TRENDING NEWS

MACPAC CALLS FOR CONGRESS TO ELIMINATE THE DRUG REBATE CAP

In a bid to help states address growing drug prices, Congress should eliminate the cap on drug rebates paid to state Medicaid programs, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) recommended during its meeting Thursday. The savings from higher rebates would allow states to provide ...

INDUSTRY VOICES—NEMOURS CHILDREN'S CEO CALLS FOR CMS TO PUSH SMARTER STRATEGIES FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH

As a pediatric surgeon who has cared for thousands of children, I marvel at the wonders of modern medicine. Everyday miracles now save the lives of children with rare and complex medical conditions who previously would never have had a chance. Yet, at the same time, it is difficult to comprehend how...

GOOGLE CLOUD, DELOITTE PARTNER ON HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS

Deloitte and Google Cloud announced plans to collaborate on a suite of advanced solutions for the life sciences and healthcare industries. The joint release was short on details, stating only that the solutions would help accelerate the pace of biomedical research, improve healthcare access, optimiz...

TENNESSEE HOUSE ADVANCES BILL SEEKING TO OVERHAUL MEDICAID

Tennessee would dramatically overhaul how it provides healthcare to its lower-income and disabled residents under a proposal the House advanced Thursday. The bill cleared the GOP-dominated chamber on party lines, with 68 Republicans in favor and 21 Democrats against. It's a proposal considered o...

TENNESSEE HOUSE ADVANCES BILL SEEKING TO OVERHAUL MEDICAID

Tennessee would dramatically overhaul how it provides healthcare to its lower-income and disabled residents under a proposal the House advanced Thursday. The bill cleared the GOP-dominated chamber on party lines, with 68 Republicans in favor and 21 Democrats against. It's a proposal considered o...

WALGREENS, VILLAGEMD PARTNER TO OPEN PRIMARY CARE CLINICS IN HOUSTON STORES

Walgreens is opening a series of primary care doctors' offices in some of its Texas retail locations, part of a shift toward a changing healthcare delivery model the pharmacy retail giant has previously announced. Walgreens is partnering with VillageMD, a national provider of primary care based ...

IDAHO BECOMES 2ND STATE TO SUPPORT SCALED-BACK MEDICAID EXPANSION

Idaho’s governor has signed off on a scaled-back Medicaid expansion plan, making it the second state to retool what expansion might look like after a voter mandate.  Voters approved the expansion in Idaho and Utah last year, and Republican-led legislatures in these states have opted to ta...

INDUSTRY VOICES—A 737 MAX RUSH TO JUDGMENT: LESSONS FOR HEALTHCARE LEADERS

Recently, the CEO of Boeing acknowledged that the flight control system of the 737 MAX may be to blame for the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 as well as the October 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610. “We’re deeply saddened and are sorry for the pain these accidents have ...

WHY INFORMATION SECURITY SHOULD BE EVERY HOSPITAL CEO'S NO. 2 PRIORITY (AT LEAST RIGHT NOW)

Health systems have been underinvesting in information security for a decade, some even longer, but the threat landscape has now reached a critical point. Hackers, cybercriminals and nation states are increasingly sophisticated, and have access to the same cutting-edge machine learning technologies ...

INDUSTRY VOICES—ARE HEALTHCARE CONSUMERS SATISFIED WITH HEALTH INSURERS? MILLENNIAL DATA SHOW WARNING SIGNS

If the health insurance market in 2018 could have been summed up in one word, it would have been “disruption.” It was the year CVS announced its intent to acquire Aetna, and the consortium of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan—now known as Haven—stole the spotlight. Add ...

ATRIUM HEALTH, WAKE FOREST BAPTIST HEALTH EYEING PLAN TO MERGE, CREATE NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL

Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest University are exploring a merger that would create a new academic health system.The three organizations signed a memorandum of understanding to enter exclusive negotiations to explore a partnership that would create a new medical school in C...

JOHNSON & JOHNSON'S JLABS ESTABLISHING PEDIATRIC RESEARCH INCUBATOR AT CHILDREN'S NATIONAL

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson plans to open a 32,000-square-foot JLABS life sciences incubator at D.C.-based Children's National Health System's research campus, officials announced Tuesday. Children's National is in the midst of building a new $190 millio...

HOUSE DEMS SEEK MORE INFORMATION ON DOJ'S POSITION IN TEXAS ACA CASE

The chairs of three House committees are seeking answers from the Trump administration on its new approach in the court battle over the legality of the Affordable Care Act. Reps. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland and Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, sent letters to the White Hou...

PAYER ROUNDUP—OHIO'S BIGGEST MEDICAID PAYER DITCHES CVS FOR EXPRESS SCRIPTS

Pharmacy benefit managers in Ohio’s Medicaid program have been under fire for using spread pricing to maximize profits, and amid that debate the state’s largest Medicaid insurer is breaking up with CVS to contract with Express Scripts instead.  CareSource, which provides Medicaid ma...

MORGAN STANLEY SIZES UP APPLE'S HEALTHCARE OPPORTUNITY, PREDICTS $15B TO $300B BY 2027

A recent report from Morgan Stanley estimates that Apple’s market opportunity in healthcare could be as high as $313 billion in 2027 — or as low as $15 billion. The 50-page report, aimed at investors, makes the case for the various ways in which Apple could become an even more serious pl...

FLORIDA HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE CONVICTED IN $1.3B MEDICARE, MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME

The owner of several South Florida skilled nursing and assisted living facilities has been found guilty for his role in a $1.3 billion scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid—one of the largest in U.S. history. Philip Esformes, 50, of Miami Beach, was convicted by a jury on 18 counts in the ca...

FLORIDA HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE CONVICTED IN $1.3B MEDICARE, MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME

The owner of several South Florida skilled nursing and assisted living facilities has been found guilty for his role in a $1.3 billion scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid—one of the largest in U.S. history. Philip Esformes, 50, of Miami Beach, was convicted by a jury on 18 counts in the ca...

PBM EXECS SAY COMPETITION, BIOSIMILARS ARE SOLUTIONS TO LOWERING DRUG PRICES

As the Ways and Means Committee today unanimously advanced prescription drug pricing legislation, the Senate Finance Committee both told and asked executives from five of the country's largest pharmacy benefit managers what should be done to lower costs. The executives from Cigna, CVS Health and...

PAYER ROUNDUP—JUDGE TO ALLOW HEARINGS ON CVS-AETNA DEAL

A federal judge reviewing the completed merger between CVS Health and Aetna said he will allow witnesses who oppose the deal to testify at a series of hearings on the matter. District Judge Robert Leon of Washington, D.C., is taking a second look at the Department of Justice’s approval of the ...

PINE BELT DERMATOLOGY GROWS PATIENT VOLUME BY 40% WITH MARKETING SOFTWARE

Pine Belt Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center, which has five locations throughout Mississippi, opened in November 2014. It is a new healthcare provider organization. Pine Belt did not have a quality website built for the practice, and initially went out only looking for a solution to that problem. &...

REVENUE CYCLE: METRICS TO MASTER, MISTAKES TO AVOID

The focus on electronic health record implementation has turned to how to make use of the vast data stored within to improve revenue cycle operations. "These EHRs capture so much data. The trick is translating that data into information," said Cynthia Sikina, vice president of Financial Se...

MEDPAC DEBATES WHAT FORM A MEDICARE WITHOUT FEE-FOR-SERVICE PAYMENT MIGHT TAKE

MedPAC plans to focus heavily on value-based payment in the coming months, and at its meeting Thursday the commissioners weighed what a Medicare without fee-for-service might look like. Eric Rollins, a principal policy analyst for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, outlined several scenarios ...

EPIC, CERNER AND OTHERS REVEAL JUST HOW THEIR EHRS ARE INTEROPERABLE

Many electronic health record vendors claim their technologies are interoperable with other healthcare information systems. And these claims can be true – or true to a point. Healthcare IT News interviewed key interoperability executives with four high-profile EHR vendors – Cerner, DrChr...

TOP CONCERNS FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES: PART B, APPEALS AND AFFORDABLE MEDICATIONS

The top concerns of Medicare enrollees include navigating Part B, appealing Medicare Advantage (MA) denials and affording meds, according to an annual report from the Medicare Rights Center. “Year after year, our findings from the analysis of our national helpline data show that too many older...

HEALTH GROUP ADVANTIA ACQUIRES TELEHEALTH COMPANY PACIFY

Advantia Health, a women’s health group with locations in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, has acquired Pacify, a telehealth company that focuses on virtual perinatal care for new and expectant moms and parents. The deal combines Advantia’s physical physician practices with Pacify’s v...

WESTERN CONNECTICUT HEALTH NETWORK, HEALTH QUEST COMBINE TO FORM $2.4B SYSTEM

Danbury-based Western Connecticut Health Network and New York-based Health Quest announced Wednesday they have merged to create a $2.4 billion system called Nuvance Health. The announcement came the same day regulators approved a certificate of need application to transfer ownership of both health s...

INDUSTRY VOICES—6 TYPES OF HEALTHCARE SURVEYS THAT CAN IMPROVE PATIENT EXPERIENCES

A growing number of healthcare organizations are bringing patient experience officers on board to lead efforts to improve patient satisfaction and their care experience. In fact, a Beryl Institute study found more than half (58%) of healthcare organizations now employ a chief experience officer. The...

VA EXPANDS DATA SHARING WITH PRIVATE PROVIDERS WITH NEW ACCREDITATION

The Department of Veterans Affairs is improving its data-sharing capabilities with VA hospitals and private sector providers with new accreditation from the nonprofit association DirectTrust. The VA has joined DirectTrust’s accredited trust anchor bundle, enabling VA clinicians to more easily ...

EXPRESS SCRIPTS LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO CAP MEMBERS' OUT-OF-POCKET INSULIN SPENDING

Express Scripts is launching a program that will cap insulin costs for eligible diabetes patients at $25 for a 30-day supply. The Express Scripts Patient Assurance Program will be open to members of non-government funded pharmacy plans whose out-of-pocket costs exceed $25, Express Scripts and Cigna ...

LAWMAKERS RAMP UP SCRUTINY OVER VA’S IT CHALLENGES, INCLUDING JOINT PROGRAM WITH DOD

The Department of Veterans Affairs' management of key IT projects is under close scrutiny from federal lawmakers who are frustrated with what they see as rushed efforts to roll out potentially flawed software tools as well as a lack of governance for the VA's interoperability projects. The V...

ANTHEM FINDS COMPETITIVE EDGE IN OFFERING EMPLOYERS INTEGRATED HEALTH BENEFITS

Anthem has found a competitive advantage in offering employers integrated health benefits for medical, vision, dental, pharmacy and other services, and in using the data to identify gaps in care across a billion-and-a-half claims a year. In 2018, Anthem identified 1.2 million gaps in care, including...

CONGRESSMAN CALLS FOR OIG INVESTIGATION INTO CMS ADMINISTRATOR CONSULTANT CONTRACTS

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for the Office of Inspector General to investigate reports that CMS Administrator Seema Verma directed millions of dollars in contracts to outside Republican communications consultants. Pallone issued a ...

UNITEDHEALTHCARE, AMA PARTNER TO LAUNCH NEW DIAGNOSTIC CODING FOR SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

UnitedHealthcare is teaming up with the American Medical Association to grow its work using diagnostic codes for the social determinants of health. The two organizations will work together to launch about two dozen new ICD-10 codes that will be used to refer patients to social and government support...

CERNER SELECTED FOR HIE IN REGIONAL RECORD SHARING PROJECT IN ENGLAND

Cerner has been selected as the supplier that will provide the technology needed to connect patient information across the North East and North Cumbria in England in a regional record sharing project called the Great North Care Record. The partnership looks at the information exchange component of t...

INDUSTRY VOICES—IT'S TIME FOR STATE, FEDERAL LAWMAKERS TO PROTECT PATIENTS FROM INFLATED MEDICAL BILLS

According to a Consumer Reports survey, nearly a quarter of privately insured Americans report receiving unexpected bills from unfamiliar doctors, even though they thought everything included in their treatment would be covered by their health plans. This isn’t just a confusing inconvenience&m...

GROWTH IN TELEHEALTH OUTPACES THAT OF OTHER AVENUES OF CARE -- AT LEAST FROM 2016 TO 2017

From 2016 to 2017, private insurance claim lines for services rendered via telehealth -- as a percentage of all medical claim lines -- grew 53 percent nationally, more than any other venue of care, according to FH Health Indicators, a white paper published by the nonprofit FAIR Health. Like the inau...

CERNER EHR ALERT HELPS MISSOURI PROVIDER REDUCE BLOOD TRANSFUSION RATE, SAVE $1 MILLION

Blood transfusion can be lifesaving, but it is not widely known that up to 40-50 percent of blood transfusions in the U.S. are unnecessary, according to the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety 2017. When used inappropriately, they can harm patients, generate excessive costs, and w...

NEBRASKA MEDICINE LINKS VOICE TECHNOLOGY TO EPIC EHR, BOOSTS PHYSICIAN PERFORMANCE

Nebraska Medicine operates two hospitals with more than 1,000 physicians, 809 licensed hospital beds and 40 specialty and primary care clinics in and around Omaha, Nebraska. The health system has been on the Epic electronic health record system since 2009. Using Epic simplified the process of creati...

STATES LIKELY TO STAY THE COURSE ON MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS DESPITE JUDGE’S RULING, EXPERTS SAY

A federal judge’s ruling Wednesday that blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas has limited implications in states where similar programs have also been approved—at least, for now. District of Columbia Judge James Boasberg said in a pair of opinions on the two state p...

IT LEADERS PRIORITIZING PATIENT EXPERIENCE, VALUE-BASED CARE IN 2019, SURVEY FINDS

Ramping up value-based care initiatives and improving the patient experience are top priorities for health IT leaders in 2019, a recent survey found. At the same time, IT executives say they are facing significant technology and operational hurdles to advance these initiatives. Half of the executive...

KFF: 9 IN 10 PEOPLE WHO FALL INTO ACA ‘COVERAGE GAP’ LIVE IN SOUTHERN STATES

The majority of people who fall into the ACA’s “coverage gap”—or, are not eligible for Medicaid or tax credits on the exchanges—live in one of four nonexpansion states, according to a new study. The Kaiser Family Foundation analyzed the people who fall into that gap by ...

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SAYS ENTIRE ACA SHOULD BE THROWN OUT

The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed with a Texas district court judge in releasing an opinion that the Affordable Care Act should be struck down. This is a reversal of the DOJ's earlier opinion in the district court in which the DOJ previously defended all of the ACA other than the individ...

HOSPITALS IMPROVE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE, BUT VOLUMES ARE SLIPPING

Last year was generally a year of financial improvement for hospitals, with profitability in 2018 demonstrating growth in operating margin of about 5 percent compared to 2017, and outperforming budget by 4.4 percent, according to a new Kaufman Hall analysis. But increasing their volumes is still a s...

INDUSTRY VOICES—INNOVATIVE TOOLS NEEDED TO COMBAT THE WORLD’S DEADLIEST INFECTIOUS DISEASE

With World Tuberculosis Day on March 24, new reports are shedding additional light on the lethal infection that is often mistaken as a disease of the past. Last week’s reports from the World Health Organization and Lancet remind us that TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease...

MENTAL HEALTH APPS PLENTIFUL, BUT FEW PROVIDE CLINICAL RESEARCH

There are scores of mental health related digital tools available on any of the major app stores. However, a recent study published in Nature Digital Medicine found that a majority of the apps studied do not provide evidence or peer-reviewed studies to back up their products.  “Scientific...

NZ E-PRESCRIPTION SERVICE MAKES PROGRESS TOWARD PAPERLESS FUTURE

Unsigned prescriptions are now legal when created with an electronic system that is integrated with the New Zealand e-Prescription Service (NZePS). The Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield has approved a waiver for unsigned prescriptions to be recognised as legal prescriptions when strict cr...

UCLA WILL PAY $7.5 MILLION IN CLAIMS, CYBER ENHANCEMENTS TO SETTLE 2015 BREACH

When it occurred in July 2015, it was the fourth-biggest healthcare data breach to date – and nearly four years of regular cyberattacks later, it's still in the top five. Now, to settle with some 4.5 million UCLA Health System patients whose records, most of them unencrypted, were compromi...

PAYER ROUNDUP—PBM EXECUTIVES SET TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE

Executives at five major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are confirmed to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on drug prices next month. Leaders at Cigna, the parent company of Express Scripts, CVS, Humana, Optum and Prime Therapeutics are slated to testify at a hearing on April 9. The hear...

STUDY: ACA MARKET COMPETITION ON THE UPSWING, BUT REGIONAL VARIATION PERSISTS

Although the ACA exchanges show signs of rebounding after 2017’s political turmoil sent some insurers scurrying, marketplaces with little competition are still common, according to a new report. The Urban Institute analyzed the state of competition in the Affordable Care Act exchanges in the 2...

CES CHIEF GARY SHAPIRO: 'THERE'S NOT ENOUGH EXPERIMENTATION IN HEALTHCARE'

As president and CEO of the Computer Technology Association, Gary Shapiro has witnessed three decades of technological developments. CTA after all, runs CES, the largest consumer electronics conference, which also features the growing Digital Health Summit. Shapiro is also an author, most recently o...

INDUSTRY FACING HEADWINDS IN A 'PERFECT STORM' OF DISRUPTION, SAYS CHANGE HEALTHCARE

One in three healthcare executives surveyed for a new report from Change Healthcare say they're convinced that healthcare is set to be significantly changed by companies and technologies coming from outside of healthcare. That's not the only trendline they think could impact existing process...

TELEMEDICINE REDUCES ICU MORTALITY RATE AT VALLEY HEALTH

Valley Health, a not-for-profit health system serving West Virginia, Maryland and part of Virginia, was facing two serious challenges for which it was looking for solutions. First, hospitals are facing critical care staffing shortages. "There is a national problem finding enough intensivists to...

DIRECT ENROLLMENT LEAVES CONSUMERS EXPOSED, SAYS CBPP

The federal government created direct enrollment (DE) to give insurance companies and brokers the opportunity to sell healthcare plans on their individual websites. However, a new report from the the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns that DE can be deceptive and may be opening consumers t...

DEATH BY 1,000 CLICKS: WHERE ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS WENT WRONG

The pain radiated from the top of Annette Monachelli’s head, and it got worse when she changed positions. It didn’t feel like her usual migraine. The 47-year-old Vermont attorney turned innkeeper visited her local doctor at the Stowe Family Practice twice about the problem in late Novemb...

SILVER TSUNAMI IS COMING TO HEALTHCARE: TIME TO PREPARE

The Silver Tsunami is already rolling in and projections from the U.S. Census Bureau point to 2030 as a milestone year in which older people will actually outnumber children for the first time in history. Census Bureau data also estimates that one in every five Americans will be retirement age by th...

INDONESIA’S MOH LAUNCHES SEHATPEDIA HEALTH INFORMATION APP

Last month, Indonesia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) announced the launch of their Sehatpedia app to facilitate the public’s access to health information. The app (currently only available on Android platforms) has an interactive consultation (live chat) feature and provides access to health...

FOR INFECTION CONTROL, HOSPITALS RANK SPECIALTY VENDORS HIGHER THAN EHR GIANTS, SAYS KLAS

Hospitals and health systems seeking better technologies for infection control often prefer to take a best-of-breed approach, rather than relying on tools from electronic health record vendors such as Epic and Cerner, a new KLAS report shows. "Provider organizations are increasingly looking for...

EFFICIENT HOSPITALS OPERATE ON -2% MARGINS IN MEDICARE PAYMENTS, MEDPAC REPORTS

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is recommending that payments in 2020 to acute care hospitals increase by 2 percent instead of the 2.8 percent expected under current law, and that the remaining .8 percent be used as a financial reward under a single quality incentive program. In also recomm...

EFFICIENT HOSPITALS OPERATE ON -2% MARGINS IN MEDICARE PAYMENTS, MEDPAC REPORTS

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is recommending that payments in 2020 to acute care hospitals increase by 2 percent instead of the 2.8 percent expected under current law, and that the remaining .8 percent be used as a financial reward under a single quality incentive program. In also recomm...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—SENATE COMMITTEE INVITES PBMS TO TESTIFY; KANSAS EYES NEW TRANSPLANT LAW

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee, led by Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, invited executives from five pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to testify before a committee on drug pricing. The hearing, set for April 3, will be the third in a series of hearings looking at the costs of...

INDUSTRY VOICES—IS THERE A CORRELATION BETWEEN OPIOID ABUSE AND WORKPLACE VIOLENCE IN HEALTHCARE?

It can happen anytime, anywhere. Workplace violence isn’t confined to one person, one room or one act. In the healthcare industry, workplace violence can mean a number of things: a doctor bullying a nurse, a patient physically assaulting a caregiver, or a family member raising his or her voice...

KFF: TWO-THIRDS OF MEDICARE RECIPIENTS LACK DENTAL COVERAGE

Lack of routine dental care can result in complications and high-cost emergency department visits. Yet almost two-thirds of Medicare recipients, 37 million people, don’t have dental coverage, according to a recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).  As a result of not having ...

SAMITIVEJ LAUNCHES MULTI-SERVICE 'VIRTUAL HOSPITAL' APP IN THAILAND

Samitivej Hospital Group, a private hospital brand in Thailand with a network of eight hospitals and owned by Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS), recently announced the launch of its one-stop Virtual Hospital app, offering three key services: Teleconsultation – a remote telemedicine consult...

MELBOURNE’S BOX HILL HOSPITAL TRIALS MEDICATION MANAGEMENT USING EMRS

Eastern Health has rolled out a new trial across its Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, to help patients better manage their medication after they leave the hospital. DC MedsRec, the community pharmacy-based service for patients discharged from Box Hill Hospital with four or more medicines, a...

THE PROBLEM WITH DUBBING SINGLE-PAYER PLANS 'MEDICARE FOR ALL'

As the debate around a “Medicare for all” approach continues to heat up, a new report warns that name doesn’t necessarily fit the plan.  Policy analysts at the Urban Institute dove into the positives and negatives of a potential single-payer healthcare system, and in their ana...

CEDARS-SINAI TEAMS TO OPERATE PROVIDENCE ST. JOSEPH HEALTH HOSPITAL IN JOINT VENTURE

Providence St. Joseph Health and Cedars-Sinai have agreed to create a joint venture to own and operate Providence Tarzana Medical Center. The hospital will be renamed the Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. Providence will retain controlling interest and the hospital will retain its Cath...

PAYER ROUNDUP—SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE INVITES PBMS TO DRUG HEARING

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee, led by Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, invited executives from five pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to testify before a committee on drug pricing. The hearing, set for April 3, will be the third in a series of hearings looking at the costs of...

TEXAS HOSPITAL CEO PLEADS GUILTY TO ROLE IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR PASS-THROUGH PAYMENT SCHEME

The former CEO of a small Texas hospital pleaded guilty to defrauding three of the state’s largest payers out of millions through a laboratory billing scheme. The Department of Justice announced that Harris Brooks, former CEO of Palo Pinto General Hospital in Mineral Wells, Texas, will face a ...

SAFETY-NET PROVIDERS FACE OBSTACLES TO TELEHEALTH ADOPTION

Despite its clear potential to improve access to high-quality care in underserved communities, telehealth is underutilized by safety-net providers due to a range of barriers, according to a new report from the RAND Corporation. The analysis, based on interviews with Medicaid officials from seven sta...

HOSPITAL LEADERS SEE CLEAR ROI FOR SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYTICS, BUT MOST USE OUTDATED PROCESSES: SURVEY

Hospital executives say that better supply chain management can increase margins by more than 1% and the return on investment for supply chain analytics is clear, according to a new survey. At the same time, most hospital leaders are not investing in supply chain operations as their top priority and...

KAISER PERMANENTE ANNOUNCES NEW INVESTMENTS TO ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS AT SXSW

Kaiser Permanente is ramping up its investments in addressing chronic homelessness, the health system announced at the annual South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas. Kaiser announced it will provide $3 million over a three-year period to Community Solutions' Built for Zero initiative, wh...

BLUE CROSS NC, CAMBIA HEALTH SOLUTIONS ENTER 'STRATEGIC AFFILIATION'

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Cambia Health Solutions will enter a strategic affiliation to unite under shared goals and management structure. Though the two partners aren’t calling the deal a merger, Blue Cross NC and Portland, Oregon-based Cambia will share management, adm...

UNITEDHEALTH TO EXPAND USE OF POINT-OF-SALE DRUG DISCOUNTS

UnitedHealth Group is expanding its point-of-sale discounts for drugs, the insurer announced Tuesday. Beginning in 2020, all new employer plans with UnitedHealth and its pharmacy benefit manager subsidiary Optum will be required to offer all drug discounts directly to members at the pharmacy counter...

HCCI: HEALTHCARE SPENDING, SERVICE USE VARY WIDELY ACROSS THE COUNTRY

In the latest data released from the Health Care Cost Institute’s (HCCI) Healthy Marketplace Index, an analysis of more than 1.8 billion claims shows wide variation when it comes to medical spending and frequency of services depending on the region of the country. The report looks at services ...

23ANDME LAUNCHES PREDISPOSITION TEST FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES

At SXSW in Austin this weekend, consumer genomics company 23andMe unveiled its latest test, a predisposition report on Type 2 diabetes. The test, which has not undergone FDA clearance and does not purport to diagnose a condition, is designed to help people understand when they’re at a higher-t...

HEALTHJOY'S AI-POWERED EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PLATFORM RAISES $12.5M

Chicago-based HealthJoy, a digital employee benefits platform leveraging artificial intelligence, has raised $12.5 million in Series B funding in a round led by US Venture Partners, according to a release from the company. Epic Ventures also came to the table alongside prior backers Chicago Ventures...

INDUSTRY SCRAMBLING TO DIGEST AND RESPOND TO PROPOSED 'INFORMATION BLOCKING' RULES

With the comment period for two major rules set to close on May 3, the clock is now ticking for industry groups to dig into the proposals aimed at boosting interoperability and patient access. Is 60 days enough time to unpack the rules? The American Medical Association (AMA) says no, joining electro...

3 TAKEAWAYS FROM OSCAR HEALTH'S WORK IN 2018

Six years in, the technology-driven insurance company Oscar has seen its personalized concierge teams, virtual care and in-house platforms bear fruit, according to its annual year-end report. The company’s concierge teams answered more than 1.2 million questions generated by 77% of membership,...

HOSPITAL CLINICIANS’ EHR 'WORKAROUNDS' POSE RISK TO PATIENT SAFETY AND QUALITY, STUDY FINDS

Frustrated with the design and usability of inpatient electronic health record (EHR) systems, hospital care teams frequently use handwritten notes and verbal comments to communicate patient information, posing a threat to patient safety and the quality of care, a study finds. In a recent study publi...

REAL-TIME LOCATING SYSTEM REDUCES WAIT TIMES BY 75% AT OREGON MEDICAL GROUP

In April 2017, Oregon Medical Group opened its largest clinic, known as Country Club Road. It’s a 47,000-square-foot, two-level building comprising seven specialties, imaging and lab services. With a remodel and expansion of existing construction, the operations team faced challenges related t...

NURSING HOMES SUBJECT TO ONE STAR RATING IF THEY GO MORE THAN FOUR DAYS WITHOUT AN RN ONSITE

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is updating the nursing home compare and the five-star quality rating system by dropping the threshold for RN staffing from seven to four days, adding a measure for hospitalizations among long-stay residents and lifting the freeze on health inspections....

AS HOSPITALS POST PRICE LISTS, CONSUMERS ARE ASKED TO CHECK UP ON THEM

With much fanfare, federal officials required hospitals nationwide this year to post their “list” prices online. But it’s not yet clear how many are doing it, even as the government has taken the rare step of asking consumers to monitor hospital compliance. Most hospitals appear to...

CHILD ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMS FELL BY 600K LAST YEAR

The number of kids enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)—two government health plans for the poor—fell by nearly 600,000 in the first 11 months of 2018, a precipitous drop that has puzzled and alarmed many health policy analysts, while several stat...

HALF OF HOSPITALS STILL MANAGING SUPPLY CHAIN DATA MANUALLY, IF AT ALL

Hospital decision makers obviously understand that efficient supply chains can boost margins and bolster bottom lines. And many also understand they can improve the quality of care. Despite that, nearly half of those polled for a new report say they're still using manual processes such as spread...

STUDY FINDS SURPRISE MEDICAL BILLS LEAD NEW MOTHERS TO SWITCH HOSPITALS—HIGHLIGHTING A BIGGER PROBLEM

Having an in-network obstetrician doesn’t guarantee new mothers won’t receive surprise medical bills after their babies are born. A study published in the March issue of Health Affairs found that 11% of mothers got an unwelcome surprise from the hospital billing department following thei...

CMS SEEKS FEEDBACK ON SELLING HEALTH PLANS ACROSS STATE LINES

CMS is seeking feedback on ways it can make it easier for payers to sell insurance across state lines. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued (PDF) a request for information Wednesday evening, and in the document the agency said that it’s especially looking for recommendations...

MEDPAC DEBATES REFERENCE PRICING, ARBITRATION TO BRING DOWN PRICES IN PART B

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is weighing reference pricing and binding arbitration as possible solutions for rising drug prices in Part B. In a report at its monthly meeting on Thursday morning, MedPAC staffers outlined the two approaches, which could be considered individually or combin...

PHILIPS TO ACQUIRE CARESTREAM’S HEALTHCARE IT BUSINESS

Carestream Health announced this morning that it had signed an agreement to sell its healthcare information systems business to Philips. Carestream general manager for healthcare information solutions Ludovic D’Aprea said they “have had global success in providing radiology and enterpris...

NORTHERN TERRITORY’S PATIENTS GET IMPROVED ACCESS TO ADVANCED MEDICAL IMAGING TECH

Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) and Siemens Healthineers have partnered in a venture to expand oncology services available in the Northern Territory, providing the hospital with an advanced PET CT scanner that offers patients the capability to scan faster using lower doses of radiation and personalises ...

DATA OF 45,000 RUSH PATIENTS EXPOSED DUE TO THIRD-PARTY BREACH

The personal information of about 45,000 patients at Rush System for Health has been compromised due to a data breach at one of the health system’s third-party claims processing vendors. The data breach, first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, was disclosed in a Rush financial filing...

PAYER ROUNDUP—HARVARD PILGRIM REPORTS 7% REVENUE INCREASE IN 2018

Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare reported a net income of more than $80 million in 2018 and an increase in revenue of 7%. The results were surprising after a net loss of $8.7 million in 2017. Harvard Pilgrim Chief Financial Officer Charley Goheen attributed the success to strong regional performances and ...

EXPERTS TO CONGRESS: UPTICK IN PREVENTABLE OUTBREAKS 'ALARMING,' NEEDS MORE FUNDING TO ADDRESS

What's one of the best times to convince a parent to vaccinate their child? It just might be before their baby is born, Saad Omer, MBBS, MPH, Ph.D., a professor in the Emory Vaccine Center, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Tuesday. "There’s ev...

HOW EMPLOYERS SAVE MONEY BY PAYING EMPLOYEES TO SHOP FOR HEALTHCARE

Providing healthcare benefits to workers is getting more expensive for employers, a situation that has them scrambling for solutions. One approach has shown promise: Give them money to shop around for healthcare services. According to a new RAND Corp. study published in Health Affairs, paying employ...

NTT SECURITY BUYS WHITEHAT SECURITY

NTT Security on Tuesday announced here at RSA 2019 that it is acquiring WhiteHat Security. NTT Security said in a statement that adding WhiteHat’s cloud-based Application Security Platform will enable it to build out its offerings for organizations undertaking digital transformation work. Whit...

NTT SECURITY BUYS WHITEHAT SECURITY

NTT Security on Tuesday announced here at RSA 2019 that it is acquiring WhiteHat Security. NTT Security said in a statement that adding WhiteHat’s cloud-based Application Security Platform will enable it to build out its offerings for organizations undertaking digital transformation work. Whit...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—D.C. WILL NO LONGER GUARANTEE AMBULANCE RIDES FOR NONSERIOUS CONDITIONS

Residents of the District of Columbia who call 911 will no longer be guaranteed an ambulance ride to a nearby hospital if responding medics and a nurse determine that their ailments are too minor to warrant the trip, The Washington Post reported. Patients with nonserious conditions will instead be p...

AMA FILES LAWSUIT TO BLOCK TITLE X RULE RESTRICTING ABORTION CLINIC FUNDING

Saying it imposes restrictions on the patient-physician relationship, the American Medical Association (AMA) filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the Trump administration rule that would restrict abortion clinic funding. The country’s largest physician organization filed the lawsuit (PDF) in the U...

PAYER ROUNDUP—ELI LILLY TO RELEASE CHEAPER GENERIC VERSION OF HUMALOG INSULIN

Eli Lilly is planning to release a generic version of its Humalog insulin pen that’s half the price of the original. Insulin Lispro’s list price will be $137.35 per vial and $265.20 for a set of five pens. Drugmakers, including Lilly, have come under fire for insulin prices. Lilly said i...

HOSPITALS SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON ADVERTISING, BUT THE ADS LACK VARIATION, STUDY SAYS

The Philadelphia area boasts one of the highest concentrations of hospital services in the U.S., but the print advertising themes for regional hospitals lack variation, finds a new study by health administration researchers at Drexel University. That conclusion is based on hospital ads that appeared...

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH IMPROVES TURNAROUND TIME WITH NEW IMAGING TECH

University of Utah Health provides care for residents of Utah and six surrounding states, with a referral area of about 10 percent to 15 percent of the continental United States. Given this large area, and the increasing number of imaging studies being performed, the health system found it had far t...

MEDSPHERE ACQUIRES WELLSOFT TO ENHANCE ITS EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT CAPABILITIES

Health IT company Medsphere Systems Corporation plans to acquire Wellsoft Corporation, which specializes in emergency department information systems. Wellsoft’s core product, the emergency department IS platform, targets improving the workflow of emergency departments and urgent care centers. ...

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE BILL WOULD REQUIRE HOSPITALS TO MEET OSHA SAFETY STANDARDS

Psychiatric nurse Barbara Walsh's brush with workplace violence is harrowing. Seven years ago, co-workers found her semiconscious on the ground after she'd been attacked by a patient during her shift in a New Jersey hospital. Her traumatic brain injury caused her to miss three months of work...

MEDSPHERE ACQUIRES WELLSOFT FOR ITS EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IT

Medsphere announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Wellsoft, a provider of emergency department information systems (EDIS). With the addition of Wellsoft and other recent mergers, Medsphere representatives said the company now offers a platform that satisfies the clinical, revenue cycle and inven...

THREE PROJECTS RECEIVE FUNDING IN NEW COLLABORATION BETWEEN INNOVATE UK AND ASTHMA UK

Innovate UK and Asthma UK have announced that three new projects will receive funding to improve treatment options for people with asthma, after the charity called on the NHS to “move with the times and put technology at the heart of asthma management”. Figures indicate that 5.4 million ...

DR. PATRICK LUETMER REVEALS SECRETS OF SUCCESS BEHIND THE PLUMMER PROJECT

Professor of Radiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Chair of Clinical Systems Oversight Subcommittee, Mayo Clinic, Dr. Patrick H. Luetmer shared in an email interview with Healthcare IT News some key takeaways behind the success of the Plummer project. The massive EHR rollout project at Mayo...

WHY HEALTH ORGS ARE EMBRACING CLOUD TO IMPROVE PHYSICIAN AND PATIENT EXPERIENCE

Experience. Whether it’s about patients or clinicians, one thing that’s clear is that health insurers and providers, from solo practices to large systems, must improve the experience they deliver or risk losing consumers and employees. Leading organizations are already headed in that dir...

FEWER HOSPITAL PROGRAMS ADDRESS OPIOID ABUSE, OHIO UNIVERSITY STUDY FINDS

The damage done to America's health by the opioid epidemic is well-recognized and enormous, with drug overdose death rates helping to drive down U.S. life expectancy in recent years. Yet as the problem has worsened, hospitals collectively have seen a loss of programs dealing with substance abuse...

INTERIOR DESIGN IS HAVING ITS MOMENT IN HEALTHCARE

A pair of crystal chandeliers illuminate the open bar stocked with infused waters and teas rich in antioxidants. Around the room, trendy air-purifying fiddle-leaf fig plants draw your eye up to the recessed gold ceiling. And a row of bistro tables line the wall of French-style windows, which are lik...

LOUISIANA LOOKING FOR NEW MEDICAID MANAGED-CARE COMPANIES

Louisiana on Monday issued a request for proposals for managed-care companies hoping to serve the state's more than 1.5 million Medicaid members under new contracts beginning in January 2020. Louisiana will award contracts to up to four managed-care companies, down from five insurers today. Thos...

TO INCREASE PATIENT SATISFACTION, PROVIDERS NEED TO START TALKING ABOUT COSTS: SURVEY

Even as health systems confront rising healthcare costs and declining margins, they are under pressure to improve the patient experience, retain customer loyalty and collect patient payments. But while two-thirds of patients said cost strongly influences their overall satisfaction with their hospita...

STUDY: LOW-VALUE PROCEDURES CAN HARM PATIENTS, CREATE BURDEN ON HEALTH SYSTEM

Low-value procedures have been in the crosshairs for years for the resources they waste. New research further supports the idea that they may also cause more harm than good for the patients they’re supposed to help. That's because low-value procedures raise the risks patients may experienc...

4 THINGS TO WATCH AS DRUG EXECUTIVES HEAD TO CAPITOL HILL ON TUESDAY

In what promises to be a closely watched hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, CEO's from some of the top pharmaceutical companies will give their take to lawmakers the rising price of drugs. The expected scapegoat? Insurers and, more specifically, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which have been...

PATIENT COSTS NOT LINKED TO INSURANCE CONTRIBUTION, HOSPITAL PRICE, STUDY FINDS

There is almost no correlation between a patient’s out-of-pocket cost and the amount insurers pay or the overall price of a procedure, according to a Pioneer Institute study released Tuesday. The study looked at the cost for an MRI at 14 Massachusetts hospitals and found that even if there was...

PAYER ROUNDUP—ANTHEM, CIGNA HEAD TO COURT TO SETTLE FAILED MERGER FALLOUT

Anthem and Cigna’s planned merger—which would have created the largest payer in the country by membership—was spiked due to antitrust concerns, and now a Delaware judge will be tasked with wading through what remains of the dispute. Anthem argues that Cigna owes it $20 billion, as ...

LAB INSTRUMENTS MAY BE LEAKING PATIENT DATA, STUDY FINDS

The new report noted the cyber-physical nature of biotechnology workflows has created new security risks, which the research community has mostly neglected. The researchers, including Philip Brisk, a UC Riverside associate professor of computer science, and UC Irvine electrical and computer engineer...

EC HEALTH DEPT OPENS 2 NEW CLINICS TO BOOST HEALTHCARE SERVICES

The Eastern Cape Health Department is aiming to boost access to healthcare in the province. Health MEC Helen Sauls-August opened two multi-million rand facilities as part of implementing what's called the “re-engineering of primary health care programmes”. Health Department officials...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RELEASES TITLE X RULE RESTRICTING ABORTION CLINIC FUNDING

The Trump administration released a final rule on Friday which revises regulations around the Title X family planning program to block funding to groups that provide abortion referrals. Largely seen as a direct attack on Planned Parenthood, the largest reproductive health and abortion provider in th...

HOW HEALTH PLANS CAN CONVINCE SKEPTICAL PROVIDERS TO WORK WITH THEM

Health plans can bring valuable insight to clinical teams—but are providers open to such discussions? Deloitte surveyed 300 providers across different clinical roles and specialties and found that two-thirds are willing to use solutions offered by payers to address care concerns. However, some...

HEALTH IT ROUNDUP—APPS SHARE SENSITIVE HEALTH DATA WITH FACEBOOK; STANFORD ISSUES ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR DIGITAL HEALTH

The number of reported healthcare breaches in 2018 reached a three-year low of 290, but the number of healthcare records breached has more than doubled since 2017, according to a report from Bitglass. According to Bitglass’ fifth annual healthcare breach report, which analyzes data from the U....

MORE WEARABLES SHIFT FROM FITNESS TO CLINICAL USE WITH NEW SAMSUNG AND AT&T SMART WATCHES

Active promising a feature the Apple Watch doesn’t yet have—blood pressure monitoring. Apple’s latest version of its smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 4, features a built-in electrocardiogram feature and fall detection. Samsung’s newest smartwatch for the consumer market fea...

PAYER ROUNDUP—LOUISIANA OFFICIALS NOTIFY THOUSANDS THAT THEY COULD LOSE MEDICAID COVERAGE

Louisiana’s department of health has notified more than 37,000 Medicaid recipients that they could lose access to the program after finding these participants earned too much money to qualify for coverage. According to the Associated Press, almost all of those threatened with removal are non-e...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SEEKING FEEDBACK ON HOW TO SUPPORT GRANDFATHERED ACA GROUP PLANS

The Trump administration is seeking feedback on ways that it can assist insurers and employers in maintaining grandfathered ACA group plans. In a request for information, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services is asking for additional ...

HOW PRICE TRANSPARENCY HELPED AN ARIZONA HEALTH SYSTEM ACHIEVE FINANCIAL TURNAROUND

Efforts to understand costs and openly share information on healthcare prices played a key role in a major Arizona health system's successful turnaround from a financial crisis, according to a feature article in the spring issue of Frontiers of Health Services Management, an official publication...

FDA OVERSIGHT OF THE PRESCRIBING OF FENTANYL PRODUCTS IS INADEQUATE, REPORT FINDS

The Food and Drug Administration and manufacturers did not take action when evidence emerged that potentially lethal fentanyl products were being inappropriately prescribed to patients, new research from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows. The study was based on a review of 4,8...

RISING FROM THE ASHES: HOW ADVENTIST FEATHER RIVER IS MOVING ON AFTER THE CAMP FIRE WREAKED HAVOC

For Adventist Feather River, whose flagship hospital in Paradise, California was badly damaged in this past Fall's deadly Camp Fire, 2019 will be a reset, with a focus on rebuilding. And signs of progress were thankfully somewhat quick to come, relatively speaking. About a month and a half after...

CLINICIANS NEED BETTER OPIOID DATA WITHIN THEIR WORKFLOWS, SAYS EHRA

The HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association says it's working toward policies and procedures that will allow physicians better visibility for opioid data in the EHR. "We were surprised to find that there was no comprehensive source for the state-specific policies and standards surroundin...

RETINA TELEMEDICINE TECH HELPS SAVE VISION AT GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM

Grady Eye Center had a backlog of 14,000 patients to see, and most of these were diabetic screenings. The center did some research and realized it had more than 20,000 diabetics in Grady Health System and only 20 to 25 percent were being adequately screened for retinopathy. In addition, the burden o...

HUMAN API NETS $10 MILLION IN FUNDING TO ADVANCE MACHINE LEARNING TOOLS

San Francisco-based health data startup Human API has received a $10 million investment from SCOR Life & Health Ventures, a division of the France-headquartered reinsurer, to develop its platform. The company helps enable consumers to centralize and share their health data from sources like elec...

ONE IN TEN AUSTRALIANS OPT OUT OF THE MY HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM, ADHA SAYS

New figures show that one in 10 Australians have opted out of the My Health Record (MHR) system, leaving participation rates at 90.1 per cent. According to the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), based on the number of people eligible for Medicare as at January 31, more than 2.5 million people ...

FDA CLEARS PHILIPS DIGITALDIAGNOST C90 RADIOGRAPHY SYSTEM

Health technology giant Royal Philips announced it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its DigitalDiagnost C90 radiography system. The ceiling-mounted radiography system features a live camera image directly displayed at the tube head, designed to...

MARSHFIELD CLINIC LAUNCHES TABLET-BASED TELEHEALTH PROGRAM

Marshfield Clinic has introduced a tablet-based telehealth program in partnership with software specialist Health Recovery Solutions. It's geared to patients enrolled in Marshfield’s Heart Failure Improvement Clinic, according to the Wisconsin health system. The service enrolls approximate...

ALL-IN-ONE MOBILE DEVICES INCREASE NURSE SATISFACTION AT TRUMAN MEDICAL

Truman Medical Centers needed to optimize nursing workflow while increasing staff satisfaction and improving patient safety. The devices nurses were using, such as pagers, old CareMobile devices and health system-issued phones, were nearing the end of their productive life. The time was right to imp...

HEALTH ORGS SET TO INVEST $7 BILLION IN ROBOTICS IN ASIAPAC, IDC SAYS

Healthcare providers' spending on robotics in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) reached $3.73 billion in 2019 and forecasted to top $7 billion by 2022, according to a report from IDC Healthcare Insights. The Robotics in Healthcare-Benefits and Opportunities report noted that robots embedded with ar...

COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS SEES MAJOR DROP IN NET LOSSES OVER 2017, REPORTING $328 MILLION FOR Q4 2018

Community Health System multi-layered strategic vision is progressing as the system saw a significant drop in its net losses year over year in the fourth quarter. The Tennessee-based system reported net losses attributable to Community Health Systems common stockholders of $328 million, or $2.91 per...

ATUL GAWANDE'S COMPANY LOOKS TO BENEFIT DESIGN, UNSEALED COURT TESTIMONY SHOWS

The nonprofit healthcare company formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase is looking at benefit design to take cost and the complexity out of health insurance, according to unsealed court testimony  obtained by The Wall Street Journal and Stat. Jack Stoddard, the chief operating ...

OHIO AG SEEKS $16M REPAYMENT FROM OPTUM FOR DRUG OVERCHARGES

Ohio’s attorney general is seeking to claw back nearly $16 million in funds he says Optum overcharged a state agency for drugs. In a letter (PDF) to OptumRx last week, AG Dave Yost says OptumRx, the company’s pharmacy benefit manager arm, failed to pass on discounts to the state’s ...

THESE STATES HAVE THE MOST RURAL HOSPITALS AT 'HIGH RISK' OF CLOSURE: REPORT

Unless their financial situations improve, at least 21% of rural hospitals in the U.S. are at high risk of closing, according to a new report from Navigant. In all, at-risk hospitals represent more than 21,000 beds staffed by 150,000 employees and $21.2 billion in total patient revenue. Of high-fina...

UNITEDHEALTHCARE EXPANDS DIGITAL DATA COLLECTION FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES

UnitedHealthcare announced it will increase the amount of data collected from digital devices as a tool for managing chronic illnesses.  The data—being used to enhance comprehensives health profiles for Medicare Advantage participants—is generated through the UnitedHealthcare Nerve ...

MAYO CLINIC REVENUE JUMPS FROM GROWTH IN INPATIENT VOLUMES, DIVERSIFIED INCOME SOURCES

Mayo Clinic's earned earnings remained relatively flat last year even after making more than $724 million in capital project investments and contributing more than $339 million to its employee pension plan. In all, Mayo's operating income totaled $706 million on $12.6 billion in revenue in f...

COGNIZANT TO PAY $25M TO SETTLE CIVIL CASE RELATED TO FORMER EXECUTIVES' BRIBERY SCHEME

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation will pay $25 million to settle federal civil charges related to improper payments to obtain permits and building licenses in India carried out by two former top executives five years ago. Those two former executives were indicted by a federal grand jury in ...

COGNIZANT TO PAY $25M TO SETTLE CIVIL CASE RELATED TO FORMER EXECUTIVES' BRIBERY SCHEME

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation will pay $25 million to settle federal civil charges related to improper payments to obtain permits and building licenses in India carried out by two former top executives five years ago. Those two former executives were indicted by a federal grand jury in ...

COSTLY SPECIALTY DRUGS DRIVE HIGHER SPENDING ON PROVIDER-ADMINISTERED TREATMENTS, STUDY FINDS

Spending per member in commercial plans on medical pharmacy drugs increased by nearly 20% between 2016 and 2017, due in part to the growing number of emerging therapies with high price tags. Magellan Rx Management, the pharmacy benefit management arm of managed-care company Magellan Health, released...

INTEL GIVES GLIMPSE INSIDE ITS CONNECTED CARE HEALTH PLANS THAT SAVED 17% PER MONTH

Intel’s Connected Care health plans are demonstrating the company’s “pay-for-performance” structure is delivering improved results in states where it has its largest employee bases: New Mexico, Oregon, Arizona and California. Intel, which employs about 50,000 people in the U....

KAISER PERMANENTE TO OPEN MEDICAL SCHOOL IN 2020 WITH FOCUSES ON DATA, VIRTUAL REALITY

Kaiser Permanente announced that it will open a School of Medicine in the summer of 2020, with a strong concentration on using 21st century technology to prepare physicians for healthcare in the digital age. Physician burnout is rampant — and today’s technologies, notably EHRs — ar...

AT ONE OB/GYN PRACTICE, A PATIENT PORTAL DRIVES ENGAGEMENT, REDUCES COLLECTION TIME

Austin Area Obstetrics, Gynecology and Fertility OB/GYN had a major problem with turnaround time for phone calls, as the practice had more phone calls coming in than resources available to return the calls in a reasonable amount of time. Additionally, the practice was spending an unnecessary amount ...

ANALYTICS TAKING A FRONT-AND-CENTER ROLE IN THE TRANSITION TO VALUE-BASED CARE

Amidst skyrocketing healthcare costs, companies in the sector are addressing inefficiencies by enhancing data sharing across the value chain -- and they're looking at leveraging analytics to improve business functions and patient experience. It's a factor that's spurring healthcare playe...

BUMRUNGRAD INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS WITH BC PLATFORMS TO OFFER PERSONALISED HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS FOR PATIENTS

Last week, BC Platforms, an MIT Whitehead project spinoff which specialises in powerful genomic data management and analysis solutions, announced that it will be providing its genomics platform to Bumrungrad International Hospital, a private multiple-specialty medical centre founded 1980 in Bangkok,...

HIMSS STAGE 7 MAKES FOR HAPPIER PHYSICIANS, SAYS KLAS

Achieving Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model is a tall order. It demands that hospitals have totally transcended the paper chart, are using data warehousing and advanced analytics, are able to share clinical information readily with an array of outside entities and are in strict compl...

YOUNGER PATIENTS DISSATISFIED WITH HEALTHCARE'S STATUS QUO, MORE WILLING TO TRY NONTRADITIONAL SERVICES

Healthcare consumers are changing, and their expectations are changing, too. They want convenience, affordability and quality, and younger patients especially are dissatisfied with the status quo and more likely to adopt nontraditional healthcare, such as virtual care and retail clinics. According t...

JUDGE ALLOWS HOUSE DEMOCRATS TO JOIN DEFENSE OF ACA IN TEXAS CASE

A federal appeals judge is allowing Democrats to join the legal defense of the ACA. A Texas judge ruled that the Affordable Care Act was no longer enforceable as Congress has repealed the penalty attached to its individual insurance mandate. As the Democrats regained control of the House of Represen...

KFF: ACA SIGNIFICANTLY NARROWED DISPARITIES IN COVERAGE FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR—BUT THOSE TRENDS MAY BE REVERSING

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly narrowed the disparities in coverage experienced by people of color, but those gains may be slowing, according to a new report. A new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at the disparity in health coverage by race and et...

IOT, PATIENT ENGAGEMENT, RCM, GENOMICS, DEEP LEARNING AMONG NEW TECH AT HIMSS19

The HIMSS19 exhibit hall this week features health IT vendors offering a wide-ranging selection of technologies and tools designed to help healthcare organization improve care, gain efficiencies and lower costs. Here is another round-up of new products from vendors on the show floor. VivaLNK, a conn...

ABOUT HALF OF ALL HOSPITAL DEATHS COULD BE SEPSIS-RELATED. WE DON'T HAVE THE MEANS TO PREVENT THEM

Sepsis is a leading cause of death in hospitals, spurring investigations into how preventable it might be. But according to research published in JAMA Network Open Friday, significant innovation is needed before it can really be addressed. That's because most patients who die of sepsis also have...

HIMSS19 Q&A: SURESCRIPTS CEO TOM SKELTON ON EFFORTS TO TAKE ON HIGH PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES, INTEROPERABILITY

When it comes to some of the biggest issues in healthcare from prescription drug prices to interoperability, e-prescribing company Surescripts has a big potential role to play. And the software company has been working to grab that mantle, rapidly expanding its footprint from digitizing prescription...

HIMSS19 Q&A: SURESCRIPTS CEO TOM SKELTON ON EFFORTS TO TAKE ON HIGH PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES, INTEROPERABILITY

When it comes to some of the biggest issues in healthcare from prescription drug prices to interoperability, e-prescribing company Surescripts has a big potential role to play. And the software company has been working to grab that mantle, rapidly expanding its footprint from digitizing prescription...

$13.3 BILLION HEALTHCARE EDUCATION SOLUTIONS MARKET BY 2023

The "Healthcare Education Solutions Market by Delivery Mode (Classroom-based, E-Learning), Application (Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Radiology, Neurology, Pediatrics), End-user (Physicians, Non-Physicians) - Global Forecasts to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's ...

INFORMATION SHARING, WIDESPREAD COLLABORATION ON EDUCATION, OUTCOME VIGILANCE CAN HELP CURB THE OPIOID CRISIS

Between 1999 and 2016 more than 400,000 lives were lost to opioid overdoses, with another 47K lost in 2017. Roughly 40 percent of those involved a prescription opioid, said Marcia Conrad-Miller, vice-president of consulting services for CGI and Brad Schoffstall, VP of consulting for CGI's health...

ALIGNING STAKEHOLDERS' INCENTIVES IN THE SHIFT TO VALUE-DRIVEN HEALTH

ORLANDO – Finding the right formula and structuring data are just the initial steps in enabling a shift toward value-driven health. The success of this shift also depends on aligning stakeholders' incentives – making sure they all have an interest in working together and coordinating...

IMAGING, NURSE CALL, PAYMENTS, DIGITAL WORKSPACE NEW PRODUCTS AT HIMSS19

Health IT and imaging technology vendor Royal Philips has launched IntelliSpace Cardiovascular 4.1, its next-generation cardiovascular image and information management system. The latest version builds on the existing pediatric reporting capabilities, recognizing the important and unique nature of t...

PAYERS, PROVIDERS PUSH BACK ON DEMOCRATS' MEDICARE BUY-IN PLAN

Earlier this week, Democrats introduced a bill that would allow people ages 50 and over to buy in to Medicare coverage, and the plan is already getting pushback from payers and providers. Under the most recent proposal, people between the ages of 50 and 65 could buy a Medicare plan and qualify for s...

INDUSTRY VOICES—PHYSICIAN ENCOUNTERS SHOULD BE LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS, NOT ONE-NIGHT STANDS

Too often in this country, emergency room visits are treated like standalone events—“right swipes” of medical care characterized by brief encounters that fix the most emergent issues before patients are sent on their way. Recently, I read an article comparing emergency department u...

CMS LAUNCHES NEW MODEL FOR PAYING AMBULANCE CREWS—EVEN IF THEY DON'T TRANSPORT TO THE ER

The Trump administration is launching a new model that would pay first responders even if they opt not to take a patient to the hospital. The Emergency Triage, Treat and Transport (ET3) model will pay first responders when they transport patients by ambulance to urgent care or their primary care pro...

CMS ADMINISTRATOR SEEMA VERMA LAYS OUT PLAN FOR 'DIGITAL DATA REVOLUTION'

A year ago during HIMSS18 in Las Vegas, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said she wanted to end the use of fax machines for healthcare transactions. On Tuesday at HIMSS19 in Orlando, Verma gave more details on how CMS is moving providers, and also payers, to patie...

IBM WATSON HEALTH’S CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER TALKS HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES AND AI

IBM Watson Health is at the forefront of artificial intelligence in healthcare. The company is tackling a wide array of challenges in the industry, and is working with major provider organizations to do so. For HIMSS19 week, Healthcare IT News conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Kyu Rhee, vice...

HIMSS19: ONC, CMS OFFICIALS OUTLINE THE FRAMEWORK FOR INTEROPERABILITY, THE USE OF APIS, FHIR

With the release of several proposed rules on Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) outlined new provisions around advancing interoperability and giving patients easier access to their health data, signaling that open APIs and FHIR will be core components. The Office of the ...

AI IN HEALTHCARE: BIG ETHICAL QUESTIONS STILL NEED ANSWERS

ORLANDO – Seemingly overnight, artificial intelligence has found its way into every corner of healthcare, from patient-facing chatbots to imaging interpretation to advanced analytics applications. With that sea change comes a host of ethical questions about how, where and to what extent AI and...

PAYER ROUNDUP—UTAH TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARD SLIMMED-DOWN MEDICAID EXPANSION

Utah’s state House has approved legislation that would scale back the number of people eligible for the voter-mandated Medicaid expansion. Voters in the state approved Medicaid expansion in the 2018 election, and under the Affordable Care Act that would allow the state’s program to add p...

PATIENTS WANT ENGAGEMENT WITH DIGITAL OPTIONS, PERSONAL TOUCH

Consumers are willing to embrace technology to engage with their healthcare providers, but still prefer a personal touch despite the abundance of digital channels available for communication, according to a Pegasystems and Censuswide survey of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers and 200 decision makers a...

DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY CIO: GRAPPLING WITH SIMILAR CHALLENGES, BUT EXTRA COMPLEXITY

ORLANDO – At HIMSS19 on Tuesday, Pat Flanders, chief information officer of the Defense Health Agency, described the unique challenges of standardizing, modernizing and securing the sprawling and dizzyingly complex DHA. It's not just the size, scope and critical mission of the DHA – ...

HOW TO GAUGE THE VALUE OF PRECISION MEDICINE PROGRAMS

Every health system understands the potential of precision medicine, but not all of them are quite ready to take the plunge into the complex and expensive project of actually starting a precision medicine initiative. At HIMSS19 on Monday, Dr. James Weese, vice president of Aurora Cancer Care at Milw...

VIVIFY HEALTH DEBUTS BYOD REMOTE MONITORING TECH, TALKS FHIR AT HIMSS19

Vivify Health, a connected care management and patient engagement technology vendor, has released a new generation of bring your own device technology, growing on the company’s remote patient monitoring engagement platform, which consists of home monitoring kits and its existing BYOD offering....

CHANGE HEALTHCARE UNVEILS FREE DATA INTEROPERABILITY ON AMAZON WEB SERVICES

ORLANDO — Change Healthcare on Monday here at HIMSS19 announced what it described as "free clinical data interoperability services" on Amazon Web Services for document retrieval, identity management and record locator. Interoperability is a perennial HIMSS Global Conference theme and...

WHY UNITEDHEALTHCARE WANTS TO EXPAND DIAGNOSTIC CODES TO THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

UnitedHealthcare wants to see diagnostic codes for services targeting the social determinants of health—such as transportation or healthy meals—expand nationwide. In an interview with FierceHealthcare, Sheila Shapiro, senior vice president for national strategic partnerships in UHC's...

SAS AND INTERSYSTEMS MODERNIZE NORTH CAROLINA HIE

At HIMSS19, SAS and InterSystems announced Monday that they have partnered with the State of North Carolina to modernize the North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s NC HealthConnex health information exchange. NC HealthConnex supports improved care quality and patient safety, fac...

ALLSCRIPTS SUBSIDIARY PARTNERS WITH MIB FOR LIFE INSURANCE DATA EXCHANGE

ORLANDO – Veradigm, which was launched this past November as a rebrand of Allscripts' payer and life sciences division, announced a new partnership today at HIMSS19 to work with MIB, which provides data-driven risk management services for the life insurance industry. Through the agreement ...

EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT—CEO FARZAD MOSTASHARI SAYS ALEDADE SUPPORTS THE DOCTORS ‘DOING GOD’S WORK’

Farzad Mostashari, M.D., is back near the frontlines of medicine. After spending a chunk of his career creating policy in Washington, D.C., Mostashari is now running Aledade, the company he co-founded in 2014 to help independent physician practices transition to value-based models. It’s work h...

JUDGE REJECTS OSCAR’S REQUEST FOR INJUNCTION AGAINST FLORIDA BLUE IN SPAT OVER BROKER AGREEMENTS

Florida judge has rejected Oscar Health’s request for an injunction that would block Florida Blue from reaching exclusive agreements with insurance brokers. Oscar filed suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida in November, alleging that the insurer engaged in anticompetitive practices by...

SHRINKING MEDICAID ROLLS IN MISSOURI AND TENNESSEE RAISE FLAG ON VETTING PROCESS

Tangunikia Ward, a single mom of two who has been unemployed for the past couple of years, was shocked when her St. Louis family was kicked off Missouri’s Medicaid program without warning last fall. She found out only when taking her son, Mario, 10, to a doctor to be treated for ringworm. When...

PAYER ROUNDUP—STAKEHOLDERS START PUSH TO GET MEDICAID EXPANSION ON BALLOT IN FLORIDA

Following successful Medicaid expansion ballot measures in other red states, stakeholders in Florida are beginning a quiet campaign to follow suit. A significant number of Floridians would be eligible for Medicaid coverage if the state expanded the program. As many as 700,000 additional people could...

CARE MANAGEMENT TECH DROPS HOSPITALIZATIONS AND ER VISITS AT CAREGIVER HOMES

Currently, nearly 30 percent of the members served by Indiana-based health services company Seniorlink have a diagnosis of dementia. These members have multiple comorbid conditions and often exhibit challenging behaviors, leading to a higher rate of hospitalizations and emergency department utilizat...

EPIC CONVERSION MEANS 'POTENTIAL JOB CHANGES AND RELOCATIONS' FOR 1,650 TRINITY HEALTH EMPLOYEES

Trinity Health said on Thursday that its massive conversion to Epic’s EHR platform will cause 1,650 Trinity Health employees to be relocated or their positions outsourced in the coming years. Among those are approximately 450 IT employees, Trinity said, and they will be offered employment with...

GREENWAY HEALTH TO PAY $57M TO SETTLE CLAIMS IT FALSIFIED EHR CERTIFICATION

Tampa, Florida-based electronic health record (EHR) company Greenway Health has agreed to pay $57.25 million to resolve claims it falsely obtained EHR certification and incentivized clients in exchange for promoting or recommending its product to prospective new customers. The settlement, announced ...

HUMANA, ALEDADE TEAM UP TO EXPAND VALUE-BASED CARE

Insurance giant Humana is teaming with Bethesda, Maryland-based primary care consulting company Aledade to expand access to value-based care for its Medicare Advantage members in three states.  Physicians working in Aledade’s accountable care organizations in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and W...

MEDICARE RULES INCREASE OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS DRUGS

Medicare patients with multiple sclerosis face skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs for therapies due to complicated insurance rules that force them to pick up an increasing share of the cost, according to new research. Despite recent efforts to constrain escalating costs, researchers with OHSU and the ...

GOVERNMENT PAYMENT POLICIES TIED TO HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE FAIL TO IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY

Value-based incentive programs, or VBIPs, aim to drive improvements in quality and reduce costs by linking financial incentives or penalties to hospital performance. But a new study has found no evidence these programs have any measurable association with changes in catheter-associated urinary tract...

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION STANDARDS IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY, OPTIMIZE EHR USE

The American Medical Association and other standards developing organizations like the WHO and the American Joint Committee on Cancer have lauded the benefits of relevant documentation standards including units of measure; pharmaceutical regimens; cancer protocols; laboratory studies; genetics; dise...

PAYER ROUNDUP—NORTH CAROLINA PAYS OUT $6B IN MEDICAID CONTRACTS

North Carolina officials have reached agreements with five insurers to offer Medicaid managed care in the state, with the deals totaling $6 billion. The insurers—AmeriHealth Caritas, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, UnitedHealthcare, WellCare and Carolina Complete Health, a consor...

PBMS LAUNCH COUNTERATTACK FOLLOWING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PLAN TO END DRUG REBATES

Pharmacy benefit managers are hitting back against critics who blame them for rising drug prices, as the system they use to negotiate rebates on drugs hangs in the balance.  The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association this week launched a campaign called #OnYourRxSide, which aims to educatio...

NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN WORKING ON MACHINE LEARNING ANALYTICS TO COMBAT OPIOID CRISIS

NewYork-Presbyterian, a prominent academic health system, is working with machine learning vendor Splunk to develop new data analytics tools that prevent the potential diversion of controlled substances such as opioids. NewYork-Presbyterian approached Splunk to develop the controlled substance monit...

RURAL HOSPITALS FACE GROWING SUSTAINABILITY THREATS ON MULTIPLE FRONTS, AHA SAYS

A multitude of challenges is threatening the stability of rural hospitals in America, a report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) found. Recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals is an ongoing challenge and expense, which is further complicated by geographic isolation. The repo...

GROWTH IN HOSPITAL PRICES OUTPACES THAT OF PHYSICIANS BY NEARLY 20 PERCENT, HEALTH AFFAIRS SHOWS

Physician prices have seen a growth trend over the past several years, but between 2007 and 2014, hospital prices outpaced them, according to new research published in Health Affairs.  Hospital-based procedures have seen growth driven largely be the facility side of the equation, with prices fo...

PROVIDENCE ST. JOSEPH HEALTH LAUNCHES BUSINESS OFFERING PBM SERVICE, POPULATION HEALTH EXPERTISE

Providence St. Joseph Health is getting into the business of helping other healthcare providers and payers with the shift to value-based care. The Renton, Washington-based health system launched Ayin Health Solutions, a population health company, to offer expertise to help payers, providers, employe...

CENTENE STILL BULLISH ON ACA EXCHANGES DESPITE LEGAL CHALLENGES TO THE LAW

Legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act aren’t deterring Centene from their exchange business, officials said on Tuesday.  Centene Corporation’s ACA exchange enrollment grew by 52% to reach 1.5 million members in 2018, the insurer said during its quarterly earnings call, adding ...

HEALTHCARE GAINS 42,000 JOBS IN JANUARY, LED BY AMBULATORY SERVICES

The healthcare industry didn't add as many jobs in January as it did in December, but that's partly because December was a record month. The last month of 2018 saw 52,000 jobs added, while 42,000 more were added in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ambulatory service...

MEDICARE SPENDING ON HEALTHCARE FOR ELDERLY DIPS, DRIVEN BY BETTER CARDIOVASCULAR CARE

Healthcare spending among the Medicare population age 65 and older has slowed dramatically since 2005, and as much as half of that reduction can be attributed to reduced spending on cardiovascular disease, a new Harvard study has found. Led by Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics David Cutle...

MEDSTAR LAUNCHES EHR USABILITY CAMPAIGN, WITH VIDEOS SHOWING UX, WORKFLOW CHALLENGES

Effective software depends on user feedback, with developers rely on a culture of open communication to learn more about bugs and usability issues. That goes electronic health records too, and MedStar Health is showing, not telling, how they could. The MedStar Health National Center for Human Factor...

INDUSTRY VOICES—3 WAYS HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CMS’ REDUCED BURDENS

It goes without saying that both regulation and accreditation are crucial to ensuring that healthcare providers and facilities uphold nationwide standards in patient care. While both hold healthcare providers accountable to their patients and community, strengthen patient safety and measure quality ...

WHY LYFT IS MAKING MEDICARE ADVANTAGE A KEY FOCUS OF ITS HEALTHCARE WORK

Ride-hailing service Lyft has been in the healthcare space for the past several years, and it sees Medicare Advantage plans as a key demographic for its health platform. On a call with reporters on Monday, Megan Callahan, vice president for healthcare at Lyft, said its first MA partner was CareMore,...

NYU LANGONE TACKLES END-OF-LIFE CARE DECISION-MAKING

NYU Langone Health developed an end-of-life clinical decision support care initiative for shared decision-making among patients, their families and the care team. Launched in 2017, the Respecting Choices Person-Centered Care Model improves care by aligning the goals of the patient and the care team....

GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR GENOMICS AND HEALTH PICKS 7 DATA INITIATIVES FOR 2019

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health has chosen seven genomic data initiatives from around the world as new Driver Projects for 2019 – projects where researches will work together develop and pilo standards for the sharing genomic and other health data. GA4GH officials said they were ch...

EHRS, POP HEALTH, PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS, INTEROPERABILITY ON CERNER’S HIMSS19 MENU

With HIMSS19 just days away, EHR giant Cerner has a lot on its mind. And its executives at the global health IT conclave are going to be focused on a variety of trends affecting EHRs and much more. “Healthcare is a fast-paced industry defined by dramatic shifts in regulations, technology, care...

WHY BLUES PLANS, HEALTH CARE SERVICE CORPORATION ARE TEAMING UP TO FIGHT HUNGER

The Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Institute have teamed up to bring healthy food delivery options to those living in food deserts. The partnership has debuted foodQ, which offers affordable meals delivered to a participant’s home. The program aims to ...

KAISER, DIGNITY HEALTH EXECUTIVES: BETTER STRATEGY NEEDED TO GET ROI FROM SOCIAL DETERMINANTS INITIATIVES

Health systems are increasingly investing in programs to address "social determinants" in healthcare like food and housing insecurity. But too often those efforts are still too fragmented to make the intended impact. That was the message from executives from Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Heal...

AHIMA, ARTIFACT HEALTH PARTNER ON QUERY STREAMLINING PLATFORM

The American Health Information Management Association and Artifact Health have partnered to maintain a library of HIPAA-compliant physician query templates on Artifact’s cloud-based platform. Artifact has developed a mobile-based physician query process streamlining platform that lets physici...

HONG KONG ESTABLISHES PRIMARY HEALTHCARE OFFICE WITH NEW DHCS TO BE INTRODUCED

Hong Kong’s Food and Health Bureau (FHB) announced on March 1, 2019 the establishment of the Primary Healthcare Office (PHO) to oversee and steer the development of primary healthcare services at the bureau level. “It is high time for us to actively promote primary healthcare services to...

CMS ASKS FOR FEEDBACK WITH RELEASE OF HOSPITAL COMPARE DATA—AND THE INDUSTRY IS ALREADY NOT PLEASED

The federal hospital ratings website Hospital Compare may be getting another revamp. After several delays, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Thursday that it has released updated hospital performance data on the consumer comparison website that uses star ratings for hospital...

IT'S OFFICIAL. BETH ISRAEL LAHEY HEALTH EMERGES POSTMERGER

Beth Israel Lahey Health officially launched on Friday as the result of the Massachusetts megamerger between Beth Israel Deaconess and Lahey Health. The resulting healthcare system has more than 4,000 physicians, including more than 800 employed primary care physicians and 3,500 specialty physicians...

CIGNA REPORTS STRONG FOURTH QUARTER, SHRUGS OFF POTENTIAL IMPACT OF DRUG REBATE RULE PROPOSAL

Insurance giant Cigna posted strong year-end results following its merger with Express Scripts. Cigna pulled in $49 billion in revenue for the year, a 15% increase over 2017. Its income from operations was $3.6 billion or $14.22 a share, up more than 30% over $2.7 billion, or $8.77 a share, in 2017....

HOW TO MAKE HEALTHCARE MORE LIKE AMAZON? IT COMES DOWN TO DATA AND PAYER-PROVIDER COLLABORATION

Anyone who has used an e-commerce site like Amazon knows how easy it is to get what you want—sometimes within hours—with the click of a button. With its phone calls, long waits for appointments and yet more waiting at the doctor's office, healthcare strikes a stark contrast. And exec...

EMDS ACQUIRES APRIMA, BOOSTING OUTPATIENT EHR OFFERINGS

Electronic health record developer eMDs is acquiring Aprima Medical Software for an undisclosed sum. The addition of Aprima, which develops EHR, practice management and revenue cycle management technology, will help eMDs better serve its 63,000 provider customers worldwide, the company said. Both co...

IATRIC SYSTEMS BUYS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA SPINOFF HAYSTACK INFORMATICS

Iatric Systems, which itself was acquired by Harris Healthcare this past summer, has announced that it is purchasing Haystack Informatics, whose behavioral analytics offerings aim to help providers ensure patient privacy and optimize operations. Iatric's wide suite of offerings – security,...

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WANTS TO END 'MIDDLEMEN KICKBACKS' IN DRUG PRICING BY TARGETING REBATES

The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing to lower the list price of prescription drugs by correcting what it calls the perverse incentive to increase list prices to get higher rebates. The rebates are passed on to health plans, which use them to lower the price of premiums. But Part ...

AVERA TAPS PHARMACOGENOMICS TO HELP PROVIDERS CHOOSE THE RIGHT MEDICINE

Avera Health, an integrated system in the Midwest, uses pharmacogenomics to allow providers to pick the right medication for a specific patient, and delivers the information to the clinical point of care through a ready-to-use format in the EHR. Avera employes this pharmacist-driven interpretation t...

DHBS IN NEW ZEALAND TO DEVELOP NATIONAL ELECTRONIC ORAL HEALTH RECORD

An implementation plan for a nationally consistent Electronic Oral Health Record (EOHR) will be presented to the country’s 20 district health board (DHB) chief executives by the middle of this year. Professional services organisation TAS is leading the implementation on behalf of the DHBs afte...

2 DECADES AFTER LANDMARK IOM REPORT, THIS GROUP IS STILL FIGHTING TO CONVINCE HOSPITALS TO TAKE SAFETY STEPS

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.—Standing beneath the bright lights on a stage in a California conference center, Joe Kiani told a crowd of hospital leaders he was frustrated. Seven years ago, he’d founded the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. And Kiani, who’d made a name for himself fou...

DIRECTTRUST CEO ON WHY DIRECT MESSAGING SHOULD REPLACE THE FAX MACHINE

An increasing number of providers are engaging in health data exchange and are using data exchange services for a variety of use cases, according to the nonprofit association DirectTrust. Case in point: Direct message transactions increased by 63% in 2018 with steady growth in the number of healthca...

SCRIBES SAVE DOCTORS TIME AND HOSPITALS MONEY, NEW STUDY FINDS

Scribes can benefit both doctors and hospitals, according to a new study. Using scribes increased emergency physicians’ productivity so they can care for more patients and ultimately saved hospitals money, according to research published in the BMJ. The study, which included 88 physicians, was...

ANTHEM MOVES UP LAUNCH OF ITS PBM TO SECOND QUARTER OF 2019

Anthem is planning to begin moving members into its new PBM, IngenioRx, in the second quarter of 2019, bumping up the projected launch from 2020. Anthem announced the change as part of its fourth-quarter earnings (PDF), saying it moved up IngenioRx’s launch because Cigna closed its acquisition...

ADDRESSING SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH? CONSIDER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING

"Social determinants of health" is one of the hot buzz-phrases in healthcare these days, and for good reason. SDOH refers to outside factors that may impact a patient's health, such as employment status and access to education, and providers can improve efficiency and curb costs by add...

AN EARLY LOOK AT A CDC PROJECT DIGITIZING INFECTIOUS DISEASE GUIDELINES TO WORK IN EHRS

Addressing global infectious diseases has been an ongoing challenge. To tackle the issue, in 2018 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put together a Kaizen group consisting of an interdisciplinary collection of healthcare and IT professi...

HEALTHCARE IT’S ‘LORD OF THE RINGS’ PROBLEM

In JRR Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings, the battle in middle earth is about getting control of the “one ring that rules us all.” A constructive analogy in healthcare is the quest to find that one solution that unites different systems and enables a seamless flow of data.
...

TRIBUNAL PROHIBITS PROPOSED MEDICLINIC HOSPITAL MERGER OVER FEAR HEALTHCARE PRICES WOULD GO UP

The Competition Tribunal said on Wednesday that it has prohibited a merger between Mediclinic and Matlosana Medical Health Services (MMHS) in the North West province. In terms of the proposed transaction Mediclinic would have acquired a majority interest in MMHS. MMHS owns and operates, among others...

PAYER ROUNDUP—GRASSLEY CALLS ON HHS, CMS TO EXPLAIN INFLATED LAB SPENDING

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is calling for the Department of Health and Human Services to explain the potential for a big increase in costs to Medicare for laboratory services. Grassley's letter follows a recent report from the Government Accountability Office which...

PAYERS, PROVIDERS CLASH ON CMS' PLANS FOR STEP THERAPY IN MEDICARE PART B

Payers and providers are decidedly split when it comes to CMS’ proposals to allow step therapy for Part B drugs, while insurers want to the agency to take its plans for negotiation in Part D's protected classes further. The comment period on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...

NEW EHEALTH DIGITAL SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE ALLOWS FIRST EU CITIZENS TO USE EPRESCRIPTIONS ACROSS BORDERS AND MORE EU NEWS BRIEFS

New initiative sees EU citizens use ePrescriptions in other EU country. Finnish patients can now get their medicines from pharmacies in Estonia prescribed electronically by their doctors back in Finland through the new eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure, the European Commission announced last we...

APPLE, AETNA COLLABORATING ON NEW WATCH-DRIVEN WELLNESS REWARDS PROGRAM

This morning Aetna (which was recently acquired by CVS) and Apple announced a new wellness program that will leverage health data, a custom app and the Apple Watch. Called Attain by Aetna, the voluntary program will deliver personalized health goals, recommendations and rewards based on members&rsqu...

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR $1B TOWERS PROJECT

Massachusetts General Hospital is planning to construct a $1 billion, 12-story building on its Boston campus by 2026. MGH announced to its employees in a letter it was launching the process to get approval for the hospital building aimed at addressing growing demands for care and services. Cancer an...

ANALYSIS: PULLING BACK CURTAIN ON HOSPITAL PRICES ADDS NEW WRINKLE IN COST CONTROL

As President Donald Trump was fighting with Congress over the shutdown and funding for a border wall, his administration implemented a new rule that could be a game changer for health care. Starting this month, hospitals must publicly reveal the contents of their master price lists -- called "c...

AETNA, IBM LAUNCHING NEW BLOCKCHAIN HEALTHCARE NETWORK

A group of leading health insurers including Aetna, now owned by CVS Health, launched a collaboration with PNC Bank and IBM to design a blockchain healthcare network that will improve transparency and interoperability in the industry. The initiative—which also includes Anthem and Health Care S...

MOST HOSPITALS WOULD LIKELY BENEFIT FROM THIRD-PARTY LIABILITY INSURANCE COVERAGE, SAYS ERI

Citing dramatically increased costs and concurrent drops in insurance reimbursement, an article published by Emergency Recovery Inc. in its Rev Cycle Quarterly publication laid out a case for most U.S. hospitals to secure third party liability coverage, or TPL, describing what Celler Organization an...

OPTUM SUES FORMER EXECUTIVE FOR WORKING FOR COMPETITOR COMPANY RUN BY ATUL GAWANDE

Optum has sued former executive David William Smith for going to work for Amazon, Berkshire-Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, breaking his non-compete agreement. Optum has filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Smith from working for the company it calls "ABC." Smith, former vice pr...

CROSS-INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS, INCREASING CONSUMERISM TO DRIVE MORE HEALTHCARE M&A IN 2019

Last year was a record-breaking year when it came to healthcare deals and the trend isn't expected to slow down in 2019, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute’s latest US Health Services Deals Insights report. Overall deal volume was up 14.4% from 2017 to the en...

PAYER ROUNDUP—MAINE'S NEW GOVERNOR REJECTS STATE’S PLANNED MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS

Newly instated Maine Gov. Janet Mills has rejected work requirements in the state’s Medicaid program, which were requested by her predecessor and approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The waiver request submitted by former Gov. Paul LePage was approved on Dec. 21 shortl...

38 HOSPITALS SUE HHS OVER SITE-NEUTRAL PAYMENT RULE

A month and a half after several hospital advocacy groups joined together to sue the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over it's finalized site-neutral payment policy, 38 hospitals have followed, filing suit against HHS Secretary Alex Azar for a policy they say will deprive hospitals ...

BENEFITS OF BUNDLED PAYMENTS TURN ON WHETHER THEY ARE VOLUNTARY OR MANDATORY: GAO

CMS suspects Medicare could save money by adopting episode-based payment models. But according to a new report by the the Government Accountability Office, the outcome is highly dependent on the specific structure of those models. In particular, the results can change massively depending on whether ...

LESSONS LEARNED: WHAT PATIENTS SAID ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE IN PRIMARY CARE PRACTICES

What makes a good doctor? Just ask their patients. Based on a new survey, it becomes clear that good communication with their physicians, as well as with other clinicians, is key to a positive patient experience. That’s a big lesson from the Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP) survey ...

INSULIN PRICES NEARLY DOUBLED IN 5 YEARS, REPORT SAYS

The cost of managing diabetes in the U.S. is rising quickly, largely due to dramatic increases in the cost of insulin, according to a new report (PDF) from the Health Care Cost Institute. Looking at health insurance claims from 13,800 to 16,200 people with Type 1 diabetes who use employer-sponsored ...

AHA, FAH URGE FASTER PROGRESS ON INTEROPERABILITY IN NEW REPORT

Seven leading hospital organizations are putting out a call to arms to advance data sharing and interoperability across the healthcare industry. Data sharing improves care coordination, patient safety, family empowerment, efficiency and cost, the groups wrote in the new report (PDF) released by the ...

JPMORGAN SPINOFF KADENA PUTS BLOCKCHAIN ON AWS—AND ON THE TABLE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES

The startup announced Wednesday morning that it would be moving its blockchain development platform to Amazon Web Services. It hopes that this accessibility can eliminate or reduce the upfront costs of setting up blockchain nodes. "There's a lot of organizations that want to use blockchain ...

MORE THAN HALF OF CONSUMERS LACK CONFIDENCE IN THEIR ABILITY TO PROPERLY TAKE NEW MEDICATIONS AS DIRECTED

More than half of consumers lack confidence in their ability to properly take new medications as directed, according to a survey released today by e-prescribing and patient medication management solution outfit DrFirst. Among the consumers who had concerns about taking new medications correctly, two...

BUNDLED PAYMENT PROGRAMS IN HEALTHCARE BECOMING MORE COMMON DESPITE LACK OF COMPREHENSIVE IT SOLUTION

Recent rule changes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has once again brought bundled payments into the national spotlight. Addressing uncertainty among payers and providers on the future of bundled payments, the latest report from Chilmark Research analyzes the market trends shapin...

PAYMENTS TO PHYSICIANS MAY INCREASE OPIOID PRESCRIBING, STUDY SHOWS

Doctors who receive direct payments from opioid manufacturers tend to prescribe more opioids than doctors who receive no such payments, new research shows. The report, published in the journal Addiction, found that the association between payments and prescribing is strongest for hydrocodone and oxy...

LOYOLA MEDICINE, PALOS HEALTH EXPAND PARTNERSHIP WITH PLANS TO FULLY MERGE

Illinois hospital systems Loyola Medicine and Palos Health plan to merge, according to a joint announcement made Monday. The two systems have signed a non-binding letter of intent and due diligence is expected to take several months. The terms of the LOI are not being disclosed. Palos Health will co...

PART D PLANS TAKE ON MORE RISK IN NEW CMMI MODEL

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is testing new models through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to bring down prescription drug costs in Part D and to add benefits and increase competition in Medicare Advantage plans. Both models are voluntary. The Part D payment moderni...

BLUE CROSS NORTH CAROLINA AND 5 MAJOR HEALTH SYSTEMS ENTER CONTRACT TO SHARE IN OUTCOMES AND COSTS

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has entered into a shared risk contract with five of the state's major health systems and their accountable care organizations. The program called Blue Premier, ties payment to performance. The health systems share in the cost savings if they meet ind...

VANDERBILT COMBINES AI AND SMART ON FHIR IN AN EHR VOICE ASSISTANT

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is one of the first provider organizations to develop a voice assistant for electronic health records that can give verbal summaries back to providers using natural language processing. With VEVA, the Vanderbilt EHR Voice Assistant, the health system is using NLP...

HL7 GIVES A GLIMPSE OF FHIR 5

Health Level 7 International on Monday offered a peek at its roadmap for Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, aka FHIR 5. FHIR is widely viewed as holding great promise for enabling health data sharing among vendors, providers, payers, government, health information exchanges and other entiti...

A NEW HEALTHCARE RULE DESIGNED TO PROTECT CONSUMERS DOES ANYTHING BUT

Of life's many expenses, there's perhaps none more baffling and frustrating than healthcare. After all, when a car breaks down, your mechanic must provide you with a detailed estimate of what it will cost to fix it, including replacement parts and labor. Medical care doesn't work that wa...

NORTH CAROLINA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL OKS HCA ACQUISITION OF MISSION HEALTH

HCA's planned acquisition of Asheville, North Carolina-based Mission Health System cleared a major hurdle this week after North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced that he has no objections to the deal. Stein pointed to HCA's commitments to provide healthcare services and to make ...

INTERMOUNTAIN TAKES ITS CHALLENGE OF FALSE CLAIMS ACT TO THE SUPREME COURT

Intermountain Healthcare is trying to take its ongoing challenge of the False Claims Act (FCA) to the Supreme Court. The Salt Lake City-based health system has asked the court to review a decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming the FCA violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitu...

INDUSTRY VOICES—4 WAYS HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS CAN PREPARE FOR NEW MATERNAL CARE DESIGNATIONS

Four years ago, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine released a joint consensus statement on maternal level-of-care designations (MLOCD). The goal of the designations was to standardize levels of maternal care as a means of improving mat...

CVS, WALMART MAKE NICE, REACH NEW MULTI-YEAR DEAL TO KEEP RETAIL GIANT IN CAREMARK’S NETWORK

Just days after Walmart announced it would pull out of CVS Caremark’s network, the two sides have resolved their differences and reached a new contract agreement.  CVS Health announced Tuesday that Walmart had opted to exit Caremark’s pharmacy benefit management and Managed Medicaid...

STUDY: SHIFTING DRUGS FROM MEDICARE PART B TO PART D COULD HIT SOME BENEFICIARIES WHERE IT HURTS—THEIR WALLETS

Moving pricey Medicare Part B drugs into Part D could bring down drug spending overall, but it may also hit the wallets of some beneficiaries harder, according to a new study. Researchers led by a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that shifting some of the...

HOW MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA USED ITIL FOR A TELEHEALTH SERVICE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

The Medical University of South Carolina was charged recently by its leadership and state leaders to expand its telehealth portfolio and rapidly develop new services. That goal was helped along by some strategies gleaned from ITIL, a library of best practices to help organizations optimize their inf...

NEW ZEALAND’S NORTHLAND DHB HEALTH NEEDS ASSESSMENT TOOL GOES LIVE

Northland District Health Board (DHB), which is based in Whangarei and covering the northernmost part of the North Island in New Zealand, has launched a web-based interactive version of the Health Needs Assessment (HNA). DHBs must produce an HNA report every 5–7 years as a way of monitoring th...

DECISION SUPPORT CAN GUIDE CLINICIANS TO PRESCRIBE LOWER COST ALTERNATIVES

To curb costs in prescription drug spending, clinical decision support can help stop the upward trend of per capita spending that makes cost in this country higher than in any other industrialized nation. Adam Szerencsy, medical director, Ambulatory Informatics, NYU Langone Medical Center, will disc...

STUDY: 1 IN 4 ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS LIKELY INAPPROPRIATE

A quarter of prescriptions are likely inappropriate for the conditions they were prescribed for, according to a new study published Wednesday in BMJ. And that estimate is probably conservative. The study was conducted by looking at the diagnostic codes for just more 19 million privately insured indi...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—TENET STRIKES MULTIYEAR DEALS WITH ANTHEM, HUMANA

Tenet Healthcare has reached multiyear agreements with Anthem and Humana to ensure members can receive in-network care at its facilities. Tenet is contracted with Humana until 2023 and did not specify the length of its agreement with Anthem. Executives at the health system and both payers said the d...

DEFINITIVE HEALTHCARE ACQUIRES HIMSS ANALYTICS DATA PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Definitive Healthcare on Wednesday announced that it has acquired HIMSS Analytics' Logic, Predict and Analyze assets to enhance its market intelligence platform. HIMSS Analytics, a Healthcare IT News sister, will continue its focus on maturity models, such as the EMR Adoption Model, and adoption...

SENIORS MORE LIKELY TO SWITCH MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS IN 2019, SURVEY SHOWS

Today's seniors are increasingly tech savvy, expect more from Medicare plans and in 2019 are more likely to switch their Medicare Advantage plans, finds a new survey from Welltok. With more than 60 million Americans projected to be covered by Medicare by 2020, it is critical for plans to underst...

CVS CAREMARK, WALMART CLASH OVER REIMBURSEMENT RATES

Walmart and its pharmacy benefit manager network, CVS Caremark, have fallen out over reimbursement rates, leaving commercial and managed Medicaid members out-of-network when filling scripts with the retailer. CVS Health said it has requested that Walmart continue to fill prescriptions as an in-netwo...

HOW ADVENTHEALTH LEVERAGES REAL-TIME DATA TO BOOST OUTCOMES

Quality improvement is no longer just a nice-to-have. It's a critical must-do for any health system that hopes to survive in the era of value-based care. But opinions vary widely on the best way to manage data for better outcomes. Robert Altemose, RN, clinical operations analytics director at Al...

EUROPEAN AI-ON-DEMAND PLATFORM UNDERWAY, ONLINE 'CALCULATOR' TO PREDICT RISK OF CANCER, AND MORE EU DIGITAL HEALTH NEWS

New project looks to create European AI-on-demand platform. A new AI4EU project aims to support the development of the “first European on-demand AI platform” with a €20m budget over the next three years. French company Thales is coordinating the roll-out, with a view to expand membe...

PROVIDERS WALK ‘FINE LINE’ BETWEEN INFORMING AND SCARING IMMIGRANT PATIENTS

While the Trump administration decides whether to adopt a controversial policy that could jeopardize the legal status of immigrants who use public programs such as Medicaid, doctors and clinics are torn between informing patients about the potential risks and unnecessarily scaring them into dropping...

PAYER ROUNDUP—JUDGE ORDERS DOJ TO CONTINUE CVS-AETNA REVIEW; CMS CONSIDERING MEDICAID BLOCK GRANTS

A federal court's review of CVS Health's $69 billion purchase of Aetna won't be held up by the federal shutdown after a judge rejected a request by the U.S. Justice Department. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the agency to file public comments and its response by Feb. 15. The...

HEALTHCARE ADDED MORE JOBS THAN OTHER SECTORS IN 2018, AND THE GROWTH OUTLOOK IS STRONG

A lot of jobs were created in the U.S. in 2018, and healthcare accounted for 346,000 of them, for an average of 29,000 jobs per month. That's an increase over the 2017 total of 284,000 healthcare jobs created. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest data, the jobs created in the heal...

WALGREENS, MICROSOFT PARTNER FOR NEW CLOUD-BASED CONSUMER HEALTH INITIATIVE

Walgreens Boots Alliance and Microsoft are partnering for a project they say will lead new delivery models and technology for consumer health – and will offer new competition as companies such as Amazon continue to make inroads in the healthcare space. The collaboration will be based around Mi...

HOSPITAL PROFITABILITY, VOLUMES STRUGGLED DURING 2018, WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS

With 2018 now in the books, it's possible to see how certain trends played out in the world of healthcare. Kaufman Hall was certainly interested in examining the year that was, and in looking back, the firm found that while 2018 got off to a bad start, hospital volumes and profitability rebounde...

AUSTRALIA’S MY HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM SEES RISE IN DATA BREACHES

The agency’s Annual Report 2017–18 identified that “42 data breaches (in 28 notifications) were reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)… concerning potential data security or integrity breaches”, but with “no purposeful or malicio...

CHINESE HOSPITAL IN GUANGDONG DEPLOYS AI CAMERAS TO DETECT BLINDNESS-CAUSING DISEASES

Last week, Deqing county hospital in Guangdong Province launched free consultations featuring artificial-intelligence (AI) cameras to detect ocular fundus diseases, which are major causes of blindness, according to a report by Xinhua News. About 300 residents from Zhaoqing City in Dequing County att...

HOW HCA HEALTHCARE IS USING CLINICAL ANALYTICS FOR OPIOID STEWARDSHIP

HCA Healthcare's Physician Services Group offers oversight for some 5,700 physicians and advanced practice providers, and embraces an approach to communication and collaboration that's "deeply collaborative," said Barbara Coughlin, RN, vice president of quality at HCA. One specific...

THE TOP TRENDS IN HOME HEALTH CARE FOR 2019

2018 was a banner year for the Medicare-certified home health care industry. Big providers got even larger through creative mergers and acquisitions. Admissions and utilization numbers held strong. New telehealth opportunities started to emerge. And, in general, revenues remained high. The upcoming ...

NHS ENGLAND CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER TO JOIN VIDEO GP CONSULTATION PROVIDER LIVI

NHS England chief digital officer Juliet Bauer is joining video GP consultation provider LIVI, which launched in the UK last October after signing partnerships with two NHS GP federations. The announcement follows the publication this week of the NHS long-term plan that outlined key milestones for t...

MERITUS HEALTH ROLLS OUT EPIC EHR, WITH HELP FROM ST. LOUIS-BASED MERCY

Meritus Health, based in Hagerstown, Maryland, has gone live with its new Epic electronic health record – implemented and hosted via a collaboration with partnership with Mercy Technology Services, the IT arm of the 45-hospital St. Louis-based Mercy. Meritus, which has direct a software licens...

MID-REVENUE CYCLE MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT MARKET EXPECTED TO GROW OVER THE COMING YEARS

The mid-revenue cycle management and clinical documentation improvement market is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2023, up from $3.1 billion in 2018, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9 percent. That's the verdict of a new ResearchAndMarkets.com analysis. It found that market growth is lar...

AFTER BITTER CLOSURE, RURAL TEXAS HOSPITAL DEFIES THE NORM AND REOPENS

Five months ago, the 6,500 residents of Crockett, Texas, witnessed a bit of a resurrection -- at least in rural hospital terms. A little more than a year after the local hospital shut its doors, the 25-bed facility reopened its emergency department, inpatient beds and some related services, albeit o...

HOSPITALS ARE TURNING TO TELEHEALTH TO MANAGE SCARCE PHYSICIAN RESOURCES

New flexibilities for telehealth reimbursement and expected changes for 2019 and beyond are making its use more widespread. Providence St. Joseph Health headquartered in Washington State, has been working for over 12 years on its telehealth program and the technology, in fact, has become necessary a...

PAYER ROUNDUP—DEMOCRATS PASS RESOLUTION TO DEFEND ACA AGAINST LAWSUIT

The House passed a resolution to defend the Affordable Care Act against a lawsuit challenging the healthcare law on Wednesday. It comes as a standalone package days after another House vote passed a similar measure as part of a larger package. Last month, a federal judge struck down Obamacare, sidin...

MOLINA HEALTHCARE SAW A STUNNING TURNAROUND LAST YEAR. CAN THE GROWTH CONTINUE?

Has Molina Healthcare’s new leadership team been so successful in their company turnaround that they’ve run out of places to grow? Not even close, CEO Joseph Zubretsky said during a presentation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this week. It has been the foremost question facing ...

AS HOSPITALS POST STICKER PRICES ONLINE, MOST PATIENTS WILL REMAIN BEFUDDLED

As of Jan. 1, in the name of transparency, the Trump administration required that all hospitals post their list prices online. But what is popping up on medical center websites is a dog's breakfast of medical codes, abbreviations and dollar signs -- in little discernible order -- that may initia...

HOW TO MAKE BUNDLED PAYMENTS WORK? START BY ENGAGING PATIENTS

Over the past two years of the mandatory comprehensive care for joint replacement payment model, Froedtert Health saved $1.5 million on the 615 patients who had the surgery, according to Mike Anderes, chief innovation and digital health officer for Froedtert and president of its affiliated Inception...

RHL VENTURES INVESTS IN HEALTHCARE SAAS PLATFORM HEALTHMETRICS

RHL Ventures, a Malaysia-based private investment firm, on Jan 10 announced its follow-on investment into healthcare SaaS platform HealthMetrics. RHL Ventures participated in HealthMetrics’ seed round, along with other institutional investors. HealthMetrics was founded in 2015 by Alvin Yuan an...

MEDICAL MARKETING SKYROCKETS OVER PAST TWO DECADES, BUT OVERSIGHT REMAINS LIMITED

Healthcare spending in the U.S. is the highest in the world, totaling $3.3 trillion -- or 17.8 percent of the GDP -- in 2016. To capture market share, and to expand the market, drug companies and healthcare organizations use a wide array of promotional activities, including TV and digital advertisin...

BLOCKCHAIN IN HEALTHCARE MARKET TO REACH $890.5 MILLION BY 2023: P&S INTELLIGENCE

Blockchain in Healthcare Market by Application (Clinical Data Exchange & Interoperability, Claims Adjudication & Billing Management, Drug Supply Chain Management, Drug Discovery & Clinical Trials, Prescription Drug Abuse) by End User (Pharmaceutical Companies, Healthcare Providers, Healt...

HEALTHCARE CONTRACT RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (CRO) MARKET SURPASS US$ 54.82 BN BY 2026 | CAGR 6.5% - ACUMEN RESEARCH AND CONSULTING

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global healthcare contract research organization (CRO) market is anticipated to expand at a stable CAGR above 6.5% during the forecast period 2018 to 2026. According to the report titled “Healthcare contract research organization (CRO) Market ...

HEALTHCARE CHATBOTS MARKET 2019: GLOBAL INDUSTRY ANALYSIS, SIZE, SHARE, GROWTH, TRENDS AND FORECAST TO 2025

Healthcare Chatbots Market valued approximately USD 105 million in 2017 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 21% over the forecast period 2018-2025. Growing necessity of virtual health assistance is the major factor which is driving the growth in the Global Healthcare Chatb...

NEW YORK CITY LAUNCHES US$100 MILLION UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

New York City has launched a US$100 million health insurance program to cover 600,000 uninsured residents, including those unable to afford coverage and those living in the United States illegally, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday. De Blasio, now in his second term as mayor of the country's ...

ALLSCRIPTS AND MICROSOFT PARTNER TO BUILD NEW TECH FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH IN THE CLOUD

Microsoft and Allscripts subsidiary Veradigm announced a partnership to develop a new product that would help researchers conduct studies via Allscripts cloud-based electronic health record. Allscripts’ payer and life sciences-focused business unit, Veradigm, has been tapped to work with Micro...

LACK OF WOMEN CEOS IS A PROBLEM FOR HEALTHCARE, OLIVER WYMAN SAYS

More than 80 percent of the decisionmakers in the U.S. healthcare workforce are women — and 65 percent of women in C-suite healthcare positions fill technical or influencer roles — yet only 13 percent make it to CEO, according to the latest Oliver Wyman report. And, when they do make it ...

MEDICAID PLANS COVER DOCTOR VISITS, HOSPITAL CARE—AND NOW GEDS

Emilia Ford became pregnant at 15 and, after her daughter was born, dropped out of high school. As she held down different jobs during the past decade—including housekeeping and working in a relative’s retail store—she always thought about going for her GED to show she met high sch...

PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ROUNDUP—BASELGA TAKES HELM OF ASTRAZENECA’S CANCER R&D

Baselga takes helm of AstraZeneca’s cancer R&D as pharma rings in the new year with big changes Major changes are afoot at AstraZeneca as it shakes up its research structure with new units, new names and big moves. First up, we have José Baselga, who will run a newly formed cancer-f...

NEW MEXICO CUTS READMISSIONS, IMPROVES ED CARE WITH MIDDLEWARE THAT ENABLES INFORMATION SHARING

New Mexico is a state rich in history and natural resources. It also has one of the highest proportions of Medicaid beneficiaries, currently 42 percent of the population. Many of these patients live below the poverty line, struggle to receive adequate primary-care services and are high utilizers of ...

INTERNATIONAL DRUG PRICING MODEL CONCERNS ONCOLOGISTS, OTHERS WHO WORK WITH MEDICARE CONSUMERS

Healthcare organizations that represent patients who rely on Medicare Part B drugs have told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services they are concerned over its proposal to save money on drug costs through an international pricing index model. CMS is considering issuing a proposed rule this s...

HOW EMPLOYERS CAN IMPROVE CANCER CARE AND COSTS, BASED ON A NATIONAL ALLIANCE ROADMAP

While cancer deaths have been declining since the early 1990s, costs have continued to increase, with more than $147 billion spent for cancer care in the United States in 2017. Despite these rising costs, employers and health plans have been reticent to manage oncology care, and are also faced with ...

CITYMD STRIKES DEAL TO STAY IN-NETWORK WITH UNITEDHEALTHCARE

Urgent care firm CityMD has reached a last-minute contract to stay in UnitedHealthcare's network, curtailing the possibility that some of the firm's patients would face higher costs or need to find another provider. As 2018 came to a close, it seemed likely CityMD might not reach a deal in t...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—GOTTLIEB STAYING AT FDA; REPORT SAYS OPIOID OVERDOSES COST HOSPITALS $11B A YEAR

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., said on Twitter that he’s staying on the agency in response to a reporter investigating his alleged exit.  Gottlieb said in the post that “an online pharma news pub” was in contact with friends, digging into repor...

INSURERS BLAME SPECIALTY DRUG COSTS FOR RISING PREMIUMS. THIS REPORT FROM CALIFORNIA SHOWS WHY

Specialty drugs made up about 3% of prescriptions in California in 2017 but accounted for more than half of the prescription drug spending that year, according to new report that compiled drug spending from nine insurers in that state. According to the first Prescription Drug Cost Transparency Repor...

MICHIGAN MEDTECH COMPANY RAISES $77M FOR RENAL DENERVATION SOLUTION TO HYPERTENSION

Hypertension is a condition that affects millions of people around the world and can lead to serious health issues including cardiac arrest, stroke and heart failure. It also represents a significant burden and cost to the healthcare system as a whole. One potential innovative pathway to addressing ...

PAYER ROUNDUP—INSURANCE GROUPS CALL FOR HRA PROTECTIONS; MAINE GOVERNOR SIGNS MEDICAID EXPANSION

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) are opposing a Trump administration proposal to allow usage of health reimbursement arrangements to buy short-term limited duration health plans. "Enforc...

DECEMBER SAW THE MOST NEW HEALTHCARE HIRES IN DECADES

December brought the U.S. healthcare industry's largest monthly spike in the number of new hires since at least February 1990.  Healthcare added 50,200 jobs last month, the largest numeric increase in new hires in Modern Healthcare's monthly jobs data, which stretches back to February 1...

INDUSTRY VOICES—THE HIDDEN SECURITY THREAT MOST HOSPITALS HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF YET

There is a huge network threat that most people aren’t aware of: Today’s printers present greater security risks than traditional servers, desktops and laptops. What most do not appreciate, or have ignored, is that printers have evolved from being “dummy copiers” into today&r...

ATTORNEYS GENERAL APPEAL JUDGE’S HEALTH LAW RULING, SETTING NEXT STAGE IN BATTLE THAT’S ON PATH TO SUPREME COURT

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled last month that the health law is unconstitutional without the individual mandate penalty. Attorneys general from more than a dozen Democratic states are leading the charge to defend the Affordable Care Act at the next phase in court. Meanwhile, the gove...

EHR VENDOR MEDSPHERE MOVES TO INCLUDE SUPPLY CHAIN APPS WITH NEW ACQUISITION OF HEALTHLINE SOLUTIONS

Medsphere Systems, a provider of the electronic health record CareVue and RCM Cloud announced today that it has acquired HealthLine Solutions for its hospital supply chain inventory applications. HealthLine’s applications, which use bar coding and RFID technology for automated tracking, are al...

CAREMOUNT REDUCES TOTAL COST TO COLLECT BY 25% ON ITS WAY TO VALUE-BASED CARE

CareMount Medical is the largest independent multispecialty medical group that provides comprehensive medical care to more than 550,000 patients across more than 40 locations in New York. This medical group also is affiliated with organizations including Massachusetts General Hospital, Mount Sinai H...

INDUSTRY VOICES—TECHNOLOGY ALONE WON'T SAVE HEALTHCARE. WE MUST REVISIT OUR PRIMARY CARE ROOTS

People are standing by today’s disastrous status quo healthcare system, and quite frankly, it’s nonsensical. Rather than defending something that is clearly broken out of fear that change will make things worse—though it’s hard to imagine how—it’s time to stop see...

PAYER ROUNDUP—TENET, CIGNA SIGN MULTIYEAR DEAL, OPTUM SCORES VA CONTRACTS

Tenet Healthcare and Cigna have entered into a multiyear agreement that allows Cigna’s members “uninterrupted” access to Tenet’s provider network. Tenet facilities will also be in-network for members of Cigna’s Medicare Advantage plans. Tenet CEO Ron Rittenmeyer said th...

OLDER AMERICANS WORRIED ABOUT INSURANCE COVERAGE, HEALTH COSTS AS THEY APPROACH RETIREMENT

A sizable percentage of Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 are worried about their healthcare coverage as they head toward retirement, according to a new poll from the University of Michigan. Although some of these concerns include things people can’t directly control, such as policy chan...

HL7 RELEASES FHIR 4

Health Level Seven announced on Wednesday that a new version of its interoperability specification is now available. Many in the healthcare industry have been eagerly awaiting the fourth iteration of FHIR 4 because future changes will now be backward compatible. "Applications that implement the...

LINK BETWEEN READMISSION RATES, MORTALITY RATES BACK UNDER SCRUTINY

A new study shows a statistically significant correlation between lower readmission rates and higher mortality rates for patients with heart failure and pneumonia, renewing questions about the efficacy of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRR...

NEW AI IMAGING TOOL TO ACCELERATE CRITICAL PATIENT DIAGNOSES

The project, a joint collaboration between Intel and GE Health, is promising to offer physicians automated diagnostic alerts for some conditions within seconds of medical imaging being completed. It leverages the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit, running on Intel processor-based X-ray systems ...

CHANGES TO PHARMA AND HEALTHCARE IN 2019

Continuing funding shortages, Brexit uncertainty, regulator moves and regulation reforms: there is no shortage of change facing the sector in 2019. We asked the industry’s trade associations about the biggest challenges to tackle and most exciting opportunities to embrace in the year ahead. Wh...

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT TO REMAIN IN PLACE DURING APPEALS PROCESS

A federal judge who ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional earlier this month has stayed his decision to allow the law to remain in place during the appeals process. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas issued the ruling Sunday saying many Americans would "face great uncertain...

HERE'S A BIG SUPPLY CHAIN COST-SAVINGS OPPORTUNITY: PHYSICIAN PREFERENCE ITEMS

It's a fair guess that many hospitals and health systems will be making cost savings a New Year's resolution in 2019, and by standardizing physician preference items, they could realize some of those savings in their supply chains. It's an approach that has certainly worked for Kentucky-...

WHAT HOSPITALS NEED IN THE AGE OF CONSUMERISM: GUERRILLA MARKETING

There's a battle going on between health systems for covered lives. There's also an internal battle within organizations between keeping the status quo of what has traditionally worked coming up against new, very targeted approaches to gain consumer share. Whether hospitals have a powerhouse...

INSURER GROUP URGES CMS ADMINISTRATOR SEEMA VERMA TO RECONSIDER PASS-THROUGH FUNDING FOR NON-ACA PLANS

America's Health Insurance Plans is urging Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma to prevent subsidies from being used to purchase plans that are not compliant with the Affordable Care Act. In a December 20 letter to Verma, AHIP said CMS's October proposal to of...

CLEVELAND CLINIC INNOVATION EXECUTIVE SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR FRAUD

The Department of Justice announced that Gary Fingerhut, a former manager of a Cleveland Clinic spin-off, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and $2.7 million in restitution for conspiracy to defraud the Cleveland Clinic. The clinic hired Fingerhut in 2010 to help manage the development ...

BOOKENDED BY OBAMACARE, 2018 WAS THE YEAR OF POLICY CHANGE

With Congress' attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act dead by the end of 2017, any relief the law's supporters felt were likely short-lived, as 2018 was the year the Trump administration began significantly remolding a law it fundamentally opposes.Led by HHS Secretary Alex Azar, who took ...

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HEALTHCARE MARKET TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS & COMPETITIVE INSIGHTS TO 2026

A Research Report on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Market Potential Growth, Share, Demand and Analysis of Key Players- Research Forecasts to (2018 – 2026). The global Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Market research report covers main factors responsible for the development of the globa...

VERILY, WALGREENS PARTNER TO TAKE ON CHRONIC CONDITIONS

Alphabet subsidiary Verily and Walgreens revealed plans to collaborate with on several fronts to improve care for people with chronic conditions. There are several aspects of the partnership: Walgreens is now the first choice pharmacy partner for Verily. The companies will look into emerging technol...

TEVA’S PROAIR DIGIHALER FDA APPROVED TO MONITOR ASTHMA AND COPD TREATMENT

Teva Pharmaceutical, based in Israel, landed the first FDA approval for a digital inhaler with built-in sensors. The ProAir Digihaler (albuterol sulfate 117 mcg) Inhalation Powder is indicated for people suffering from asthma & COPD as a way of preventing and treating bronchospasm, a tightening ...

FDA ACTION ALERT: WRAPPING UP 2018 AND HEADING INTO 2019

With the holidays upon us, along with the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) squeezed some target action dates into the last weeks and beginning of the new year. As it turned out, these appear to be a mixed bag of extensions, resubmissions and suppleme...

ACORDA SNAGS APPROVAL FOR NEW TREATMENT OF OFF EPISODES OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Acorda Therapeutics can breathe a bit easier. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Inbrija, the first inhaled formula of levodopa (L-dopa) for the intermittent treatment of OFF episodes in Parkinson’s disease patients. The approval came about two weeks before its PUDFA date. Th...

PARAMEDICS CAN SAFELY EVALUATE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS' MEDICAL CONDITION IN THE FIELD

Emergency medical personnel in Alameda County, California, use a screening process for determining whether to "medically clear" patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies before transporting them. They identify patients who are at low risk for medical emergencies and take them directly ...

FRAMINGHAM SUES DRUG MAKERS, DISTRIBUTORS OVER OPIOID EPIDEMIC

City officials are pressing their case against drug makers and distributors for what they describe as reckless conduct that fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic. A pair of law firms representing the city recently filed a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court seeking damages from a range of major ...

MERCK/PFIZER’S BAVENCIO FLUNKS SECOND OVARIAN CANCER TRIAL

Merck KGaA and Pfizer PD-L1 inhibitor Bavencio has missed the mark in its second ovarian cancer trial in a month, this time failing in previously-untreated patients. Results from a planned interim analysis of the phase III JAVELIN Ovarian 100 trial showed that Bavencio (avelumab) was unable to impro...

UROLOGY PROCEDURES INVOLVE OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS

Washington: Antibiotics are overused in up to 50 percent of patients undergoing common urological procedures, suggests a new study. Researchers at the University of Iowa showed that the high rates of overuse were mostly due to the extended use of antibiotics following the procedure. The findings wer...

PURETECH’S VEDANTA RAISES $27M FOR MICROBIOME RESEARCH

US-based Vedanta Biosciences has raised $27 million in a Series C financing to investigate microbiome-derived therapies for several indications, including cancer and food allergy. Investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Rock Springs Capital, Invesco Asset Man...

OPTUMSERVE AWARDED TWO CONTRACTS WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded OptumServe two major contracts for 2019 to provide telephone-based lifestyle coaching and medical disability exams. The virtual lifestyle contract covers coaching for diet, exercise, stress and alcohol use for eligible veterans receiving care from the V...

TAKING SURPRISE MEDICAL BILLS TO COURT

Joaquin Lopez had emergency gallbladder surgery after rushing to an ER last year. He has been haggling with Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis over what he owes ever since. The 37-year-old college professor was hit with a nearly $8,000 bill from the out-of-network hospital—that was after the...

HPE EXECUTIVE SAYS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TAKES IT AND CLINICAL TEAMS WORKING TOGETHER

In today’s world, almost everything computes thanks to constant connectivity, exponential increases in data, easy access to massive computational power and the growth of human-machine interaction. Technologies in these areas are accelerating the pace of innovation and creating new possibilitie...

WHY DATA ANALYTICS IS A CORE COMPETENCY FOR POP HEALTH SUCCESS IN A RISK-BASED WORLD

Medicare is clearly driving value-based payments and MSSP programs in a direction such that providers will have to take on risk. With that in mind, there are core capabilities providers will need to be successful and analytics is one of them. Just how to effectively harness data and analytics, espec...

FEWER PEOPLE CITE HEALTHCARE AS COUNTRY'S MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM FOLLOWING MIDTERMS, GALLUP FINDS

Healthcare, along with immigration, were top concerns among voters heading into November's midterm elections. Many cited those issues as among the nation's top problems. Now, though, concern over healthcare is down, according to a new poll from Gallup. Before the midterms, 11 percent of Amer...

BLUE CROSS, ALEDADE TEAM UP TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT PRACTICES IN NORTH CAROLINA THROUGH ACOS

A health plan and a startup company are pairing up to support independent primary care physicians in North Carolina. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Aledade, a well-funded startup that partners with primary care physicians to build and lead accountable care organizations (ACOs), are...

WALGREENS AND VERILY ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIPS FOR DIABETES, MEDICATION ADHERENCE

Walgreens Boots Alliance and Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences research arm, announced multiple plans on Wednesday to help patients with chronic conditions. One project uses “devices and other approaches” to improve medication adherence, and the other “provides tools, coa...

PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ROUNDUP—CALIFORNIA DOCTOR ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY PRESCRIBING DRUGS TIED TO DEATHS

A Southern California doctor was arrested Tuesday on federal charges that allege he illegally distributed opioids and other narcotics by writing prescriptions, including to at least five people who suffered overdose deaths. But his prescribing also appears linked to the death of a bicyclist struck b...

NEW AFFORDABLE CARE ACT POLICIES COULD DRIVE DOWN UNINSURED RATE FROM 12 TO 7.3 PERCENT

If a number of specific policy actions are implemented, Congress could potentially supplement the Affordable Care Act in such a way as to bring health insurance to 12 million more Americans, finds a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That doesn't necessarily mean Congress will take ...

PHARMA GIANTS PFIZER AND GLAXOSMITHKLINE TO CREATE JOINT CONSUMER HEALTHCARE BUSINESS

Pharma giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are creating a joint venture consumer healthcare business. The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction under which Pfizer's consumer healthcare business will essentially roll into GlaxoSmithKline's existing cons...

ALTARUM: GROWTH OF HEALTHCARE PRICES FINALLY DROPPED BELOW INFLATION—AND THAT TREND MAY BE HERE TO STAY

Healthcare prices are growing at a rate that’s slower than the overall inflation rate, and there are signs that this trend may be the new normal. In series of briefs on healthcare spending, employment and price growth, Altarum said it found that the Health Care Price Index (HCPI) increased by ...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—UPMC'S CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER HEADS TO NEW GIG AT ATRIUM HEALTH

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's well-known chief innovation officer, Rasu Shrestha, M.D., is heading to a new gig at Atrium Health. Shrestha will become Atrium's new chief strategy officer, officials announced Tuesday. In the role, Shrestha will be leading enterprise strategy, incl...

INDUSTRY VOICES—TACKLING DRUG DIVERSION WITH A PROACTIVE APPROACH STEEPED IN ANALYTICS

We’ve made great strides in addressing the opioid epidemic at a national level. Just two months ago, Congress passed a comprehensive bipartisan package (PDF) taking aim at substance abuse disorders by combining ideas from 58 opioid bills. But one area that still eludes our industry is the drug...

CLEVELAND CLINIC, KAISER PERMANENTE THROW SUPPORT BEHIND PROPOSAL TO REQUIRE PRICES IN TV DRUG ADS

Some major health systems and trade groups threw their weight behind a Trump administration proposal which would require pharmaceutical companies to include the list price of their drugs in TV ads targeted at consumers. The public comments come after CMS announced a proposal earlier this year to req...

GOOGLE EXEC SAYS HEALTH ORGS SHOULD KEY IN ON DATA MANAGEMENT AND ADVANCED INSIGHTS

Google Cloud will be focusing on, among other things, data management and advanced data insights at HIMSS19 -- two areas it sees as important trends for CIOs and other IT executives to stay focused on in the year ahead. As the amount and types of healthcare data grow, it is becoming increasingly com...

AVERAGE OUTPATIENT VISIT IN U.S. APPROACHING $500, STUDY FINDS

The average outpatient visit in the United States costs nearly $500, according to a new scientific study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. In addition, the average inpatient stay had a price tag in 2016 of more than $22,000. Both of these dollar amou...

DAVITA DROPS PRICE OF MEDICAL GROUP TO $4.3B IN SALE TO UNITEDHEALTH

Dialysis giant DaVita is lowering the price of its Medical Group to UnitedHealth Group's Optum unit to $4.3 billion, DaVita officials announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. Davita and UnitedHealth originally agreed to a sale price of $4.9 million for DaVita Medical H...

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE PURCHASING A NEXT-GEN AMBULATORY EHR

Electronic health record systems are the backbone of ambulatory practices today and need to be designed and tailored to meet the specific needs of physicians. Ambulatory EHRs are tasked with streamlining workflows, improving care and helping to trim costs. And like every technology, ambulatory EHRs ...

CVS HEALTH DEFENDS MERGER AND INTEGRATION OF AETNA

Ahead of a federal court hearing on Tuesday, CVS Health is defending its merger with Aetna, through briefs filed on Friday. On Friday, the Department of Justice, which has approved the acquisition, also filed a brief which states the court has the authority to reject a proposed merger settlement, bu...

UK TO INVEST £1 MILLION AN AI-BASED HEALTH PROGRAMME

The British High Commission announced at an event in Delhi that the UK would be making an ambitious one million pound investment in a programme which will bring several artificial intelligence companies from the UK to help tackle diseases in Indian hospitals and health centres. India-UK FutureTech F...

SUPREME COURT PUTS FORTIS HEALTHCARE SALE TO IHH ON HOLD

The Supreme Court today ordered a status quo on the Rs 4,000 crore sale of Fortis Healthcare Ltd. to Malaysian group IHH Healthcare Bhd. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi was hearing the petition filed by Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo alleging former promoters—brothers Mal...

SMALL PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED PATIENTS GENERATE MOST OF HOSPITALS' SELF-PAY REVENUE

Upwards of 30 percent of self-pay accounts -- those patients without health insurance or those who have a patient balance after insurance -- will generate more than 80 percent of the self-pay revenue collected by hospitals, finds a new TransUnion Healthcare analysis. Which means that, if hospitals a...

CIGNA, EXPRESS SCRIPTS MERGER CLEARS STATE HURDLES

Cigna and Express Scripts have cleared two state hurdles to their merger, as New York and California insurance regulators approved the $67 billion merger. The deal reportedly only awaits approval from the state of New Jersey. The New York Department of Financial Services and the California Departmen...

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TELEHEALTH UPSIDES OF MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS

This past October, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services came out with an eagerly-anticipated new rule expanding the ways providers can use telehealth and get paid by Medicare Advantage plans. The biggest way the rule changes the status quo, once it goes into effect in 2020, is that provide...

WHAT DOCTORS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MACRA’S NEW PATIENT RELATIONSHIP CODES

Doctors may have heard plenty about MACRA. But they may be far less familiar when it comes to new patient relationship categories and codes. But, according to a perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, they are one of the "more important provisions” of the Medicare Access...

IHI 2018: WHY IT’S CRUCIAL TO TAP INTO THE ‘PSYCHOLOGY OF CHANGE’ TO SUSTAIN QUALITY IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS

ORLANDO, Fla.—As providers push quality improvement initiatives, a key part of making those changes stick is emphasizing the human element. With that in mind, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement released a framework this week aimed at getting to the “psychology of change” when...

DOCTORS WHO ARE MOTHERS FACE ‘INSIDIOUS, PERSISTENT’ DISCRIMINATION, STUDY FINDS

It’s not always easy being a mom. Try being a mother and a physician. A new study, published in the BMJ, finds “insidious, persistent and sometimes blatant” discrimination experienced by physicians based specifically on their status as mothers. That conclusion was drawn from an ana...

PATIENTS MORE LIKELY TO APPROVE OF MEDICAL AID-IN-DYING THAN DOCTORS, SURVEY FINDS

The majority of physicians now support medical aid-in-dying for the terminally ill, but their patients are still far more likely to approve of the practice. Despite ethical concerns, a new survey from Medscape of 5,200 physicians surveyed across 29 specialties found 58% agree that physician-assisted...

ANALYTICS TO HELP UNDERSTAND SOCIAL DETERMINANTS CAN IMPROVE CARE, BOOST REVENUE

Factors such as income security, literacy and social isolation are some of the many social determinants of health – key personal factors that can greatly inform a patient's overall health outcomes and quality of life. Understanding and working to improve the SDOH for patients has long been...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—U.S. HEALTHCARE COSTS FROM ANIMAL-RELATED INJURIES EXCEED $1B

The total healthcare costs of animal-related injuries exceeds $1 billion every year and is expected to rise amid climate change and development pressures on animal habitats, according to research published in the online journal Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open. What kind of injuries? Nearly half w...

INDUSTRY VOICES—HOW AMAZON'S HEALTH VENTURE COULD HELP TURN UNSTRUCTURED EHR DATA INTO REFINED FUEL

As I’ve written before, we need fresh thinking and new investments in healthcare, but this is a complex industry with some unique challenges. In the long run, a mash-up of old and new could lead to real breakthroughs. In the short run, we should expect failures and flameouts. Recent reports ab...

AI'S NEXT HEALTHCARE TARGET: ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING

Now that electronic health records have, for the most part, been universally adopted in the U.S., enterprise resource planning is the next top to-do for many hospitals, and artficial intelligence is likely to be a big part of it, a new survey shows. The report on AI and machine learning, from Evans ...

ONC FOCUSED ON PRIVACY AND USABILITY IN NEW APP-BASED HEALTHCARE ECOSYSTEM

The Trump administration’s top health IT official told lawmakers his agency is acutely focused on ensuring that privacy and security remain pillars of future rulemaking as the healthcare industry transitions to an app-based economy. Lawmakers in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on He...

PROMINENT DOCTORS AREN’T DISCLOSING THEIR INDUSTRY TIES IN MEDICAL JOURNAL STUDIES. AND JOURNALS ARE DOING LITTLE TO ENFORCE THEIR RULES

This story was originally published by ProPublica. It was co-published with The New York Times. One is dean of Yale’s medical school. Another is the director of a cancer center in Texas. A third is the next president of the most prominent society of cancer doctors. These leading medical figure...

ONEONCOLOGY CONTINUES GROWTH SPURT, ADDS FORMER SEN. BILL FRIST TO ITS BOARD

Nashville-based cancer care startup OneOncology has continued its growth spurt by bringing on new leadership, including former Senator Bill Frist to its board, and preparing for the addition of new cancer practices in 2019. The company expects to name a chief medical officer soon and recently named ...

GETTING HEALTH SYSTEM BOARDS ENGAGED IN QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IS TRICKY. IHI RELEASES NEW FRAMEWORK TO HELP

ORLANDO, Fla.—Tackling quality and safety improvement in healthcare facilities is vitally important. But with its increasing complexity, health system board members may struggle to keep up. So, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement has issued a framework aimed at making quality governance e...

PWC’S 2019 TREND TO WATCH: HEALTHCARE’S BECOMING MORE LIKE THE BROADER ECONOMY

Healthcare was long considered an outlier compared to the rest of the economy, but it’s now behaving more in line with other industries—and that’s driving the trends to watch in 2019, according to a new report. PricewaterhouseCoopers released its annual list of industry issues to t...

HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY FIRST ORTHOPEDIC HOSPITAL TO WIN HIMSS DAVIES AWARD

New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery, the first specialty hospital to win a HIMSS Davies Award for Excellence. has found a way to use teamwork and health IT to improve processes and care outcomes. With nearly 19,000 annual inpatient surgeries, requiring close bed utilization monitoring, ...

HOW HOSPITALS CAN TURN INNOVATION LABS INTO COMMERCIAL PROFIT CENTERS

Some U.S. hospitals and health systems have turned their successful in-house work in health IT into commercial offerings that other hospitals and health systems can benefit from. This work is typically done in what is called an innovation lab. This is not necessarily an easy task. First one must hav...

BANNER ACHIEVES HIMSS DAVIES FOR INTENSIVIST TACT TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES, SHORTEN LENGTH-OF-STAY

Banner Health is using two-way A/V technology, predictive analytics, data visualization and advanced reporting to tackle its patient volume challenges, while at the same time improving the care of high-acuity patients. The health system’s use of IT and efficient daily use of intensivists for c...

VICTORIA’S BASS COAST HEALTH INTEGRATES CLINICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM USING MASTERCARE EMR

The MasterCare EMR solution will be used by Bass Coast Health clinicians to govern the assessment and management plans of clients, along with the monitoring and measuring of on-going outcomes. It comprises of a complete EMR and Practice Management solution, with software supporting Minimum Data Set ...

TELEHEALTH SOLVES PSYCHIATRIST SHORTAGE FOR IMPOWER, AND MUCH MORE

Back in 2012, Longwood, Florida-based Impower was a small behavioral health agency that focused on home- and school-based care for individuals in the child welfare system. The behavioral health provider organization's services were limited, provider shortages were severe and wait times were over...

HEALTH IT ROUNDUP—FORMER CONSTELLATION HEALTH DIRECTOR ARRESTED; HOSPITAL BEDS GET AN UPGRADE

The former director of a now-defunct revenue cycle management company was arrested by federal authorities in JFK airport over the weekend for his role in a $300 million investment fraud scheme. Pavandeep Bakhshi, a United Kingdom resident and former board director of Constellation Health, has been c...

EHR INTEGRATION IS THE NEXT LOOMING CHALLENGE FOR TELEHEALTH VENDORS

The telehealth industry is riding a wave of satisfaction from healthcare clients that say virtual care vendors are generally worth the money. But a looming challenge around EHR integration could set some companies apart. That’s according to a new analysis released by KLAS Research which evalua...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—HHS, NASA TEAM UP TO STUDY HEALTH; 41% OF AMERICANS PLAN TO SKIP FLU SHOT

The Department of Health and Human Services and NASA are working together to study health concerns for people on Earth and in space. NASA, for example, is interested in further research on cardiac arrhythmia and nutrition, and both agencies would benefit from an investigation into portable and auton...

ONC NAMES WINNERS OF CERTIFIED HEALTH IT PRODUCT LIST CHALLENGE

Three winners and one honorable mention have been announced in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT'’s Certified Health IT Product List Data Challenge. The competitors were tasked to find ways for users of the Certified Health IT Product List to make better use of the granu...

HEALTHCARE SPENDING SLOWS FOR 2ND CONSECUTIVE YEAR, REMAINS AT 18% OF GDP

Healthcare spending in the United States decelerated once again in 2017 to a growth rate of 3.9%, nearly a full percentage point lower than in 2016, according to new statistics released by the federal government on Thursday. It’s the second consecutive year that healthcare spending has slowed,...

HHS TAPS FORMER CAREFIRST BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD EXECUTIVE AS SENIOR DRUG PRICING ADVISER

The Department of Health and Human Services has named a new adviser to oversee its drug pricing initiatives. John O’Brien, a pharmacist and adviser to HHS Secretary Alex Azar on health reform and drug pricing policy, was named senior adviser for drug pricing reform, HHS announced. He joined HH...

CIVICARX'S FIRST CEO, MARTIN VANTRIESTE, TALKS ABOUT THE COMPANY'S AMBITIONS FOR 2019 AND BEYOND

When Martin VanTrieste left his executive role at AmGen, he said he was retiring. He’d started out as a pharmacist, working in formulation development for a large pharmaceutical company, and went on to ultimately become the chief quality officer of a drug giant. But earlier this year, he jumpe...

RAND: U.S. SHOULD PILOT SUPERVISED INJECTION SITES, HEROIN-ASSISTED TREATMENT

Positive results from supervised injection sites and heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) abroad suggest it’s time for U.S. policymakers to consider piloting similar programs stateside, according to a new report. A new study from RAND Corporation suggests these controversial treatment options are v...

CONGRESS HAS SIGNALED A CRACKDOWN ON PROVIDER CONSOLIDATION. EXPERTS SAY IT'S TOO LATE

Experts warn that increasing consolidation in healthcare is driving up prices, and that has caught the attention of lawmakers in recent months. Now a new report suggests the healthcare market has already experienced so much consolidation that policymakers should take steps to ease pricing concerns i...

OIG FRAUD RECOVERIES DROPPED $1.2B THIS YEAR. THAT MIGHT NOT BE A BAD THING

The federal government brought in 30% less in fraud recoveries in 2018 than it did the previous year, thanks to far fewer large settlements. But that could be a net benefit, according to the agency. The Office of the Inspector General recovered $2.9 billion from fraud investigations during the fisca...

OPEN DOOR FAMILY MEDICAL CENTERS WINS HIMSS DAVIES AWARD

Open Door Family Medical Centers has won the HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence for its work with colorectal cancer screening and health IT. The award will be presented at HIMSS19 in Orlando, Florida, in February. Open Door Family Medical Centers prioritizes early screenings for improved patient outco...

OPEN DOOR FAMILY MEDICAL CENTERS WINS HIMSS DAVIES AWARD

Open Door Family Medical Centers has won the HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence for its work with colorectal cancer screening and health IT. The award will be presented at HIMSS19 in Orlando, Florida, in February. Open Door Family Medical Centers prioritizes early screenings for improved patient outco...

IMPRIVATA, DIGICERT TEAM UP ON EPCS TECHNOLOGY TO TIGHTEN OPIOID PRESCRIPTION ACCESS

Electronic prescribing for controlled substances continues to gain momentum as a valuable weapon in the fight against the national opioid epidemic. Imprivata, the healthcare-focused security firm, and DigiCert, the SSL certificate authority, have teamed up to deliver an automated identity proofing p...

COMMONWELL-CAREQUALITY BEEFS UP DATA SHARING, BUT SOME PROVIDERS REMAIN DISCONNECTED

Last month, CommonWell and Carequality officially teamed up, allowing providers to share information in electronic health records (EHRs) with one another regardless of which vendor they use. The move was supposed to make it easy for providers to communicate and connect with one another. Why, then, i...

THE MISSING PIECE IN TELEMEDICINE? DENTISTRY

Telemedicine has gotten plenty of chatter when it comes to specialty and mental health care, but more providers should drill down on using it for oral health care, according to a new study. The University of Rochester’s Eastman Institute for Oral Health piloted a teledentistry program that in ...

UPMC, HIGHMARK BREAKUP MAKING IT HARD TO DO ENROLLMENT FOR SENIORS

This week marks the end of the enrollment period for Medicare recipients in Pennsylvania. But this sign-up season has been a bit of a trick for seniors in the western part of the state stuck in the middle of the breakup between two of the region's largest health providers. A state-brokered agree...

UNSAFE MEDICAL DEVICES ALLOWED INTO GLOBAL MARKETS HARM PATIENTS, INVESTIGATION REVEALS

A global investigation has found that unsafe medical devices have caused 1.7 million injuries globally and almost 83,000 deaths in the last 12 years. According to The Implant Files, a year-long investigation of the manufacturers of devices by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists...

MOODY'S: IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THINGS WILL GET MUCH BETTER FOR NONPROFIT HOSPITALS IN 2019

With a report earlier this year showing nonprofit hospitals on an "unsustainable path" as expenses outstripped revenue, this year hasn't been great for nonprofit hospitals. Now, a new report from Moody's Investors Service doesn't project great news for 2019, either. Why? Analys...

WHICH DOCTORS ARE MOST LIKELY TO USE TELEMEDICINE? IT DEPENDS

Telemedicine is gaining traction in physician practices. But it’s more popular among doctors in certain specialties, a new study has found. Who’s jumping on board? Radiologists were the most likely, as they reported using telemedicine to store and forward data about diagnoses (39.5%), ac...

CHILDREN'S MERCY RAMPS UP NUMBER OF SPECIALTIES VIA TELEHEALTH FROM 3 TO 30

Not only is geography a health determinant, but the quality of and access to healthcare can be determined by ZIP code. Children's hospitals are collections of providers that have specialized in pediatric medicine and then specialized again in specific disorders of childhood and adolescence. Thes...

AETNA, ASCENSION JOIN BLOCKCHAIN ALLIANCE TARGETING PROVIDER DIRECTORIES

A new blockchain alliance that wants to improve the accuracy of provider information just added two healthcare powerhouses to its efforts. Aetna and Ascension have joined Synaptic, the blockchain-focused alliance launched earlier this year by UnitedHealth, Humana, Multiplan and Quest Diagnostics. Th...

NEW MEDICARE MARKETING GUIDELINES RAISE THE SPECTER OF PAST PREDATORY SALES TACTICS

In 2007, insurers, state regulators and federal officials gathered before a Senate committee to answer what had become a nagging question within a growing Medicare Advantage (MA) market: Who was benefiting from the marketing of the increasingly profitable plans? The answer, it appeared, was insurers...

SEN. ALEXANDER FAVORS 21ST CENTURY CURES OVERSIGHT OVER NEW LEGISLATION

The lawmaker behind the landmark 21st Century Cures Act isn’t interested in hashing out follow-up legislation. He’d prefer to see the 2016 law implemented. “We’re more likely to make adjustments to it than we are to pass another big new bill like that in the next few years,&r...

MASSACHUSETTS AG, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION GIVE OK TO BETH ISRAEL, LAHEY MEGAMERGER

Massachusetts' Attorney General gave the OK for the proposed merger between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health System following a number of agreements with health system officials, including a promise not exceed a seven-year price cap. The Federal Trade Commission also voted t...

BRIGHT HEALTH SETS SIGHTS ON EXPANSION WITH NEW $200M FUNDING ROUND

Insurance startup Bright Health closed its largest funding round to date, with plans to expand its footprint in 2020. The Minneapolis-based insurer announced it raised $200 million on Thursday in an “oversubscribed" series C, meaning it raised more money than intended. Bright Health has r...

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: LESS COMPETITION IN HEALTH INSURANCE MARKETS IN HALF OF U.S. STATES

Many patients had fewer choices last year as competition levels dropped in health insurance markets in half of the U.S. states, according to a new report. The report (PDF) released by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that half of all states had commercial health insurance markets that we...

DOCTORS ADD VOICES TO FEARS CLIMATE CHANGE IS POSING HEALTH RISKS AROUND THE GLOBE

In the wake of a new study released Wednesday that warned of escalating health risks from climate change, a major physician group is backing the call for action. Published in The Lancet medical journal, the report says that climate change is already posing health risks around the world from extreme ...

PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ROUNDUP—DOCTOR’S TV INTERVIEW RESULTS IN $125K HIPAA FINE FOR PRACTICE

A Connecticut physicians group has been hit with a $125,000 fine for alleged HIPAA violations after one of its doctors spoke to a TV reporter in a dispute with a patient over bringing a service animal to the allergy practice. Allergy Associates of Hartford agreed to pay the fine to the Office for Ci...

AFTER A CENTURY OF INDEPENDENCE, SEATTLE-BASED POLYCLINIC IS ABSORBED BY UNITEDHEALTH’S OPTUMCARE

UnitedHealth is continuing its provider acquisition spree, purchasing a large multispecialty physician group in Seattle that had remained staunchly independent for more than century. During Tuesday’s investor meeting, UnitedHealth CEO David Wichmann said the company signed an agreement to acqu...

CMS' SEEMA VERMA SAYS ADMINISTRATION FORGING AHEAD ON WORK REQUIREMENTS AS IT EXAMINES ARKANSAS

Despite large numbers of Arkansas residents losing Medicaid eligibility under that state's work requirement law, the Trump administration is doubling down on its support of a "long list" of other states seeking to create their own Medicaid work requirements. Speaking with reporters on ...

OIG: CMS SHOULD REVISIT HOSPITAL WAGE INDEX SYSTEM, CITING $140M IN OVERPAYMENTS

CMS' hospital wage index system has been systematically overpaying hospitals for over a decade, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) found in a recent report. Between 2004 and 2017, the Medicare program overpaid at least 272 hospitals to the tune of $140.5 million. The OIG identified severa...

PREMIER CEO SUSAN DEVORE TO KEYNOTE HIMSS19

Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier,  an analytics company that helps health systems move to risk-based payment models, will be a keynote speaker at HIMSS19. DeVore will address “Healing from Within: Leading Change, Inspiring Action,” on Friday morning at the global health IT...

HIMSS ANALYTICS RANKS TOP 10 ERP VENDORS IN HEALTHCARE BY MARKETSHARE

Enterprise resource planning software is a business stalwart dating well back into the previous century. Yet as healthcare facilities have been focused on implementing electronic health records and patient billing software, many have invested less in ERP. "Healthcare organizations have been slo...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROPOSAL WOULD ALLOW PART D PLANS TO NEGOTIATE PRICES OF DRUGS IN 'PROTECTED' CLASSES

The Trump Administration's latest proposed rule aimed at curbing prescription drug prices would allow Medicare Part D plans to negotiate better prices in "protected" classes. “Certain CMS regulations constrain these plans’ full negotiating power and the changes that we&rsqu...

CALIFORNIA APPROVES DIGNITY HEALTH-CHI DEAL. BUT IT COMES WITH A CATCH

California officials have approved the megamerger between Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives expected to be known as CommonSpirit. But regulators placed a number of charity care requirements on the deal. The state’s attorney general will require (PDF) the joint health system—...

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS EXPANDS ECONSULT PROGRAM AFTER CUTTING DOWN WAIT TIMES FOR SPECIALTY CARE

NYC Health + Hospitals has expanded its eConsult system—a tool that eases communication between primary care providers and specialists—to 81 primary clinics, the health system announced. NYC Health + Hospitals, the country’s largest municipal health system, first piloted eConsult i...

PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT SAYS UPMC MUST SAFEGUARD EMPLOYEE DATA

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) must protect the personal information of its employees from hackers, Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled last week. The decision bolsters a long-running class-action lawsuit filed by UPMC employees following a 2014 data breach that exposed the ...

IS THERE AN ROI ON WISHES GRANTED THROUGH MAKE-A-WISH? THIS STUDY SAYS YES

The immediate benefits of Make-A-Wish Foundation dreams to sick children and their families are well documented. But it appears they could also bring some sustained health benefits resulting in fewer unplanned admissions and emergency department visits among seriously ill pediatric patients, a recen...

HOW GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM USED AI TO REDUCE PREVENTABLE READMISSIONS

Preventing avoidable readmissions is a focal point of most, if not all health systems big and small. These episodes are often costly to the patient and provider and open up additional opportunities for exposure to hospital-acquired infections. However, some patient populations, especially those with...

HHS NAMES FIRST DSIIS MEETING PARTICIPANTS AND DATE TO UNLOCK OBSTACLES TO HEALTH IT INVESTING AND INNOVATION

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that Dec. 18, 2018 will be the first quarterly meeting of the Deputy Secretary’s Innovation and Investment Summit (DSIIS). Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan announced the yearlong collaboration of stakeholders -- including HHS officials -- ...

OPTUMLABS IS USING AI TO PREDICT ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

This year, OptumLabs began a research project using artificial intelligence to predict Alzheimer's disease. The long-term project is being done in conjunction with a pharmaceutical company and other sponsors to identify clusters in a population at risk of developing Alzheimer's, which could ...

REPORT SHOWS STRONG BUT UNEVEN SPENDING IN MEDICAL AND HEALTH R&D ACROSS SECTORS OVER FIVE-YEAR PERIOD

Total investment in medical and health research and development in the U.S. grew by 27 percent from 2013 to 2017, led by industry and the federal government, according to a new report from Research!America. Industry accounted for 67 percent of total spending in 2017, followed by the federal governme...

KENTUCKY'S MEDICAID WORK RULES RE-APPROVED BY FEDS

The Trump administration has again approved Kentucky's Medicaid waiver, which requires beneficiaries to either get a job, volunteer in the community or go to school to keep their benefits. Kentucky state regulators announced the approval on Tuesday, nearly five months after a federal judge block...

POLITICS COULD DRIVE 2019 CONGRESSIONAL ACTION ON RURAL HEALTH

In the wake of the polarizing midterm elections this month, advocates hope that House Democrats and Senate Republicans see strengthening rural healthcare access as a prime area for bipartisan action in Congress next year.They say moves to shore up financially struggling rural hospitals and offer com...

HEALTH TECH COLLABORATIVE HOPES TO BRING VALUABLE SOLUTIONS TO THE VULNERABLE

Medicaid beneficiaries are, by definition, the most vulnerable healthcare population in America. Despite this, innovative health technology companies tend to bring their products elsewhere—usually the employer-sponsored or Medicare Advantage markets. Sometimes it can take a decade for those so...

WALGREENS PARTNERSHIP WOULD GIVE HUMANA MORE LEVERAGE IN SHIFTING MARKET

Following a report that Humana and Walgreens are in discussions to take equity stakes in one another, one analyst says the move would allow the insurer to keep pace with surrounding vertical integration. A formal partnership would also dispel any chance of a Walmart takeover, rumored earlier this ye...

HUIYIHUIYING LAUNCHES NEW AI FULL CYCLE HEALTH MANAGEMENT CLOUD PLATFORM BASED ON AI 2.0 TECH

Huiyihuiying, a Chinese medical imaging artificial intelligence company, yesterday announced the launch of their new AI Full Cycle Health Management Cloud Platform, which consists of two separate platforms for different health concerns: the Breast Cancer AI Full Cycle Health Management Platform and ...

MEDICAID DEMONSTRATIONS AREN'T PROPERLY EVALUATED. RANDOMIZED TRIALS COULD FIX THAT

Section 1115 waivers in the Medicaid program are meant to be experiments for states to test coverage approaches that don't meet federal requirements. However, most of those evaluations fall far short, lacking the rigorous study design needed to properly evaluate them, according to a new commenta...

VA REPORTEDLY IN TALKS WITH APPLE TO PUT HEALTH RECORDS ON THE IPHONE: WSJ

The Department of Veterans Affairs is reportedly in discussions with Apple to put electronic health records on the tech giant's mobile devices, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple would create special software tools that would allow veterans in the VA system to transfer their health reco...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—ELEVENTH CHILD DIES IN NEW JERSEY ADENOVIRUS OUTBREAK

An eleventh child has died as a result of an adenovirus outbreak in a New Jersey rehabilitation facility, state health officials said.  Thirty-four children with compromised immune systems have been diagnosed with the virus, which typically causes flu-like symptoms in pediatric patients. The st...

CMS REAPPROVES MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS IN KENTUCKY

Less than six months after a federal court blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reapproved the state's waiver. Wednesday's approval (PDF) comes after the agency was forced to restart the waiver application process after ap...

ATRIUM EMPLOYEES SUE OVER HEALTH AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS

A group of former employees filed a federal class action suit against Atrium Health, accusing the healthcare system of trying to swindle them over health and retirement benefits. The Charlotte Observer reports that Atrium, formerly Carolinas HealthCare System, claimed to be an arm of the government ...

REPORT: EMPLOYERS NEED TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS BEFORE THEY COVER GENOMIC TESTS

There's a lot of promise—but also a lot of hype—around the still-emerging science of genetic testing for consumers. Even so, there are plenty of national brands such as Levi Strauss, Instsacart and Visa that have begun offering insurance coverage for their employers for tests such as...

DOCTORS TO NRA ON GUN VIOLENCE: THIS IS OUR LANE

The gloves appear to be coming off when it comes to doctors talking about guns. Just a few weeks after a social media dust-up in which the National Rifle Association told doctors in a tweet to "stay in their lane" when addressing the politically charged issue of guns, an editorial response...

ACLU OF ILLINOIS DEMANDS REMOVAL OF CHILDREN IN DCFS CARE FROM TROUBLED CHICAGO HOSPITAL

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois on Friday took the state’s child welfare agency to federal court to attempt to force the removal of all children in its care from a troubled Chicago psychiatric hospital after additional claims of sexual abuse there. A sexual assault allega...

THEFT AND DISCLOSURES ACCOUNT FOR MOST HEALTHCARE DATA BREACHES. BUT HACKERS TOOK 3 TIMES AS MANY RECORDS

Over the last decade, healthcare organizations have been far more likely to report a data breach due to theft or an unauthorized disclosure. Hacking, meanwhile, is much less common. But attackers make off with far more patient records. In a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday, re...

INDUSTRY VOICES—WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY TO ELIMINATE HEPATITIS. FIRST STEP: TESTING.

It's no secret that malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV are among the deadliest maladies on the planet. But there's another condition that exacts an even larger death toll and yet receives far less attention. That condition is viral hepatitis, which claims 1.5 million lives a year. Most people wh...

AMIA CALLS FOR TIGHTER COORDINATION OF DATA PRIVACY RULES

The American Medical Informatics Association is asking the Trump administration to take a close look at both HIPAA and the Common Rule to see how they might be updated or harmonized for a new era of the privacy policy. Specifically, the AMIA wants a more integrated approach to how policies aimed at ...

GEISINGER LAUNCHES PROGRAM MEANT TO 'REDESIGN' SURGICAL EXPERIENCE

Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System is launching a program to "redesign" the surgical experience aimed at improving the healing process following surgery while ultimately tackling one of the major sources of opioid addiction: postsurgical care. Officials said they Proven Recovery pr...

STUDY: ONLINE REVIEWS CAN FLAG STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES IN THE ED AND URGENT CARE

Plenty of healthcare providers are still skeptical about the value of online patient reviews. But a new study found that the data can help identify some of the strengths and weaknesses in emergency and urgent care. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine analyzed mo...

EHR, REVENUE CYCLE AND PRACTICE MANAGEMENT VENDORS TO INTEGRATE PRODUCTS, BLACK BOOK SAYS

Integrated delivery networks (IDNs) are demanding product consolidation of electronic health records, revenue cycle and practice management vendors are likely to deliver sooner rather than later, according to new Black Book research. The firm found that the recent uptake of physician practices by ho...

UNITEDHEALTHCARE ADDS APPLE WATCH TO MOTION PROGRAM WITH OPTION TO 'WALK IT OFF'

Beginning this month, UnitedHealthcare members in some employer-sponsored plans will be able to receive a new Apple Watch and pay the insurer back simply by walking. UnitedHealthcare said it is integrating Apple Watches into its existing wellness program called Motion that rewards members for meetin...

WANT TO SPEED ADOPTION OF NEW EVIDENCE-BASED CARE GUIDELINES? TRY GETTING INSURERS AND PROVIDERS TO WORK TOGETHER

It takes 17 years on average for a discovery in the lab to make it to the bedside. But better collaboration between insurers and healthcare providers could help accelerate the use of evidence-based care, according to a new report from the Alliance of Community Health Plans.“Their shared commun...

CONFIDENT ABOUT ELIMINATING DIABETES, VIRTUAL CLINIC VIRTA HEALTH PUTS 100% OF FEES AT RISK

In the world of payment models, getting providers to take on both upside and downside risk can be like pulling teeth. But online specialty medical clinic Virta Health is daring to go where few providers have gone before, announcing plans to embark on an ambitious 100%-downside-risk model. Under thei...

INDUSTRY VOICES—3 WAYS TO ADDRESS HOSPITAL CEOS' TOP PRIORITY: COST CONTROL

The Advisory Board’s Annual Health Care CEO Survey found that cost control is now healthcare system CEOs’ number one priority. The nationwide survey took place between December 2017 and March 2018, with 146 C-suite executives from hospitals and health systems providing their responses. B...

CMS INCREASES HEALTHCARE.GOV BREACH TOTAL TO 93,600

More people were impacted by last month's Heatlhcare.gov data breach than previously thought, according to an update from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The agency reported a final total of 93,689 people whose information was compromised during an Oct. 16 data breach tha...

HIMSS ASIAPAC 18 - INTEROPERABILITY AND SECURITY ARE TOP CONCERNS OF MILITARY HEALTH LEADERS

Setting the context regarding military health systems for the broad audience who may not have direct experience with them or understand how they work, Dr Charles Alessi, Chief Clinical Officer, HIMSS, who is also the moderator of the IMHIT panel on Day Two of the conference, explained that the popul...

INDUSTRY VOICES—CATHOLIC HOSPITALS NEED TO RECONNECT TO THEIR FAITH-BASED LEGACIES

Not so long ago, Catholic hospitals were typically run by nuns. Their presence in the halls and executive suites were a constant reminder of the hospitals’ faith-based legacies, which were generally appreciated by community members, regardless of their religious affiliation. Today, Catholic ho...

DOCTORS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF LICENSURE COMPACT TO PRACTICE IN OTHER STATES VIA TELEMEDICINE

Doctors are taking advantage of a compact to get licensed to practice in other states via telemedicine. Since its launch more than a year and a half ago, 3,426 doctors have been issued medical licenses by state medical boards through the streamlined process provided by the Interstate Medical Licensu...

REPORT: HEALTHCARE COSTS VARY BY REGION, SO SOLUTIONS MUST VARY TOO

As industry stakeholders look to drive down rising healthcare costs, a consistent trend emerges Geography matters, and it causes significant variation. Tracking regional differences is crucial to ensuring all valuable voices are brought to the table to address the issue, according to a new report (P...

HEALTH SYSTEM MOVES FROM TEXT-ONLY TO AI-POWERED INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA RADIOLOGY REPORTS

The radiology report is the principle work product of the radiologist. Until recently, reports describing findings in imaging studies have been plain, text-only documents. Such reports are increasingly inadequate. “Traditional radiology reports are limited to plain-text in order to simplify th...

GOOGLE HIRES GEISINGER CEO TO CHART HEALTHCARE STRATEGY

Google has tapped Dr. David Feinberg, who has served as chief executive of Danville, Pennsylvania-based Geisinger since 2015, to help it develop and expand its healthcare strategy. Feinberg will be tasked with organizing and innovating Google's various healthcare initiatives, some of which overl...

FEDERAL JUDGE SHUTS DOWN FLORIDA COMPANY THAT COLLECTED MORE THAN $100M FOR SHAM HEALTH PLANS

A federal court has temporarily shut down a sham health insurer that collected more than $100 million from consumers and left tens of thousands of people uninsured. The South Florida company called Simple Health Plans LLC sold “worthless” plans to consumers, according to the Federal Trad...

ALLSCRIPTS RAMPS UP NETSMART SALE AS Q3 LOSSES REACH $36M

Allscripts is accelerating efforts to sell off its ownership stake in Netsmart, an EHR company that targets post-acute care providers and behavioral health. Citing “significant market interest” in the company, Allscripts has hired financial advisors to run a formal sale process, Chief Fi...

TOP BLOCKCHAIN CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN HEALTHCARE

Open blockchain jobs are on the rise. In fact, according to a Glassdoor report, the number of unique jobs related to blockchain rose from 446 in August 2017 to 1,775 for the same month this year. That’s an eye-popping 300 percent. Not bad for a new technology. When blockchain does become wides...

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS REVALIDATED AGAINST NEW EMRAM STAGE 6 STANDARDS

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) has become the first NHS trust and the first Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) to be revalidated against the new Stage 6 HIMSS Analytics international Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) standards that came into force at the beginnin...

HOSPITALS AREN’T THE ONLY ONES WITH PRICE VARIATION. NEW RESEARCH SHOWS PAYERS HAVE LARGE DISCREPANCIES, TOO

The prices payers negotiate with hospitals can vary significantly between payers, between hospitals, among services, and among contract types, according to a new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper. While critics frequently point to poor price transparency and variation among p...

HEALTH IT ROUNDUP—HHS OPENS CYBERSECURITY CENTER; NEXTGEN ADJUSTS GUIDANCE AFTER REVENUES FALL

EHR vendor NextGen Healthcare scaled back its earnings guidance for 2019 after reporting a $2.3 million decline in quarterly revenue. The company’s revenue dropped to $130 million in the last quarter due to “an uptick in attrition” along with larger deals with longer implementation...

HEALTH IT ROUNDUP—HHS OPENS CYBERSECURITY CENTER; NEXTGEN ADJUSTS GUIDANCE AFTER REVENUES FALL

EHR vendor NextGen Healthcare scaled back its earnings guidance for 2019 after reporting a $2.3 million decline in quarterly revenue. The company’s revenue dropped to $130 million in the last quarter due to “an uptick in attrition” along with larger deals with longer implementation...

HHS SET TO IMPLEMENT LONG-DELAYED 340B FINAL RULE IN JANUARY

HHS is planning an about-face on the long-delayed rule that would set price ceilings and monetary penalties in the 340B program, moving up its start date by several months. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice (PDF) saying that it intended to finally implement the rule on Jan....

HCA'S INCOMING CEO OFFERS HIS TAKE ON THE FUTURE OF THE HEALTH GIANT AS INCOME JUMPS IN THIRD QUARTER

Nashville-based hospital giant HCA Healthcare's shares jumped more than 6% Tuesday after reporting a more than 7% jump in revenue as it released its third-quarter earnings. HCA reported that its revenues increased 7.1% to $11.5 billion in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to $10.7 bill...

RANSOMWARE THAT WON’T QUIT: SAMSAM STILL PUMMELING U.S. HEALTHCARE

The notorious SamSam ransomware – that hampered Allscripts for a week and shut down the city of Atlanta’s government – has not let up as the year draws to a close. And its hackers are continuing to target the U.S, especially the healthcare sector. According to a new Symantec report...

RESIDENCY TRAINING NEEDS A REVAMP. SO AMA IS OFFERING CASH FOR THE BEST IDEAS

Building on its efforts to transform medical school training, the American Medical Association is now turning its eye—and its funding—to residency training. The AMA, the country’s largest physician association, announced today that it will provide $15 million over five years to fun...

UNIVERSAL HEALTH SERVICES OFFICIALS 'OPTIMISTIC' FOR RESOLUTION IN DOJ INVESTIGATION SOON

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services is cautiously "optimistic" it is getting close to a deal with the Department of Justice more than three years after it disclosed it was under investigation for billing practices at its behavioral health facilities. The company h...

SPARROW HEALTH WINS HIMSS DAVIES ENTERPRISE AWARD

Sparrow Health System in Lansing, Michigan, has won a 2018 HIMSS Davies Enterprise Award for its work using evidence-based best practices to reduce non-emergent blood transfusions. Sparrow recognized that overuse of red blood cell and platelet transfusions was a significant problem – one that ...

HEALTH IT ROUNDUP—IBM BUYS RED HAT FOR $34B; MORE ACUTE CARE HOSPITALS ENGAGED IN INTEROPERABILITY

IBM has agreed to buy a leading provider of open source cloud software for $34 billion. The tech giant's purchase of Red Hat makes it the “world’s #1 hybrid cloud provider” according to IBM President and CEO Ginni Rometty. "The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer,&rdq...

EHR OPTIMIZATION LEADS TO 53% INCREASE IN CASH COLLECTIONS AT RANGELY HOSPITAL

Rangely District Hospital in Rangely, Colorado, was struggling to show progress toward quality measures with limited reporting tools. It was at risk of missing out on revenue from Medicaid and Medicare. The hospital was losing valuable physician and staff time making up for missing functionality. It...

MEET THE NEWEST HIMSS ANALYTICS ADOPTION MODEL: INFRAM

HIMSS Analytics has launched a new maturity model to help healthcare organizations measure how their technology deployments compare with their peers. The new Infrastructure Adoption Model, or INFRAM, aims to assess health systems' IT network across five subdomains. INFRAM is meant to help provid...

AWS SIGNS ON WITH NIH CLOUD PRECISION MEDICINE PROJECT

AWS is working with the National Institutes of Health, joining its STRIDES Initiative, which will leverage cloud technology to make big biomedical datasets more easily available for healthcare and life science researchers. STRIDES – it stands for Science and Technology Research Infrastructure ...

HOW SARATOGA HOSPITAL LEVERAGED PATIENT MONITORING TO REDUCE TRANSFERS TO ICU BY 63%

For many hospitals, the shift to value-based care is adding pressure to deliver quality care and achieve the best clinical outcomes while reducing costs. Saratoga Hospital in Saratoga Springs, New York, was one such hospital facing these challenges as they tried to adapt to delivering higher quality...

MACHINE LEARNING, AI DISRUPTING MEDICAL EDUCATION AND ADAPTIVE LEARNING MODELS

As the industry continues to shift into value-based care, many organizations are leveraging new technology to support care delivery. But new technology requires a change in how care is provided, which should begin in medical school and continue throughout a clinician’s career. “Outcomes ...

U.S. HOSPITALS IMPROVED INFECTIOUS DISEASE PREPAREDNESS IN RESPONSE TO EBOLA THREAT, FEDERAL WATCHDOG SAYS

Preparedness for emerging infectious diseases threats saw a marked improvement at U.S. hospitals after an Ebola outbreak scare in 2014, according to a new report from a federal watchdog agency. The challenge now? Keeping that level of preparedness in the midst of competing priorities. According to t...

MEDICAID MANAGED CARE PLANS ARE MAKING A FORAY INTO HOUSING—BUT THEY CAN DO MORE

There is an abundance of evidence that housing impacts health. People who lack stable, safe housing, or who have no place to live at all, experience poor health outcomes. In turn, they generate additional costs for the healthcare system. Historically, it’s been difficult to make a difference f...

U.S. HOSPITALS WASTING ABOUT $25.4B ON SUPPLY CHAIN EVERY YEAR

The amount of money U.S. hospitals will waste on unnecessary supply chain spending will reach $25.4 billion this year, up about 10% or $2.4 billion over last year, according to a new report. In its study (PDF) of 2,300 hospitals, consulting firm Navigant also found that hospitals could save up to 18...

REPORT: MORE PROVIDERS ADOPTING VALUE-BASED PAYMENT MODELS, BUT PLENTY STILL HESITATE TO TAKE ON RISK

The number of payments tied to value-based models continues to grow, but there’s more work to be done to drive providers to take on risk, according to a new report. The Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network released its latest progress report on the uptake of alternative payment mo...

ANALYTICS WITH SOCIAL DETERMINANTS DRIVES MILLIONS IN VALUE-BASED SAVINGS AT CARILION

Carilion Clinic in Virginia has been on a path toward value-based care for more than a decade and has built much of the clinical infrastructure needed to best meet its patients' needs. And although it had a certain level of analytics maturity, staff realized they needed more support in gaining b...

CMS RESPONDS TO DATA BREACH AFFECTING 75,000 IN FEDERAL ACA PORTAL

The files of an estimated 75,000 individuals were accessed in a breach of Healthcare.gov for Affordable Care Act enrollment, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS said it detected anomalous activity in the federally facilitated exchanges or direct enrollment pathway for ag...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION EXPANDS HEALTH REIMBURSEMENT ARRANGEMENTS FOR MARKETPLACE COVERAGE

The Trump administration plans to release a proposed rule on Tuesday morning allowing businesses to give employees money to purchase health insurance on the individual marketplace, a move senior official says will expand choices for employees that work at small businesses. The proposed rule, issued ...

UNAUTHORISED ACCESS ATTEMPTS DETECTED ON SINGAPORE’S HEALTHHUB PORTAL

HealthHub, a one-stop portal and mobile application for Singaporeans to access a wide range of health content, rewards, and e-services, which was launched in 2015, had experienced a series of unauthorized log-ins, according to the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) recent statement. The portal is ...

INDUSTRY GROUPS SOUND OFF ON ACO PROGRAM CHANGES, BUT HALF OF PARTICIPANTS SAY THEY WILL STAY

Provider groups had plenty to say about the proposed changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) that are likely to drive out a portion of accountable care organizations (ACOs) if finalized. A new survey by the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) released this week shows that 60% of ACOs...

AMA ISSUES 12-STEP 'PLAYBOOK' FOR DIGITAL HEALTH IMPLEMENTATION

The nation’s largest provider group unveiled a new “playbook” Wednesday designed to help physicians implement a variety of new digital tools. The American Medical Association (AMA) released its Digital Health Implementation Playbook at the Connected Health Conference in Boston. The...

FDA UPDATES MEDICAL DEVICE PREMARKET GUIDANCE TO INCLUDE CYBERSECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS

Updated guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday includes several new cybersecurity recommendations for medical devices. Among those changes, the FDA is asking manufacturers to include a list of hardware and software components within each device—known as a “bill ...

OPTUM QUIETLY SNAPS UP ANOTHER SPECIALTY PHARMACY AS UNITEDHEALTH’S Q3 PROFITS BALLOON

UnitedHealth quietly purchased Avella Specialty Pharmacy last quarter, marking its second such acquisition over the three-month span. The company disclosed the acquisition in its third-quarter financial filing but did not list the purchase price. Last month, the insurer said it acquired Genoa Health...

AS AMAZON TURNS ITS GAZE TO HEALTHCARE, THE INDUSTRY MAY BE IN FOR A WILD RIDE

Amazon has been in the headlines disrupting markets for years, but over the past few months, we have seen more and more news about the company’s ambitions in healthcare. From the alliance with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway that Dr. Atul Gawande has been appointed to lead to the purchas...

NEMOURS CHILDREN'S HEALTH SYSTEM POSITIONS ITSELF, PEDIATRIC HOSPITALS FOR LEADERSHIP ROLE IN SHIFT TO VALUE

With the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol Building through a wall of windows behind him, Nemours Children's Health System's newly minted CEO made his case for why the nation's top healthcare leaders and lawmakers need to pay more attention to pediatric hospitals in the push for a value-based...

PENN MEDICINE’S NEW TRANSFORMATION PROJECT LOOKS TO FILL THE ‘MIDDLE SPACE’ BETWEEN EHRS AND CLINICIANS

Impatient with the current progress of electronic health records (EHRs), one of the nation’s foremost academic medical centers is taking matters into its own hands. Last week, Penn Medicine—which operates as the health system under the University of Pennsylvania—launched a new init...

UNDERSTANDING THE NEED FOR SYSTEMS SUPPORT IN ONCOLOGY CARE

In the United States, healthcare spending has grown at a rate faster than the gross domestic product. In 2016, according to the federal government, America’s total medical costs hit a new record of $3.3 trillion. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates that the direct medical ...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REVISITS MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS FOR BIRTH CONTROL COVERAGE

A contentious federal rule that would expand employer exemptions for contraceptive coverage based on “moral convictions” is back under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released two proposed rules loosening c...

TEXAS FINES HUMANA $700K FOR NETWORK INADEQUACY, UNDERSCORING COMPLEXITIES OF SURPRISE BILLING

Texas regulators fined Humana $700,000 for network adequacy deficiencies, an unusual step that could signal state regulators are more willing to wade into concerns about surprise billing. The fine came months after the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) learned that Humana canceled network contract...

TELEHEALTH COMPANY HEALTHRIGHT CHARGED IN $1B FRAUD SCHEME

The CEO of the telemedicine company HealthRight was charged alongside several compounding pharmacies for a $1 billion fraud scheme in which the company assisted with a scheme to bill insurers for marked-up pain creams and marketed other bogus supplements to patients. HealthRight CEO Scott Roix plead...

COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS CONTINUES HOSPITAL SELL-OFF WITH DEAL IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Franklin, Tennessee-based hospital giant Community Health Systems (CHS) has continued with its previously announced plan to divest part of its portfolio, announcing that a subsidiary has agreed to sell a two-hospital health system in South Carolina by the end of the year. CHS's subsidiary signed...

TWO PHISHING ATTACKS ON MINNESOTA DHS BREACH 21,000 PATIENT RECORDS

Two employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services fell for phishing attacks, which potentially breached 21,000 patient records over the course of more than one month. The first email compromise began on June 28, the second on July 9, but officials said the IT department did not discover th...

HHS ENLISTS HIMSS HEALTHBOX TO REDUCE INNOVATION BARRIERS BY ENGAGING INVESTMENT COMMUNITY

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working with HIMSS Healthbox to reach out to investors and better understand the barriers to innovation. "This is going to be the first time we formally engage the investment community," HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan told Healthcare IT...

DETROIT MEDICAL CENTER-AFFILIATED HOSPITAL CHARGED WITH UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES

A Detroit Medical Center-affiliated hospital has been hit with charges of multiple labor violations from the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB complaint is based on claims from nurses at Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, who allege that hospital leadership threatened them for trying to improve wor...

PATIENTS WANT DOCTORS TO TALK TO THEM ABOUT MORE THAN JUST PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS, MEDICATIONS

Today’s patients have a broader view of what good health means, according to a new survey, and they have greater expectations of what their doctors should be talking about during office visits. The survey of 2,027 U.S. adults conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Samueli Integrative Health...

AETNA FINED MORE THAN $600K IN MULTISTATE INVESTIGATION INTO 2017 HIV DISCLOSURE

Following a $17 million settlement earlier this year, Aetna has agreed to pay three states nearly $650,000 to resolve investigations into a 2017 incident in which it disclosed members’ HIV status. The insurance giant will pay fines to Connecticut, Washington, New Jersey and the District of Col...

ANALYTICS BOOSTS USE OF CLINICAL BEST PRACTICES AT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

At Tampa General Hospital in Florida, analytics on orders and process workflows were hard to come by. Clinical and financial questions had to be answered by a custom report, some of which could take several days to produce. The data simply wasn't easily accessible, and each report would inevitab...

HIPAA AND DATA SHARING: RETHINKING BOTH FOR THE DIGITAL AGE

Ironically, HIPAA was written at a time when most providers were on paper charts and submitting paper claims. It established a framework for protecting patient information and focused heavily on the way providers shared patient information. The subsequent HITECH (Health Information for Economic and ...

TRUMP SIGNS BILLS ENDING PHARMACY GAG CLAUSES

President Donald Trump signed two bipartisan bills into law on Wednesday that would ban so-called gag clauses at the pharmacy counter. The bills, the Patient Right to Know Act and the Know the Lowest Price Act, would allow pharmacists to tell patients that they could save money on drugs by paying ca...

CENTENE EXPANDS ACA MARKETPLACE FOOTPRINT, ADDS 4 NEW STATES

Centene is expanding its marketplace offerings in 10 markets in 2019, including four new states. The St. Louis-based insurer announced on Wednesday that it will enter markets in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and expand its reach in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mi...

JOHNS HOPKINS’ ARMSTRONG INSTITUTE MAKES BRIGHAM HEALTH EXECUTIVE ITS NEW DIRECTOR

Johns Hopkins’ famed Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality has found its new director. Allen Kachalia, M.D., who currently serves as a clinical quality officer and vice president for quality and safety at Brigham Health in Boston, will take over the position beginning Dec. 1, John...

HIMSS ANALYTICS DELIVERS A STATE OF THE HEALTH IT INDUSTRY REPORT

For National Health IT Week 2018, HIMSS Analytics delivered new research exploring some key trends, looking closely at established software infrastructure and emerging technologies alike. "What we're seeing as far as a state of the market is acceleration beyond the EMR," said Blain New...

HOSPITALS ARE ROADBLOCKS TO PATIENT EHR DATA REQUESTS, DESPITE HIPAA

What if the challenge to overcome with data sharing was the policies common among hospitals? A new study published in JAMA Network Open found just that: Patients are facing many hurdles when they request to receive their records from hospitals. Conducted by Yale University School of Medicine, the st...

WHY PROVIDERS, LAWYERS AND COMMUNITY-BASED WORKERS ARE THE PUBLIC HEALTH DREAM TEAM

The things we generally view as determinants of health—genetics, personal choices, and access to high-quality care—really only play a supporting role. In fact, social, economic and environmental factors determine as much as 60% of an individual’s health status. Those factors can ma...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—KAVANAUGH CONFIRMED; SURVEY FINDS EMPLOYEES AREN'T USING HSAS FOR LONG-TERM SAVINGS

In a highly contentious confirmation process that promises to have broad health care implications, Brett Kavanaugh officially became a Supreme Court Justice over the weekend. With a 50 to 48 vote, it was one of the closest confirmation votes for a Supreme Court justice in history. Republicans cheere...

WANT YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS? BETTER BE PREPARED TO CALL—AND PAY UP

HIPAA guarantees patients the right to receive a complete copy of their medical record from providers. But you wouldn't know it from the way most hospitals manage records requests. Patients face substantial barriers when requesting their records from hospitals, according to a recent study conduc...

JOHNS HOPKINS' ELECTRONIC TRIAGE TOOL BOOSTS ER EFFICIENCY, SAVES BED HOURS

Clinicians in the emergency department are often short on time, so researchers at Johns Hopkins are arming them with an electronic tool aimed at improving efficiency at triage. Hopkins built the Electronic Triage System, a machine learning program that uses data from the electronic health record to ...

CERNER REVEALS LONG LIST OF VA EHR MODERNIZATION PARTNERS

Cerner shared the list of the 24 health IT vendors that will support the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ transition to from its legacy VistA EHR to the Cerner platform. Accenture, Leidos and AbleVets are among the leading names of vendors that will support the project throughout the proje...

HEALTHCARE ROUNDUP—OPIOID PACKAGE HEADS TO TRUMP'S DESK; DEDUCTIBLE AND PREMIUM HIKES EAT EMPLOYEES' WAGE GROWTH

The Senate passed a massive package aimed at addressing the nation's opioid addiction crisis, sending the bill to the president's desk on Wednesday. The opioid package includes more than 70 bills, including the STOP Act to halt illegal drugs at the border. The legislation would allow the Foo...

PEW SAYS CONSUMERS PREFER BIOMETRICS FOR PATIENT MATCHING, BUT HOSPITALS HAVE CONCERNS

Pew Charitable Trusts this week published a report on patient matching, examining it as a key challenge for healthcare's overall goal of more effective interoperability. In the study, Pew looked at the potential for biometrics and, through interviews with consumers and healthcare executives, det...

VERMA: CMS IS EXPLORING WAYS TO EXPAND SITE-NEUTRAL PAYMENTS

Following a proposal that would change the way Medicare pays for clinic visits, the Trump administration is looking at ways to expand site-neutral payments to other areas of care. Post-acute care could be one of those areas, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verm...

BANNER HEALTH, ASCENSION EXECUTIVES JOIN HUNDREDS OF HOSPITAL CEOS DEFENDING 340B PROGRAM

CEOs from more than 700 hospitals sent a letter (PDF) to congressional leaders on Tuesday, calling on them to protect the 340B drug discount program. The 340B program requires drugmakers to provide discounted drugs to hospitals, health centers, and other healthcare providers that serve disproportion...

UNITEDHEALTH BUYS GENOA HEALTHCARE, ADDING MORE THAN 400 PHARMACIES TO ITS PBM

With new competitors closing in, UnitedHealth is bolstering its defenses by purchasing Genoa Healthcare, the fifth-largest pharmacy chain in the country with 435 locations. Genoa—which also offers telepsychiatry services and medication management for behavioral health patients—will be ab...

HERE'S WHAT INNOVATORS REALLY NEED FROM EHR MAKERS TO MOVE HEALTHCARE FORWARD

Healthcare is on the verge of open APIs and data, developer programs from leading software vendors, and an even bigger rush of upstarts and entrepreneurs looking to create digital health tools that usher in a new generation of care delivery fit for consumers by focusing on patient experience. As exc...

COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS-OWNED HOSPITAL CHAIN AGREES TO PAY $262M SETTLEMENT FOR KICKBACK, FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

A health system that is part of hospital giant Community Health Systems Inc. agreed to pay more than $262 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday. Health Management Associates (HMA), a hospital chain formerly headquartered in Naples, Florida,...

EXPERTS SAY ANTI-FRAUD LAWS ARE HOLDING BACK RURAL HEALTH

With a dwindling supply of physicians and more hospitals going out of business, rural areas of the country face considerably more healthcare hurdles. But experts say two outdated anti-fraud laws—the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Stark Law—could go a long way in solving some of the ...

CONGRESS REACHES CONSENSUS ON OPIOID EPIDEMIC LEGISLATION PACKAGE

The House and Senate have reached a consensus on a legislative package aimed at the opioid crisis, setting the stage to swiftly send a bill to the president’s desk. The two chambers of Congress each passed individual bipartisan bills before coming together to hammer out a joint package (PDF). ...

MICROSOFT SAYS CARE COORDINATION AND SECURE MESSAGING TOOLS ARE COMING TO ITS TEAMS PLATFORM

The software giant will enable caregivers to communicate and integrate with EHR systems. Microsoft is holding its Ignite conference this week, and the company teased a forthcoming care coordination tool that is in early stages of development – as well two secure messaging features it's cre...

MICROSOFT SAYS CARE COORDINATION AND SECURE MESSAGING TOOLS ARE COMING TO ITS TEAMS PLATFORM

The software giant will enable caregivers to communicate and integrate with EHR systems. Microsoft is holding its Ignite conference this week, and the company teased a forthcoming care coordination tool that is in early stages of development – as well two secure messaging features it's cre...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES WEAKENING RULES GOVERNING ORGAN TRANSPLANT CENTERS

The Trump administration this week proposed eliminating a decades-old regulation that puts hospitals at risk of losing their Medicare funding if too many of their patients die or suffer organ failure after receiving transplants. The rule the government is proposing to scrap is the same one that led ...

INDUSTRY VOICES—RIGHT TO TRY LAW PROVIDES A LICENSE TO CASH IN ON PATIENT FEARS

More than 1.7 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year. Almost one in three of those patients will eventually succumb to it. Knowing these odds, patients are eager to try anything to improve on them. They and their loved ones want quicker access to the latest medicines—even if...

WHAT IF HEALTHCARE IS NOT BROKEN? AND WHAT IF WE'RE ACTUALLY WINNING THE OPIOID BATTLE?

Here comes a counterargument to two widely held opinions: that the U.S. healthcare system is broken, and that we are losing the battle against the opioid crisis. Instead, Dave Chase says, healthcare is already fixed because solutions exist to the industry’s biggest dysfunctions – and he ...

OMB HEALTHCARE OFFICIAL: SEEKING SIMPLE SOLUTIONS ON HEALTHCARE POLICY IS A ‘FALLACY’

Searching for simple solutions on health care policy is “like hunting squirrels with a shotgun," said a high-level OMB official responsible for vetting such proposals. It works ultimately, but there won’t be much left to eat with that approach, said Joseph Grogan, the associate dire...

PRIVATE BLOCKCHAIN, EXPLAINED: WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT ISN'T AND HOW TO MANAGE YOUR HIPAA EXPECTATIONS

For many healthcare executives, blockchain is more than just hype. Data silos and interoperability challenges abound in healthcare, and blockchain technology appears to provide a solution, theoretically allowing distinct sources of data to update each other in a decentralized way—without the c...

NHS UNVEILS NEW DEVELOPER PROGRAMS TO SPARK INNOVATION FOR PATIENTS

The National Health Service in England announced two new innovator programs to accelerate the use of digital health tools that benefit patients and remove barriers slowing adoption of innovation in the NHS. Part of a wider effort led by NHS England and the Academic Health Science Networks, NHS Engla...

TRUMP'S TARIFF THREATS ON CHINA COULD HIT HOSPITAL IT SHOPS

President Trump on Wednesday threatened to add new import taxes on an additional $257 billion of Chinese goods to the $200 billion established on Monday. This was in response to China on Tuesday announcing plans to impose new tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. exports. Even though it’s only a thre...

STUDY: DRUG PRICES RISE TWICE AS FAST AS EXPECTED IN A SHORTAGE

It's not unexpected for prices to go up during a drug shortage. But during drug shortages in 2016, prices went up—way up—at a rate more than twice what would ordinarily be expected, according to a new study. Specifically, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard compar...

BILLIONAIRE PETER SOON-SHIONG'S VERITY HEALTH SYSTEM DECLARES BANKRUPTCY

Hospitals that are part of Verity Health, an El Segundo, California-based nonprofit chain owned by billionaire Peter Soon-Shiong, remains open after the system filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a release, health system officials said they secured debtor-in-possession financing of up to $185 millio...

UNITEDHEALTHCARE AND AMA CLASH OVER MEDICARE'S STEP THERAPY CHANGES

A recent policy change that would allow Medicare Advantage plans to use step therapy for Medicare Part B drugs is creating yet another dividing line between insurers and providers. UnitedHealthcare—the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage carrier, with a prominent voice in the ears of fed...

TELEHEALTH HELPS EINSTEIN MEDICAL CENTER SLASH READMISSIONS, BOOST VALUE-BASED CARE

The Einstein Medical Center wanted to decrease readmissions for liver failure patients by 50 percent. Caregivers had a longtime interest in the potential for remote patient monitoring and turned to telehealth technology to address this mandate. Thus far, since implementing the RPM processes, the hos...

IT'S NOT JUST AMAZON: EMPLOYERS ARE TURNING 'ACTIVIST' WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTHCARE

Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway have grabbed the headlines in recent months by becoming the employers to finally disrupt healthcare. But while hospital executives have said they believe that particular effort has the greatest chance of actually making an impact, experts said it's just o...

LAWMAKERS ASK MEDPAC TO INVESTIGATE HOW HOSPITAL CONSOLIDATION IMPACTS MEDICARE, AND VICE VERSA

For better or worse, hospital consolidation has increased steadily over the last decade. Now, lawmakers are worried about how those mergers impact Medicare—and they're turning to a federal commission to investigate. Writing to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), three congre...

MOMENTS OF IMPACT: A LIFE-LONG JOURNEY IN PUBLIC HEALTH

There are moments in our lives that are incredibly impactful, whether we are aware of their impact at the time they happen or in hindsight. For Jessica Kahn, senior expert in Public Sector Healthcare IT and Data at McKinsey & Company and recent recipient of HIMSS’s Most Influential Women i...

TELEMEDICINE RACKS UP $1 MILLION IN COST AVOIDANCE SAVINGS FOR TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL

Tallahassee Memorial Hospital regularly saves upwards of $1 million per year in cost avoidance through its real-time video telehealth platform, despite not being able to bill for a vast majority of the telemedicine services it provides. The technology also improved patient health, especially among i...

NATIONWIDE PRESCRIPTION SAFETY ALERT SYSTEM PROPOSED BY HOUSE BILL

A House bill introduced on Aug. 30 would create a nationwide Prescription Safety Alert System, designed to better protect patients at risk of opioid overuse. If passed, the Analyzing and Leveraging Existing Rx Transactions (ALERT) Act would mandate the Department of Health and Human Services to work...

IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE OPIOID CRISIS, PROVIDERS ARE TURNING TO TECHNOLOGY

Opioid abuse and addiction continue to be a national crisis, but it is being felt at a very local level. Patient care organizations across the country are seeing the impact of the opioid crisis on the health of their patient populations. From 1999-2016, more than 350,000 people died from an overdose...

AMAZON WEB SERVICES BOOSTS MACHINE LEARNING TO TREAT DEPRESSION

Pharmaceutical company Takeda and the research and development data science institute ConvergeHEALTH by Deloitte have partnered to study patient datasets to better understand the etiology, progression and most effective therapies for difficult diseases. Using insurance claims information including d...

HARRIS HEALTHCARE ACQUIRES IATRIC SYSTEMS, WILL RUN IT AS AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS

Harris Healthcare acquired Iatric Systems for an undisclosed sum. Boxford, Massachusetts-based Iatric, which specializes in integration tools to help hospitals optimize electronic health records and other IT infrastructure, will operate as an independent business unit of Harris, officials said. Iatr...

WATCHDOG GROUP TAKES AIM AT HHS' NEW PBM REBATE RULE, ASKS ETHICS OFFICERS TO EVALUATE AZAR'S CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

HHS Secretary Alex Azar has once again come under fire regarding his relationship with former employer Eli Lilly, this time from the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability (CfA). The group specifically took issue with the way HHS' new proposed rule would reduce pharmacy benefit manager (PBM)...

AI IS HYPED, BUT BIG DATA, SOCIAL DETERMINANTS WILL HAVE A BIGGER IMPACT

The shift to value-based care often has C-suite executives wondering how best to support the transition, while ensuring a solid return on investment in the long term. And the key to improving care value is to ensure an organization has the right tools to support patients throughout the care cycle. T...

IN SHIFT TO VALUE, PROVIDERS WORRY ABOUT RUNNING AFOUL OF KICKBACK LAWS. OIG ANNOUNCED IT'S SEEKING IDEAS ON HOW TO FIX THAT

The Department of Health and Human Services has released its long-promised request for information on reforming anti-kickback statutes. The RFI (PDF) was posted to the Federal Register on Monday. The HHS Office of Inspector General is seeking feedback on ways it could adjust the implementation of th...

STEWARD ROLLS OUT WOLTERS KLUWER TECH TO STANDARDIZE DECISION SUPPORT ACROSS 38 HOSPITALS

Steward Health Care, the biggest private hospital chain in the country, is turning to technology from Wolters Kluwer to help tackle variations in care across more than three-dozen hospitals. The integrated care network, which spans 10 states and 38 hospitals, is expected to care for some 3 million p...

MORGAN STANLEY: NEARLY 1 IN 10 HOSPITALS AT RISK FOR CLOSURE

Nearly 10% of hospitals are at risk of closure, according to a new analysis. Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, and financial services company, analyzed data on more than 6,000 hospitals and found that 450, or 8%, are at risk for closure. Plus, an additional 10% are performing weakly, meaning close...

CIGNA, EXPRESS SCRIPTS SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE $67B DEAL

Shareholders with both Cigna and Express Scripts voted to approve the insurer’s $67 billion acquisition of the PBM, the companies announced on Friday. The shareholder approval marks an important hurdle in finalizing the deal and follows several weeks in which Cigna tussled with activist invest...

VERILY RESEARCHERS: TIME FOR PSYCHIATRY FIELD TO APPLY ANALYTICS, SENSORS TO THEIR PRACTICES

New technologies and large-scale data generation and analysis could potentially bring a more quantifiable approach to psychiatry and mental health treatment. In a recently published prospective, a group of Verily researchers and Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, called for the psychiatric f...

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FUNDS $3.5 MILLION TO DEVELOP PROTOTYPE IMPLANT THAT REWIRES A SPINAL CORD

The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) program announced that it is working in conjunction with a project team including four European Union countries to design and build a prototype of an active implant that restores transmission of signals in an injured...

RELENTLESS FOCUS ON INNOVATION WINS OCHSNER A HIMSS DAVIES AWARD

Ochsner Health System has won a 2018 HIMSS Davies Enterprise Award, honored for the accomplishments of its Innovation Ochsner group, or Team iO, and its broader efforts to improve patient safety and population health. The workgroup within Ochsner, the large academic medical center based near New Orl...

DOJ TAKES ANTHEM TO COURT OVER REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH MEDICARE ADVANTAGE FRAUD INVESTIGATION

The Department of Justice is asking a court to force Anthem to turn over information related to an ongoing fraud investigation involving the insurer's Medicare Advantage plans that brought in nearly $215 million using retrospective chart reviews over a two-year period. Anthem, meanwhile, argues ...

A POLICY WAS MEANT TO CURB OPIOID PRESCRIBING. INSTEAD, RESEARCHERS SAY PRESCRIPTIONS AFTER SURGERY WENT UP

A rescheduling of hydrocodone by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2014 was meant to curb prescriptions written for the powerful opioids by providers. Instead, a study published in JAMA Surgery found, the policy might have had the opposite effect from what officials intended. Under the 2014 DEA...

HHS REASSIGNS CIO BETH KILLORAN IN LATEST STAFFING SHAKE-UP

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reassigned CIO Beth Killoran to the Office of the Surgeon General “to develop a comprehensive information systems strategic plan for the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps,” an HHS official confirmed to Healthcare IT News on Tuesday....

HOSPITAL EXECUTIVES BELIEVE AMAZON CAN DELIVER ON ITS HYPE AS A HEALTHCARE DISRUPTER

Out of all the technology giants with ambitions in healthcare, hospital executives have overwhelmingly put their faith in Amazon, according to a new survey. A full 59% of executives say Amazon will have the biggest impact, according to the survey by Reaction Data. Respondents cited resources availab...

VETERANS GROUP SUES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER ROLE OF ‘SHADOW RULERS’ AT THE VA

A liberal veterans' advocacy organization is suing the VA to prevent a trio of Mar-a-Lago members from exerting further influence on the agency. VoteVets and Democracy Forward filed suit (PDF) in a District of Columbia federal court to block the three “shadow rulers” from continuing ...

UNITEDHEALTH, AARP HIT WITH ANOTHER LAWSUIT OVER CO-BRANDED MEDIGAP PLANS

A lawsuit filed this week accuses UnitedHealth and AARP of violating state insurance laws and charging consumers artificially inflated premiums. It’s the third such lawsuit filed against the two companies this year and adds to ongoing litigation in several states. A class-action lawsuit filed ...

AS CMS RETOOLS ITS ADVANCED PAYMENT MODELS, PROVIDERS STILL GRAPPLE WITH THE TECH REQUIREMENTS

As providers gear up to participate in CMS’ revamped payment models, one major hurdle stands in the way for many: technology. Deirdre Baggot, Ph.D., a healthcare business strategist who has worked with more than 200 hospitals to implement value-based payment models, told FierceHealthcare in an...

HEALTHCARE APP ECONOMY IS COMING: GET READY FOR THE DATAQUAKE

Before the Blue Button Developer Conference on Monday, I stepped inside the U.S. Digital Service for something of a pre-party. USDS hosted this mix of people in full suits rubbing elbows with tattooed technologists wearing t-shirts. In the packed room, USDS Deputy Administrator Edward Hartwig climbe...

CLOUD-BASED PACS SYSTEM CUTS IMAGING COSTS BY HALF FOR RURAL HOSPITAL

Republic County Hospital in North Central Kansas had an imaging problem: Its picture archiving and communications system was supplied by the radiology group that read images for the hospital. It was locked into the group, which limited its ability to find more cost-effective pricing on the open mark...

FLAGLER HOSPITAL USES AI TO CREATE CLINICAL PATHWAYS THAT ENHANCE CARE AND SLASH COSTS

Flagler Hospital in Saint Augustine, Florida, is using artificial intelligence tools to improve the treatment of pneumonia, sepsis and a dozen other high-cost, high-mortality conditions. Usually, it’s large academic medical centers or wide-ranging health systems, not community hospitals, that ...

HOW BLOCKCHAIN CAN HELP WITH HEALTHCARE'S PATIENT MATCHING PROBLEM

Blockchain. The distributed ledger technology has considerable promise in healthcare and, as so often happens with emerging technologies, it’s being hailed as something close to a cure-all for just about everything. From cybersecurity to electronic health records and data interoperability, to ...

NEW MEXICO HEALTH CONNECTIONS ASKS COURT TO IMMEDIATELY STRIKE DOWN UPDATED RISK ADJUSTMENT RULE

A New Mexico insurer in the midst of a legal battle with the federal government over risk adjustment payments has asked a court to strike down a rule that reinstated $10.4 billion in payments for 2017. In a complaint (PDF) filed in the U.S. District Court in New Mexico, New Mexico Health Connections...

REPORT: AMAZON IS PLANNING TO OPEN PRIMARY CARE CLINICS AT SEATTLE HEADQUARTERS

Online retail giant Amazon's foray into tackling healthcare costs might just start with really convenient primary care. Specifically, primary care clinics for its employees located right at its Seattle headquarters, CNBC reported Thursday afternoon. According to the report, the technology compan...

COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS UNDER SCRUTINY FOR EHRS, MEANINGFUL USE

In a brief mention contained in its Form 10-Q, filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, publicly-traded Community Health Systems revealed that it is facing a "civil investigative demand" related to its "adoption of electronic health records technology and the meaningf...

COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS FACING EHR MEANINGFUL USE INVESTIGATION

One of the nation’s largest for-profit health systems is under investigation regarding the company’s adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and adherence to federal standards that government incentive payments. A new disclosure buried in a recent financial filing indicates Communit...

AMERICA’S ESSENTIAL HOSPITALS LAUNCHES RESEARCH PROJECT TO IDENTIFY ‘DIMENSIONS’ OF PATIENT TRUST

America’s Essential Hospitals will undertake a research project aimed at improving patients’ trust in their healthcare providers. The three-phase project is backed in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AEH announced Tuesday. The end goal is to build guidelines and policies that ...

THINK TANK URGES SOCIAL MEDIA SITES TO ADDRESS MENTAL HEALTH OF YOUNG PEOPLE

Tech companies could take further action to address rising concerns over cyberbullying and the impact of social media on the mental health of children and young people, the government has said. In its response to a report from the Commons education and health select committees joint inquiry scrutini...

REPORT: WISDOM TOOTH SURGERY INCREASES RISK FOR LONG-TERM USE OF OPIOIDS

Getting wisdom teeth pulled often comes with a side of potent painkillers to help the discomfort. And a new research report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday warns those opioid drug prescriptions associated with the common dental procedure may be leading to long...

HEALTHCARE CYBERSECURITY IS IN A RUT, AND HACKERS KEEP SWINGING

The number of breached patient records has declined from 100 million in 2015 to just 5 million in 2017, according to a recent Symantec report. But don’t take that at as good news: 10 percent more organizations reported a breach in 2017 than the previous year. These results could be interpreted...

IN MEDICARE ADVANTAGE MARKET, CERNER STRADDLES THE LINE BETWEEN PARTNER AND COMPETITOR

Cerner's entry into the Medicare Advantage market could put the EHR vendor at odds with some of its biggest clients. In June, Cerner announced a 10-year strategic investment in Lumeris, which oversees a Medicare Advantage plan in Missouri. As part of the arrangement, Cerner invested $266 million...

WITH MERGER VOTE APPROACHING, CIGNA AND EXPRESS SCRIPTS DIVERGE ON VALUE-BASED CONTRACTS

With just three weeks until shareholders vote on their planned merger, Cigna and Express Scripts indicated different visions for value-based contracting on Thursday. During the company's second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Cigna President and CEO David Cordani said the Express Scripts acqu...

HOW NORTHSHORE'S EPIC EHR IS IMPACTING ITS PRECISION MEDICINE PRIMARY CARE MODEL

As consumer at-home genetic tests become more popular, patients are increasingly interested in how their inherited health impacts their future wellness. At the same time, some hospitals are exploring ways to incorporate genetic information into the delivery of healthcare. NorthShore University Healt...

THIRD-PARTY VENDOR ERROR EXPOSES DATA OF 19K PATIENTS FOR 2 MONTHS

A transcriptionist vendor for Orlando Orthopaedic Center made an error during a software upgrade, which resulted in the exposure of 19,101 patient records for about two months. All patients who received medical services at any of the health center’s clinics prior to January 2018 were included ...

FED UP WITH HUNTING DOWN OTHER PROVIDERS' TEST RESULTS, PHYSICIAN BUILT A NEW PLATFORM

Healthcare can be chaotic for caregivers, especially when it comes to the logistics of tracking down a patient's results on tests ordered by other providers. Clinicians can spend an excessive amount of time and energy on the telephone contacting other providers' offices or having staff waste...

WITH ITS FUTURE UP IN THE AIR, ATHENAHEALTH PRESSES FORWARD WITH R&D INVESTMENTS

After what executives called “quite an eventful quarter,” Athenahealth posted solid second-quarter earnings less than a year after implementing a strategic plan that cut operational spending to the bone. Part of that plan, unveiled last October, included a 9% cut to Athenahealth’s ...

AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES CENTER FOR HEALTH INNOVATION

As providers work to keep up with a constantly evolving healthcare system, the American Hospital Association is launching an innovation center to support that work. The AHA Center for Health Innovation will officially launch in September and was unveiled at the group's annual Leadership Summit l...

ECLINICALWORKS FINED $132,500 BY HHS OIG FOR PATIENT SAFETY RISK

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General fined eClinicalWorks $132,550 for failing to report patient safety issues with its EHR to regulators in a specific timeframe, violating the agreement with the Department of Justice. The fine comes just over one year after i...

1.4 MILLION PATIENT RECORDS BREACHED IN UNITYPOINT HEALTH PHISHING ATTACK

UnityPoint Health is notifying 1.4 million patients that their records may have been breached when its business system was compromised by a phishing attack. This is the second breach for UnityPoint this year. In April, another phishing attack on staff email accounts at its Madison campus breached th...

OIG FINES ECLINICALWORKS $132,500 FOR PATIENT SAFETY REPORTING FAILURES

More than a year after agreeing to a massive settlement to resolve claims it falsified EHR certification standards, eClinicalWorks has been fined for failing to report patient safety issues with its software to regulators within a specified timeframe, violating an agreement with the federal governme...

HIMSS HEALTHCARE SECURITY FORUM TO FOCUS ON BUSINESS CONTINUITY, BREACH RESPONSE

Despite constant warnings and routine breach reports, the healthcare sector continues to struggle with some of the security basics: patch management, funding, network segmentation and the like. Combined with continue security staffing shortages, cybersecurity issues will continue into the indefinite...

HIMSS BIG DATA AND HEALTHCARE ANALYTICS FORUM: WHAT TO EXPECT

Digital data has become the lifeblood of health care, touching every facet of the delivery system and informing – sometimes transforming – the way clinical decisions are made and operational strategies are developed and deployed. And, as anyone who is a healthcare decision-maker knows al...

WORRIED ABOUT 'DEFENSIVE MEDICINE' IN TELEHEALTH? GO ON THE OFFENSIVE

Despite substantial industry excitement around telehealth as a way to coordinate care and improve outcomes, there is still some lingering concern that virtual care could lead to defensive medicine. Defensive medicine has its roots in medical malpractice, with physicians ordering unnecessary tests to...

NERVGEN PHARMA TO TAKE CASE WESTERN-DEVELOPED NERVE REGENERATION TECH TO MARKET

Vancouver, B.C.-based regenerative medicine company NervGen Pharma, and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland are collaborating to commercialize a patented technology for spinal cord injury and other conditions associated with nerve damage. Jerry Silver, a spinal cord injury regenerative medi...

WITH $1B PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN RWJBARNABAS AND RUTGERS, BOTH REALIZE ACADEMIC HEALTH SYSTEM STATUS

RWJBarnabas Health will first invest $100 million in Rutgers University as part of a bigger public-private partnership to create a jointly operated academic health system, officials announced this week. Under the terms of the partnership, RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers University will remain separat...

A CIO'S TAKE ON EHR OPTIMIZATION

We’ve officially entered into the “dog-days” of summer here in the mid-Atlantic states. When I think back to the biting cold wintertime in January it seemed that summer would never appear, yet it has arrived in full force. I use this metaphor because it closely resembles the electr...

NIH ENLISTS GOOGLE TO UNLOCK ACCESS TO BIG BIOMEDICAL DATA IN THE CLOUD

The National Institutes of Health, looking to leverage cloud computing to break down barriers to accessing of large biomedical datasets and enable easier computing for researchers, is looking to the private sector with its new STRIDES Initiative. The first company to sign on with the project –...

MOUNT SINAI OPENS BIOMEDICAL BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH CENTER

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Institute for Next Generation Healthcare announced the opening of the Center for Biomedical Blockchain Research to use new technologies and data to work on health care and medical science problems. The new centers come as many health systems are cu...

AMERICAN WELL, ANTHEM AND SAMSUNG COLLABORATE ON THE TELEMEDICINE FRONT

Three entities — American Well, Anthem, and Samsung — have partnered on a new telemedicine-related initiative aimed at helping consumers gain additional health care access. Anthem members with a Samsung Galaxy device and the updated Samsung Health app can now access LiveHealth Online, a ...

CAN A COMMUNITY HOSPITAL STAY TRUE TO ITS MISSION AFTER SALE TO LARGE CORPORATION?

Mission Health, the largest hospital system in western North Carolina, provided $100 million in free charity care last year. This year, it has partnered with 17 civic organizations to deliver substance abuse care to low-income people. Based in bucolic Asheville, the six-hospital system also screens ...

NHS TO BOLSTER HOSPITAL IT WITH $540 MILLION IN NEW SPENDING

In his first major speech since becoming the new Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock has put information technology atop his list of priorities for improving the National Health Service. And he's backing his words with big money – the UK will invest around $540 million for hospi...

TOP PATIENT SAFETY PAIN POINTS AND WHERE TO FOCUS IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS

Many healthcare organizations are working to improve patient safety but serious challenges remain. Medical errors are among the leading causes of death in the U.S. and non-lethal harm occurs even more frequently – at a rate 10 to 20 times higher than deaths, according to The Journal of Patient...

BRIGHT HEALTH PARTNERS WITH MERCY HEALTH TO OFFER MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS IN OHIO

Minneapolis-based insurance business Bright Health has teamed up with Cincinnati-based Mercy Health and will enter the Ohio Medicare Advantage market. The company will offer plans to citizens of Cincinnati, Springfield, Toledo, and Youngstown. Bright Health earned conditional approval from CMS to st...

VA, IBM WATSON HEALTH EXTEND PRECISION CANCER PARTNERSHIP TO HELP VETERANS

The Department of Veterans Affairs and IBM Watson Health have announced a one-year extension to an ongoing public-private partnership applying the AI company’s technology to genomic data for cancer therapy. The precision oncology collaboration has so far assisted the treatment of more than 2,7...

IN A BLOW TO PBMS, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MULLING OVERHAUL TO DRUG REBATE SAFE HARBOR PROTECTIONS

The Trump administration is considering a proposal to overhaul safe harbor protections for pharmaceutical company rebates, a plan that could lead to a significant shift in how drug prices are determined. The Office of Management and Budget is reviewing a proposed rule from the Department of Health a...

HOSPITAL GROUPS VOW TO CONTINUE LEGAL FIGHT AFTER LOSING CHALLENGE TO 340B PAYMENT CUTS

Several hospital and healthcare industry groups vowed to continue their legal challenge to 340B cuts pushed by the Trump Administration after a court ruled against their appeal. “We are deeply disappointed that the courts have once again failed to rule on the merits of our case," the Amer...

HEALTH WIZZ PILOTS BLOCKCHAIN AND FHIR MOBILE APP FOR EHRS

Health Wizz has updated and is piloting its unusual blockchain- and FHIR-enabled EHR aggregator mobile app, which uses blockchain to tokenize data, enabling patients to securely aggregate, organize, share, donate and/or trade their medical records. The idea is to enable individuals to control their ...

HOSPITALS UP THE ANTE FOR MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION TOOLS AS VENDORS MODERNIZE WITH AUTOMATION, VOICE RECOGNITION

Medical transcription tools have long been legacy products but as vendors inject modern technologies, notably automation and voice recognition, new data suggests that hospitals are going to deploy more of these products and services amid broader digital transformation work. Medical transcription is ...

LABCORP GOES DOWN AFTER NETWORK BREACH, PUTTING MILLIONS OF PATIENT RECORDS AT RISK

North Carolina-based LabCorp Diagnostics, one of the largest clinical laboratories in the U.S., was forced to shut down its network on Sunday after officials detected suspicious activity, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Over the weekend of July 14, hackers got i...

L.A. CARE HEALTH PLAN IS COMMITTING $31M TO RECRUIT PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS

Primary care doctors are supposedly at the backbone of efforts to curb runaway health spending in the U.S. by preventing patients from developing serious—and costly—health concerns. But with primary care physicians in short supply and projections showing the problem will only worsen, one...

OPIOID EPIDEMIC: UNC HEALTH CARE TO INTEGRATE EPIC EHR WITH STATE'S PDMP

The University of North Carolina Health Care at Chapel Hill announced plans to integrate its Epic EHR with the state-controlled substance reporting system. UNC, in so doing, joins the growing ranks for providers aligning with Prescription Drug Monitoring Program efforts to fight back against the opi...

ADVOCATE AURORA HEALTH PARTNERS WITH FOXCONN TO BRING ‘SMART CITY’ CONCEPT TO HEALTHCARE

Newly formed Advocate Aurora Health has launched partnership with the technology giant Foxconn to expand the health system’s portfolio of digital tools. The partnership comes several months after Advocate Aurora Health completed a merger that combined Advocate Health Care and Aurora Healthcare...

EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON CMS' BIG CHANGES TO CLINICAL DOCUMENTATION, EHRS AND INTEROPERABILITY

The "historic changes" announced late yesterday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, promising big adjustments to its policies around the Physician Fee Schedule and the Quality Payment Program, already have the healthcare industry talking. CMS says it wants to incentivize t...

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HEALTHCARE ROLLS OUT FIRST AUTONOMOUS AI DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM CLEARED BY THE FDA

The University of Iowa Healthcare has become the first healthcare organization to implement IDx-DR, the first autonomous artificial intelligence diagnostic system cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The AI system, from vendor IDx, can detect diabetic retinopathy via medical imaging. ID...

HEALTHCARE VENTURE CAPITAL SOARING TOWARD $15 BILLION IN 2018