Health IT Business News – November 19, 2020

Collaboration News

Intermountain Healthcare and Sanford Health announce intent to merge
Intermountain Healthcare (@Intermountain), a company at the forefront of value-based and digital healthcare, and Sanford Health, a national system in rural health care delivery and clinical research, have signed a letter of intent to develop a strategic partnership.

Ontrak Acquires Science-Backed, Behavior Change Platform LifeDojo, Inc
Ontrak, Inc (@ontrak_inc), an AI-powered and telehealth-enabled, virtualized healthcare company, announced that it has acquired LifeDojo Inc, a comprehensive, science-backed behavior change platform.

Parexel Announces Strategic Collaboration with Synexa Life Sciences and Drawbridge Health for COVID-19 Clinical Serology Testing Solution
Parexel (@Parexel), a provider of solutions to accelerate the development and delivery of innovative therapies to improve world health, from clinical through commercialization, announced a strategic collaboration with Synexa Life Sciences, a biomarker and bioanalytical science company, and Drawbridge Health, a healthcare technology company reinventing the blood draw experience, focused on delivering comprehensive solutions for COVID-19 clinical serology testing. The tripartite collaboration will provide a more streamlined solution for blood sample collection and serology testing for accurate clinical decision-making and improved patient outcomes.

Vital Software and Collective Medical Partner to Improve Communication in the Emergency Department as COVID-19 Hits Third Surge
Collective Medical (@CollectiveMed) delivering real-time ADT-based care collaboration network to healthcare organizations across the country, and Vital (@Vital_EHR), AI-powered software for hospital emergency departments and patients, announce a collaboration to improve the patient experience in the emergency department by keeping patients and their families informed throughout every step of a visit.

Product News

SPH Analytics’ Receives NCQA Certification for 2020 HEDIS Measures
SPH Analytics (@SPHAnalytics), a healthcare analytics and population health management company, announced that the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has certified its Population Care™ | Quality Measures application for HEDIS® 2020 Health Plan and Allowed Adjustments Measures, increasing its measure library to 39 in HEDIS 2020.

Top-Rated E-Prescribing App Achieves 100% Year-Over-Year Growth, Doubles User Count, Becoming an Essential Tool for Medical Professionals During the Pandemic
DrFirst (@DrFirst) announced the continued momentum and exceptional growth of iPrescribe, its top-rated mobile e-prescribing app that lets healthcare providers safely and securely prescribe any drug from any location, with just a few taps on a smartphone.

Life Image Veterans Exchange (LIVE) is Launched to Enable Imaging and Data Interoperability Between Veterans Health Administration Hospitals and Community Care Network Providers
Life Image (@lifeimageinc), a medical evidence network for clinical and imaging data, announced the availability of the Life Image Veterans Exchange (LIVE), which was specifically designed to meet the stringent security and regulatory protocols that are required to handle sensitive imaging and medical data for veterans who are seeking care at Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) community care network (CCN) clinics and hospitals.

Financial News

Arcadia’s MSSP ACO Customers Averaged $5.9 Million In Shared Savings In 2019
Arcadia (@ArcadiaHealthIT), a population health management technology company, congratulates its Accountable Care Organization (ACO) partners enrolled in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for achieving over $202 million in savings under the program using Arcadia’s HITRUST CSF®™-certified population health management platform. These savings are nearly 40% greater than those customers achieved in 2018.

Digital Mental Health Provider Koa Health Raises $16.5 Million
Koa Health (@KoaHealth) – previously known as Alpha Health, a digital mental healthcare platform, closed a $16.5 million Series A funding round that will bring the company’s total up to $35 million to date.

Massive Bio Secures Additional $2.6 Million Financing Round Led by Revo Capital and Tops its Total Raise to $6.6 Million
Massive Bio, Inc. (@MassiveBio), a company in precision medicine and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled patient centric clinical trial enrollment, announced a $2.6 million round of funding led by Revo Capital with additional participation from Cavendish Impact Foundation (CIF), through their donor advised fund at ImpactAssets.

Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2020 Results, Raises Full-Year 2020 Guidance
Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. (@_ApolloMed), a physician-centric, technology-enabled healthcare management company, announced its consolidated financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2020.

Medicus IT Acquires Clear Choice Telephones
Medicus IT (@Medicus_IT), a healthcare-focused managed services provider (MSP) based in Alpharetta, Georgia, announced the acquisition of Clear Choice Telephones, Inc. (Clear Choice). Clear Choice is a leading unified communications and contact centers solutions company based in Roswell, Georgia. The uniting of these companies further elevates Medicus IT as one of the largest, healthcare-focused MSPs and will deliver significant benefits to clients.

Central Logic Acquires Ensocare to Ease Transitions from Hospital to Post-Acute Care
Central Logic (@CentralLogic), a healthcare access and orchestration company, announced that it has acquired Omaha-based Ensocare, which automates the inpatient referral process to post-acute care (PAC).

medaptus Acquired by Volaris Group
medaptus (@MedAptus) announced that it has been acquired by Volaris Group (Volaris).

Nuance Announces Sale of HIM Transcription and EHR Go-Live Services Businesses to Accelerate Growth as Conversational AI Market Leader
Nuance Communications, Inc. (@NuanceInc) announced the planned sale of the Health Information Management (HIM) Transcription business and the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Go-Live Services business to a new independent company, DeliverHealth Solutions LLC (DeliverHealth), formed by Assured Healthcare Partners® (AHP®) in partnership with Aeries Technology Group (Aeries).

Contract News:

Hackensack Meridian Health Implements System-Wide Provider Data Management and a New Digital Consumer Access Experience with Kyruus
Kyruus (@kyruus), a provider of search and scheduling solutions for health systems, announced that Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH), the largest integrated healthcare network in New Jersey, is utilizing the company’s solutions to power its efforts to make healthcare easier to access. Building on the organization’s earlier work with Kyruus to create a system-wide provider directory, HMH is now simplifying how consumers find care online with Kyruus ProviderMatch® for Consumers.

San Francisco Otolaryngology Selects 2bPrecise
San Francisco Otolaryngology has selected the 2bPrecise (@2bPrecise) platform as the foundation for its precision medicine strategy, beginning with pharmacogenomics (PGx) and potentially expanding to additional genetic/genomic testing.

Health First Enhances Caring, Compassion and Connections with Families Using Vocera Ease
Vocera Communications, Inc. (@voceracomm), a provider of clinical communication and workflow solutions, announced that Health First deployed the Vocera Ease application in its four Central Florida hospitals to improve patient and family communication. The cloud-based application enables nurses and other healthcare professionals to send secure texts, photos and video updates to a patient’s designated loved ones during a hospital stay or medical procedure. Family members and friends can respond to updates with emojis, giving immediate feedback and support to caregivers.

Making the Cut

SPH Analytics Ranked by Modern Healthcare as Top Patient Experience Measurement Vendor in the Health Plan/Payer Market for the Fourth Consecutive Year
SPH Analytics announced it has been ranked, for the fourth year in a row, as the top vendor in the Insurer/Managed Care Plan category of Modern Healthcare’s list of largest patient satisfaction measurement firms.

100% of 5 Star-rated Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans Partner with SPH Analytics
SPH Analytics (@SPHAnalytics), the top ranked member experience measurement firm in the health plan market, announced that all 21 Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) health plans receiving the highest 5 Star Rating in the 2021 Part C and D Star ratings are SPH clients, according to reports recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Foundation for Chiropractic Progress Honored As 2020 Telly Awards Gold Winner
The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (@F4CP), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of chiropractic care, announced that it has been selected as the Gold Winner in The Telly Awards’ General Not-For-Profit Online Commercial category.