News 5/30/25

Top News

Kaiser Permanente announces that all of its technology systems are back online after dealing with a network outage most of Wednesday. The outage, which Kaiser has attributed to an issue at one of its data centers, impacted facilities – and patients – across the country.

Reader Comments

From Mr. Friendly: “Re: Murray-Calloway County Hospital’s EHR implementation. Hospital officials shared the growing pains their staff are dealing with 45 days into their Oracle Health implementation, with new CEO Reba Celsor noting that “pleased” might be a bit of a stretch: “Because sometimes companies overpromise and underdeliver, and there’s a little feeling of that, so we’re working to make sure we’re holding them accountable to the agreement.” I’m not so sure this is an atypical experience for any hospital EHR implementation. Go-live teams are welcome to weigh in.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Amwell co-founder and former co-CEO Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH launches Aileen, an AI companion for seniors that will also offer access to virtual care. He remains an executive director at Amwell.

Virtual chronic care management company Omada Health expects to raise $158 million during its IPO next week, which would give it a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Sales

• Harbor Regional Health (WA) will transition to Meditech Expanse through the company’s MaaS subscription model.

People

Wolters Kluwer promotes Greg Samios to CEO of its Health division.

CVS Health names Ravi Patel, MD (Oak Street Health) VP and chief health informatics officer for healthcare delivery.

Jay Sultan (Tegria) joins Motive Medical Intelligence as EVP of product strategy and management.

Announcements and Implementations

Houston Healthcare (GA) will move from Meditech Magic to Epic as a part of its recently approved integration with Emory Healthcare (GA).

Boone County Hospital in Iowa goes live on Meditech Expanse.

Several providers and government agencies within Austin and Travis County in Texas connect to Watershed Health’s health information exchange and care coordination platform.

UF Health St. Johns (FL) implements Epic.

Government and Politics

DoD health officials share several IT updates at a recent State of the Federal EHR event, noting that virtual visit capabilities will soon be implemented across the department and US Coast Guard, and that it is working with the VA on a joint tele-critical care application. Plans to eventually add ambient dictation capabilities to MHS Genesis are also in the works.

Privacy and Security

BayCare Health System (FL) will pay $800,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations related to a 2018 data breach involving an unauthorized user who accessed a patient’s medical records, took photographs of them, and videoed themselves scrolling through the record on a computer screen. An unidentified individual then called the patient to let them know about the breach.

Sponsor Updates

• Cardamom Health staff work with the United Way of Dane County to assemble 500 snack packs benefiting Rise Wisconsin.
• Capital Rx will present at the AMCP Mid-Atlantic Day of Education May 30 in Falls Church, VA.
• The “MSSP 1337” podcast features Fortified Health Security CISO Russell Teague.
• Infinx releases a new episode of its “Revenue Cycle Optimized” podcast titled “From Paper to Patient-Ready – How Chesapeake Medical Imaging Cut Processing Time from Days to Hours.”

Blog Posts

• Top Physician Communication Frustrations (PerfectServe)
• How to Save Time and Increase Revenue: Automate ED Care Levels (CereCore)
• AI in the NHS: Hype, hope and how we make it work (Altera Digital Health)
• From First Call to Final Placement: What Candidates Can Expect Working with DRI (Direct Recruiters)
• The Unspoken Pillar: Why Social Care is Essential to CMS’s Evolving Health Strategy (Findhelp)
• 3 Ways Claim Denials Undermine Growth (and What to Do) (FinThrive)
• Thinking About Boomi for Healthcare? Here’s What You Should Know (Healthcare IT Leaders)
• How to Avoid the Latest Cyberthreat: MFA Notification Fatigue (Med Tech Solutions)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 5/29/25

As someone who has had to sit through entirely too many training sessions about the importance of protecting your laptop when you’re in public, I couldn’t help but stop and take a picture when I was changing planes and came across this unattended backpack and laptop. It was at a gate where the flight was apparently canceled and there was literally no one around who might have been watching it. I scanned the area pretty thoroughly to see if anyone was watching before walking up to it suspiciously to see if it was actually connected to a meeting. No one confronted me, so I sat nearby for a full 10 minutes before I saw someone come out of a nearby restaurant and walk to this row of chairs. Today may have been their lucky day as far as no one messing with it, but I can’t believe someone would take that risk.

I was back on the patient side of the equation this week, leading myself to ask yet again, “Why are what should be straightforward healthcare processes at an allegedly world-class facility so terrible?” I’ve been to this “center of excellence” before and had previously been punked by the check-in kiosk that hides on the wall behind the door through which you enter, so I thought I’d be ahead of the game and immediately turn around and check myself in. It was seamless until I got to the part that told me I needed to go to the registration desk to complete my registration. The registrar had her back turned and was having a personal conversation with someone who was working on the printer behind her, which was unfortunate as she had several patients in front of her waiting for service. Once I finally made it to the desk, I was given a blank form to fill out that didn’t even have my patient identifier information on it. I guess we haven’t learned anything about preventing errors by generating those forms directly from the EHR so they’ll have the headers on them. Instead, I had to write my name and date of birth on both sides. I guess I can understand people not wanting to print out the forms if they have a lot of no-shows, but considering that most of us schedule this particular visit several months in advance and it’s nearly impossible to reschedule them, I’d bet they don’t get a lot of people that fail to arrive.

I completed the form and took it back to the desk, where I was told to sit down and keep the form and the clipboard until someone came to take me to the back. I was sure that she hadn’t told me to keep it, and I watched her do the same with several people who came behind me, so I felt a little better about not having forgotten the proper instructions for the form when I received it. I also watched two more people try to turn in the form at the desk and be told to “just keep it.” When the staff member came from the back of the facility to collect me, the registrar interrupted him and asked if he wanted some of the food she had brought and now had on her desk. I wish I could have seen my face at that point, because I’m sure the fact that I thought the whole interaction was unprofessional would have been obvious. As the tech walked me to the changing area, he commented that, “It looks like you missed part of this form,” but didn’t ask me to complete it. I was kind of baffled, since I knew I completed every box and double checked the form.

In the changing area, the tech failed to give me the correct instructions for double gowning, which didn’t register until he had left the room. Fortunately, I’ve had this procedure before and knew what to do, but had I been new to this corner of healthcare I guess I’d have either done it incorrectly or had to step out and try to find someone to ask. I sat for a bit in the changing area waiting for someone to get me again and was taken to the area where IV access is placed. There were two other patients waiting, which is unusual for this subspecialized part of the facility. One of the patients asked if I knew what time it was, since none of us had watches. I told her the time I left the changing area and she said it was already 30 minutes past her test time, but no one had mentioned a delay. She finally flagged down a staff member to ask for a blanket and asked what was going on, and we were told there had been an emergency and they were running late. I couldn’t help but think about all the “service recovery” training I have been through over the years and how little things like advising patients of delays make all the difference. And maybe offering blankets to all the patients sitting there in gowns, and not just the one who specifically asked for it, might have been nice, too (especially since you were going to the blanket warmer anyway).

The tech finally came back to attempt my IV and asked me where I wanted it, then made it clear that he felt inconvenienced by what I said, since it was opposite the side of the chair where a table had been placed for his supplies. He told me, “You’ve got nothing over here,” and just stared at me – so I told him he could try the other arm if he needed to. It would have been nice if he’d actually said something more akin to, “I’m not finding anything that’s ideal for the contrast medium we have to use. Would you mind if I looked on your other arm?” It isn’t that hard of a thing to say. When he finally placed the IV and walked away, my new friend in the waiting area commented, “Well, isn’t he just Mr. Personality?” He came back again to ask me how I had my gowns on, I suppose after realizing that he didn’t tell me what to do.

Finally, the other patient was called back for her test, and eventually a different staffer came to get me. I’ve had this imaging study done nearly a dozen times and could tell the table wasn’t quite set up properly. I didn’t say anything, but instead wound up waiting in an uncomfortable position while she bustled around the room finding the rest of the padding and draping she needed to get me set up. The procedure itself went off without a hitch (at least as far as one can tell when they’re inside the claustrophobic coffin of truth for a good hour), except for the part afterwards where the staffer wanted to remove my IV while I was just standing there. I guess she’s never had a patient pass out at the sight of blood or feel woozy while their blood vessels are being manipulated and suggested I’d prefer to sit down first. She then told me that, “There was a form that the front desk was supposed to give you, and I’ll need you to fill that out now,” and took me back to the internal waiting room. I suppose the registrar being busy chatting with the printer guy and offering her breakfast to others prevented her from making sure the correct contents were on the clipboard. Having that form would also have been the prompt to tell the first tech which procedure I was having, which theoretically should have reminded him to tell me how to gown.

Although this form already had my name and medical record number on it, it asked no less than 14 questions that were answerable by data that was already in the EHR. The tech told me, “If you don’t know the exact answer, just guess,” which always blows me away in healthcare – and doubly so when the actual information (such as the date when I last had this imaging study done) is in the chart. Knowing that the radiologist would be pulling up my previous scans for comparison and wouldn’t be inconvenienced, I wrote “in EHR” on a couple of blanks out of frustration, which I admit made me feel a tiny bit better. I did wonder if the radiologists knew that the techs were telling people to “just guess” on what’s supposed to be a clinically important form, but maybe it’s not as important as we’ve always thought it was.

Of course, many of the issues I just pointed out are small things, but as a physician who has spent the better part of three decades delivering care, this isn’t what I would expect for my patients or for myself. The majority of patients can’t just go elsewhere if they’re unhappy with the service they’re receiving because of network provider contracts and financial limitations. Not to mention, if you’re involved in an ongoing plan of care at a particular facility, the emotional pain of change often does not outweigh the pain of same. The issues I encountered are particularly sad because these things are fixable without too much cost or effort and might make all the difference for patient safety and satisfaction. For any readers who might find themselves on the non-patient side of the imaging equation, I encourage you to see how your facility stacks up with a few suggestions:

• Give patients the instructions needed to streamline their visits. If you want them to keep a form and clipboard, tell them to do so. It was easy for me to pop up to the desk and be told to keep it, but less easy for the elderly patient with the cane. Double check the clipboard to be sure it has everything needed.
• Don’t tell a patient they failed to fully complete a form when the problem is that the form itself is missing.
• If your job is to make sure patients are gowned appropriately for a procedure, make sure you know what procedure they’re having.
• Don’t make patients feel bad about their anatomy. Those of us with sad little veins already know it and can’t do anything about it.
• Critically evaluate all data collection forms being used in your process. Consider preprinting them with patient headers to reduce errors and make it easier for patients. Where clinically important information is collected, prepopulate it from the EHR (when possible) to ensure accuracy. If you think it’s OK for patients to “just guess” at the answers, consider the importance of the form.

Last, but not least: Make patients feel like they’re important and not a distraction. You have no idea whether you’re seeing them on what might turn out to be the worst day of their life – and they deserve your attention.

Have you had a recent patient-side experience, and did it meet your expectations? Any advice you’d offer the facility? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

Morning Headlines 5/29/25

HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Security Rule Investigation with a Florida Health Care Provider

BayCare Health System will undertake corrective action and pay $800,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations related to a 2018 incident in which an unauthorized user accessed and took photographs of a patient’s medical records, and then videoed themselves scrolling through the records.

R1 Announces Investment from Khosla Ventures as it Accelerates AI-Driven Healthcare Transformation

RCM vendor R1 secures an undisclosed amount of funding from Khosla Ventures.

Get a Second Opinion Emerges from Stealth with AI-Powered Medication Analysis Platform

Get a Second Opinion launches to offer members access to AI-powered medication and medical condition analysis.

Minset Raises Funding to Scale AI Agent That Solves For Healthcare’s $400B Revenue Cycle Problem

AI-powered healthcare revenue cycle software vendor Minset raises seed funding in a round led by HealthX Ventures.

Healthcare AI News 5/28/25

News

Ambience Healthcare develops an AI medical coding model using OpenAI’s Reinforcement Fine-Tuning technology that can record and document clinical conversations, and identify and integrate relevant ICD-10 codes for more accurate billing. The company claims the new AI scribe outperformed 18 physicians in a study of coding accuracy.

Get a Second Opinion launches to offer members access to AI-powered medication and medical condition analysis. The startup’s tool pulls from medical studies and FDA and clinical outcomes data to generate personalized medication and treatment plan reports for $35 a year.

Business

Google develops MedGemma, a set of AI models built on the company’s Gemma 3 technology that can help healthcare developers build apps integrating analysis of medical images and text.

Research

Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine (NY) and Morehouse School of Medicine (GA) use BeeKeeperAI’s EscrowAI software to quickly and securely test AI models on chronic heart failure data.

Researchers at West Virginia University determine that while AI tools like ChatGPT can assist ER doctors with diagnoses, the accuracy of AI-based diagnostics decreases as patient cases become more complex. They also found that the new version of ChatGPT was 15% to 20% more accurate than older versions.

A majority of patients trust AI when it comes to assisting their physicians with prior authorizations, according to a DrFirst survey of 1,000 consumers. They note that using AI as part of the PA process enables physicians to spend more time with them, helps them to start therapy more quickly, and potentially reduces human error during the PA process.

Other

AI-based mental healthcare software startup Cognera Health wins the $100,000 Alabama Launchpad competition. Co-founder Jaydeep Patel had worked in mental health counseling before partnering with co-founder and CEO Varnsi Jupudi to launch Cognera. The company, which is focused on using AI to help patients and providers in between therapy appointments, will use the prize money to accelerate the start of several pilot programs.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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Sponsorship information.
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Readers Write: The End of “Good Enough”: A Personal Journey to Better Healthcare IT Application Support

The End of “Good Enough:” A Personal Journey to Better Healthcare IT Application Support
By Jody Buchman

Jody Buchman, MBA is SVP of continuous services at Healthcare IT Leaders.

I never imagined that my most powerful lesson in healthcare IT application support would come from a hospital bed.

During my third pregnancy, I was given only a 30% chance of carrying to term. It was a high-risk situation that kept me on bed rest. I worked remotely for Cerner from a hospital room while continuing to support clients. For the first time, I experienced the healthcare system not just as a professional, but as a patient. And in that moment, I saw the real impact of the women’s health solution we were implementing – not on a screen, but in the care I was receiving when every decision mattered.

My son Jake was born early, just four pounds. But thanks to an incredible team of clinicians and the systems that empowered them, he went home just three days later. Today, he’s a healthy high school baseball player and a daily reminder of why this work matters so deeply to me.

That experience shaped everything about the way I lead today. Lying in that hospital bed and experiencing the system not as a technologist, but as a mother, I came to understand what excellence in healthcare IT truly means. Behind every system alert and resolved ticket is a human story, a moment where things either go right … or don’t.

It’s why I’ve dedicated my career to building support organizations that are more than just reactive help desks. The traditional Managed Services model – transactional, after-the-fact, and satisfied with “good enough”- simply isn’t good enough. Not when every delay, every overlooked alert, every closed-but-not-solved ticket can directly impact care. I’ve seen the fallout firsthand: burned-out IT teams, clinicians wrestling with tools instead of treating patients, and families caught in the middle.

Healthcare doesn’t stop after hours, and neither can we.

Why the Old Way of Application Support No Longer Works

When you’ve managed global application support at scale, with thousands of customers and millions of incidents a year, you start to notice patterns. For too long, we tolerated a model that measured success by closed tickets, not real solutions.

I’ve seen the consequences: the physician who can’t get help after hours, the nurse who hesitates to open a ticket because it rarely leads to resolution, the IT manager who knows what’s broken but lacks the resources to fix it.

In healthcare, where time, accuracy, and availability are non-negotiable, that model simply doesn’t hold up.

What a Continuous Services Model Looks Like

Healthcare runs around the clock and technology continues to evolve. It’s time our application support models did, too.

What’s needed now is a continuous services approach, one that’s proactive, connected, and designed to prevent problems before they impact care.

Here’s what that means in practice:

First, real-time system monitoring should be the norm. Just as clinicians monitor patient vitals, IT support teams should track system health in real time. Application performance lags, interface errors, error pop-up messages, and failed jobs should be spotted early and addressed before users ever notice.

Second, automation needs to take on more of the routine work. Routine fixes like restarting ops job, failed interface transactions, or real-time data cleansing don’t have to require manual effort or have time constraints. Smart automation can handle these tasks, freeing up IT resources for higher-value work and providing an always-on and available resource around the clock.

Third, the tools and teams supporting the system need to be connected. Too often, monitoring tools don’t talk to ticketing platforms. Analysts don’t have access to context or history. A continuous model links everything together so that support is both faster and more informed.

Fourth, expertise matters. In a continuous services model, clinical and technical support analysts are experts empowered to do more than respond to tickets. They understand clinical workflows, governance, and IT business processes to work as an extension of the IT team solving problems at the root.

Finally, the model has to scale. As organizations grow, the support structure should adapt with them. Intelligent automation makes that possible, creating a flexible operations model that evolves as needs change without drastically impacting cost.

What We Gain When Support Gets Smarter

The benefits go well beyond reducing tickets. Internal IT teams finally get room to focus on long-term projects instead of reacting to daily disruptions. Clinicians spend more time on care and less time wrestling with technology. And most importantly, patients receive care backed by systems that are reliable and responsive.

A Final Thought

After a career in healthcare IT support, I’ve learned that service excellence isn’t about heroics, it’s about making a difference. It’s about providing world-class support designed to ensure the technology is no longer a barrier for clinicians to provide quality care.

Status quo isn’t an option when lives like Jake’s are on the line. The real heroes are the nurses and caregivers. Our job is to make sure the systems behind them are just as ready and dependable.

That’s the kind of continuous support healthcare needs now. One that runs quietly in the background, and when it works well, it saves lives. And it’s entirely within reach.

This Week in Health Tech 5/28/25

Morning Headlines 5/28/25

Healthcare Triangle Will launch QuantumNexis With Planned Strategic Acquisitions of Niyama and Ezovion to Lead the Future of Gen AI-Powered Healthcare SaaS

Digital healthcare software and services vendor Healthcare Triangle forms new subsidiary QuantumNexis through the acquisition of Niyama Healthcare, which specializes in AI-enabled digital mental healthcare, and Ezovion Solutions, which offers EHR and smart hospital management tech.

23andMe to delist from Nasdaq, deregister with SEC

23andMe will delist and deregister from the Nasdaq following the purchase of the majority of its assets by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals earlier this month.

An AI-Powered Startup Can Now Perform This Important Task Better Than Doctors

Ambience Healthcare develops an AI medical coding model using OpenAI technology.

News 5/28/25

Top News

Coalesce Capital acquires Das Health, a health IT software and services business based in Tampa, FL.

Once primarily focused on the ambulatory space, Das has expanded to health systems and senior care through its acquisitions of Itentive, VCPI, and Randall Technology Services.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The majority of poll-takers are in favor of EHR vendors being required to provide data access to competing applications with shared customer consent.

New poll to your right or here: Have you ever used a digital physical therapy tool as part of your recovery? With Hinge Health’s IPO in the news and competitors like Luna, Sword Health (rumored to be prepping for an IPO later this year), and Kaia Health seemingly gaining traction, I’m wondering if providers are pushing them or payers are the more typical conduits. Share your experience by leaving a comment.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Digital healthcare software and services vendor Healthcare Triangle forms new subsidiary QuantumNexis through the acquisition of Niyama Healthcare, which specializes in AI-enabled digital mental healthcare, and Ezovion Solutions, which offers EHR and smart hospital management tech.

23andMe will delist and deregister from the Nasdaq. The consumer genetics testing and research company filed for bankruptcy in March and sold the majority of its assets to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals earlier this month.

Announcements and Implementations

The Boulder County Family Resource Network (CO) launches an online social services resource tool using software from Findhelp.

In England, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust implements Epic.

Privacy and Security

Kettering Health (OH) acknowledges it was the victim of a ransomware attack last week and announces that it has restored its clinical communications and radiation oncology systems. It expects the rest of its network to be up and running soon.

Healthcare cybersecurity leaders are unprepared for AI-enabled physical threats to their facilities, according to a new study from Black Book Research. Seventy-one percent of hospital survey respondents say they are unprepared for things like sensor spoofing or deepfake badge credentials, while just 18% say they have a strategy in place to mitigate this new type of digital manipulation.

Other

A patient catches their therapist using ChatGPT during a virtual session after the therapist mistakenly enables screensharing: “This led to a very surreal session in which out of sheer shock I also ended up basically cribbing from ChatGPT in my responses. For example, I’d say something, he would type it into ChatGPT, it would return a result, like a summary of ‘Cognitive Flexibility,’ and then because I could see his screen, I would say something like ‘I guess I could be more flexible…’ and he’d say, ‘Yes! Exactly!’”

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD staff volunteer at several charitable organizations, including the St. Vincent De Paul Dining Hall, during the company’s Day of Caring.
• Agfa HealthCare North America reports strong Q1 2025 momentum with major enterprise imaging expansion and strategic customer wins.
• Fortified Health Security names Rachel Bryant and Danika Miles marketing coordinators.
• Wolters Kluwer Health receives for the 14^th consecutive year the NorthFace ScoreBoard Service Award for achievements in customer support by its Ovid and Lippincott customer service organizations.
• Capital Rx releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “The Evolving Health Benefits Market: Everyone is Getting Smarter, with Mike Tate.”
• Tegria will present at the International Performance Management Institute Healthcare IT Institute June 9 in New Orleans.
• Waystar will exhibit at the 2025 HFMA Region 1 Annual Conference May 29-30 in Uncasville, CT.
• Clinical Architecture releases a new case study featuring LifePoint Health titled “From Fragmented to Future-Ready: How Data Governance Fueled Clinical Transformation.”
• CloudWave will exhibit at the E-Health Conference and Tradeshow June 1-3 in Toronto.
• DrFirst is now accepting nominations for its 2025 Healthiverse Heroes Award.

Black Book Research’s latest survey reveals the top technology vendors driving Medicare Advantage five-star ratings amid heightened CMS audit standards, including the following HIStalk sponsors:

• Arcadia (population health management)
• InterSystems (interoperability and data integration)
• Redox (interoperability and data integration)
• Inovalon Quality Intelligence (quality measure management and analytics, audit readiness and compliance management)

Blog Posts

• Securing Healthcare Data: Ensuring Cyber Resilience with Vendor Partnerships (AGS Health)
• Why Cybersecurity is Critical for Modern Health IT Solutions (PerfectServe)
• Why Onboarding Matters More Than Ever in Senior Care (Symplr)
• The keys to unlocking the power of AI for nurses (Altera Digital Health)
• Virtual nursing at Hackensack Meridian Health is making nurses and patients happy (AvaSure)
• The Missing Link in Healthcare Cyber Defense: Culture (CTG)
• The ROI of Working with a Specialized Recruitment Partner (Direct Recruiters)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.

Morning Headlines 5/27/25

Jane Software to be reportedly valued at $1.8 billion in upcoming secondary financing

Canadian practice management software vendor Jane Software is reportedly working to raise an additional $500 million from three US investors, bringing its valuation to $1.8 billion.

Kettering Health talks publicly about cyberattack and frustration of patients

Kettering Health (OH) acknowledges it was the victim of a ransomware attack last week, announces that it has restored clinical communications systems, and expects the rest of its network to be up and running within the next several days.

Hamilton and Burlington hospitals partner on integrated health information system

In Canada, Joseph Brant Hospital will adopt St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s Epic system.

Morning Headlines 5/23/25

Hinge Health shares climb 17% in NYSE debut

Digital physical therapy company Hinge Health raises $273 million during its IPO, giving it a $2.6 billion valuation.

When 20,000 devices were paralyzed by a bad update, a Georgia health system turned to Apple

Emory Healthcare’s Hillandale Hospital (GA) replaces all of its legacy computing devices with Apple products following a successful pilot at another hospital.

WellTheory Raises $5M for Autoimmune Care

Virtual autoimmune care startup WellTheory announces $5 million in new funding and new AI scribe and care coordination tools for providers.

News 5/23/25

Top News

Digital physical therapy company Hinge Health raises $273 million during its IPO, giving it a $2.6 billion valuation.

The San Francisco-based company has raised more than $1 billion since launching in 2014.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Fortified Health Security. As a managed security service provider, Fortified offers a broad range of advisory and security operations center (SOC) services that help organizations throughout the healthcare ecosystem protect patient data and reduce risks. Working alongside their clients, Fortified builds customized programs for healthcare organizations that leverage their prior security investments and current processes while implementing new solutions that strengthen their security posture over time. Thanks to Fortified for supporting HIStalk.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Sources say that private equity firm Blackstone is the frontrunner in acquisition offers for revenue cycle company AGS Health in what could be a $1 billion deal. Parent company EQT began considering strategic alternatives for AGS last September.

Truepill (white label digital pharmacy), Veritas (genetics), LetsGetChecked (home testing kits), and Alto (prescription delivery) come together to form Fuze Health. LetsGetChecked acquired Truepill in 2024 for $525 million, $25 million of which was cash.

Acute care telehealth company Equum Medical acquires the virtual clinical services of VeeOne Health. VeeOne will focus on its remaining service lines that include ambulatory care, virtual nursing, remote patient monitoring, hospital at home, and acute inpatient care.

Sales

• Dallas-based AccentCare will implement Netsmart’s CareFabric platform within its medical group.

People

Michael Volpi (RWJBarnabas Health) joins Comport Consulting as VP of healthcare technology.

Anish Arora (Cardinal Health) joins TigerConnect as VP of product.

Announcements and Implementations

TigerConnect announces GA of its CareConduit automated clinical workflow software.

Wolters Kluwer Health develops Ovid Guidelines AI to help healthcare researchers and organizations develop clinical practice guidelines using agentic AI.

Innovaccer launches Innovaccer Gravity to help providers unify and glean insights from data and expand adoption of AI.

Government and Politics

The VA renews its contract with Oracle Health for another 12 months. The department renegotiated its contract with the company in 2023, turning a five-year agreement into five one-year terms.

Other

Emory Healthcare’s Hillandale Hospital (GA) replaces all of its legacy computing devices with Apple products. The health system had already been using some Apple devices at its facilities. It decided to first pilot the all-Apple concept across one floor of its St. Joseph’s Hospital after clinicians noticed that Apple products were not impacted by CrowdStrike’s downtime debacle last year. Staff at Emory, an Epic customer since 2022, say Epic’s integration with Mac also helped to spur the project along.

Sponsor Updates

• Medicomp Systems releases a new “Tell Me Where IT Hurts” podcast episode featuring Lynn Carroll, COO of HSBlox.
• Wolters Kluwer Health offers new data from the fifth edition of its “State of Drug Diversion” report.
• Nordic publishes a new research brief titled “Closing the AI governance gap: Build a strong foundation for success.”
• Ellkay joins the Meditech Alliance as an innovator member.
• Health Data Movers names Morgan Kent (Medhost) account manager.
• Infinx forms a strategic advisory board to strengthen customer advocacy and innovation in healthcare.
• Nordic joins Operation Song to empower veterans through music.
• Optimum Healthcare IT releases a new episode of its “Visionary Voices” podcast titled “The Evolving Role of the CIO with Craig Richardville.”
• Redox releases a new episode of its “Shut the Back Door” podcast titled “An AI agenda – Robots, rules, and really big questions.”
• Rhapsody publishes a new customer story titled “Axia Women’s Health saved $300,000, replacing a standalone API engine with Rhapsody Corepoint.”

Blog Posts

• What You Need to Know About Interoperability and How it Affects You: Part 3 (Netsmart)
• Reclaiming clinical capacity: Addressing burnout and restoring empathy through optimized health IT (Altera Digital Health)
• Decoding Social Care: Understanding Available Data Standards (Findhelp)
• Transforming care through collaboration: Lessons from the frontlines of value-based healthcare (Healthmonix)
• Hospital Staffing in Summertime (Impact Advisors)
• Looking to maximize your revenue opportunities? Meditech can help (Meditech)
• Tackling Top Cybercrime Trends with Healthcare Security Best Practices (MedTech Solutions)
• Navigating the transition to V28: Impact in 2025 (Navina)
• Implementing and Utilizing Integrations in Healthcare (PerfectServe)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 5/22/25

The American Medical Informatics Association hosted its Clinical Informatics Conference this week in Anaheim. It’s a relatively small meeting compared to some of the healthcare IT blowouts, with a reported attendance of just over 600. A couple of readers sent their thoughts on the meeting, leading to an overarching but not surprising conclusion that much of the conversation was “all AI, all the time.” Just looking at the list of the sponsors for the meeting, three out of the top four are ambient documentation companies – Nabla, Abridge, and Suki – so I’m sure that was a significant topic as well. Another reader mentioned a panel on career trajectories for women in the informatics realm that had good advice for those at the midpoints in their careers. I’m always a bit envious of the clinical informaticists who had coaches and mentors as they came up in the field. Those of us that learned at the school of hard knocks followed by a graduate program in making it up as you go definitely have some unique experiences compared to the newer generation of informaticists.

I’ve only attended that conference a couple of times, and each time I’ve enjoyed its low-key nature and robust conversations. It’s not a place that you go in hopes of coming home with a tremendous amount of SWAG items, but I daresay I’m a bit jealous of this reader’s submission. It reminds me of one of my favorite HIMSS giveaways, a shirt from Intermountain Healthcare that said, “I Like Big Data and I Cannot Lie.” Props to the folks at Regenstrief Institute for knowing your audience and how to reach them. During the meeting, the organization also inducted its 2025 class of Fellows of the American Medical Informatics Association. Congratulations to the 87 new Fellows recognized for their contributions to the field of clinical informatics.

One of the hottest stories around the virtual physician lounge this week covered accusations that UnitedHealth Group paid nursing homes to block hospital transfers in order to slash the cost of care. The scheme involves UnitedHealth care coordinators that were embedded within facilities and is supported by two whistleblower complaints submitted to the US Congress. Another part of the alleged misconduct involves incentivizing providers to place Do Not Resuscitate orders on patient charts despite the wishes of those patients stating that they wanted medical interventions to keep them alive. As expected, the insurance company denies the allegations, but I don’t think any of the physicians that were chatting about this would be shocked should they be proven accurate.

A reader who knows I like to report on various wearables sent me some comments on Whoop, which is apparently “designed to improve your fitness, health, and longevity.” Claims of the ability to make people live longer always catch my attention, and this one did not disappoint. The solution claims to calculate the user’s “Whoop Age,” which might be younger or older than their birth age based on various lifestyle factors. It also claims to translate “the body’s monthly vital signals into guidance that extends healthspan, not just lifespan.” The company’s CEO touts its ability “to help our members perform and live at their peak for longer.”

The device does contain an FDA-cleared ECG feature, but its documentation is a little more vague about its “patent-pending technology that delivers daily blood pressure insights.” It also claims to deliver “hormonal insights” for women who are “navigating menstruation, pregnancy, or perimenopause,” but I guess those that are actually menopausal are just out of luck. The company promises a “next evolution in personalized health” to include blood tests that are integrated into the app along with clinician reports. The company offers multiple technical garments to allow the device to be worn in different ways, which is also a great revenue stream. It’s sold in three subscription tiers ranging from $199 to $359 per year. I couldn’t shop any of the accessories or apparel without a login, so if you’ve got intel on their offerings feel free to send me your best “fashion week” writeup.

I caught up over lunch this week with one of my pediatrician friends and we spent a good portion of the time talking shop about EHR enhancements and her recent experience with an ambient documentation solution. She has been trying to integrate it into her practice for several months, but let me know that she had decided to notify the IT department that she wanted to be taken off the licensing list for the application. Although she felt that it might be beneficial for some, she was spending too much time editing documents compared to when she used to document manually in the EHR. One of her main concerns was the inability of the system to differentiate key elements of conversations with parents during visits. For example, a parent with multiple children might be discussing the patient who is having a visit and also make comments about her other children – such as comparing the children’s temperaments, developmental milestones, or experiences with respiratory infections being passed around the household. She also ran into a number of hallucinations where social history elements that were erroneous had been injected into notes. Her parting comments: “I’ve been doing this a long time and I’m fast, and this felt like taking one step forward and two steps back.” I’d be interested to hear from other clinicians who have decided that ambient documentation just isn’t for them.

After writing previously about the Open Payments review and dispute resolution process, I’m pleased to report that the mystery payment I reported has been removed from my file. The vendor in question didn’t provide any of the information I asked for in the dispute report, such as when or where the payment supposedly happened. Instead, they just informed me that they were removing it from their reporting. Since I’ve been watching the Netflix detective series The Residence, I was looking forward to having answers to my pressing questions, but I guess I’ll just have to live with the item being off of my record.

Have you had to dispute an item in Open Payments, and if so, did you get a full resolution? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.

Morning Headlines 5/22/25

Equum Medical Acquires VeeOne Health’s Clinical Services Portfolio, Expanding Telehealth Leadership

Acute care telehealth company Equum Medical acquires the virtual clinical services of VeeOne Health.

WorkDone, a Y Combinator-Backed Startup, Raises $1.8M in VC Funding to Transform Medical Documentation Compliance With AI

San Francisco-based WorkDone, which has developed AI to resolve healthcare documentation errors, raises $1.8 million in pre-seed funding.

Fuze Health Launches to Transform Patient Experiences and Enable Personalized Care in a Changing Healthcare Environment

Fuze Health launches to offer patients the combined digital healthcare services of Truepill, Veritas, LetsGetChecked, and Alto.

VA continues partnership with Oracle Health to deploy Federal Electronic Health Record

The VA renews its contract with Oracle Health for another 12 months.

Healthcare AI News 5/21/25

News

AI clinical documentation company Abridge is reportedly looking to raise new funding that would put its valuation at $5 billion, double its value earlier this year when it announced $250 million in Series D funding. The company has raised $475.5 million since getting its start in 2018. I interviewed Abridge founder and CEO Shiv Rao, MD back in 2023.

Business

New Mountain Capital combines portfolio RCM companies SmarterDx, Thoughtful.ai, and Access Healthcare to create AI-powered healthcare revenue management company Smarter Technologies.

PsychNow develops Chapter, an AI consultation copilot that helps behavioral health providers capture the contextual details of a patient’s story before the first appointment.

OmniMD announces GA of AI Clinicians, an AI assistant that incorporates clinical data, predictive analytics, and real-time decision support.

Onvida Health (AZ) will pilot AI clinical documentation software from Ambience Healthcare this summer.

Research

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division is working with researchers at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy to automate Medicare risk coding using AI.

A Phyx Primary Care Innovation Lab survey of 120 physicians determines that their use of Navina’s AI Copilot helped to reduce clinical review time for complex visits by 40%.

Other

Stony Brook Medicine’s cardiology and radiology departments develop HeartFlow Plaque Analysis, an AI imaging tool that assesses a patient’s coronary artery disease and informs treatment plans.

Duke Health (NC) will work with Microsoft services company Avanade to develop an AI governance process for the responsible implementation of clinical AI in healthcare settings.

The DOD’s US Military Entrance Processing Command develops and begins using an AI summary tool to streamline the review of applicant medical documents during the medical pre-screening process.

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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This Week in Health Tech 5/21/25

Morning Headlines 5/21/25

Blackstone emerges as lead contender for mega $1.1 bn-$1.3 bn buyout of EQT-promoted AGS Health

Sources say that private equity firm Blackstone is the frontrunner in acquisition offers for revenue cycle company AGS Health.

Cyberattack brings down Kettering Health phone lines, MyChart patient portal access

Kettering Health (OH) reverts to downtime operations, canceling all elective procedures and diverting ambulances in the wake of a ransomware attack discovered Tuesday morning.

Abridge in Talks to Raise at $5 Billion Valuation as AI Health Startups Draw Investors

AI-powered documentation company Abridge is reportedly looking to raise new funding that would put its valuation at $5 billion, double its value earlier this year when it announced $250 million in Series D funding.

News 5/21/25

Top News

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals acquires 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service, Total Health and Research Services businesses, and Biobank and related assets for $256 million at bankruptcy auction, beating out a bid from co-founder and former CEO Anne Wojcicki.

23andMe retains its Lemonaid Health telemedicine business, though it, too, may be sold off at a later date.

Regeneron has stressed that it will ensure the security of its newly acquired consumer genetics data.

Reader Comments

From Tom B. William: “Re: Epic’s latest courtroom win. The company has scored recent wins against patent troll GreatGigz and Decapolis, with the latter win on behalf of a customer. I’d love to know how much money is annually budgeted by Epic for such matters.” Readers, feel free to weigh in with your best guess. I can only assume that the sum is more than some health IT companies spend on line items like sales and marketing. As I mentioned in 2022 after Epic triumphed over GreatGigz in a suit involving Christus Health, “Epic has historically been one of few companies willing to do whatever it takes to defend itself, and in this case, the involvement of one of its customers is likely to unleash its legal dogs.”

Sponsored Events and Resources

Live Webinar: June 18 (Wednesday) noon ET. “Fireside Chat: Closing the Gaps in Medication Adherence.” Sponsor: DrFirst. Presenters: Ben G. Long, MD, director of hospital medicine, Magnolia Regional Health Center; Wes Blakeslee, PhD, vice president of clinical data strategies, DrFirst; Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, DrFirst. Magnolia Regional Health Center will describe how its Nurse Navigator program used real-time prescription fill data from DrFirst to identify therapy gaps and engage patients through timely, personalized outreach. The effort led to a 19% increase in prescription fills and a 6% drop in 30-day readmissions among participating patients. Attendees will learn why prescribing price transparency is key to adherence, how real-time data helps care teams support patients between visits, and how Magnolia aligned its approach with value-based care and population health goals.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

New Mountain Capital combines portfolio RCM companies SmarterDx, Thoughtful.ai, and Access Healthcare to create AI-powered healthcare revenue management company Smarter Technologies. New Mountain Executive Advisor and industry veteran Jeremy Delinsky will serve as CEO of the new business.

Sales

• Medical University of South Carolina Health selects Glytec’s diabetes and insulin management technology.

People

Inovalon promotes Karly Rowe to president of its provider business unit.

Valerie Mondelli, MBA (RevSpring) joins Iodine Software as chief commercial officer.

Glooko promotes Mark Clements, MD, PhD to chief medical and strategy officer.

Announcements and Implementations

TruBridge adds Microsoft’s Dragon Copilot AI-powered clinical workflow assistant to its EHR.

Dayton Children’s Hospital (OH) implements Abridge’s ambient documentation software.

Government and Politics

VA EHR Modernization Program Executive Director Neil Evans, MD explains that next year’s slate of 13 implementations will occur in waves of facilities chosen for their pre-existing relationships, with many patients receiving primary care at one facility and specialty care at another. Go lives will occur next year at sites in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Alaska.

Privacy and Security

Kettering Health (OH) reverts to downtime operations, canceling all elective procedures and diverting ambulances in the wake of a ransomware attack discovered Tuesday morning. Hackers have threatened to publish patient data on the dark web if the health system doesn’t meet their demands within 72 hours.

Other

Researchers at the the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Dentistry develop an app that connects dentists to health information exchanges so that they can more easily access a patient’s medical history.

Sponsor Updates

• Black Book Research’s new study reveals the world’s leading cities in achieving seamless health record exchange and EHR optimization.
• Arcadia publishes a new white paper titled “10 strategies to lead in value-based care.”
• AvaSure wins Oracle Customer Excellence Awards for multi-cloud excellence and CTO of the year.
• Clearsense publishes a new white paper titled “How Application Portfolio Management Accelerates M&A Value in Healthcare.”
• Clinical Architecture, First Databank, and InterSystems will sponsor and Elsevier will exhibit at the AMIA Clinical Informatics Conference May 20-22 in Anaheim, CA.
• CloudWave will exhibit at the New England HIMSS 2025 Annual Spring Conference June 5 in Norwood, MA.
• Altera Digital Health announces that Latrobe Regional Health in Australia has integrated its Sunrise EHR with Provation’s anesthesia information management system.

Blog Posts

• Transforming Denials Management through Automation and Analytics (AGS Health)
• Five9 Celebrates Eleven Honorees Named to 2025 CRN® Women of the Channel List (Five9)
• The Future of TheraOffice is Now: Experience Our Brand-New, Modernized Platform (Netsmart)
• The role of EPRs in dementia care: How Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is enhancing early detection and patient Support (Altera Digital Health)
• How service line analytics is transforming operations (Cardamom)
• Assumed Breach Simulation: Lateral Movement Explained (Clearwater)
• Key Takeaways from Reuters Digital Health 2025 (Dimensional Insight)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.