News 6/22/20

Top News

Virtual physiotherapy startup Kaia Health raises $26 million in a Series B funding round led by Optum Ventures, Idinvest, and Capital300. The German company will use the financing to scale its operations in the US, where it has gained a continuously stronger foothold since raising $19 million in a Series A round in early 2019.

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Walmart will open its third and fourth health clinics this month, bringing its total in Georgia to three. The fourth, in Arkansas, will feature a smaller footprint and different layout. The retailer plans to open additional clinics in Georgia later this year.

Hoy Health CEO Mario Anglada discusses the struggles the bilingual healthcare company has worked through to stay afloat during the pandemic. Surprised by the lack of interest from investors, especially given the COVID-19-induced surge in telemedicine utilization, the company resorted unsuccessfully to crowdfunding in an effort to offer its recently launched telemedicine service for free. “We’ve seen a very interesting movement of investors who said, ‘Listen, I would love to invest in you, but the reality is there’s a lot of really prime deals that I can tap into and deploy my capital there,’” Anglada says. “It’s a bit frustrating … where you’re the perfect fit for the solution but everybody’s trying to create artificially lowball offers.”

Announcements and Implementations

Envision Pain Management (NC) selects RCM software and services from MTBC’s CareCloud subsidiary.

Capital Women’s Care (MD) implements virtual visit technology from NextGen.

The Spine Center in Chicago rolls out telemedicine services from Doxy.me.

Other

A new healthcare vertical seems to be springing up, as tech companies bring return-to-work COVID-19 apps to market for employers. Kyla, for example, has launched a service that combines on-site testing with an app that offers screening, monitoring, and telemedicine.

The local paper profiles healthcare pricing comparison and bundled service startup HealthMe Technology, launched by orthopedist Michael Havig in 2018 to give self-pay patients an easier way to compare, schedule, and pay for orthopedic procedural costs. The company now offers a pricing and payment tool that can be added to a practice’s website, as well as its flagship digital marketplace. It plans to soon offer patient payment plans, and expand to other specialties.

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News 6/17/20

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MTBC acquires Meridian Medical Management for an undisclosed sum. Meridian offers EHR, RCM, and robotic process automation software.

MTBC CEO Stephen Snyder says the purchase is the company’s largest acquisition to date. It acquired EHR and practice management vendor CareCloud for $36 million in January.

Webinars

June 18 (Thursday) 12:30 ET. “Understanding the ONC’s Final Rule: Using FHIR HL7 for Successful EHR Integrations.” Sponsor: Newfire Global Partners. Presenters: Bob Salitsky, healthcare IT expert, Newfire Global Partners; Jaya Plmanabhan, MS, healthcare data scientist. This fast-paced, 30-minute webinar will provide an overview of the Final Rule and describe how technology vendors, payers, and providers can use FHIR HL7 to deliver true interoperability. Attendees will learn how to define the data, technology, and flows needed for their EHR integration projects; how products can retrieve health information while meeting compliance regulations; and the benefit of adopting quickly to the future of data exchange while simplifying future integration efforts.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Appointment scheduling software vendor DocASAP raises an undisclosed amount of funding in a financing round led by Optum Ventures.

People

Bansi Nagji (McKesson) joins GoodRx as president of healthcare. The prescription-savings company, last valued at nearly $3 billion, is looking at IPO options according to a CNBC report.

Announcements and Implementations

Digital health clinic company Ro will offer its telemedicine patients access to in-person providers via provider directory software from Ribbon Health.

RubiconMD adds a behavioral health module to its e-consult technology for primary care physicians, giving them access to screening and diagnostic tools and specialists.

Epic Behavioral Healthcare (FL) selects the SmartCare EHR from Streamline Healthcare Solutions.

DocClocker adds remote check-in capabilities to its patient wait-time app.

Primary care management company Vytalize Health will use Trella Health’s analytics to optimize its physician networks across eight states.

PatientPoint makes branded content and educational messaging available during telemedicine visits and remote patient monitoring sessions.

Infinx Healthcare adds ScriptSender’s data exchange capabilities to its prior authorization and clinical decision support automation software for radiologists.

Nebraska Health Information Initiative adds social service referral software from Unite Us to its statewide HIE.

Research and Innovation

A survey of 1,800 adults gauging their post-COVID-19 interest in telemedicine finds that:

• Eight-three percent will likely use telemedicine after the pandemic ends.
• Over 33% are willing to use telemedicine to immediately resume regular care.
• While just over half would see a new doctor virtually, 40% would see a new physician via telemedicine only if they were referred or had great online reviews.
• Easy-to-use technology, access messaging, and online scheduling options are top reasons for telemed utilization.

Other

Imagine my surprise to find that HHS Secretary Alex Azar was in my neck of the woods earlier this week. (Let the record show that my visit to the clinic predates his by about eight months. You can read about my experience here.) Azar also toured the CDC while in Atlanta.

In Canada, several companies work together to develop the Citizen Care Pod, which uses Microsoft technology to offer COVID-19 screening, testing, and eventually vaccination.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD releases a new e-book, “Post-COVID-19: Moving to ‘Better Than Normal’ – four essential elements in getting past merely normal.”
• Black Book ranks Nordic as #1 in client satisfaction in the category of strategic initiatives advisory.

Blog Posts

• Navigating new Medicare hospital outpatient department authorization requirements (Nordic)
• Finding a New Normal: The Patient Experience (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/15/20

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Ready expands its house-call services to Washington, DC. The company, which now serves nine metropolitan areas, raised $48 million in a late-March Series B round of financing.

I was surprised to find that patients initially connect with the company over the phone, rather than through an app. Once at a patient’s home, Ready clinicians connect with physicians via video chat.

Webinars

June 18 (Thursday) 12:30 ET. “Understanding the ONC’s Final Rule: Using FHIR HL7 for Successful EHR Integrations.” Sponsor: Newfire Global Partners. Presenters: Bob Salitsky, healthcare IT expert, Newfire Global Partners; Jaya Plmanabhan, MS, healthcare data scientist. This fast-paced, 30-minute webinar will provide an overview of the Final Rule and describe how technology vendors, payers, and providers can use FHIR HL7 to deliver true interoperability. Attendees will learn how to define the data, technology, and flows needed for their EHR integration projects; how products can retrieve health information while meeting compliance regulations; and the benefit of adopting quickly to the future of data exchange while simplifying future integration efforts.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Medical Billing Services of Puerto Rico makes its business processing outsourcing services available to providers and other RCM companies.

Announcements and Implementations

Modernizing Medicine makes app development tools, including APIs, available to organizations interested in connecting their systems with the company’s specialty-focused EHR and practice management software.

Hoy Health launches HoyDoc+, a telemedicine service offering consults in Spanish and English,

Telemedicine company MeMD announces GA of the COVID-19 Comeback Kit, an assessment, screening and symptom-monitoring app for employees that also includes virtual care capabilities.

White-label telemedicine software vendor Zipnosis launches ZipCheck, a similar return-to-work offering.

Research and Innovation

Ohio State University researchers work to develop a breathalyzer capable of detecting COVID-19 within 15 seconds. Their work is based on a similar device they began working on for flu detection in 2017. Lead developer Perena Gouma adds, “We are working on making these hand-held monitors that will be widely distributed and they’re very inexpensive. The technology evolved from the sensors used for monitoring gases in an automotive exhaust – that’s how we started on breath analysis 20 years ago.”

Other

In New York, a Community Care Physicians patient sues BST&Co., the practice’s accounting firm, for negligence stemming from a December 2019 ransomware attack that compromised his health data. The patient also says CCP was negligent in sending a notification letter to affected patients two months after the hackers had already put the stolen information up for sale on the dark Web, and advising them on how to access credit monitoring, rather than providing it.

Sponsor Updates

• The local paper profiles PerfectServe’s efforts to provide providers with free software and services during the pandemic.

Blog Posts

• The Secret to Creating the Most Satisfied Patients (Healthwise)
• Overview of Nordic’s Capacity Simulation and Management Solution (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/10/20

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Patient intake software vendor Phreesia reports Q1 2021 results: revenue up 18%, beating revenue and earnings expectations. The company, which went public last summer, notes that while it saw a 5% increase in new customers, patient visits to its overall customer base dropped 50% due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has led to a 13% decrease in revenue per customer.

Webinars

June 18 (Thursday) 12:30 ET. “Understanding the ONC’s Final Rule: Using FHIR HL7 for Successful EHR Integrations.” Sponsor: Newfire Global Partners. Presenters: Bob Salitsky, healthcare IT expert, Newfire Global Partners; Jaya Plmanabhan, MS, healthcare data scientist. This fast-paced, 30-minute webinar will provide an overview of the Final Rule and describe how technology vendors, payers, and providers can use FHIR HL7 to deliver true interoperability. Attendees will learn how to define the data, technology, and flows needed for their EHR integration projects; how products can retrieve health information while meeting compliance regulations; and the benefit of adopting quickly to the future of data exchange while simplifying future integration efforts.

People

Worthe Holt Jr, MD (Humana) joins physician network development company Wellvana Health as president and CEO.

The American Medical Association swears in Susan Bailey, MD as president. Bailey is an allergist in private practice in Forth Worth, Texas.

Remote consult company RubiconMD hires Adam Gail (NaviHealth) as SVP of business development.

Therapy Brands names Gowrishankar Bharadwaj (Philips Healthcare) head of strategic products, including telehealth and patient portals.

Announcements and Implementations

Net Health adds telemedicine capabilities from Updox to its EHR for specialty care.

After seeing a 3,400% increase in its customers’ daily use of telemedicine between February and April, Athenahealth adds virtual visit capabilities to its EHR and practice management software.

Carbon Health announces GA of COVID Ready, a back-to-work screening, testing, and symptom management program for employers that leverages the primary and urgent care company’s clinical protocols and app to ensure employees can safely return to work.

MediXall Group will add telemedicine services from MeMD to its provider search and comparison site for consumers.

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe recognizes customer St. Elizabeth Healthcare as its 2020 Healthcare Champion.

Blog Posts

• Patient Financial Engagement in a Post-COVID-19 World (AdvancedMD)
• Expanding the Range of Specialty Care (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/8/20

Top News

Aledade, Privia Health, and 18 healthcare organizations ask congressional leaders for at least $15 billion in direct stimulus funding for primary care practices struggling to stay open and care for patients during the pandemic: “Without action by Congress, primary care practices across the country may close over the coming weeks and months, further exacerbating primary care shortages and leaving some communities without access to care. This will jeopardize our COVID response, weakening our ability to protect patients, not just from this pandemic, but other public health emergencies in the future.”

Without federal assistance, analysts have predicted at least 60,000 primary care physicians may potentially go out of business by the end of June.

Webinars

June 10 (Wednesday) 1 ET. “COVID-19: preparing your OR for elective surgeries.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Janice Kelly, MS, RN, president, AORN Syntegrity Inc.; David Bocanegra, RN, nurse informaticist, IMO. The presenters will cover the steps and guidelines that are needed for hospitals to resume performing elective surgeries and how healthcare information technology can optimize efficiencies and financial outcomes for the return of the OR.

June 18 (Thursday) 12:30 ET. “Understanding the ONC’s Final Rule: Using FHIR HL7 for Successful EHR Integrations.” Sponsor: Newfire Global Partners. Presenters: Bob Salitsky, healthcare IT expert, Newfire Global Partners; Jaya Plmanabhan, MS, healthcare data scientist. This fast-paced, 30-minute webinar will provide an overview of the Final Rule and describe how technology vendors, payers, and providers can use FHIR HL7 to deliver true interoperability. Attendees will learn how to define the data, technology, and flows needed for their EHR integration projects; how products can retrieve health information while meeting compliance regulations; and the benefit of adopting quickly to the future of data exchange while simplifying future integration efforts.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist Gregg Soifer, MD launches DocNow, an app-based appointment-booking service for physicians that also offers telemedicine and patient relationship management capabilities.

People

Healthcare call center software company Keona Health hires Gina Tabone (TeamHealth Medical Call Center) as VP of strategic partnerships.

Research and Innovation

Chinese technology company Huawei develops a phone with temperature-taking capabilities. It seems to be available only in China for now.

Other

GrandPad adds telemedicine and remote patient monitoring capabilities to its senior-focused tablets, giving users the ability to send their health data to caregivers.

XpresSpa will pivot to XpresCheck at JFK’s Terminal 4 by the end of this month to offer airport employees COVID-19 screening and testing services. The facility will leverage AdvancedMD’s practice management and EHR software through a partnership with healthcare CRM and marketing company HyperPointe.

CNBC’s Chrissy Farr points out that Optum has gone up against GoodRx for prescription savings.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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