MD a Canadian physician who turns to science-fiction writing in between office hours at his practice, shifts at the hospital and nursing home, and stints as an on-site physician at local junior hockey games. Simon signed with a literary agent last summer and is now shopping his first novel, “Extinction,” around to publishers.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic publishes the first video in a new series called “Doc Talk,” which covers how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act can help reduce healthcare inequities.

Blog Posts

• Should Doctors Care About Your Address? (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 1/26/22

Top News

E-prescribing software vendor DoseSpot secures an investment from growth equity firm PSG. The company’s software integrates with EHRs, dental practice management systems, telemedicine, and other digital health technologies.

Webinars

February 9 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “2022 – Industry Predictions and Medicomp Roadmap.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenters: David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp Systems; Jay Anders, MD, chief medical officer, Medicomp Systems; Dan Gainer, CTO, Medicomp Systems. The presenters will provide an update on the health IT industry and a review of the company’s milestones and insights that it gained over the past two years. Topics will include Cures Act implications, interoperability, AI, ambient listening, telehealth-first primary care, chronic care management, and new Quippe functionality and roadmap.

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

People

CentralReach hires Clark Convery (Visual Lease) as COO.

Aledade hires former North Carolina HHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH as EVP and CEO of its Care Solutions business.

Government and Politics

The FCC awards $47.89 million to 100 organizations in the last round of funding for its COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Nearly 1,000 organizations have received grants for for telehealth-related expenses.

Research and Innovation

An Athenahealth analysis of EHR documentation by 14,520 end users over five months finds that:

• Female clinicians spend more time with patients and more time documenting in the EHR outside of business hours.
• The ability to delegate even 10% of documentation to another member of the care team could save a clinician 3.5 hours each week.
• On average, clinicians spend 21.5% of EHR time outside of business hours.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Sunsetting support for older iOS devices (AdvancedMD)
• Should doctors care about your address? (Nordic)
• Healthcare 2022: Regulatory Trends to Look for in the Year Ahead (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 1/24/22

Top News

DarioHealth, which specializes in digital chronic care management for providers, payers, and employers, acquires Israel-based digital MSK screening and risk assessment company Physimax.

Webinars

February 9 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “2022 – Industry Predictions and Medicomp Roadmap.” Sponsor: Medicomp Systems. Presenters: David Lareau, CEO, Medicomp Systems; Jay Anders, MD, chief medical officer, Medicomp Systems; Dan Gainer, CTO, Medicomp Systems. The presenters will provide an update on the health IT industry and a review of the company’s milestones and insights that it gained over the past two years. Topics will include Cures Act implications, interoperability, AI, ambient listening, telehealth-first primary care, chronic care management, and new Quippe functionality and roadmap.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Medication management startup Truentity Health has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. Its technology enables patients to gather, store, and share medication data with multiple providers, who can then access that data from multiple sources. Truentity also offers virtual medication reconciliation visits with pharmacists on behalf of providers.

Announcements and Implementations

CareCloud announces GA of PrecisionBi Lite, giving independent practices access to its financial analytics and business insights.

Syfr Health Information Management, a medical billing business based in Gillette, WY, has implemented Kareo’s robotic process automation to enhance its revenue cycle management. Kareo acquired its RPA technology through its purchase of PatientlySpeaking last August.

Research and Innovation

A survey of 1,200 physicians and practice managers finds that 80% are unhappy with their EHR. Top areas of dissatisfaction include connectivity, patient and decision support, communication, and administrative processes.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic Consulting launches an EMEIA healthcare advisory team.

Blog Posts

• A DA Different Point of View: Dumpster Diving for Data in Today’s Legacy EHRs (Medicomp Systems
• Doing what’s right: Expert teams and engaging culture fuel Nordic’s continued growth (Nordic)
• What Population Health Is and Why It Matters (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 1/19/22

Top News

Physical therapy software vendor WebPT acquires competitor Clinicient and its Keet digital MSK care subsidiary for an undisclosed sum. WebPT CEO Ashley Glover, who joined the company in November, will lead the combined businesses.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Yuvo Health raises $7.3 million in a seed funding round led by AlleyCorp. The New York-based startup helps FQHCs optimize back-office functions and transition to value-based care programs. It plans on expanding its team to focus on quality analytics and care coordination.

Dura Software, an umbrella company over software businesses that include EHR developer DBTech, acquires white-label telehealth vendor SecureVideo.

People

Atul Dhir (New Century Health) joins PatientsLikeMe as CEO.

Intraprise Health names George Pappas (DrFirst) CEO.

Announcements and Implementations

Health Information Management Systems (HiMS) develops a care delivery, communication, and coordination app.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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