The Innovative Potential Of Venture-Backed Primary Care

JORDAN ANDERSON, BRIAN POWERS, AND SACHIN JAIN | 189 views

There is an urgent need for innovation in primary care delivery — inadequate access for patients, poor care coordination, and a broken reimbursement system are well-documented challenges facing the field. Despite promising efforts and important pilots to overcome these obstacles, wide-spread innovation and improvement has been constrained by financing structures that incent the piecemeal, volume-driven delivery of clinical services rather than promoting care redesign...

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MaineHealth

MaineHealth is a not-for-profit family of leading high-quality providers and other healthcare organizations working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.

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HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

3 Key Considerations in Cloud Security for Healthcare Organizations

Article | September 28, 2022

With medical system consolidation and increasing numbers of medical records created, the need for digital access and storage is gaining steam. Digitizing records allows clinicians to improve accuracy and decrease redundant testing and studies, as well as reduce treatment delays. Greater availability of digitized records has other perks too. With vast amounts of accessible medical data, researchers can move public health studies forward, also potentially improving care and treatment of individual patients. As a result, cloud storage is taking off, though healthcare organizations are adopting it more slowly than other industries. According to a 2019 Nutanix report, 71% of healthcare organizations using cloud were considered the least mature – relative beginners – in that they were using fewer cloud services. Compare that figure to finance or retail, where 13% and 15% respectively were beginners. However, that is changing.

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HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Advanced Healthcare Supply Chains: Why It’s All in the Data

Article | August 29, 2022

During the past decade, the healthcare industry has undergone an unprecedented technological transformation. The industry, once defined by manual processes, has moved squarely into the digital age. As patients, we’ve all become accustomed to seeing physicians as well as clinical staff use laptops during office visits. And behind the scenes, hospitals and health networks have made substantial investments in financial and HR systems, among others. One of the more significant digital advancements has been the industry’s focus on applying greater levels of automation to supply chain processes. In doing so, provider and supplier organizations have improved the efficiency of their supply chains, driven out millions of dollars in cost and waste, all while keeping patient care front and center.

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HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Healthcare

Article | August 12, 2022

Artificial intelligence (AI) – long an impactful technology in other industries – is in the midst of rapid adoption across the healthcare industry. What was once seen as having great potential is now making its way to real-world implementation, driving improvements in care through enhanced clinical decision support, empowering payers, providers and healthcare organizations across the ecosystem with actionable insight. Patient-generated behavioral data is becoming increasingly common for care management. Smart gadgets such as Fitbits, smartphones and other wearable sensors collect patients’ data, helping patients and physicians better understand habits and set realistic healthcare goals.

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Digital Health Democratizes Precision Medicine to Improve Population Health

Article | February 10, 2020

By definition, precision medicine treats the individual while public health focuses on population-level interventions. While public health and precision medicine efforts overlap, some experts argue that precision medicine advancements fall short of public health goals due to their underemphasis on scalability and accessibility. Digital health can help reconcile this conflict by promoting precision medicine’s goal of delivering the right treatment to the right patient at the right time while improving health equity through scalable, accessible solutions.

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Spotlight

MaineHealth

MaineHealth is a not-for-profit family of leading high-quality providers and other healthcare organizations working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.

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DIGITAL HEALTHCARE

Revibe Technologies Announces Clinical Development Updates for its Investigational FokusRx Prescription Digital Therapy for the Treatment of ADHD

Revibe technologies | February 09, 2022

Revibe technologies, a commercial-stage digital therapeutics company, announced today the positive results of their feasibility study examining the efficacy of FokusRx in school aged children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). FokusRx is an investigational SaMD (Software as a Medical Device) that has the potential to provide a new nonpharmacologic approach to treating attention, focus and hyperactivity deficits associated with ADHD, and other mental health conditions. ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed and increasingly prevalent mental health disorders in children and adolescents.Inthe United States, 6.1 million children aged 2-17 years have been diagnosed with ADHD. Approximately 50% of families stop using prescription drug treatments for ADHD within a year.Over 30% of parents refuse pharmacologic treatment for their children with ADHD. In this, single-arm multi-rater feasibility study, parents (n= 38) and teachers (n= 26) rated youth aged 8-12 years with a parent-reported diagnosis of ADHD. Youth were attending in-person classroom learning and not taking medication for their ADHD. The study included a number of outcome measures including the ADHD-RS-5 (Home and School versions), Conners 4 – short version, Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale-Parent Form (WFIRS-P), and the Academic Performance Rating Scale (APRS). To be included in the analyses, youth had to have worn the Revibe Connect wearable device to school Monday to Friday for a at least three days per week or a minimum of 15 days total for a period of four weeks. "We are pleased that the feasibility study has proven to be a successful exercise that de-risks our upcoming randomized sham-controlled pivotal trial. The moderate to large effect sizes observed and change scores that exceed standards for minimally important (clinically significant) differences, provide encouraging preliminary evidence supporting the efficacy of our intervention", says Dr.Lindsay Ayearst, Chief Scientific Officer of Revibe. Revibe's Scientific and Medical Advisory Board member, Dr.Margaret Weiss, Director of Clinical Research in Child Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, stated, "These results are consistent across both symptoms and functioning, and across informants.They would translate into clinically significant change. Most impressive is the demonstration of an effect on academic performance." "The data from the classroom feasibility study suggests FokusRx can effectively and safely improve ADHD symptoms and functioning in school-aged children. It is our intention that FokusRx will provide kids and parents another option to help them succeed and reach their full potential. We are excited to begin designing our pivotal trial planned for the fall." Joseph Koziak, Chief Executive Officer of Revibe About FokusRx FokusRx is an investigational SaMD designed to provide a new nonpharmacologic approach to treating symptoms and impairment associated with ADHD. The FokusRx software is embedded within a dedicated smart watch to act as a digital therapeutic wearable. About Revibe Technologies Revibe Technologies is passionate about leveraging technology to help children and adults with focus and attention problems overcome obstacles in order to succeed in life. Revibe Technologies hopes to be a resource for students, parents, teachers, schools, and clinicians.

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HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Thea Health Partners with athenahealth’s Marketplace Program to Improve Provider Communications

Thea Health | November 19, 2021

Thea Health, a fast-growing medical communications provider, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through the company’s Marketplace program. As part of the athenahealth® Marketplace, this newly integrated application is now available to athenahealth’s growing network of healthcare providers to improve communications between primary care physicians and local specialists. “Thea Health is focused on making it easier for providers to collaborate on their patients’ care. Our eConsult platform allows our growing network of primary care providers to seamlessly communicate with local specialists.Our platform reduces wait time for specialist expertise, improves local referral networks and, ultimately, saves patients money. Thea Health and athenahealth share a passion for moving toward a more connected and cost-effective healthcare system.” Harry Cooke, Founder of Thea Health Studies have shown eConsults resolve patient issues without an in-person appointment 54% of the time and reduce overall healthcare expenditures by $541 per patient. athenahealth is a network-enabled, results-oriented software and services company that offers medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, and care coordination services for ambulatory and hospital clients nationwide. The company’s vision is to build a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. As a Marketplace partner, Thea Health joins a community of innovative, like-minded healthcare professionals who are looking to bring best-in-class solutions to the athenahealth provider base. About Thea Health Thea Health's eConsult system allows primary care physicians to ask specialists questions and include relevant labs, images, and other clinical data ahead of a treatment decision while ensuring they are reimbursed by payers for their time. Thea Health provides a HIPAA-compliant platform that is easy to use and fits with existing physician workflows and integrates seamlessly with EMRs. This allows our providers to communicate securely, naturally, and efficiently, while getting reimbursed without doing any extra work. About athenahealth Marketplace The athenahealth Marketplace, the largest EHR app store, is where athenahealth customers find innovative healthcare IT solutions that extend athenahealth services and allow customers to create highly tailored user experiences. Customers use Marketplace partner solutions to boost practice efficiency, increase patient satisfaction, and engage patients in their own care. The Marketplace has more than 250 solutions across 60 categories that are seamlessly integrated with athenaOne, athenahealth’s network-enabled platform through which the company offers medical records, revenue cycle, patient engagement, and care coordination service offerings.

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DIGITAL HEALTHCARE

HealthEdge Brings Colorado Access Into a Modern, Integrated Core/Clinical Ecosystem to Streamline Key Health Plan Operations

HealthEdge Software | November 17, 2021

HealthEdge Software today said it is excited to upgrade long-time Altruista Health customer Colorado Access to a fully integrated ecosystem with the addition of HealthRules Payor®(HRP) to its operations via HealthEdge’s complementary Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) partner, UST HealthProof, a UST company. Colorado Access has relied on Altruista’s GuidingCare®care management platform to manage plan members for more than a decade, and is now poised for a major transformational effort to integrate the HealthEdge solution in core administrative processing. It will be one of the first health plans to adopt all three HealthEdge solution suites as it adopts Burgess Source®payment integrity software in 2022. “Colorado Access is one of the first of many health plans we expect to recognize the value of our fully integrated core/clinical solution going forward. The unique value proposition that comes with integrating a health plan’s three most important value streams is becoming more apparent every day as plans push forward with value-based care.” Steve Krupa, HealthEdge Chief Executive Officer HealthRules is the leading modern core administrative system for health plans driving more agility, efficiencies, compliance and innovation than any other solution on the market. The vision for an integrated payer “digital nervous system” became possible with the HealthEdge acquisitions last year of SaaS innovators, The Burgess Group and Altruista Health. Burgess offers a leading payment integrity solution for editing, pricing and modeling. Altruista leads the industry in utilization management, care management, population health, social determinants of health, provider collaboration, member engagement and predictive analytics. The new opportunity for Colorado Access came at contract renewal time for their incumbent provider of a core administrative processing system. The health plan found the prospect of moving to an integrated ecosystem intriguing. “When we learned about the acquisition of Altruista Health by HealthEdge at the end of 2020, we were excited,” said Paula Kautzmann, Chief Information Officer at Colorado Access. “This presented a great opportunity to explore what an integrated ecosystem could deliver for us, our members and providers.” “We serve our regional health plans with high quality, and our connected technology with the HealthEdge solution suite is a comprehensive yet cost-effective solution that reduces the need for customization and is proven to increase customer engagement and provider satisfaction,” said Raj Sundar, President, UST HealthProof. Colorado Access has used GuidingCare to close gaps in care, enhance quality and compliance, and automate clinical workflows on behalf of its 545,000 members since 2010. After a review, Colorado Access concluded they could achieve cost savings, better performance, streamlined operations and a better member experience in moving to an integrated model with HealthEdge. “We are really excited about the integration because it makes us more nimble,” said Kautzmann. “It gives us a way to leverage a 360-degree view of the member to more completely understand their needs and support them to optimal health. When our care management team see claims data in the care management environment, it gives them a chance to make preventive interventions that can improve a member’s health.” Kautzmann noted that there are cost savings and overall efficiencies with integration, including not having to maintain separate membership, provider and benefit systems. The payment integrity solution from Burgess also reduces the administrative burden associated with recovering provider overpayments. In an environment of rigorous public budgets, the new arrangement is a better deployment of resources. Colorado Access also opted to implement the new GuidingCare®Authorization Portal, which electronically streamlines the prior authorization process and eases the paper work burden between providers and the plan. Altruista introduced the Authorization Portal last year, generating sufficient utilization review data for one plan to actually reduce its list of services requiring preauthorization, reducing administrative burden and cost. Some 80 percent of services are auto-approved with the electronic tool, dramatically streamlining the process at the same time it aligns care with the world’s leading clinical guidelines. About Colorado Access As the largest and most experienced public sector health plan in the state, Colorado Access is a nonprofit organization that works beyond just navigating health services. The company focuses on meeting members’ unique needs by partnering with providers and community organizations to provide better personalized care through measurable results. Their broad and deep view of regional and local systems allows them to stay focused on our members’ care while collaborating on measurable and economically sustainable systems that serve them better. About HealthEdge HealthEdgeoffers the health insurance industry’s leading next-gen solution suit providing automation and seamless connectivity between all parts of a payer’s administrative and clinical systems. HealthEdge provides modern, disruptive healthcare IT solutions that health insurers use to leverage new business models, improve outcomes, drastically reduce administrative costs, and connect everyone in the healthcare delivery cycle. Its next-generation enterprise solution suite is built on modern, patented technology and is delivered to customers via the HealthEdge Cloud or onsite deployment. In 2020, funds managed by Blackstone became the majority owner. HealthEdge and its portfolio of mission-critical technology assets for payers, including Source®and GuidingCare®, are collectively driving a digital transformation in healthcare. About UST HealthProof UST HealthProof, a UST company, is on a mission to reduce administrative cost and play a role in shaping how the future of healthcare is delivered through consumer centricity. Our proven core admin solutions and business process-as-a-service (BPaaS) provide transparency, improve operational efficiency, break down operational barriers to scale and drive strategic growth.

Read More

DIGITAL HEALTHCARE

Revibe Technologies Announces Clinical Development Updates for its Investigational FokusRx Prescription Digital Therapy for the Treatment of ADHD

Revibe technologies | February 09, 2022

Revibe technologies, a commercial-stage digital therapeutics company, announced today the positive results of their feasibility study examining the efficacy of FokusRx in school aged children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). FokusRx is an investigational SaMD (Software as a Medical Device) that has the potential to provide a new nonpharmacologic approach to treating attention, focus and hyperactivity deficits associated with ADHD, and other mental health conditions. ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed and increasingly prevalent mental health disorders in children and adolescents.Inthe United States, 6.1 million children aged 2-17 years have been diagnosed with ADHD. Approximately 50% of families stop using prescription drug treatments for ADHD within a year.Over 30% of parents refuse pharmacologic treatment for their children with ADHD. In this, single-arm multi-rater feasibility study, parents (n= 38) and teachers (n= 26) rated youth aged 8-12 years with a parent-reported diagnosis of ADHD. Youth were attending in-person classroom learning and not taking medication for their ADHD. The study included a number of outcome measures including the ADHD-RS-5 (Home and School versions), Conners 4 – short version, Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale-Parent Form (WFIRS-P), and the Academic Performance Rating Scale (APRS). To be included in the analyses, youth had to have worn the Revibe Connect wearable device to school Monday to Friday for a at least three days per week or a minimum of 15 days total for a period of four weeks. "We are pleased that the feasibility study has proven to be a successful exercise that de-risks our upcoming randomized sham-controlled pivotal trial. The moderate to large effect sizes observed and change scores that exceed standards for minimally important (clinically significant) differences, provide encouraging preliminary evidence supporting the efficacy of our intervention", says Dr.Lindsay Ayearst, Chief Scientific Officer of Revibe. Revibe's Scientific and Medical Advisory Board member, Dr.Margaret Weiss, Director of Clinical Research in Child Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, stated, "These results are consistent across both symptoms and functioning, and across informants.They would translate into clinically significant change. Most impressive is the demonstration of an effect on academic performance." "The data from the classroom feasibility study suggests FokusRx can effectively and safely improve ADHD symptoms and functioning in school-aged children. It is our intention that FokusRx will provide kids and parents another option to help them succeed and reach their full potential. We are excited to begin designing our pivotal trial planned for the fall." Joseph Koziak, Chief Executive Officer of Revibe About FokusRx FokusRx is an investigational SaMD designed to provide a new nonpharmacologic approach to treating symptoms and impairment associated with ADHD. The FokusRx software is embedded within a dedicated smart watch to act as a digital therapeutic wearable. About Revibe Technologies Revibe Technologies is passionate about leveraging technology to help children and adults with focus and attention problems overcome obstacles in order to succeed in life. Revibe Technologies hopes to be a resource for students, parents, teachers, schools, and clinicians.

Read More

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Thea Health Partners with athenahealth’s Marketplace Program to Improve Provider Communications

Thea Health | November 19, 2021

Thea Health, a fast-growing medical communications provider, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through the company’s Marketplace program. As part of the athenahealth® Marketplace, this newly integrated application is now available to athenahealth’s growing network of healthcare providers to improve communications between primary care physicians and local specialists. “Thea Health is focused on making it easier for providers to collaborate on their patients’ care. Our eConsult platform allows our growing network of primary care providers to seamlessly communicate with local specialists.Our platform reduces wait time for specialist expertise, improves local referral networks and, ultimately, saves patients money. Thea Health and athenahealth share a passion for moving toward a more connected and cost-effective healthcare system.” Harry Cooke, Founder of Thea Health Studies have shown eConsults resolve patient issues without an in-person appointment 54% of the time and reduce overall healthcare expenditures by $541 per patient. athenahealth is a network-enabled, results-oriented software and services company that offers medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, and care coordination services for ambulatory and hospital clients nationwide. The company’s vision is to build a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. As a Marketplace partner, Thea Health joins a community of innovative, like-minded healthcare professionals who are looking to bring best-in-class solutions to the athenahealth provider base. About Thea Health Thea Health's eConsult system allows primary care physicians to ask specialists questions and include relevant labs, images, and other clinical data ahead of a treatment decision while ensuring they are reimbursed by payers for their time. Thea Health provides a HIPAA-compliant platform that is easy to use and fits with existing physician workflows and integrates seamlessly with EMRs. This allows our providers to communicate securely, naturally, and efficiently, while getting reimbursed without doing any extra work. About athenahealth Marketplace The athenahealth Marketplace, the largest EHR app store, is where athenahealth customers find innovative healthcare IT solutions that extend athenahealth services and allow customers to create highly tailored user experiences. Customers use Marketplace partner solutions to boost practice efficiency, increase patient satisfaction, and engage patients in their own care. The Marketplace has more than 250 solutions across 60 categories that are seamlessly integrated with athenaOne, athenahealth’s network-enabled platform through which the company offers medical records, revenue cycle, patient engagement, and care coordination service offerings.

Read More

DIGITAL HEALTHCARE

HealthEdge Brings Colorado Access Into a Modern, Integrated Core/Clinical Ecosystem to Streamline Key Health Plan Operations

HealthEdge Software | November 17, 2021

HealthEdge Software today said it is excited to upgrade long-time Altruista Health customer Colorado Access to a fully integrated ecosystem with the addition of HealthRules Payor®(HRP) to its operations via HealthEdge’s complementary Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) partner, UST HealthProof, a UST company. Colorado Access has relied on Altruista’s GuidingCare®care management platform to manage plan members for more than a decade, and is now poised for a major transformational effort to integrate the HealthEdge solution in core administrative processing. It will be one of the first health plans to adopt all three HealthEdge solution suites as it adopts Burgess Source®payment integrity software in 2022. “Colorado Access is one of the first of many health plans we expect to recognize the value of our fully integrated core/clinical solution going forward. The unique value proposition that comes with integrating a health plan’s three most important value streams is becoming more apparent every day as plans push forward with value-based care.” Steve Krupa, HealthEdge Chief Executive Officer HealthRules is the leading modern core administrative system for health plans driving more agility, efficiencies, compliance and innovation than any other solution on the market. The vision for an integrated payer “digital nervous system” became possible with the HealthEdge acquisitions last year of SaaS innovators, The Burgess Group and Altruista Health. Burgess offers a leading payment integrity solution for editing, pricing and modeling. Altruista leads the industry in utilization management, care management, population health, social determinants of health, provider collaboration, member engagement and predictive analytics. The new opportunity for Colorado Access came at contract renewal time for their incumbent provider of a core administrative processing system. The health plan found the prospect of moving to an integrated ecosystem intriguing. “When we learned about the acquisition of Altruista Health by HealthEdge at the end of 2020, we were excited,” said Paula Kautzmann, Chief Information Officer at Colorado Access. “This presented a great opportunity to explore what an integrated ecosystem could deliver for us, our members and providers.” “We serve our regional health plans with high quality, and our connected technology with the HealthEdge solution suite is a comprehensive yet cost-effective solution that reduces the need for customization and is proven to increase customer engagement and provider satisfaction,” said Raj Sundar, President, UST HealthProof. Colorado Access has used GuidingCare to close gaps in care, enhance quality and compliance, and automate clinical workflows on behalf of its 545,000 members since 2010. After a review, Colorado Access concluded they could achieve cost savings, better performance, streamlined operations and a better member experience in moving to an integrated model with HealthEdge. “We are really excited about the integration because it makes us more nimble,” said Kautzmann. “It gives us a way to leverage a 360-degree view of the member to more completely understand their needs and support them to optimal health. When our care management team see claims data in the care management environment, it gives them a chance to make preventive interventions that can improve a member’s health.” Kautzmann noted that there are cost savings and overall efficiencies with integration, including not having to maintain separate membership, provider and benefit systems. The payment integrity solution from Burgess also reduces the administrative burden associated with recovering provider overpayments. In an environment of rigorous public budgets, the new arrangement is a better deployment of resources. Colorado Access also opted to implement the new GuidingCare®Authorization Portal, which electronically streamlines the prior authorization process and eases the paper work burden between providers and the plan. Altruista introduced the Authorization Portal last year, generating sufficient utilization review data for one plan to actually reduce its list of services requiring preauthorization, reducing administrative burden and cost. Some 80 percent of services are auto-approved with the electronic tool, dramatically streamlining the process at the same time it aligns care with the world’s leading clinical guidelines. About Colorado Access As the largest and most experienced public sector health plan in the state, Colorado Access is a nonprofit organization that works beyond just navigating health services. The company focuses on meeting members’ unique needs by partnering with providers and community organizations to provide better personalized care through measurable results. Their broad and deep view of regional and local systems allows them to stay focused on our members’ care while collaborating on measurable and economically sustainable systems that serve them better. About HealthEdge HealthEdgeoffers the health insurance industry’s leading next-gen solution suit providing automation and seamless connectivity between all parts of a payer’s administrative and clinical systems. HealthEdge provides modern, disruptive healthcare IT solutions that health insurers use to leverage new business models, improve outcomes, drastically reduce administrative costs, and connect everyone in the healthcare delivery cycle. Its next-generation enterprise solution suite is built on modern, patented technology and is delivered to customers via the HealthEdge Cloud or onsite deployment. In 2020, funds managed by Blackstone became the majority owner. HealthEdge and its portfolio of mission-critical technology assets for payers, including Source®and GuidingCare®, are collectively driving a digital transformation in healthcare. About UST HealthProof UST HealthProof, a UST company, is on a mission to reduce administrative cost and play a role in shaping how the future of healthcare is delivered through consumer centricity. Our proven core admin solutions and business process-as-a-service (BPaaS) provide transparency, improve operational efficiency, break down operational barriers to scale and drive strategic growth.

Read More

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