When it comes to healthcare financial and payment matters, value-based care, and policy here is what is being reported and talked about. For more on Healthcare CFOs read our previous reports and to keep your finger on the business news pulse, check out our latest Health IT Business News.
In the News
Medfusion Spins-Out Data Services Business to form Greenlight Health
Medfusion announces the creation of a new stand-alone company, Greenlight Health Data Solutions (Greenlight Health), to meet the growing need for patient-initiated health data retrieval. Greenlight Health will be focused on driving data flows for patients, consumers, businesses and organizations that need ready access to patient-approved data housed across a wide variety of healthcare providers and patient portals.
Value-Cased Care
Post-Acute Providers Predict Probable Insolvencies Under Value-Based Care Without Basic IT, Data Sharing and Care Coordination, Black Book Annual Survey
Black Book™ surveyed 1,640 providers of long-term and post-acute care (nursing homes, hospitals, short-term rehabilitation facilities, home health services, durable medical equipment/DME distributors, skilled nursing and sub-acute facilities, and hospices) to help stakeholders of the provider industry identify strategic responses to address the higher growth/demand for post-acute services in the challenging environment of lower fee-for-service reimbursements and impending valued-based payment models from all payers: government and commercial.
To Listen
Harlow on Healthcare: Host David Harlow talks with Keith Hovan, CEO of southeastern MA community health system Southcoast Health, about addressing #SDOH by empowering community health workers to do what it takes, addressing the opioid crisis by greatly reducing reliance on opioids in the ER, in ambulances, and elsewhere in the system, and leveraging healthcare innovation – no matter how far from an urban or academic healthcare setting.
Financial
Health Catalyst Reports Third Quarter 2019 Results
Health Catalyst, Inc. (@HealthCatalyst), a provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations, reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019.
Configo Health Launches with Investment from Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s National Hospital
Configo Health Inc., a healthcare data and analytics company specializing in pediatrics, launched and announced it has secured investment funding from Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s National Hospital. The organization also appointed industry veteran Stephanie Alexander as Chair.
Cerner issues another round of layoffs
According to Becker’s Hospital Report, Cerner (@Cerner) will lay off 131 U.S.-based employees as part of its effort to increase operating margins to 20 percent by the end of 2019.
Walgreens explores going private in what could be largest LBO in history
International drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance is exploring going private in what could mark the largest leveraged buyout in history, people familiar with the situation told CNBC.
In ‘good timing’ for soccer stadium, Steve Malik agrees to sell his company Medfusion
According to The News & Observer, Steve Malik, the Cary-based technology entrepreneur who owns the professional soccer team North Carolina FC, has agreed to sell his company, Medfusion (@medfusion), for $43 million.
MUSC says one of its spinoff companies has saved it millions in pharmacy costs
The Post and Courier reports that a network engineer at the Medical University of South Carolina co-founded AscendRX, a software business that is helping to solve a multimillion-dollar problem for the hospital system while also spinning off a company that is selling its technology to other hospitals.
XSOLIS Announces Acquisition of MEDarchon
XSOLIS (@XSOLIS_Health), the company channeling health care data into predictive intelligence and action, announced that it has acquired MEDarchon, a provider of intelligent clinical communication.
Kareo Sells Managed Billing Services Business
Kareo (@GoKareo), a provider of cloud-based clinical and business management software for independent medical practices and medical billing companies, announced the sale of its revenue cycle management services business unit to a leading independent supplier of outsourced medical billing services, Health Prime International. Kareo will now fulfill the growing demand for outsourced medical billing services exclusively through its leading network of over 1,500 medical billing company partners. This shift in strategy enables Kareo to increase its focus on building the industry’s leading cloud-based software platform for independent medical practices and the billing companies that serve them.
Making the Cut
Optum360 Rated #1 Revenue Cycle Solutions for Sixth Year: Best in Coding, RCM Tech & Outsourcing Services, Black Book Survey
Black Book Research announced for the sixth consecutive year Optum360 (@Optum360Coding) has been named the leading vendor for Revenue Cycle Management Software Technology as well as the leading vendor for RCM Outsourcing solutions both in Hospital Chains, Systems, Corporations and Integrated Delivery Networks according the 2019 RCM survey responses of 4,838 hospital executives, financial system users and business office leaders. Black Book conducts polls and surveys with healthcare executives and front-line users about their current technology and services partners and awards top-performing vendors based on performance based on 18 RCM indicators of client experience, loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Policy/Government
Trump Administration Announces Historic Price Transparency Requirements to Increase Competition and Lower Healthcare Costs for All Americans
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (@hhsgov) reports that as directed by President Trump’s Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare, today the Department of Health and Human Services is announcing that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing two rules that take historic steps to increase price transparency to empower patients and increase competition among all hospitals, group health plans and health insurance issuers in the individual and group markets. One of the rules is the Calendar Year (CY) 2020 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) & Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Price Transparency Requirements for Hospitals to Make Standard Charges Public Final Rule. The second rule is the Transparency in Coverage Proposed Rule. Both the final and proposed rules require that pricing information be made publicly available.
OCR Secures $2.175 Million HIPAA Settlement after Hospitals Failed to Properly Notify HHS of a Breach of Unsecured Protected Health Information
In an agreement with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Sentara Hospitals (Sentara) have agreed to take corrective actions and pay $2.175 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Breach Notification and Privacy Rules. Sentara is comprised of 12 acute care hospitals with more than 300 sites of care throughout Virginia and North Carolina.
Governor Cooper Announces 400 New Jobs in Chapel Hill for Healthcare Technology Operations Center
The North Carolina Department of Commerce reports that Well Dot, Inc., (Well) a fast-growing healthcare technology company will locate a new operations center in Chapel Hill, creating 400 jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The company will invest $3 million in Orange County.
Healthcare in the National News
The most remote emergency room: Life and death in rural America
The Washington Post reports that as hospitals and physicians continue to disappear from rural America at record rates, here is the latest attempt to fill a widening void: a telemedicine center that provides remote emergency care for 179 hospitals across 30 states.
New Stanford Hospital Takes Holistic Approach to Technology
The Wall Street Journal reports that the new Stanford Hospital that opens Sunday borrows ideas about user experience from its neighbor down the road, Apple Inc. The goal is to use technology in a way that makes the hospital more hospitable.
Give it 5 stars: How doctor ratings affect your health care
The Hill reports that When making decisions about their health, patients are acting increasingly like typical consumers, who value online ratings. According to a 2018 study from NRC Health, “92.4% of consumers use online reviews to guide most of their ordinary purchasing decisions.” The survey revealed that “59.9% of patients say they’ve selected a doctor based on positive reviews, and nearly the same percentage (60.8%) of patients say they’ve avoided doctors based on negative reviews.”
Doctors are turning to YouTube to learn how to do surgical procedures, but there’s no quality control
CNBC reports that tens of thousands of surgery-related videos are on YouTube, and the number keeps climbing every year. Some doctors say that medical students and residents rely on YouTube to fill in gaps in their training. For that reason, some medical experts are calling for better vetting and curation of the content.