Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.
News and Studies
ONC released the Draft United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) v4 and its accompanying Standards Bulletin. USCDI is a standardized set of health data classes and data elements that enables data exchange across care settings. The draft v4 update would add 20 data elements – six related to lab results and three each focused on health status assessments and facility information. The public feedback period for the USCDI update is open until April 17
A consumer survey from healthcare finance platform Zelis found that 41% of consumers are “significantly frustrated” with billing errors, and 43% of people had to spend at least one month getting a bill corrected. Only 30% of people are confident in their ability to spot errors in their bills, and 80% of consumers want health plans to have a clearer process for dealing with billing errors.
An analysis of 12 million commercial members from value-based care platform Cedar Gate concluded that inpatient surgery volumes decreased more than 7% from 2019 to 2021. Hospital outpatient surgeries were up 3% over the same timeframe, while ambulatory surgical center utilization increased more than 10%. The study also found that surgery volumes returned to their pre-pandemic levels nu June 2020.
Partnerships
- Virtual chronic care provider Omada Health is partnering with Castell, Intermountain Healthcare’s value-based care subsidiary, to expand the availability of diabetes management products within the Utah Medical Group.
- Edifecs and 3M are integrating their technology in an effort to help payers and providers to accelerate the adoption of value-based payment models.
- Paige is partnering with Microsoft to apply AI to digital pathology imaging. Microsoft is also making a stategic investment in the company.
- GE HealthCare is collaborating with Ordr to bring the company’s connected device security platform to GE customers.
- Healthcare marketplace MDsave is partnering with ViewFi Health, a virtual orthopedic practice.
- DocGo has teamed with Redirect Health to provide urgent mobile care to patients in New Jersey and New York.
- Gradient Health signed an agreement with Cone Health to access the health system’s anonymized data as the company continues to build medical imaging data sets.
- Cybersecurity platform Irdeto is working with Prognoix to develop a security strategy for the company’s digital medicine tools that target stigmatized medical conditions.
- GI health management platform Ayble Health announced a partnership with the American Nutrition Association.
Products
- IoT data analytics company CenTrak launched Workflow, a platform for automating clinical documentation and reporting.
- Population health management vendor Lightbeam introduced Radian, a product that aggregates clinical and social data to provide a view of health system-level disparities.
- Text analytics software company Relative Insight released Relative Health, which was specifically designed to analyze and visualize medical lexicons.
- Telehealth provider Dr. B expanded its service offerings to include dermatology, sexual health, reproductive health and primary care.
- Medical device startup Opticyte received an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its Cell O₂ Patient Monitor, which monitors patients at risk of organ failure.
Sales
- Twenty hospitals in northeastern Ontario are implementing MEDITECH Expanse, joining three systems within the ONE HITS network that initially went live on Expanse in 2019. In addition, MEDITECH is working with data security firm CloudWave to deploy Expanse at East Cheshire NHS Trust and Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
- Allina Health selected Qventus to automate operating room scheduling processes.
- Franciscan Health adopted Innovaccer for risk-based contract performance management and patient relationship management.
- The Georgia Hospital Association expanded its implementation of PointClickCare to support care coordination throughout the state.
- Elevate Addiction Services integrated Vivalink‘s biometric data platform into its drug and alcohol inpatient detox treatment program.
People
- DrFirst promoted G. Cameron Deemer to CEO and announced that founder James F. Chen is transitioning from the CEO role to the position of Executive Chairman of the Board.
- EHR, RCM, and practice management vendor ModMed appointed Jody Beaverson as Chief People Officer.
If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo.
