Health IT Business News – May 21, 2015

IBM Watson Health announced that it is collaborating with Epic and Mayo Clinic to advance patient health by applying the cognitive computing capabilities of Watson to EHRs. As Watson’s capabilities are applied to EHRs, patients and providers benefit from more rapid and thorough analysis of the medical factors that could impact an individual’s health and wellness. Epic has more than 350 customers and they exchanged more than 80 million medical records in the last 12 months, both within and outside the Epic community. Interoperability with Watson will enable these institutions to apply the cognitive capabilities of Watson to these records through secure, cloud-based Watson services, providing greater clinical insight to help personalize healthcare. Read More

IBM has also announced it has completed the acquisition of Phytel, an integrated population health management software based in Dallas, Texas. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kareo has announced the launch of its Apple Watch App. Kareo’s most recent innovation extends the functionality of the company’s EHR to Apple Watch, streamlining care delivery and enhancing the patient experience by improving communications, reducing patient wait times, and increasing practice efficiency. Kareo is launching this new Apple Watch App in response to the growing demands on physicians to increase their focus on all aspects of patient engagement. Read More

SA Ignite Inc., a provider of a cloud-based software solution that automates and simplifies the Meaningful Use (MU) program processes for eligible providers, has announced that Delaware Health Net (DHN) will implement its MU ASSISTANT software, giving Meaningful Use program managers as well as healthcare executives greater visibility into the quality performance of the organization’s healthcare providers. Read More

Modernizing Medicine, Inc., the creator of the Electronic Medical Assistant® (EMA™), a cloud-based, iPad native, specialty-specific electronic medical record (EMR) system, announced it has incorporated the American Urological Association’s (AUA) 2013 Choosing Wisely® list in EMA Urology™. It is the first urology-specific EMR system to incorporate the AUA’s statements.Choosing Wisely is an initiative of the ABIM Foundation that calls upon leading medical specialty societies and other non-physician organizations to identify tests or procedures commonly used in their field whose necessity should be questioned and discussed in order to improve quality of care and cut costs. Read More

Surescripts processed 6.5 billion health data transactions in 2014, according to data reported in the 2014 National Progress Report. Signaling a major milestone in the digital transformation of healthcare in the United States, Surescripts handled more transactions in one year than American Express (6 billion)i and PayPal (4.2 billion)ii. “Connecting the nation’s healthcare system is a monumental task, and while more work is needed to ensure true interoperability nationwide, there is no question that the Surescripts network is more connected than ever before,” said Tom Skelton, Chief Executive Officer, Surescripts. Read More

The Palm Beach County Medical Society (PBCMS) has endorsed HealthFusion, Inc., provider of MediTouch® EHR software, as a preferred provider of EHRs for its members. The PBCMS is introducing HealthFusion’s MediTouch to its more than 1,400 physician members looking to implement or upgrade EHRs in their practices and avoid Medicare penalties.

Digital health platform company Validic, announced it has secured a $12.5 million Series B round led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Kaiser Permanente. The funding will continue to fuel Validic’s rapid growth. Read More

Fruit Street Health announced that it has chosen Validic’s digital health platform to access more than 175 wearable devices and applications into its telehealth software, personal health record and HIPAA compliant video conferencing platform. Read More

IMS Health has acquired Dataline Software, a provider of Big Data analytics for healthcare, to extend its technology-enabled Real-World Evidence (RWE) platform. Dataline’s software tools will expand the capabilities of Evidence 360™, IMS Health’s scalable and secure RWE platform that helps clients extract, analyze and visualize real-world data to better understand and measure healthcare outcomes. Read More

Teladoc announced that it confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares of common stock to be sold and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. Read More