News 2/2/24

Top News

A Stat review says that digital therapeutics is stagnating in the US, as evidenced by vendor bankruptcies and lack of Medicare coverage for their products.

The authors note that Pear Therapeutics shut down less than a year after CMS denied the company’s request to consider its substance abuse order product (pictured above) as a billable medical device.

Few commercial payers cover digital therapeutics because of concerns about efficacy, which poorly designed vendor studies have failed to prove.

The article says that vendors who want their products covered like traditional drugs will need to perform similar studies that meet a comparable standard of evidence, which is risky because of high cost and the possibility that their products aren’t effective. They could also sell their products to providers who might be reimbursed by payers for achieving specific results.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Thanks to the folks at DrFirst, which booked the Top Spot banner (at the upper right of the HIStalk page) for the long term, initially to showcase their participation in the ViVE conference. I appreciate the support.

Repetitive, I know, but winding down – sponsors that are participating in ViVE and/or HIMSS should complete the respective forms so I can list you in my guides pro bono (does that word make you think of U2 or Cher?)

Webinars

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Cardinal Health acquires group purchasing company Specialty Networks for $1.2 billion in cash, calling out the strategic value of its AI-driven PPS Analytics product that analyzes data from EHR/PM, imaging, and dispensing systems for clinical decision-making and for purchase by drug companies.

Medical practice patient communication technology vendor Vital Interaction raises $15 million in Series A funding.

Fabric, a healthcare enablement startup that was formerly known as Florence, acquires Gyant, which offers health systems an AI-powered virtual assistant.

Prior authorization technology vendor Cohere Health raises $50 million in equity funding, increasing its total to $106 million. It has five health plan customers.

Hindenberg Research predicts a “breakdown” for private equity-backed mental health rollup LifeStance, which has 6,400 clinicians, 600 centers in 33 states, a market cap of $2 billion, and a mountain of debt. It says the company is running out of cash, employs mostly therapists who bill at low rates compared to psychiatrists, provides stock grants to its highest-performing prescribers of drugs that have a high abuse potential, and pushes clinicians to see up to 30 patients per day. Former employees say that the industry has such low barriers to entry that LifeStance provides no value or even negative value because “all you need to do to open up your own private practice is post a thing on Facebook and start seeing private, cash-only patients.”

Sales

• Smile Train will provide its partners and affiliates access to select medical journals via Wolters Kluwer Health.
• VNAcare expands its relationship with Netsmart to implement its MyUnity EHR.
• ACO Vytalize Health will use WellSky Next-Generation Provider Solution for care coordination between acute and post-acute providers.

People

Oracle expands the role of former CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH to EVP/GM of Oracle Health, the former Cerner business.

Workforce management solutions vendor Hallmark Health Care Solutions names industry long-timer Bruce Cerullo, MS as CEO. He replaces co-founder Isaac Ullatil, MBA, who will transition to strategic advisor.

JTG Consulting Group hires Jaimie Augustine (Copan Diagnostics) as chief growth officer. She replaces Lisa Potter, who was promoted to COO.

Announcements and Implementations

Atlantic Health will acquire Saint Peter’s Healthcare (NJ) and move it to Epic.

ECRI lists its top health tech hazards for 2024:

1. Usability of medical devices intended for in-home use.
2. Insufficient cleaning instructions for medical devices.
3. Drug compounding without technology safeguards.
4. Environmental harm from patient care.
5. Lack of AI governance in medical technologies.
6. Ransomware.
7. Burns from single-foil electrosurgical electrodes.
8. Medication errors caused by damaged infusion pumps.
9. Defects in orthopedic implantables.
10. Web analytics software and the misuse of patient data.

Publicly traded hospital operator Community Health Systems migrates to a FHIR-based clinical data platform on Google Cloud and is implementing the company’s AI technologies.

Government and Politics

A law firm says that an Epic case that was heard by the Supreme Court raises the legal issue of proving that employees actually signed arbitration agreements that include employment class action waivers. It notes that employees are arguing that they don’t remember signing the agreement, which places the burden on the employer to prove that their electronic signature wasn’t provided by someone else.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration makes some COVID-19 flexibilities permanent, including the ability for Opioid Treatment Programs to prescribe opioid use disorder medications via telehealth without an initial in-person evaluation.

England’s health regulator finds that IT systems at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals – a Global Digital Exemplar and HIMSS EMRAM Stage 6 designee – are not always integrated and don’t always promptly provide staff with information they need. Inspectors noted that OR information is documented on paper and then entered into electronic systems afterward because of slow systems, which was measured at 45 minutes from log-in to retrieval of a single patient’s vital signs and fluid balance. The inspectors also observed that maternity staff are required to document the same information in two systems due to lack of integration.

Regional West Medical Center settles its contract dispute with Oracle for $6 million versus the $15 million that the company wanted, freeing it to convert to Epic. The hospital blamed financial losses and the lowering of its bond ratings on the revenue cycle disruption that was caused by its 2018 implementation of Cerner Millennium.

Other

A data manipulation expert uses AI to determine that a Harvard Medical School neuroscientist included plagiarized images in 21 journal articles, including images that came from other papers and from vendor websites.

Sponsor Updates

• CereCore publishes a new case study, “Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust: Successful EPR Transition Journey.”
• Hyndman Area Health Center expands its use of EClinicalWorks technology with the addition of AI solutions including the Sunoh.ai virtual scribe.
• WellSky will use cloud, analytics, and AI technologies from Google Cloud.
• Impact Advisors joins Epic’s new Rev Cycle Partners program.
• Findhelp names Dallas Mudd (United Way of Northwest Arkansas) senior director of partnerships.
• Health Data Movers welcomes Eric Williams (Kaiser Permanente) to its board.
• Inovalon names Katie Smith (Inari Medical) senior manager of clinical analytics.
• The Lean HealthTech Podcast features KeyCare CEO Lyle Berkowitz, MD “Virtual Visionaries: KeyCare’s Revolutionary Approach to Telehealth.”
• Konza National Network appoints Jonathan Smith, MPH (Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health) to its Board of Directors.
• Broadlawns Medical Center (IA) maximizes efficiency with Meditech’s labor and delivery solution.

Blog Posts

• Three clinical information challenges for care teams (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Benefits of Medical AI Scribe Integrated within the EHR (EClinicalWorks)
• FDB Salutes Heroes Unleashing Power of Medication Decision Support (First Databank)
• Why Paper-Based Processes are Costing Your Health System (Vyne Medical)
• Social Drivers of Health (SDoH) Analytics: Health Leaders Amplify Impact Through Insights (Findhelp)
• HFMA Western Region Symposium 2024 Recap (FinThrive)
• #FreeTheContent (Healthwise)
• Establishing an Effective Change Management Office for Organizational Evolution (Impact Advisors)
• Top Healthcare AI Conferences 2024 – Part 1 (Lucem Health)
• Mastering Patient Retention: 5 Strategies to Prevent Leakage (Medhost)
• Preparing home health agencies for value-based purchasing in 2025 (Meditech)
• The Future of Wound Care Starts with Clinical ROI (Net Health)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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