News 2/22/23

Top News

Aledade acquires value-based care analytics vendor Curia for an undisclosed sum. The company, which manages a network of 1,500 independent primary care practices and health centers, has raised nearly $420 million. It acquired advance care planning company Iris Healthcare in January 2022.

Webinars

February 28 (Tuesday) 1 ET. “Words Matter: Simplifying Clinical Terms for Patients.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Whitney Mannion, RN, MSN, senior terminologist, IMO; David Bocanegra, RN, nurse informaticist, IMO. The language of medicine can be confusing and contradictory to patients, challenging their ability to prepare for a procedure or pay their bills. This webinar will explore how the words that are used to communicate – online, in print, and in person – must be chosen carefully to allow patients to comprehend their diagnoses, treatments, and care plans. The presenters will also describe how the ONC Final Rule for the 21st Century Cures Act will make clinical and technical language more directly accessible through patient portals.

March 7 (Tuesday) noon ET.  “Prescribe RPA 2.0 to Treat Healthcare Worker Burnout.” Sponsor: Keysight Technologies. Presenters: Anne Foster, MS, technical consultant manager, Eggplant; Emily Yan, MPA, product marketing manager, Keysight Technologies. Half of US health systems plan to invest in robotic process automation by the end of this year, per Gartner. The concept is evolving to help with staff burnout and physician productivity. The presenters will introduce RPA 2.0, explain how to maximize its value, demonstrate how to quickly start on RPA 2.0 and test automation in one platform, and answer questions about healthcare automation.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Amazon closes its $3.9 billion deal to acquire membership-based primary care provider One Medical, which has 200 clinics in 26 markets. The online retailer has said it will for a limited time reduce One Medical membership from $199 to $144 for Amazon customers. The FTC has been conducting an in-depth review of the deal, and has told the two companies they are closing the deal at their own risk.

Announcements and Implementations

Bluestem Health, an FQHC with seven clinics in Lincoln, NE, launches an online symptom checker using technology from Mediktor.

Care Counseling implements Opus EHR software for behavioral and mental health.

DirectTrust reports that 213 million Direct Secure Messages were sent and received in the fourth quarter of 2022, with the number of patients using Direct Secure Messaging increasing 7% to 700,000.

Research and Innovation

Forty-one percent of surveyed physicians say their prescribing habits have been occasionally or frequently influenced by content they’ve seen on social media. Nearly 100% of surveyed pharma marketers believe social media influences clinical and treatment decisions. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter seem to be the social platforms of choice for physicians interested in keeping up with private medical groups, hospitals and trade associations, and government news.

Other

Michael Raines, MD reflects on the impact former President Jimmy Carter has had on healthcare services in Carter’s hometown of Plains, GA. Carter was instrumental in the re-opening of the town’s lone clinic in 2018, using his ties with the Mercer University School of Medicine to fast-track the plan. Raines has worked at the clinic since it opened and says it’s been busy since day one. Mercer has gone on to open four more rural clinics in neighboring counties.

The Robert Graham Center, The Physicians Foundation, and the Milbank Memorial Fund develop a scorecard tracking support for primary care. The initial scorecard reveals trends that have become common themes in the healthcare industry:

• The federal government has not invested enough in primary care.
• The primary care workforce is shrinking, causing gaps in access to care to increase.
• An increasing number of adults report they don’t have a regular source of primary care.
• Not enough physicians are being trained in community settings, where they are needed the most.
• Federal funding for primary care research is almost nil.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new episode of its “Designing for Health” podcast featuring Memora Health’s Omar Nagji.

Blog Posts

• Go big, go fast, and go to the front lines (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 2/20/23

Top News

Primary care EHR vendor Elation Health acquires Lightning MD, which sells billing and payer connectivity systems to independent practices. Elation will begin offering existing customers its technology combined with Lightning MD’s capabilities this summer.

Elation raised $50 million last summer, bringing its total raised to $109 million.

Webinars

February 28 (Tuesday) 1 ET. “Words Matter: Simplifying Clinical Terms for Patients.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Whitney Mannion, RN, MSN, senior terminologist, IMO; David Bocanegra, RN, nurse informaticist, IMO. The language of medicine can be confusing and contradictory to patients, challenging their ability to prepare for a procedure or pay their bills. This webinar will explore how the words that are used to communicate – online, in print, and in person – must be chosen carefully to allow patients to comprehend their diagnoses, treatments, and care plans. The presenters will also describe how the ONC Final Rule for the 21st Century Cures Act will make clinical and technical language more directly accessible through patient portals.

March 7 (Tuesday) noon ET.  “Prescribe RPA 2.0 to Treat Healthcare Worker Burnout.” Sponsor: Keysight Technologies. Presenters: Anne Foster, MS, technical consultant manager, Eggplant; Emily Yan, MPA, product marketing manager, Keysight Technologies. Half of US health systems plan to invest in robotic process automation by the end of this year, per Gartner. The concept is evolving to help with staff burnout and physician productivity. The presenters will introduce RPA 2.0, explain how to maximize its value, demonstrate how to quickly start on RPA 2.0 and test automation in one platform, and answer questions about healthcare automation.

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

Announcements and Implementations

Sunrise Mountain Family Medical Clinic (NV) selects cloud-based EHR technology from EClinicalWorks.

Government and Politics

Noel DeLeon, a former office manager for a practice in New Jersey, pleads guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute amphetamines. DeLeon or the practice’s doctor would typically collect cash payments before providing patients with prescriptions for Adderall. Patients would contact him directly via text message for refills, and pay via a personal payment app. Some patients bribed DeLeon for faster fulfillment. The practice had little to no record-keeping, with some medical records only containing contact and prescription information. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Research and Innovation

Primary care physicians who engaged the services of remote, audio-only scribes report lower levels of burnout, improved workflow satisfaction, and less EHR stress compared to their counterparts who did not, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Physicians with scribes avoided nearly an hour of documenting in the EHR.

Other

The local paper profiles Frank Tursi, DO and David Levy, MD physicians in Erie, PA who have been seeing patients for more than 40 years. Neither has any plans to retire. Both have seen multiple generations of the same family, and have interesting stories to tell about the changes in treatments, business, and technologies. Both have become employed with local health systems, a situation Tursi says is a “double-edged sword. I no longer had to worry about staffing or equipment breaking down. It was an adjustment. The employees technically didn’t work for me any longer. But the practice itself didn’t change at all.”

Sponsor Updates

Blog Posts

• Taking the temperature of health systems (Nordic)
• 4 Ways to Modernize the Hospital Call Center (PerfectServe)
• Choice architecture to the rescue (Nordic)
• Behind the Scenes: DEI in Health Education Illustrations (Healthwise)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 2/15/23

Top News

Virtual hearing care company Tuned raises $3.5 million. The company, which currently markets its services to employers and payers, plans to offer pediatric care later this year.

Webinars

February 28 (Tuesday) 1 ET. “Words Matter: Simplifying Clinical Terms for Patients.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Whitney Mannion, RN, MSN, senior terminologist, IMO; David Bocanegra, RN, nurse informaticist, IMO. The language of medicine can be confusing and contradictory to patients, challenging their ability to prepare for a procedure or pay their bills. This webinar will explore how the words that are used to communicate – online, in print, and in person – must be chosen carefully to allow patients to comprehend their diagnoses, treatments, and care plans. The presenters will also describe how the ONC Final Rule for the 21st Century Cures Act will make clinical and technical language more directly accessible through patient portals.

March 7 (Tuesday) noon ET.  “Prescribe RPA 2.0 to Treat Healthcare Worker Burnout.” Sponsor: Keysight Technologies. Presenters: Anne Foster, MS, technical consultant manager, Eggplant; Emily Yan, MPA, product marketing manager, Keysight Technologies. Half of US health systems plan to invest in robotic process automation by the end of this year, per Gartner. The concept is evolving to help with staff burnout and physician productivity. The presenters will introduce RPA 2.0, explain how to maximize its value, demonstrate how to quickly start on RPA 2.0 and test automation in one platform, and answer questions about healthcare automation.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Marker Learning raises $15 million in a Series A funding round. The company offers remote learning disability evaluations and support through its virtual platform and network of psychologists and educators.

People

Derek Kang (UCLA Health) joins Vytalize Health as chief compliance officer.

Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen appoints Timothy Tesmer, MD a private practice ENT specialist, to serve as the state’s next CMO.

Announcements and Implementations

Care Choice Family Clinic, a new practice in Plano, TX, selects healthcare technology from EClinicalWorks.

Research and Innovation

A Wolters Kluwer Health survey of 1,000 adults who’ve seen a doctor within the last year finds that the vast majority of patients have questions after the appointments. A third of those surveyed report they didn’t receive any educational materials during their appointments. Nearly 70% say they are more likely to see the same physician again if offered educational content. Survey authors note that providing educational content at the point of care could help cut down on patient portal messaging.

Other

In the UK, the Cornish town of Lostwithiel pulls out all the stops in its efforts to recruit a new physician to the town’s clinic, which serves 5,500 patients. Residents participated in a flash mob last month, and more recently have recorded a song, “Lostwithiel Needs A Doctor,” and accompanying video that they hope will get the attention of potential candidates. Organizers consider it “an innovative, yet increasingly desperate, attempt to replace a much-loved retiring GP within two weeks.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 2/13/23

Top News

Garrison Women’s Health (NH) attributes a cybersecurity incident that rendered it unable to access its appointment scheduling software and some medical records in mid December to a data breach at Global Network Systems, which manages the practice’s IT applications and infrastructure, including hosting its EHR. Some EHR data, including physician notes and encounter and scheduling data, was not retrievable due to corruption and back-up issues.

Webinars

February 28 (Tuesday) 1 ET. “Words Matter: Simplifying Clinical Terms for Patients.” Sponsor: Intelligent Medical Objects. Presenters: Whitney Mannion, RN, MSN, senior terminologist, IMO; David Bocanegra, RN, nurse informaticist, IMO. The language of medicine can be confusing and contradictory to patients, challenging their ability to prepare for a procedure or pay their bills. This webinar will explore how the words that are used to communicate – online, in print, and in person – must be chosen carefully to allow patients to comprehend their diagnoses, treatments, and care plans. The presenters will also describe how the ONC Final Rule for the 21st Century Cures Act will make clinical and technical language more directly accessible through patient portals.

March 7 (Tuesday) noon ET.  “Prescribe RPA 2.0 to Treat Healthcare Worker Burnout.” Sponsor: Keysight Technologies. Presenters: Anne Foster, MS, technical consultant manager, Eggplant; Emily Yan, MPA, product marketing manager, Keysight Technologies. Half of US health systems plan to invest in robotic process automation by the end of this year, per Gartner. The concept is evolving to help with staff burnout and physician productivity. The presenters will introduce RPA 2.0, explain how to maximize its value, demonstrate how to quickly start on RPA 2.0 and test automation in one platform, and answer questions about healthcare automation.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Women’s virtual healthcare provider Twentyeight Health raises $8.3 million.

People

Infina Connect promotes Joe Francis to CEO. Company founder and acting CEO Sin Tong will remain chairman.

Announcements and Implementations

Doximity develops DocsGPT, a ChatGPT-inspired workflow automation tool that offers users a selection of medical prompts, such as “Certificate of Medical Necessity,” they can then flesh out with pertinent details. The tool, currently in beta, works with the company’s free digital fax service.

Research and Innovation

Black Book Research surveys of a combined 10,000-plus end users rate Surgical Information Systems the top ambulatory surgical center technology vendor and ModMed the top comprehensive health IT vendor for integrated practice management, RCM, and EHR solutions.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic releases a new Designing for Health Podcast featuring UCHealth CMIO Dr. CT Lin.
• PerfectServe publishes a new case study, “How Savannah Neurology Specialists Reinvented Their Medical Answering Service Workflows.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 2/8/23

Top News

CVS Health will acquire Oak Street Health, a Medicare-focused primary care provider based in Chicago, for $39 per share in a deal valued at $10.6 billion.

Oak Street will become part of CVS Health’s Health Care Delivery unit, and will remain under the leadership of CEO Mike Pykosz. It employs 600 physicians across 170 clinics in 21 states, and anticipates opening an additional 130 by 2026. The company leverages its homegrown Canopy platform to power its clinical and operational workflows.

Oak Street patients account for about two-thirds of Aetna’s Medicare Advantage membership, according to Reuters. CVS Health acquired Aetna in 2017 for $68 billion.

Webinars

March 7 (Tuesday) noon ET.  “Prescribe RPA 2.0 to Treat Healthcare Worker Burnout.” Sponsor: Keysight Technologies. Presenters: Anne Foster, MS, technical consultant manager, Eggplant; Emily Yan, MPA, product marketing manager, Keysight Technologies. Half of US health systems plan to invest in robotic process automation by the end of this year, per Gartner. The concept is evolving to help with staff burnout and physician productivity. The presenters will introduce RPA 2.0, explain how to maximize its value, demonstrate how to quickly start on RPA 2.0 and test automation in one platform, and answer questions about healthcare automation.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

CVS Health beats analyst expectations for Q4 revenue and earnings, posting $83.85 billion in revenue and earnings of $1.99 per share.

Announcements and Implementations

CareCloud integrates the Quippe Clinical Data Engine from Medicomp Systems with its EHR to ensure providers have the most relevant, usable data at the point of care.

Complete Care implements EHR software from EClinicalWorks across their 31 facilities in Central Florida.

Research and Innovation

Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine determine that site-specific EHR usability testing can help improve user efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction before software goes live for patient care. During their EHR user testing event, more than 70% of the 33 usability concerns identified were found to be correctable.

A medication adherence survey of 1,023 patients finds that 49% say they’ve had conversations with their doctors about saving money on their prescriptions; 83% of those say that led to more affordable options being made available.

Other

Regal Medical Group (CA) notifies patients of a December ransomware attack that enabled hackers to access some patient data.

Russell Johnson, MD bemoans the frenzied pace of EHR inbox alerts he must cope with on a daily basis, and shares the ways in which he has begun to manage patient messaging:

“To preserve my sanity, I have stopped responding to messages from patients that require more than a one-line response from me, and instead ask my assistant to schedule them for visits. I take the same approach for abnormal laboratory and imaging results. That way, the time I spend seeing patients is just that, and I’m not trying to juggle my time between my inbox and my patients, even if that means I’m overbooked.”

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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