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
Last week’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health pledged to take action to reduce hunger and diseases related to poor diets in areas such as food access, healthy food choices, physician activity, and food security research. Among the many announced initiatives was the Sync for Social Needs coalition, a group of health systems, insurers, and vendors committed to standardizing the sharing of patient data on food insecurity and other social determinants. Coalition members include EHR heavy hitters like Epic, Oracle Cerner, and MEDITECH, along with social care companies such as FindHelp, UniteUs, WellSky, and XanthosHealth.
Research from athenahealth about telehealth usage throughout the pandemic found that nearly 1 in 4 patients (24%) used telehealth specifically to avoid an in-person visit. In addition, nearly 1 in 3 patients used telehealth to manage a chronic condition, with 23% scheduling appointments and another 9% opting for ad hoc check-ins. While these findings suggest that telehealth addresses an unmet need for access to care, the same may not be true for continuity of care, as Black and Hispanic patients were less likely to receive care from a single provider.
Partnerships
- Northwell Health is deploying scheduling software from CliniShift developed through a partnership between the health system, the Ireland-based company, and Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government’s trade and innovation agency.
- Health data platform Truveta is collaborating with Boston Scientific to study long-term care outcomes for peripheral artery disease, which causes narrowing of the arteries in the legs.
- Remote diagnostic test provider Health Point Neurodiagnostics is partnering with TeamViewer to help make its emote EEG ambulatory mobile testing more reliable.
- Data management platform Clearsense announced a partnership and licensing agreement with UPMC Enterprises to integrate each other’s data platforms.
- Biopharma and medtech platform BrightInsight added three partners to its ecosystem: Biopharmaceutical patient access platform ClaritasRx, mental health digital therapeutic Woebot Health, and digital health hosting platform Xealth.
- Clinical decision support tool VisualDx is collaborating with the American College of Emergency Physicians to build a physician-sourced database of monkeypox images.
- Zane Networks was named the technology partner for CRISP, the state-designated HIE for Maryland and the Washington, D.C. region
Products
- RCM provider AGS Health launched the AGS AI Platform for workflow and coding automation and compliance auditing.
- Patient navigation and engagement firm Luma Health received HITRUST certification for its Patient Success Platform.
- Data exchange platform Particle Health unveiled Particle for EHRs, which enables EHR vendors connect to Carequality, CommonWell, and eHealth Exchange with one API integration.
- Handheld ultrasound scanner maker Butterfly Network launched its Proficiency Management Solution.
- Consultancy and Epic implementation partner Brightwork Health IT unveiled its SPARC Academy to provide asynchronous training on EHR software.
People
- Cardiac remote monitoring firm Implicity appointed two executives: Vanessa Joyce as Vice President of Sales for North America, and Megan Grosz as Global Head of Marketing and Communications.
- Telemedicine provider Avel eCare named Kelly Rhone, MD, its Chief Medical Officer.
- Patient billing service provider Inbox Health named Dan Simenc its Chief Revenue Officer.
- Digital health company and chatbot maker Babylon hired Andrew Hine as Vice President of Go-to-Market; he will focus on Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
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