I share your concerns about a lot of similar projects, but I think this one's an outcomes comparison thing, not…
News 10/18/23
Top News
Waystar announces that it filed IPO documents in August that reportedly value the company at up to $8 billion.
Waystar says it booked $196 million in sales for the quarter ending June 30 versus $173 million for the same quarter last year.
The revenue cycle management company was formed in 2017 with the merger of Navicure and ZirMed. Waystar has since acquired Connance, HealthPay24, Patientco, PARO, Digitize,AI, and ESolutions.
Webinars
October 25 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “Q&A: What’s new with the NSA? A No Surprises Act update.” Sponsor: Waystar. Presenters: Joseph Mercer, JD, managing director, Marwood Group; Heather Kawamoto, VP of product strategy, Waystar. The No Surprises Act created a lot of change, and those changes are still coming. A panel of revenue cycle experts answer frequently asked questions and offer a concise update on the NSA, including legislative developments, FAQs, and tips for navigating changes.
October 25 (Wednesday) 2 ET. “AMA: The Power of Data Completeness.” Sponsor: Particle Health. Presenters: Jason Prestinario, MSME, CEO, Particle Health; Carolyn Ward, MD, director of clinical strategy, Particle Health. Is your healthcare organization looking to drive profitability and scale quickly? Our experts will explore how comprehensive clinical data can revolutionize the health tech landscape. This engaging discussion will cover trending topics such as leveraging AI and data innovation to enhance patient care and outcomes, real-world examples of organizations leading the charge in data-driven healthcare, overcoming challenges in data completeness and interoperability, and visionary perspectives on the future of care delivery.
Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.
Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock
The loss of a legacy customer and associated $4.5 million in annual revenue prompts RCM vendor Streamline Health Solutions to move forward with a corporate restructuring plan that includes a 24% reduction in its workforce and the promotion of Benjamin Stilwill to CEO. Former CEO Wyche “Tee” Green will transition to executive chairman. STRM shares have lost 40% of their value in the past 12 months versus the Nasdaq’s 31% gain, closing Tuesday at $0.30 and valuing the company at $18 million.
Aspirus Health will acquire St. Luke’s in signing a definitive agreement that has been unanimously approved by the boards of both health systems. The agreement calls for Aspirus to implement Epic and its other standard systems at St. Luke’s within 24 months of closing, which is expected in the spring of 2024. St. Luke’s went live on Meditech Expanse in mid-2019. The combined organization will operate 19 hospitals and 130 outpatient locations with 14,000 employees.
Drug chain Rite Aid files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and hires a new CEO as it struggles with slowing sales, debt, and a Department of Justice opioid lawsuit.
Sales
- AdventHealth will use tech-enabled clinical support from Wellvana to improve access and outcomes within its network of primary care clinics in Florida.
People
Samir Shah, MD (Envision Healthcare) joins Qure.ai as chief medical officer.
Cordea Consulting names Travis Earlywine (Lowes) regional VP of sales.
Announcements and Implementations
Highmark Health (PA) will implement Google’s new Vertex AI Search technology across its enterprise. It is initially using the generative AI tool as a part of an automated, post-visit medical documentation workflow pilot project.
King’s Daughters Medical Center (MS) implements BridgeHead Software’s HealthStore clinical data repository as a part of decommissioning its legacy Meditech Magic EHR. KDMC went live on Meditech Expanse last December.
Guelph General Hospital in Ontario goes live with Sectra’s cloud-based enterprise imaging technology.
Government and Politics
The VA will establish four AI centers to test and apply new AI solutions at partner VA medical centers. The centers support the VA’s recently announced AI strategy, which includes using AI to improve care outcomes and experiences for veterans.
Privacy and Security
Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center (AZ) works to restore computer systems after a September 27 ransomware attack.
University of Vermont Medical Center President and COO Stephen Leffler, MD tells lawmakers at a joint subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC that more federal grants should be made available to help health systems purchase stronger cybersecurity software. Leffler also shared the details of the hospital’s recovery from a 2020 ransomware attack, which led to 28 days of downtime and $65 million in costs.
Other
Epic employees complain on Reddit that the company has announced that it will no longer allow them to work from home during heavy snow days. Some of them note that Epic’s new hires often have never driven in snow and therefore are prone to creating automotive mayhem.
Sponsor Updates
- Healthwise posts a case study of how Duke Health used its health education to increase the success rate of its smoking cessation program.
- Availity offers RevSpring’s staff-assisted payment and merchant services as part of its Availity Essentials multi-payer platform.
- AvaSure will host its 2023 Symposium October 25-26 in Grand Rapids, MI.
- Inovalon’s Claims Management Pro solution is offered on the PointClickCare Marketplace.
- Baker Tilly publishes a new case study, “Handled with care: UT Health San Antonio’s Oracle HCM journey towards one cloud.”
- Nordic publishes another episode of its In Network podcast, “Designing for Health: Bre Loughlin.”
- Bamboo Health publishes a new case study, “Revolutionizing Nevada’s Behavioral Health Referrals: A Leap Forward for 988 Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline Services.”
- Censinet releases a new Risk Never Sleeps Podcast featuring cybersecurity expert Frank Riccardi.
Blog Posts
- Navigating the Challenges of Transcription: Finding a Solution that is Accurate, Timely & Secure (AdvancedMD)
- From Pain to Progress: Streamlining LIS Upgrades with JTG Consulting Group (JTG Consulting Group)
- Coding and Documentation Synergies: The Power of CAC and CDI Integration (AGS Health)
- How to create a trusted and consistent data foundation for healthcare (Arcadia)
- Building a Pan-European Paediatric Data Collaboration Network (Aridhia)
- Leveraging High-Quality Clinical Data to Safeguard HEDIS Quality Bonus (Availity)
- Why Injury Prevention Technology Used by Athletes is so Effective in the Workplace (Bardavon)
- Copay Adjustment Programs: What Brand and Hub Teams Need to Know (ConnectiveRx)
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Re: Epic snow days. My son’s company announced a 3 day/week return to office policy. He’s not thrilled (he started shortly before the lockdowns in 2020 and has been working remotely his entire time with the company), but he appreciated that the HR person making the announcement acknowledged that the primary driving force behind the decision was a need to justify the cost of owning/maintaining the buildings. Epic’s campus is legendary, and still growing…no wonder they want to see it used. Would it be possible they might consider adding housing for employees some day? A return to the factory towns of the 1800s?
> Would it be possible they might consider adding housing for employees some day? A return to the factory towns of the 1800s?
Ooo, maybe they could issue their own tokens that people could cash in for goods and services, at like on-campus grocery stores! They could call it “scrip”! If they’re really clever, they can calculate the amount of goods that would be purchased on campus and just deduct that from the base pay, so between company housing and company scrip they would really save quite a lot in salaries.
Apropos of nothing, the John Sayles’ film “Matewan” is really a fantastic piece of filmmaking, I strongly recommend it. It just popped into my head, I don’t know why.
As an Epic employee whose housing is a majority of my monthly spending due to living somewhat frugally, if Epic provided free housing closer to campus, it would functionally be ~25k raise given housing costs in Madison, and the savings associated with not only getting free housing, but also not needing to spend on housing. I get the criticism of company towns, but 25 year old’s making ~100,000+ a year are not oppressed by big evil corporations.
Your housing would be in lieu of pay, that’s what a company town is and that’s the point I’m making. The company is not going to pay twice for the same thing; either they pay for your housing directly by providing it, or indirectly in your paycheck so you can pay for it.
Even then, if the decrease in pay is less than the expected value of housing it is a net raise. Ideally, they would make the housing benefit optional and be transparent with impact on pay like international assignments at Epic are discussed but who knows. And the economies of scale of Epic’s likely required construction due to the demographics of employer base would likely still be on net cheaper than renting locally, with the added benefit of reducing demand in the local housing market therefore decreasing rents for others.
I was only half-joking when I recommended people watch the film “Matewan”. I actually believe everyone should watch it and pay close attention to the history lesson.
Hey, great idea and just think I am sure there housing lease agreement will be as accommodating as their employment agreements. Not only can you never work for anyone else…you can cancel your lease, but NEVER leave!
The non-compete is not nearly as bad as all the people crying about it say. It is only enforceable at Epic customers and honestly, if you get hired, get a bunch of certs for free and quit without providing value, I could care less about your issues with non-compete. Also it isn’t enforceable in many states and 1.5 years is not that long of a wait to become an analyst.
So is it that if you decide to leave Epic that means you did not provide any value??? But if you did not provide value I would think they would want you to leave and could not care less where you end up. In fact best thing for Epic is for you to go to a competitor!
On the other hand if you were a good employee and provided value…then I guess you became their ‘prisoner’. Non competes for non-exec level people are grossly unfair. If the reason is to protect IP, then all you need is a non-disclosure document..
When it comes I hope you enjoy your year-off, of course with no income.
The only people who are seriously inconvenienced by the non compete and cannot wait it out are those who have been there for under a year or two. Given the first 6 months is spent primarily on training and the next 6-12 months are break-even due to the extra help needed, only after a year or two does someone actually provide real value once you factor in resources put into them. And if you have been at Epic for 2 years+ you probably should be able to have saved enough that you can wait out the non-compete at a less highly compensated role such as with the Wisconsin government which pays less than Epic, but is pretty easy to get a job with that still pays decently and is enough to live off in Madison for a year. After that you can become an analyst. But for people who leave before 6 months, they provide negative value. I am not a team lead who drinks the koolaid, but honestly I like the non-compete as it makes it harder for new hires to get certifications and immediately quit, which leads to their work getting forced on me(due to being tenured and actually planning to stay at Epic in the long run).
In terms of my priorities, compensation, work from home and flexibility with hours are far more important than the non-compete given my plans. All those are topics, I am working to organize around regarding a union but the non-compete shouldn’t even be part of the unionization discussions that are going on.
Whoa!!! A union at Epic??? Now there’s an idea Judy would jump at. Good luck. Oh, and also good luck with work from home.
On your other point I agree, if an employee just goes there to get trained and jump ship that is not ‘fair’. But looking at it from another perspective if that same employee is delivering ‘value’ (as you put it) then it is up to the employer to do all they can to keep that valued employee. If they can’t then the employer failed.
I simply cannot imagine going through the effort and risk of organizing a union and explicitly *not* stripping non-competes out of the employment agreement. Its such a blatant overreach of corporate power it seems insane not to make that one the first demands.
Not for nothing, but if nobody likes job hunting and if someone is quitting after 8 months it means something has gone wrong. This “union organizer” doesn’t seem to think too highly of their coworker; so much for solidarity.
Having gone through one of Epic’s “stealth” layoffs, oh you poor innocent child.
@Fourth Hansen Brother
I have survived through multiple of those including 2008 so at this point I don’t think I have anything to worry about.
@HIT Girl,
I support unionization because it is in my own personal interest. As someone who is an Epic life(by inertia if not by choice), I would sacrifice any changes to the non-compete as long as I benefit from increased compensation or flexibility. It is a negotiating chip and nothing more and provides 0 value to me to change as someone who will never attempt to find a new job as even now I am likely overpaid for the work I do.