News 6/9/21

Top News

Texas-based FQHC Legacy Community Health partners with business development firm Canton & Co. to launch Monarch Health Solutions, a practice management company dedicated to community health centers.

Webinars

June 24 (Thursday) 2 ET: “Peer-to-Peer Panel: Creating a Better Healthcare Experience in the Post-Pandemic Era.” Sponsor: Avtex. Presenters: Mike Pietig, VP of healthcare, Avtex; Matt Durski, director of healthcare patient and member experience, Avtex; Patrick Tuttle, COO, Delta Dental of Kansas; Chad Thorpe, care ambassador, DispatchHealth. The live panel will review the findings of a May 2021 survey about which factors are most important to patients and members who are interacting with healthcare organizations. The panel will provide actionable strategies to improve patient and member engagement and retention, recover revenue, and implement solutions that reduce friction across multiple channels to prioritize care and outreach.

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Syra Health announces expansion plans that include doubling its office space and adding up to 150 new jobs by 2025. Based in Carmel, Indiana, company offers value-based care consulting, medical education content development, and staffing services.

Consulting firm Patient Access Solutions acquires TelaMentalHealth.com.

Well Health Technologies will acquire MyHealth Partners, a provider of primary, specialty, and virtual care with 48 locations in Ontario. Once the acquisition closes, Well Health will become the largest non-governmental operator of outpatient clinics in Canada.

People

PerfectServe hires Rodrigo Martínez, MD (TransformativeMed) as its first CMO.

Announcements and Implementations

US Radiology Specialists selects patient intake and messaging solutions from Royal Health including Royal Pay, Royal Kiosks, and Royal Alerts.

Behavioral health provider Coyote Task Force (AZ) implements EnSoftek’s DrCloudEHR.

Government and Politics

Missouri Governor Mike Parson signs into law a bill creating a statewide prescription drug monitoring program. The state has suffered from the distinction of being the last in the country to be without a PDMP. A task force will oversee the development of the program’s centralized database and select a vendor to collect patient data.

Research and Innovation

Just over a third of 505 surveyed healthcare workers say that technology frustrates them, while 19% say it does not help with productivity. The same percentage admit that technology makes their jobs harder. The survey also found a strong correlation between job satisfaction and negative views of technology. Also worth noting: Twenty-eight percent of respondents feel that their company doesn’t give them the technology training they need to succeed, while 25% don’t believe they have the skills to succeed in an increasingly technologically advanced workplace.

Telehealth utilization continues to decrease, though at a slower pace than seen at the beginning of the year, according to Fair Health’s latest analysis. The drop coincides with a national decrease in COVID-19 cases and increasing vaccination rates.

Other

The local news investigates the discovery of boxes of medical records dumped outside of a storage unit in Atlanta. Hope Medical had moved the files to a storage unit after a fire at their facility in 2018. The rental facility sold off the contents of Hope Medical’s unit after the practice defaulted on its payments. The highest bidder for the unit’s contents likely found them to be of no immediate value.

Former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD appears on the local news to discuss the impact of COVID-19 vaccination rates on the county’s public health ordinances. He stepped down from his government job at the request of the Biden administration earlier this year and, according to the news, is practicing medicine in Central Indiana.

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Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/7/21

Top News

Membership-based primary care company One Medical acquires Iora Health for $2.1 billion. Iora Health specializes in primary care for Medicare members, aided by proprietary health IT.

Iora Health co-founder and CEO Rushika Fernandopulle, MD will become One Medical’s chief innovation officer.

Webinars

June 24 (Thursday) 2 ET: “6 Recommendations to Create a Better Patient & Member Experience.” Sponsor: Avtex. Presenters: Mike Pietig, VP of healthcare, Avtex; Matt Durski, director of healthcare patient and member experience, Avtex; Patrick Tuttle, COO, Delta Dental of Kansas; Chad Thorpe, care ambassador, DispatchHealth. The live panel will review the findings of a May 2021 survey about which factors are most important to patients and members who are interacting with healthcare organizations. The panel will provide actionable strategies to improve patient and member engagement and retention, recover revenue, and implement solutions that reduce friction across multiple channels to prioritize care and outreach.

Here’s the recording of last week’s webinar with Secure Exchange Solutions: “Diagnosing the Cures Act – Practical Prescriptions For Your Success.”

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

San Francisco-based primary and urgent care company Carbon Health acquires membership-based digital diabetes clinic Steady Health. Carbon Health operates 70 clinics in 13 states, and also offers virtual care in selection locations. It hopes to have 1,500 clinics across the country within the next four years. It acquired the chain of Direct Urgent Care clinics in 2018.

After securing a $4 million line of credit in April, Florida-based patient engagement and virtual care company Qure4u opens its second office in the metro Atlanta area.

Bettermeant rebrands to Valorant Health. The company specializes in helping service members find providers; and store, manage, and share health records.

Virtual medical scribe company Skywriter MD relocates and expands its operations in College Station, Texas. It plans to add 100 employees over the next seven months.

Announcements and Implementations

Online health, wellness, and prescription delivery company Bounce Health launches automated virtual clinic capabilities for providers.

Other

Wallpaper highlights the design elements behind Tia’s new women’s health clinic in LA. Spa-like amenities include personal nooks where patients can stow belongings and charge devices, redesigned patient gowns, inhale-exhale socks, hospitality stations, and lactation rooms. More practical elements include storage solutions that hide provider instruments and biohazard bins. Tia operates virtual and in-person clinics in New York, California, and Arizona.

Glacier Medical Associates (MT) begins notifying patients of an April cyberattack that may have compromised PHI.

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe achieves a “Cybersecurity Transparent” designation from KLAS and Censinet.
• KLAS rates Nordic a top performer in the expansive firms category in its latest “Application Management & Help Desk Services” report.
• PerfectServe’s Nurses of Note program honors Hampton Roads Community Health Center COO Erica Johnson and the COVID-19 vaccination nursing team.

Blog Posts

• The good stuff is rarely learned in meetings (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 6/2/21

Top News

Privia Health reports a slight increase in Q1 revenue to $213.6 million. The practice management company went public in late April, experiencing a surge in share prices that gave parent company Brighton Health Group an ownership stake valued at $2.75 billion.

HIStalk Practice Musings

Children’s book illustrator, artist, and writer Eric Carle passed away last month at the age of 91. I’m sure many HIStalk Practice readers have stocked their practice waiting rooms with the “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” or “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” And I’m absolutely certain many have read these classics to their kids. Fun facts: After serving in  the Korean War, he spent time as an art director at a medical advertising agency. His career as a children’s book illustrator began when author Bill Martin, Jr. saw, while sitting in doctor’s office, an ad for antihistamines with an illustration Carle had done of a big red lobster. Martin then reached out to ask if he’d illustrate “Brown Bear” and the rest is history.

Webinars

June 3 (Thursday) 2 ET: “Diagnosing the Cures Act – Practical Prescriptions for Your Success.” Sponsor: Secure Exchange Solutions. Presenters: William E. Golden, MD, MACP, medical director, Arkansas Medicaid; Anne Santifer, executive director, Arkansas Department of Health – Office of Health Information Technology; Kyle Meadors, principal, Chart Lux Consulting. A panel of leading experts will provide practical guidance on how to prepare for the Cures Act. Will it upend your business model? What is information blocking? How can standardized technologies be applied to meet Cures Act requirements? What must I do now as well as in the next five years?

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Canadian health IT and clinic operator CloudMD attributes its record $5.7 million increase in Q1 revenue to its aggressive acquisition strategy, including five in Q1 and 11 over the last year. It plans to launch an automated, connected solution later this year aimed at all points of patient care.

Skylight Health Group sees a 76% increase in Q1 revenue to $5.2 million, a jump made possible by clinic acquisitions in the previous fiscal year. The clinic operations company also offers subscription telemedicine services.

People

Stellar Health names JoRel Nye (Aledade) chief product officer.

Joseph Aquilina, MD (Sharp HealthCare) joins Brown & Toland Physicians as president of BTHealth.

Rabble Health names Chandra Kanive (Limelight Health) COO and Koji Sonoda (Seattle Genetics) VP of business development and partnerships.

Government and Politics

Nora Meaney-Elman, MD pays $60,000 to settle federal allegations that she violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to secure the token and password she used for e-prescribing controlled substances. A since-convicted employee used the security credentials to write 156 illegal prescriptions, ultimately paying over $1 million in fines and receiving a sentence of two years’ probation.

Research and Innovation

MGMA research shows that total compensation for primary care physicians between 2019 and 2020 increased by 2.6%. Compensation changes for specialists were similarly modest or flat. Practices were resilient in the face of pandemic-related challenges, according to MGMA President and CEO Halee Fischer-Wright, MD leveraging federal programs to cover expenses and staff costs, adapting to virtual care, and pivoting to accommodate in-person visits as COVID-19 cases decreased.

Researchers are optimistic that there may soon be a market for vaccine administration via microneedle patch technology. Georgia Tech engineers have developed patches for the flu and measles, and believe the delivery method could be used for COVID-19. University of Connecticut Assistant Professor of Engineering Thanh Nguyen has developed similar technology that can deliver different vaccines in the same patch on different dosing schedules.

Other

Ten year-old Will LeFaivre takes his Virtual Reality Vitals Reader to the final round of the Invention Convention Nationals. The headset is equipped with VR goggles, heart rate and blood oxygen monitors, a temperature reader, and an attached blood pressure cuff. LeFaivre says he was inspired to create the device after seeing how much his autistic younger brother didn’t like having his vital signs taken at the doctor’s office.

A letter written by physician Edward Jenner, developer of the smallpox vaccine, is expected to fetch over $7,500 when it comes up for auction later this month. The letter thanks a fellow physician for vindicating Jenner’s vaccination work: “I know of no production on the vaccine subject which has afforded me more satisfaction, since it was first brought before the public, than yours. It contains the experimentum crucis and has effectually put a stop to the sneers of those little minded persons who think everything impossible which does not come within the narrow sphere of their own comprehension.I regret that your confirmation of the fact I had adduced, is not more generally known.”

Sponsor Updates

• EClinicalWorks posts a video case study titled “Neuro2Go + healow: Expertise Is Just a Click Away.”

Blog Posts

• A Prescription for Safety, Legibility, and Ease of Use (EClinicalWorks)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 5/26/21

Top News

Population health management company P3 Health Partners will become a publicly traded company via an acquisition by SPAC Foresight Acquisition Corp. The new company will retain the P3 brand. Former OptumRx CEO Mark Thierer will serve as chairman.

Webinars

June 3 (Thursday) 2 ET: “Diagnosing the Cures Act – Practical Prescriptions for Your Success.” Sponsor: Secure Exchange Solutions. Presenters: William E. Golden, MD, MACP, medical director, Arkansas Medicaid; Anne Santifer, executive director, Arkansas Department of Health – Office of Health Information Technology; Kyle Meadors, principal, Chart Lux Consulting. A panel of leading experts will provide practical guidance on how to prepare for the Cures Act. Will it upend your business model? What is information blocking? How can standardized technologies be applied to meet Cures Act requirements? What must I do now as well as in the next five years?

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

Announcements and Implementations

The Asian American Health Coalition’s Hope Clinic (TX) will offer pregnant patients the Babyscripts MyJourney educational and reminder app and remote BP monitoring.

Virtual care infrastructure company Truepill launches primary care services. It also provides online prescription and in-home diagnostics services for digital health and wellness companies like Hims, Hers, and Nurx.

PT Wired adds BetterPT’s scheduling capabilities to its white-label home exercise program apps, giving patients the ability to schedule appointments within their PT clinic’s branded app.

Government and Politics

The Senate confirms Chiquita Brooks-LaSure (Manatt, Phelps & Phillips) as CMS administrator.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 5/24/21

Top News

Virtual care company Recuro Health acquires chat-based telemedicine startup SupDoc. The acquisition comes just a few weeks after Recuro’s purchase of at-home testing company UDoTest, which has enabled it to offer a return-to-work COVID-19 testing platform alongside its digital health offerings.

Teladoc founder Michael Gorton helped to launch Recuro last year.

Webinars

June 3 (Thursday) 2 ET: “Diagnosing the Cures Act – Practical Prescriptions for Your Success.” Sponsor: Secure Exchange Solutions. Presenters: William E. Golden, MD, MACP, medical director, Arkansas Medicaid; Anne Santifer, executive director, Arkansas Department of Health – Office of Health Information Technology; Kyle Meadors, principal, Chart Lux Consulting. A panel of leading experts will provide practical guidance on how to prepare for the Cures Act. Will it upend your business model? What is information blocking? How can standardized technologies be applied to meet Cures Act requirements? What must I do now as well as in the next five years?

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Population health analytics company Clinigence Health acquires ProCare Health, a managed services organization serving four IPAs in California.

Complete HealthCare Solutions, a health IT developer, reseller, and services company, acquires the healthcare division of Selent and Associates, including Computerized Business Systems and medicalbillingsoftware.com.

People

Cancer-focused digital health startup RabbleHealth names Bluegrass Biggs CTO.

Announcements and Implementations

The Las Vegas Convention Center installs a telemedicine kiosk from OnMed, just in time for the World of Concrete.

Government and Politics

HHS allocates $14.2 million to help pediatric primary care practices integrate telemedicine for mental healthcare, expanding Pediatric Mental Health Care Access projects across the country. Applications for grant money are due July 6.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services works to recover from a May 17 malware attack.

Research and Innovation

An MGMA poll of 716 medical groups finds that prior authorization requirements have increased since 2020, despite a brief reprieve from payers during the pandemic. Some respondents have hired full-time employees to handle the work associated with the increasingly burdensome requirements.

Patients looking to switch providers will first consider those that offer online services such as appointment scheduling, intake, prescription management, and medical records access, according to a NextGen survey of 2,055 people.

A retrospective analysis of the Meaningful Use program in Florida has found that $100 million was distributed to Medicaid providers that did not demonstrate MU after collecting first-year financial incentives. Fifty-seven percent dropped out of the program after receiving their first incentive payment, with the majority citing a lack of financial incentive to pursue further stages of MU, and a lack of technical assistance.

Other

Marketplace spotlights Michael Kirisu, DO a San Diego-based family physician who ended his $7,000-a-month practice lease during the pandemic in favor of virtual and house calls. His new practice, Measured Wellness, is heavy on wearables and health data: “The doctor of the future is datacentric. I don’t need nurses or [medical assistants] anymore. I need a data scientist who is looking at the data, who is looking at the trends going on, seeing where the red flags are, to go dispatch me. ‘Hey, you need to go make an intervention on this patient.’”

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic again earns a place on Modern Healthcare’s “Best Places to Work in Healthcare” list.
• Innovaccer will integrate the Healthwise Knowledgebase patient education solution into its Health Cloud.

Blog Posts

• How Outdated On-Call Scheduling is Hurting Your Hospital (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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