ONC Committee structure shuffle — Teladoc first of new telemedicine companies to go public — Digital health investment cools a bit

With help from Arthur Allen (@ArthurAllen202)

ONC TASK FORCES TO SPEED THEIR WORK: To quickly acquaint you with what happened at Tuesday’s Health IT Policy Committee:

— A slight organizational shuffle introduces task forces to address specific problems in limited timeframe in the Standards and Policy committees. One of the first task forces will focus on interoperability, said Policy Committee vice chair Paul Tang, with financial barriers as one of the important action items.

— Tang also pressed the case for unique patient identifiers, saying they were important for so-called “advanced health models” — ACOs and the like. These identifiers are particularly important for tracking patients across institutions, which is necessary for care coordination, Tang noted.

— Finally, there’s terribly little consensus around privacy in big data, privacy workgroup co-chair Stanley Crosley reported. That means it will be hard to solve that problem, though voluntary standards may get the job done.

DIGITAL HEALTH FUNDING LEVELING OFF: Digital health startups raised $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2015, according to the latest numbers from Startup Health. Through the first half of the year, total funding is about $600 million less than the comparable period in 2014. Digital health funding, while still strong, has lost momentum.

After outpacing the sector as a whole, digital health funding now mirrors the growth rate in venture capital funding overall. The National Venture Capital Association hasn’t put out the second-quarter 2015 numbers, but overall funding slightly decreased between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. So while digital health enthusiasm may be making a relative retreat, it’s still high.

eHealth tweet of the day: @ UrmimalaSarkar # sfghgrandrounds @ rzeiger on online peer-to-peer patient communities. More questions than answers but this is the world we’re living in. http://bit.ly/1C8jN6X

Wednesday morning: Seeing as the fourth of July is our nation’s birthday, your correspondent is crossing his fingers about the birthday gift list: no last-day news dumps. We’re hoping all the government agencies and big businesses out there give Uncle Sam the same gift. Send us your feedback or birthday cake recipes at [email protected] or on Twitter @ arthurallen202, @ dariustahir, and @ Morning_eHealth

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER: Paul Tang also noted that the policy committee was on a “summer break” yesterday — which is why the meeting was virtual.

AFTER COSTLY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, XEROX ROLLS OUT MEDICAID SOFTWARE: Xerox announced at a news conference Tuesday that its enterprise software for Medicaid — termed Medicaid Management Information Systems — received federal certification in New Hampshire’s Medicaid system. The certification is necessary to unsure a given state’s software platform can effectively manage the program and not fall down on the job.

The software helps manage states’ Medicaid issues such as payments, provider credentialing and enrollment. Xerox noted that its software can auto-adjudicate payments, making decisions on claims without human intervention. Medicaid patients can log on and see their claims history, as well as search for doctors accepting insurance. Xerox officials were also keen to tout improved usability relative to past versions.

The system is live in New Hampshire and Alaska, and developing the software for New York, North Dakota, California, and Montana. Xerox group president David Hamilton said New York could expect to get the software “later in 2016.”

OPEN PAYMENTS DATABASE SPELUNKING: With the unveiling of the latest batch of Sunshine Act payments, the wonders of open data have visited journalists once again. We’ve found that drug and device companies paid doctors a ton of money ($6.5 billion, around), mostly for research purposes.

BUSINESS NEWS: HealthTap, a telemedicine company, on Tuesday announced a collaboration with Quest Diagnostics that allows doctors to order diagnostic testing services for its patients at any time. The company says that 71,000 doctors it contracts with will have instant access to Quest and can send patients there for testing. The two companies will combine to provide the results in an intelligible way on line, the news release said. Insurance doesn’t cover the virtual visits but any diagnostics or drugs prescribed during the visits can be billed to insurers if they cover them.

SPEAKING OF THAT TORRID DIGITAL FUNDING: Allscripts is making a $200 million investment into Patrick Shoon-Shiong’s NantHealth ecosystem, reportedly valuing it at $2 billion. Billionaire doctor Shoon-Shiong is, in turn, making a $100 million investment into Allscripts. NantHealth is a much-hyped startup combining technology and devices to deliver precision cancer treatment. It has been the recipient of big bucks — big even by enthusiastic startup standards: the Kuwaiti Investment Authority alone has contributed in the nine figure range.

Yet the startup isn’t without controversy: it was the recipient of a whistleblower lawsuit back in January, alleging misuse of CMS funds.

CYBERSECURITY TOP OF MIND FOR HEALTHCARE: 87 percent of healthcare leaders and security experts think cybersecurity is an increased business priority, according to the 2015 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey, which was released Tuesday. Most respondents have only an average level of confidence in their security; less than half feel there are too many threats to track. More than half have full-time staff managing information security.

TELADOC GOES PUBLIC TODAY: The company, trading in the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker sign TDOC, is hoping to garner $112 million from public markets. It’ll be priced at $19 per share, for anyone who wants to call their broker.

The offering will cap off a busy period for Teladoc: they’ve hired a Washington lobbyist, and are in a legal rumble with Texas and competitors American Well.

NEUBERGER MOVING ON: Neal Neuberger, the executive director of the HIMSS Foundation’s Institute for e-Health Policy, will be moving on from that role August 1, he announced in a LinkedIn post. Neuberger says he’ll be focusing on his consultancy, Health Tech Strategies. Neuberger had served as executive director since 2008.

WHAT WE’RE CLICKING:

How to fix meaningful use (a pilot program!): http://bit.ly/1GNCs4a

A Post-EHR World: The Opportunity for Administrative versus Clinical HCIT: http://bit.ly/1JwhnRS

IT talent shortage hitting healthcare hardest: http://bit.ly/1egz5v7

Execs Vent on ePrescribing, MU, and EHR Weaknesses: http://bit.ly/1Hwvk22

A Proposal for Disruptive Regulation of EHRs: http://bit.ly/1LUdl36

YOU’RE INVITED: Join Pro’s Health Care team and health policy experts tomorrow for a timely discussion of the Supreme Court ruling in King v. Burwell. Does this settle the political battle around the Affordable Care Act? If not, what are the venues for the next round of political or legal challenges? How will this ruling shape the future of health care and American politics? Learn more and register here: http://politi.co/1IoTjyV