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
In a blog post, ONC highlighted trends in patient access to electronic health information. Nearly all (97%) hospitals and roughly almost two-thirds (65%) of physician practices are now capable of enabling patient access. Though this is a significant increase from 2012, numbers haven’t budged much since 2015. On the other hand, and not surprisingly, the percentage of patients accessing information electronically saw the biggest jump from 2020 (38%) to 2022 (57%) amid the pandemic.
eClinicalWorks completed Phase 1 of the QHIN application process, while the CommonWell Health Alliance intends to complete its application in early 2024 amid launching a new platform.
Studies
- About 70% of hospitals face hidden challenges to business continuity, such as poor data integrity or network disruptions, according to a report from Veriti.
- Nearly 3 in 4 (73%) of mental health practitioners have seen an increase since the start of the pandemic, and 45% said they’ve had to turn patients away, according to research from Wiley. Forty percent of practitioners reported feeling burned out.
- A survey from Turquoise Health found prices for “shoppable services” in healthcare are increasing roughly at the pace of inflation, though some vaccines have seen price increases of more than 20%.
- Although 94% of consumers know oral health impacts physical health, 81% are hesitant to seek dental care, according to a survey from VideaHealth.
Partnerships
- Darena Solutions, Leidos, and SLI Compliance unveiled a verification process for AI applications built using SMART on FHIR standards.
- Medically Home added Arcadian Health, a Louisiana-based mobile health service, to its network.
- Empathy is partnering with Carallel to offer bereavement support to caregivers as a covered benefit through employer-sponsored health plans.
- Equality Health and Datavant are partnering to automate data exchange among value-based care practices.
- MedeAnalytics and HSBlox entered an exclusive strategic partnership to integrate operational analytics and financial administration.
- AVIA added five health systems to the AVIA Network, bringing the total number of members to more than 55. In addition, AVIA published its Top Interoperability Companies Report, with Andor Health topping the list.
- Real-time location service provider Navenio is integrating with Pavion‘s nurse call system.
- Laudio and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership will produce biannual reports and insights from the perspective of nursing leadership.
Product and Company News
- Google Cloud released MedLM language models for healthcare and life sciences. One model is larger and designed for complex tasks; the other is medium and designed for scaling across tasks.
- Avalon Healthcare Solutions launched Precision Genetic Testing Management, a payer-facing program for managing genetic testing spending.
- Business process management company Sagility launched its Utilization Management as a Service offering, which aims to help providers with CMS regulatory compliance.
- Infermedica added three languages to its Medical Guidance Platform – Japanese, Thai, and traditional Chinese – bringing the number supported to 24.
- Pair Team expanded into seven more California counties; the company provides virtual primary care for Medicaid beneficiaries.
- Home care EMR software maker Smartcare Software rebranded as Aaniie.
Sales
- Maryland HIE entity CRISP chose Zane Networks as the technology partner for its Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Human Services Interoperability Innovations (HSII) cooperative agreement.
- New York City HIE entity Healthix chose CLEAR identity verification technology for its My Health Record NY portal.
- Pennsylvania-based WellSpan Health selected Arcadia data analytics to supports its Medicare Shared Savings Program.
- The Bahamas’ National Health Insurance Authority implemented eClinicalWorks and increased cancer screening compliance.
- Missouri-based Phelps Health chose KeyCare to support virtual care delivery through MyChart.
- Central New York care management service Nascentia Health selected the Biofourmis Care platform for its hospital-at-home program.
- Diagnostic software maker Dedalus adopted CAST Highlight for risk analysis of open source software.
Certifications and Recognitions
- Consensus Cloud Solutions achieves HITRUST Risk-based, 2-year Re-Certification for its eFax Corporate platform.
- Frost & Sullivan recognized the Inovalon ONE Platform with the 2023 North American Product Leadership Award.
People
- Concierge urgent care provider Sollis Health announced Jia Jia Ye as Chief Operating Officer.
- Community-based care program provider Wider Circle appointed Brett Zelkind as Chief Strategy Officer.
- Medical coding automation vendor CodaMetrix named Lisa Morella as Vice President of Data and Analytics.
- Cost cycle optimization vendor SpendMend hired Bryan Olson as Area Vice President of Sales for the western U.S.
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. Note that submissions received after the close of business on Thursday may not be included in Bonus Features until the following week.
