News 9/8/21

Top News

Cityblock Health has raised $400 million, bringing its valuation to $5.7 billion. The company partners with payers in four states plus Washington, DC to offer tech-enabled primary care and social services to Medicaid patients via a network of independent practices collectively known as Cityblock Medical Practices.

Co-founders Toyin Ajayi, Iyah Romm, and Bay Gross came from Google-backed Sidewalk Labs, which incubated the company before it launched as an independent venture in 2017.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

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Webinars

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Patient Acquisition and Retention: The Future of Omnichannel Virtual Assistants.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenters: Harris Hunt, SVP growth product, Cancer Treatment Centers of America; Patty Riskind, MBA, CEO, Orbita; Nathan Treloar, MSc, co-founder and COO, Orbita. Consumers want the same digital healthcare experience from healthcare that they get in online shopping, banking, and booking reservations, and the pandemic has ramped up the patient and provider need for frictionless access to healthcare resources and services. Health systems can improve patient acquisition and retention with the help of omnichannel virtual assistants that engage and delight. Discover how to open and enhance healthcare’s digital front door to offer care that goes beyond expectations.

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “ICD-10-CM 2022 Updates and Regulatory Readiness.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: June Bronnert, MSHI, RHIA, VP global clinical services, IMO; Theresa Rihanek, MHA, RHIA, mapping manager, IMO; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO. IMO’s top coding professionals and thought leaders will discuss the coding changes in the yearly update to allow your organization to prepare for a smooth transition and avoid negative impacts to the bottom line. The presenters will review new, revised, and deleted codes; highlight revisions to ICD-10-CM index and tabular; discuss changes within Official Coding Guidelines, and review modifier changes.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

EHR and practice management vendor Azalea Health acquires DashboardMD, a healthcare analytics company based in Miami Lakes, FL. DashboardMD CEO Jose Valero will become Azalea’s director of analytics.

Canadian Well Health Technologies will acquire US-based Wisp, a women’s telehealth and e-pharmacy company, for $41 million.

People

Summit Health names Jeffrey Alter (Anthem) CEO.

Todd Haedrich (Covetrus) joins Optimize Health as CEO. Co-founder and former CEO Jeff LeBrun will take on the role of chief strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

BriteStar Primary Care (TX) selects remote patient monitoring technology from Claris Healthcare.

House call and telemedicine company Opear MD selects Health Gorilla’s Patient360 medical record retrieval software.

The Verland Foundation implements the SmartCare EHR from Streamline Healthcare Solutions.

Other

Patrons of libraries in Ohio can now “check out” an Abott BinaxNOW Home Test for COVID-19, which includes a telemedicine session to help with test administration and result reporting.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks publishes a new customer success story, “Using EClinicalWorks Tools to Measure Quality for Shared Savings at Innova Primary.”
• Medicomp Systems releases a new Tell Me Where It Hurts Podcast featuring CPSI CMO William Hayes, MD.

Blog Posts

• Is your phone being spied on? (AdvancedMD)
• Why Usability is Critical to Healthcare IT (EClinicalWorks)
• Telehealth Needs Your Help (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 9/1/21

Top News

Bilingual virtual primary care company Hoy Health acquires HomeFront Health, which employs former military medics to provide house calls and manage care.

Webinars

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Patient Acquisition and Retention: The Future of Omnichannel Virtual Assistants.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenters: Harris Hunt, SVP growth product, Cancer Treatment Centers of America; Patty Riskind, MBA, CEO, Orbita; Nathan Treloar, MSc, co-founder and COO, Orbita. Consumers want the same digital healthcare experience from healthcare that they get in online shopping, banking, and booking reservations, and the pandemic has ramped up the patient and provider need for frictionless access to healthcare resources and services. Health systems can improve patient acquisition and retention with the help of omnichannel virtual assistants that engage and delight. Discover how to open and enhance healthcare’s digital front door to offer care that goes beyond expectations.

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “ICD-10-CM 2022 Updates and Regulatory Readiness.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: June Bronnert, MSHI, RHIA, VP global clinical services, IMO; Theresa Rihanek, MHA, RHIA, mapping manager, IMO; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO. IMO’s top coding professionals and thought leaders will discuss the coding changes in the yearly update to allow your organization to prepare for a smooth transition and avoid negative impacts to the bottom line. The presenters will review new, revised, and deleted codes; highlight revisions to ICD-10-CM index and tabular; discuss changes within Official Coding Guidelines, and review modifier changes.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Greenway Health will double investment in its Intergy and Prime Suite EHRs, adding capabilities that will include streamlined navigation, updated interfaces, enhanced integrations, and back-end optimizations.

US-based Telecure Technologies beings trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange. The company offers the CallingDr. telemedicine service and FindingDr. online appointment booking software.

People

Orb Health promotes Tyler Downs to CTO.

Digital digital musculoskeletal care company Kaia Health names Gemma Wenstrom (Veradigm) COO, Sanid Khilnani (Airtime) VP of product, and Justin Yang, MD (Atrius Health) CMO, US commercial.

Announcements and Implementations

Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center (AL) will implement Modernizing Medicine’s EMA EHR at its six clinics in Birmingham.

Brault Practice Solutions announces GA of analytics for practice management, RCM, and provider performance.

The Coalition of Asian-American Independent Practices Association in New York selects CarePort Health’s CarePort Connect care management software.

Other

DuPage Medical Group (IL) begins notifying as many as 600,000 patients that their information may have been compromised in a July cyberattack that caused a network outage. Its computer and phone systems were down for nearly a week.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new podcast, “Improving Patient Safety by Reducing Uncoded Allergies.”

Blog Posts

• Interpol’s Latest on COVID-19 Cyberthreats (AdvancedMD)
• The Infinity Gauntlet of Healthcare Interoperability (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
Become a sponsor.

News 8/30/21

Top News

HHS expands its Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program from 21 states to 45 using $11 million from the American Rescue Plan. The funding will provide state and regional pediatric teams with telemedicine-focused consultation, training, technical assistance, and care coordination services.

Webinars

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Patient Acquisition and Retention: The Future of Omnichannel Virtual Assistants.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenters: Harris Hunt, SVP growth product, Cancer Treatment Centers of America; Patty Riskind, MBA, CEO, Orbita; Nathan Treloar, MSc, co-founder and COO, Orbita. Consumers want the same digital healthcare experience from healthcare that they get in online shopping, banking, and booking reservations, and the pandemic has ramped up the patient and provider need for frictionless access to healthcare resources and services. Health systems can improve patient acquisition and retention with the help of omnichannel virtual assistants that engage and delight. Discover how to open and enhance healthcare’s digital front door to offer care that goes beyond expectations.

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “ICD-10-CM 2022 Updates and Regulatory Readiness.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: June Bronnert, MSHI, RHIA, VP global clinical services, IMO; Theresa Rihanek, MHA, RHIA, mapping manager, IMO; Julie Glasgow, MD, clinical terminologist, IMO. IMO’s top coding professionals and thought leaders will discuss the coding changes in the yearly update to allow your organization to prepare for a smooth transition and avoid negative impacts to the bottom line. The presenters will review new, revised, and deleted codes; highlight revisions to ICD-10-CM index and tabular; discuss changes within Official Coding Guidelines, and review modifier changes.

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

People

Primary care management company Skylight Health names Mohammad Bataineh (Bataineh Palmeri) president. He takes over from co-founder Kash Qureshi, who will remain an executive member of the board and oversee technology and data analytics.

Announcements and Implementations

Neighborhood Health (TN) uses the NextGen Mobile app to connect data from its street medicine program to its NextGen EHR. The FQHC’s program cares for 600 homeless people in Nashville.

Patient engagement software vendor Klara now interfaces with Modernizing Medicine’s payment processing technology.

Government and Politics

The Maryland Department of Health will use $1.5 million in SAMHSA funding to launch a telemedicine pilot program that will provide mental and behavioral health providers and their patients in 10 areas with smartphones, tablets, and Internet access for video visits.

Other

Atlanta Allergy & Asthma notifies patients of a January data breach. It wasn’t until last month that, after further investigation, the clinic realized some patient information had been removed from its network.

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks releases a new customer success story, “Saving Summer with Kiosk, the Patient Portal, and More at MedRite.”
• EClinicalWorks releases a new customer success video, “Using Healow Check-In at Utah Orthopedic Spine & Injury Center.”

Blog Posts

• In the Age of Chronic Conditions, Patient Education is Crucial (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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News 8/25/21

Top News

Rezilient Health raises $2.5 million in seed funding. The St. Louis-based company plans to expand its engineering and software development teams and subsequently launch its employee-focused CloudClinics, brick-and-mortal spaces equipped with diagnostic equipment that physicians can control remotely with the aid of on-site nurses.

Webinars

September 16 (Thursday) 1 ET. “Patient Acquisition and Retention: The Future of Omnichannel Virtual Assistants.” Sponsor: Orbita. Presenters: Harris Hunt, SVP growth product, Cancer Treatment Centers of America; Patty Riskind, MBA, CEO, Orbita; Nathan Treloar, MSc, co-founder and COO, Orbita. Consumers want the same digital healthcare experience from healthcare that they get in online shopping, banking, and booking reservations, and the pandemic has ramped up the patient and provider need for frictionless access to healthcare resources and services. Health systems can improve patient acquisition and retention with the help of omnichannel virtual assistants that engage and delight. Discover how to open and enhance healthcare’s digital front door to offer care that goes beyond expectations.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The Massachusetts FQHC Telehealth Consortium raises $878,000 as part of a $12 million fundraising campaign. The organization will use the funding to, among other things, explore the use of telehealth navigators. The consortium’s network has provided more than 1 million telemedicine appointments since March 2020.

Carbon Health acquires Southern Arizona Urgent Care and Med7 Urgent Care (CA). The company, which raised $350 million in July, offers virtual and in-person primary and urgent care at 83 clinics in a dozen states.

Practice management and maternity analytics company Unified Women’s Healthcare acquires competitor Women’s Health USA, making the combined entity the largest company of its kind serving women in the US.

Research and Innovation

A KaufmanHall report highlights the uncertainty physician groups are experiencing in the midst of the delta variant. While productivity and revenue have increased versus pre-pandemic levels, expenses have been higher, as has the need for larger investments to offset insufficient revenue.

Other

Utah-based Revere Health notifies 12,000 patients their information may have been exposed in a late June phishing email attack that left medical records exposed for about 45 minutes. Revere officials belief the attack was intended to enable the hackers to access more employee email accounts.

A consumer survey about video meeting experiences during the pandemic reveals a few interesting things about human nature. While the vast majority of the 1,000 respondents felt that meetings via video were more meaningful, with stronger engagement among participants, they also fessed up to multitasking. Top activities pulling their total attention away from calls included going to the bathroom, getting dressed, and faking a bad connection to leave early. As an audio-only fan, I can certainly identify with the cited burdens of being “camera ready” before a call, and not really wanting to see myself on camera.

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Yes, Virginia, the government does investigate telemedicine (AdvancedMD)
• In a World of Apps, Healow Delivers What Patients Most Want (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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Contact us online.
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News 8/23/21

Top News

NextGen Healthcare founder and Director Sheldon Razin and Director Lance Rosenzweig announce their intent to nominate new directors to the company’s board in an effort to combat Chairman Jeffrey Margolis and his “imperial boardroom culture.” They attribute the company’s “anemic growth, deteriorating margins, poor hiring and operational practices, and wasteful capital allocation policy” to poor direction from Margolis and a lack of fresh, diversified perspectives from the board.

They also take the board to task for failing to develop a succession plan for former NextGen President and CEO Rusty Frantz, who left abruptly in June.

The company, which saw its annual revenue increase 3% between 2020 and 2021, has said it will consider the nominations at its annual shareholder meeting in October.

Webinars

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

Announcements and Implementations

Clear Arch Health develops EHR integration capabilities for its remote patient monitoring software.

Government and Politics

Nevada Advanced Pain Specialists will pay $1 million to settle allegations that it submitted false payment claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary urine drug testing.

Orange County in California will use $2 million in state funding to invest in data integration technology across its care coordination programs.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

More news: HIStalk.

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