Sutherland insights healthcare news flash august 18, 2014

HEALTHCARE NEWS FLASH August 18, 2014

Table of Contents Sales & Marketing ................................................................................................................. 3 Finance ................................................................................................................................. 7 Technology .......................................................................................................................... 13 Strategy .............................................................................................................................. 18

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Sales & Marketing Geisinger launches patient-centered medical home program August 12, 2014 | Fierce Healthcare http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/geisinger-launches-patient-centered-medical-homeprogram/2014-08-12 Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System recently launched its ProvenWellness Neighborhood in the Scranton area with the help of more than $600,000 in grant awards, The Abington Journal reported. It builds on the patient-centered medical home ProvenHealth Navigator program by providing licensed social workers and community health assistants at two area locations. The program is meant to empower patients and help them navigate the healthcare system more efficiently, and will serve at least 1,000 Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured patients in its first year, system officials estimate. The ProvenWellness Neighborhood hopes to coordinate patient needs with local providers, and fill the service gap in primary care, provide coaching and transportation, along with direct care and monitoring of chronic disease.

Google rolls out preview of healthcare app development kit August 11, 2014 | Fierce Biotech IT http://www.fiercebiotechit.com/story/google-rolls-out-preview-healthcare-app-developmentkit/2014-08-11 Over the past year, many tech heavyweights have begun moving into the mHealth sector, with Apple and Google both unveiling fitness-focused updates to their mobile platforms. Developers got an early look at Google's offering this week, with the search giant releasing a preview version of its APIs for health app developers.

The APIs fall into three categories: sensors, recording and history. Collectively, the APIs and Google's pushing of its Fit platform could drive a surge in the number of people collecting personal health data, as well as an increase in the breadth of information they capture. In a blog post to unveil the APIs, Google gave the example of a running app that receives updates from a heart monitor every 5 seconds and logs the data.

Such passive data collection tools could allow clinical trials to gather more information on patients between site visits, while also freeing participants from the need to actively track their health. To date, clinical trials have largely relied on dedicated devices to capture patient data, instead of using participants' own phones, but some want to see this change. The need to ensure the reliability and security of the data are two potential obstacles to the shift.

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The FDA is another possible barrier, although a June addition to the type of apps for which it will exercise enforcement discretion could address part of the problem. The FDA will exercise discretion for: "Mobile apps that allows a user to collect, log, track and trend data such as blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, weight or other data from a device to eventually share with a healthcare provider, or upload it to an online (cloud) database, personal or electronic health record."

Walmart primary care creates stiff competition for providers August 11, 2014 | Fierce Healthcare http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/wal-mart-primary-care-are-stiff-competitionproviders/2014-08-11 Healthcare providers may have a new, unexpected competitor: Walmart.

The retail giant already opened several primary care clinics in South Carolina and Texas, with an additional six staffed by nurse practitioners to open by next January, Forbes reports.

The company contracts with QuadMed, a Wisconsin-based company specializing in selling clinics to companies seeking to provide direct care to employees rather than health insurance, according to MedicalDaily. The company already operates more than 100 retail clinics nationwide, but these new clinics could provide much more direct competition, according to Forbes.

While the retail clinics generally operate via leases with area hospitals, Walmart owns and operates the new clinics. Unlike other primary care providers, they will be open 12 hours a day on weekdays and at least eight hours a day on weekends, Forbes reports. Moreover, Walmart is able to provide care at much lower rates, with the new clinics charging patients only $40, and employees covered under the company health plan only $4. Moreover, they accept Medicare and, in some locations, Medicaid, according to Fortune.

The company's move signals yet another shift in healthcare delivery that create more competition for traditional providers like doctors and hospitals. Public and private health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act mean patients have more control over their own healthcare than ever before, Rob Lazerow, a practice manager with the Health Care Advisory Board, told Forbes.

"This is a very different competitive landscape than what most executives have faced previously-and hospitals risk losing volumes at each decision point," Lazerow said.

A study last year found many patients visit retail clinics for the very advantages the Walmart clinics offer, with 74 percent saying they visited a clinic rather than a pediatrician either because of the more convenient hours, lack of appointment availability with the pediatrician, not wanting to bother the pediatrician, or the problem's perceived lack of seriousness, FierceHealthcare previously reported.

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CalPERS rolls out online comparison shopping tool for medical care August 08, 2014 | Business Journals http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/08/08/calpers-rolls-out-online-comparisonshopping.html What does a prescription cost at CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart? Need a lab test? Which laboratory is closest to home?

Public-sector workers insured by Anthem Blue Cross through the California Public Employees’ Retirement System have a new tool to find out. An online health-care “shopping” platform developed by San Francisco-based Castlight Health launched this week.

Members of PERS Select, PERS Choice and PERSCare plans can compare doctors, hospitals, medical tests and procedures on a variety of factors, including cost, quality, patient satisfaction and convenience. They can track expenses, too.

The new health-care shopping tool is available to preferred provider organization members only — because they are a group of patients who can go where they want, without a doctor’s referral.

“CalPERS is committed to helping its active and retired members receive high-quality care at an affordable price,” deputy executive officer Ann Boynton said in a news release when the project was announced in February. “We believe the ability to research costs, quality, satisfaction and convenience will be invaluable to our members ... and give them confidence in their health-care decisions.”

The service is available through calperscompare.com.

Cerner to buy Siemens health IT unit August 06, 2014 | Healthcare IT News http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cerner-buy-siemens-health-services $1.3 billion deal will expand Cerner's client base to 18,000 facilities One of the largest electronic medical record companies on Tuesday afternoon announced it had inked an agreement to acquire Siemens' health IT business unit, Siemens Health Services, for $1.3 billion in cash.

The combined revenue of the two companies will bring in $4.5 billion annually, Cerner officials noted. Siemens Health Services' employees combined with Cerner's 14,200 associates will total nearly 20,000 associates across more than 30 countries. The deal is expected to close in early 2015.

Already, Cerner boasts formidable marketshare in the U.S. This acquisition will "bring an impressive worldwide client base," expanding its reach in European countries such as Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden and Norway, said Zane Burke, Cerner president, on a conference call announcing the deal.

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"Cerner is doing very well," Burke added, "so we didn't approach this from a position of needing to be a large acquisition, but we did identify it as a great opportunity."

Siemens Health Services' 2014 fiscal year revenues were estimated at $1.2 billion and, in the past few years, have stayed fairly flat over a period of time, noted Marc Naughton, Cerner's chief financial officer. "I think that's something we can change the trajectory of."

Cerner was one of only three EMR vendors that increased its market share in 2013. The company saw GAAP net earnings stand at $398.4 million, up from $397.2 million in 2012. 2013 bookings also reached a record high, at $3.77 billion, up 20 percent from 2012. The acquisition, officials said, will allow Cerner to bring new solutions to the market that leverage both Cerner's health IT platforms and Siemens' medical devices and imaging niche.

When asked how this acquisition would affect customer attrition, Naughton said, "Certainly that was a key concern for us … we understand that we're going to have to create a very secure future for these clients."

Cerner officials plan to support and advance the Siemens' Soarian EMR platform for at least the next 10 years, with current implementations poised to continue.

"We're just going to win their trust and show them an unbelievable value proposition going forward," said Cerner CEO Neal Patterson. "It will be work. It isn't anything we don't know how to do."

"Siemens cares deeply about its clients and believes Cerner is the best organization to fully support their health IT needs going forward," said John Glaser, CEO of the Health Services business unit of Siemens Healthcare, in a prepared statement. "The knowledge and strength of our combined resources opens up great possibilities for future collaboration and development, which is exciting for all of us. And our clients will benefit from our alignment with a company that has such a strong historical and future commitment to rapid innovation."

Based on 2014 estimates, Cerner and Siemens Health Services have combined totals of more than: •

18,000 client facilities, including some of the largest healthcare organizations in their respective countries

•

$4.5 billion of annual revenue

•

$650 million of annual R&D investment

Of all hospitals attesting to meaningful use, slightly more than 10 percent of unique hospitals attested using a Cerner platform. Contrastingly, only about 4 percent of hospitals used a Siemens EHR to attest.

With regard to eligible professionals, only 12 unique eligible providers have used Siemens to attest, representing just .004 percent of the market. Cerner, however, held approximately 3 percent of the marketshare with eligible providers, as some 9,700 unique eligible professionals attested to meaningful use with a Cerner platform (out of 293,000 EPs included in an HHS meaningful use data set.)

Company officials anticipate the transaction will reach more than $0.15 accretive to Cerner's nonGAAP diluted EPS in 2015, and more than $0.25 accretive in 2016. Non-GAAP earnings are expected to exclude share-based compensation expense, one-time transaction costs, and acquisition-related amortization and deferred revenue adjustments.

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Finance Princeton HealthCare System partners with Premier to drive total quality and cost improvement August 12, 2014 | Premier, Inc. https://www.premierinc.com/wps/portal/premierinc/public/newsandevents/newsreleases/news releases/princeton-partners-with-premier-8-12-14 Leader in providing comprehensive care accessing Premier’s full suite of integrated supply chain, technology and performance improvement services Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) of Plainsboro, New Jersey has selected Premier, Inc. as its strategic partner in advancing comprehensive quality improvement and cost reduction.

The 401-bed healthcare system’s acute care hospital, University Medical Center of Princeton (UMCP), has consistently earned accolades for clinical quality, safety and patient satisfaction and has engaged Premier for assistance in further enhancing its efforts.

UMCP earned The Joint Commission’s designation as a Top Performer for Key Quality Measures for three years in a row and recently received an “A” from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare. Overall inpatient satisfaction at UMCP currently ranks in the top 1 percent of hospitals in New Jersey.

Under the multifaceted contract, PHCS will access Premier’s integrated supply chain, performance and technology services system-wide. This is the first time Premier has partnered with PHCS. “In today’s environment of shrinking reimbursements and other financial challenges, we are searching for innovative ways to become more cost-efficient while we continue to provide outstanding clinical care,” said Barry S. Rabner, PHCS president and CEO. “We believe working with other hospitals, academic institutions and research facilities within Premier’s alliance will help us identify new efficiencies while improving the already exceptional care we provide.”

PHCS will leverage Premier services that are designed to help lower the cost of care, deliver continuous quality improvement and drive operational efficiencies. These services include: One of the largest group purchasing organizations, which includes products and services across approximately 1,900 contracts, including 30 percent of the nation’s hospital purchasing volume for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals across; Advisory services to identify opportunities for enhanced resource utilization to reduce costs; Premier’s full suite of quality, safety, labor and supply chain performance improvement analytics.

Premier also will support PHCS’s Value Analysis Program, a previously existing initiative in which teams of clinical, financial and operational staff members work together to introduce or standardize supplies, devices, services and technologies.

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“Using integrated data to stop harm and infections, and eliminate unjustified variation is becoming a prerequisite to success,” said Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO. “Princeton HealthCare System is an industry leader in providing comprehensive services to succeed in these areas. We look forward to working with them to help further their mission of continually improving care quality and service for the patients and communities they serve.”

All Premier services are available in the PremierConnect integrated technology and social networking platform. The platform aggregates patient data on 1 in 3 U.S. hospital discharges and approximately $41 billion in annual provider purchases. It also enables real-time member interactions across the nation.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The partnership between PHCS and Premier was previously announced during Premier’s fiscal 2014 third quarter results conference call on May 12, 2014.

Catholic system bets on telemedicine August 08, 2014 | Healthcare Finance News http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/catholic-system-bets-telemedicine A first-of-its-kind virtual medical center has the potential to improve care and hospital revenues As payment moves to value-based models, telemedicine could become an important part of the hospital’s financial future. One health system is already planning on the financial benefits by creating a standalone virtual medical center.

In May, Mercy, one of the country’s largest Catholic health systems, broke ground on a 120,000square-foot facility designed to consolidate all its telemedicine initiatives under one roof. The $50 million building in Chesterfield, Mo., will be home to 300 physicians, nurses, researchers and support staff when it opens in 2015.

“Virtual care has the possibility of radically transforming outcomes for certain patients,” said Randy Moore, MD, MBA, president of Mercy Virtual. “It plugs many holes in the system so you get simpler and more effective interventions at an earlier stage.”

Although there are limited, but growing, possibilities for direct payment, the real value for virtual centers like Mercy’s will be in maximizing care.

“Sepsis is the top problem confronting healthcare systems – a condition where every hour of delay in treatment can result in 6 percent worse outcomes,” noted Moore. “Turnkey telesepsis solutions can accelerate recognition and treatment, enabling Mercy to decrease mortality by over 50 percent, and lower costs per case by over $8,000.”

All of the money saved when the patient does not take a turn for the worse goes directly to operating margins. The same holds true in population-based or shared-saving payment contracts.

As telemedicine matures, Moore thinks the virtual center may become an income stream for Mercy.

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Smaller hospitals and systems that see the benefits of telemedicine but do not have the size and economies of scale to make it feasible may come to Mercy to contract for these services, an idea supported by Jonathan Linkous, chief executive officer of the American Telemedicine Association.

“The intention of the Mercy project is to improve the quality of care for patients throughout their system, help reduce the cost of care by sharing specialists and also be able to create revenue by being able to provide this service to other institutions outside the Mercy system,” Linkous said. “I think most of their costs could be covered just by internal savings, so doing things like telestroke treatment for non-system hospitals become a source of additional income.”

In addition to helping save costs and potentially bringing in revenue, a virtual center for telemedicine can help improve the quality of care, added Wendy Deibert, vice president of Mercy's Telehealth Services, due to the amount of data and use of analytics to understand that data. “We will continue to evolve algorithms as the larger volumes of patients allow us to more quickly prove which interventions result in better outcomes.”

Highmark, UPMC reach agreement August 07, 2014 | Healthcare Finance News http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/highmark-upmc-reach-agreement-0?singlepage=true "Sometime acrimonious dispute" is resolved to benefit patients and the respective parties After more than a year of dispute over continuing a contract, insurer and new health system-owner Highmark and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have reached a comprehensive transition agreement.

"We listened to all parties and through a shared commitment to protecting patients and insurance consumers, designed the framework for a transition plan that focuses on putting them first," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett in a press release. He and Attorney General Kathleen Kane brokered the deal.

Under two consent decrees outlining the roadmap, Highmark and UPMC have agreed to let their innetwork contract expire at the end of this year without renewal (as UPMC has insisted it should), albeit with some of Highmark's 3.2 million western Pennsylvania members able to access UPMC physicians and facilities in-network conditionally.

Highmark members in the midst of UPMC treatment can continue on an in-network basis for as long as the patient and his or her doctor deem it necessary, the decree said. Those Highmark members being treated for cancer will have also have ongoing access to UPMC providers in-network with physician approval.

Emergency and trauma services are set to be accessible at in-network rates at all of UPMC hospitals and Highmark's Allegheny Health Network hospitals.

The consent decree states that Highmark members will have ongoing access to "unique UPMC local

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providers and services where the patient's treating physician believes the patient needs such services and they are not available from another source," and there will be a one-year safety net provision for any existing UPMC patient and Highmark subscriber unable to find alternative physicians and services in their area.

Highmark members covered through Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and Medigap will continue to have access to UPMC providers and facilities.

For all Highmark customers across different commercial plans, half of UPMC's 16 hospitals will remain in-network under still-to-be negotiated terms, including the Children's Hospital, downtown Pittsburgh's Mercy Hospital, the Western Psychiatric Institute and hospitals in the Bedford, Venango and Altoona. But some of UPMC's most well-regarded hospitals will be left out, such as the 520-bed Presbyterian Shadyside, the region's largest inpatient acute care hospital, the recently renovated Magee-Women's, and UPMC East, the new 156-bed hospital with all private rooms that opened in 2012 in the suburb of Monroeville.

UPMC and Highmark described the arrangement as one that is in the interest of both patients and their respective business goals.

Bringing to close a "sometimes acrimonious dispute," UPMC leaders said in a media release, the agreement "provides patients, subscribers, employers and the community with the ability to definitively plan for the new and vibrant environment in which UPMC and Highmark – along with the national insurers – will compete on the basis of quality, cost and availability of medical services."

Highmark said the arrangement will "serve as a roadmap for how Highmark members will continue to access UPMC. It also provides the continued ability to develop such health insurance products and services as tiered networks and consumer-focused health plans, to meet the changing needs of customers."

Highmark is UPMC's second largest payer after Medicare, accounting for about 19 percent of its revenue, and since it formed the seven-hospital Allegheny Health Network through the acquisition of UPMC's largest competitor, the West Penn Allegheny Health System, it is also now the largest competitor for medical and hospital care.

Since 2012, Highmark's Community Blue select network plan has sparked a wave of consumer outcry and public relations battles between the two organizations, with stories of members, including University of Pittsburgh students, being turned away for non-emergent care. UPMC described the plan as unfair, reimbursing UPMC facilities at a lower level but barring any "balance billing" of members.

Under the consent decree, Highmark and UPMC each will contribute $2 million for the state to devote to public outreach and education of the new options, and "to cover the state agencies' costs in reaching these agreements," Corbett said.

Blues plan proves even dominant insurers can offer lower premiums August 07, 2014 | Fierce Health Payer http://www.fiercehealthpayer.com/story/blues-plan-proves-even-dominant-insurers-can-offer-

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lower-premiums/2014-08-07 Although Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee monopolizes the state's health insurance market, it still offers very low premiums for plans it sells on the health insurance exchange, reported Kaiser Health News.

The insurer sold 88 percent of plans bought by Tennessee consumers during the exchange enrollment period, yet costs for its silver exchange plan for a 40-year-old averaged $181 a month--30 percent less than the national median for the least expensive silver tier plan.

Blue Cross's ability to keep premiums low contradicts some experts' findings. Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote a National Bureau of Economic Research paper that determined exchange competition would drive down costs, as FierceHealthPayer previously reported.

What's more, Blue Cross priced premiums low despite Tennessee having some of the unhealthiest consumers in the country, with high proportions of people with obesity, hypertension and smoking, the article notes. But the premium prices throughout the state are similar to those in some of the country's healthiest cities, including Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Honolulu.

In fact, Chattanooga, Tennessee is one of the 10 least expensive insurance markets in the country.

One of the key reasons Blue Cross has been able to keep premiums so low is by reaching deals with some of the state's largest health systems, according to KHN. Insurers often "just come and say, 'For our exchange product we're going to roll out the same network,' Eric Logue, a vice president for Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, told KHN. "They're not taking an approach to change the cost curve, and expectedly you're seeing the premiums being extremely high."

Blue Shield, Anthem fund statewide info exchange in California August 05, 2014 | Fierce EMR http://www.fierceemr.com/story/blue-shield-anthem-fund-statewide-hie-california/2014-08-05 Two of California's biggest insurers are backing plans to launch one of the country's largest health information networks.

Cal Index, due to launch by the end of the year, is expected to make the health records of nearly a quarter of all Californians accessible to providers online.

The two insurers, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California, are providing $80 million to fund the independent, not-for-profit organization for three years. It will integrate records from approximately 30 large provider organizations across the state. After the initial three years, providers and insurers will fund the system through subscription fees, according to an announcement.

The two payers, who combined cover 9 million patients, are backing the initiative because "no one

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else could bring that level of scale, that level of financing and that level of integration" to the initiative, Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich told The Wall Street Journal.

Though a Los Angeles Times article points to concerns about patient data privacy and security, patients will have the option to not participate, organizers say, and opting out will not affect their insurance coverage or access to care. The index will adhere to state and federal privacy and security standards. Providers will only be able to access the data of their patients.

In addition to the promise of providing a unified and portable medical record for patients, the index is expected to provide de-identified data for research in areas such as population health management.

A Black Book report found a majority of public HIEs stalling as federal funding dries up. It noted payers snubbing public efforts and instead investing in private exchanges as they fail to see financial gain from government efforts.

A report from the California HealthCare Foundation examining the past 10 years' efforts in establishing HIEs said "[T]he primary question many experts are struggling with is: What constitutes the right mix of government HIT programs versus market forces to continue development of an HIT infrastructure that can support higher quality, more cost-effective health care?"

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Technology DataMotion and Dell to Provide Direct Secure Messaging Services to Healthcare Customers Nationwide August 12, 2014 | The Providence Journal Co. http://www.providencejournal.com/business/press-releases/20140812-datamotion-and-dell-toprovide-direct-secure-messaging-services-to-healthcare-customers-nationwide.ece DataMotion(TM), an experienced health information service provider (HISP) with the industry's leading record of customer deployments and Meaningful Use Stage 2 (MU2) attestations, today announced that the MEDITECH Solutions Group within Dell has added DataMotion Direct secure messaging to its industry-leading portfolio of services. The MEDITECH Solutions Group within Dell integrates, develops and delivers IT solutions that empower healthcare providers to improve patient care. DataMotion Direct enables healthcare providers and organizations to exchange health information securely while remaining in full compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The MEDITECH Solutions Group within Dell enlisted DataMotion for its advanced technology, rapid responsiveness to get customers fully enabled, and extensive list of EHR partners. DataMotion Direct has already successfully enabled many MEDITECH customers to attest for MU2 and qualify for financial incentives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

"The push is on to attest for MU2, and DataMotion - by leveraging its long history in secure data delivery - has emerged as a leading HISP with trusted technology," said Tim Quigley, executive director, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Dell Services. "DataMotion has deep expertise in direct secure messaging and is well-versed in MEDITECH's EHR solutions, particularly in handling XDR/XDM connections. With multiple integration options to serve organizations of all sizes including those with limited IT resources, this offering will bring immediate benefits to our MEDITECH clients."

The MEDITECH Solutions Group within Dell offers both hosted and managed on-site solutions, implementation services, comprehensive consulting and a dedicated 24/7 MEDITECH service desk.

Solutions are designed to optimize and extend the value of a MEDITECH system throughout its lifetime. Dell has demonstrated MEDITECH expertise in information management, systems availability, backup, recovery and enabling technologies in more than 1,000 MEDITECH hospitals around the world.

DataMotion is the leading HISP for EHR enablement. To date, it has enabled, or is under contract to enable, 36 EHR systems to achieve ONC-ACB Certification using DataMotion Direct as "relied upon software." The service is also interoperable with leading critical care EHR solutions, such as MEDITECH and Epic, enabling customers of these vendors to attest for MU2 and qualify for financial incentives.

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"An example of our expertise and responsiveness was a recent engagement with Cumberland Medical Center; we were able to integrate our Direct solution with their MEDITECH EHR in two weeks, enabling them to meet a tight April 1 deadline for MU2 attestation," said Bob Bales, CEO of DataMotion. "Dell has an extensive base of healthcare customers and a strong relationship with MEDITECH. They need a HISP with proven capabilities that can move quickly to help hospitals now wanting to attest by October 1. Being selected by the MEDITECH Solutions Group within Dell is tremendously validating to our success and the unique reputation we've established as a trustworthy HISP that can make things happen."

On August 20, the MEDITECH Solutions Group within Dell and DataMotion will conduct a free webinar titled "How to use 'Direct' leverage for MU2 Success." Presented by DataMotion's Health IT Strategist, Andy Nieto, the webinar will covers the nuts and bolts of Direct secure messaging and how it is being leveraged by healthcare providers to share transition of care information, a core requirement for MU2 attestation success.

St. Luke's, BlueCross launch accountable care arrangement August 12, 2014 | Becker's Hospital Review http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/accountable-care-organizations/st-luke-s-bluecrosslaunch-accountable-care-arrangement.html Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network and Capital BlueCross have entered into an accountable care agreement, with an aim at improving patient health outcomes and patient satisfaction while reducing healthcare costs.

Under the agreement, Capital BlueCross will work with St. Luke's Physician Group to improve patients' access to care. The physicians will proactively remind patients of needed prevention and chronic care services.

"St. Luke's University Health Network is committed to improving the health, well-being and quality of life of the people living in our community," said Dean Evans, president of St. Luke's Physician Group.

Centura, UnitedHealthcare launch ACO in Colorado August 08, 2014 | Becker's Hospital Review http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/accountable-care-organizations/centuraunitedhealthcare-launch-aco-in-colorado.html Englewood, Colo.-based Centura Health and Colorado Health Neighborhoods — Centura's physician provider network — are collaborating with health insurer UnitedHealthcare to launch an accountable care organization aimed at improving the quality of care and reducing healthcare costs for nearly 17,000 UnitedHealthcare members in Colorado.

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Under the agreement, CHN's network of more than 2,500 physicians will help manage all aspects of patients' care, with primary care physicians participating in the ACO receiving regular patient updates.

"We believe our collaboration with Centura Health and Colorado Health Neighborhoods will deliver enhanced quality, better outcomes and greater efficiency for our health plan customers statewide," said Beth Soberg, president and CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Colorado, in a news release.

DrSocial — a New Online Platform Could Optimize the Health Care Market Using Doctor Reviews August 05, 2014 | PRWEB http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/06/prweb11940113.htm A Recent Study Recognizes How the Positive Effects of Hotel Reviews Can be Applied to Healthcare Providers A conducted analysis by Claudio Teri, CEO of DrSocial, describes how the engagement of hotels' customer base in reviews on Tripadvisor helps hotels improve their service and how the same kind of strategy can also be achieved in the medical purposes of DrSocial – a website, serving to enable patients to plan and obtain the perfect medical visit.

Reviews from 50 hotels with approximately 3000 rooms sold per year in total have been catalogued in the research. The outcome suggests that an active involvement in the hotel's activity and presentation increases the overall rank, and therefore Tripadvisor leverages hotels' authority. Even if not all of the reviews are positive, the bad ones would be considered as misleading compared to a majority of good/excellent opinions.

Mr. Teri commenced the study in November 2012 in Italy after having managed a family hotel business: “I knew how Trip reviews could to benefit the hotel service and improve our medical project. I also collected data from other business owners and started to analyse hotels I have been to.” With the small amount of less than 2% of the hotel's customer base that is more likely to write a review, each hotel is easily able to monitor its work and improve its services. If the same concept is applied to doctors, by visiting 1000 patients per year and promoting his/her profiles on the review's page of the website, MDs should be able to receive 20 reviews per year.

Based on a data collection there are two elements influencing the reviews' densities: •

Probability of writing a review – rectangles on higher probabilities have greater values of density and increase quantity and quality of positive reviews faster. Bad reviews on high probability areas can be difficult to avoid, however they are positively affected by the service offered.

•

Service offered – density's values increase with positive reviews as the service improves, while negative ones decrease. This rule applies to all probability intervals.

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Tripadvisor plays a double role in this process: collecting a valuable feedback from customers and offering a measuring tool to monitor increased appreciation. By following this strategy, every review received is considered as important. For instance, seeing the same complaint about dirty towels, missing soap, etc., suggests an immediate action and intervention by double-checking the rooms and stock and being extra cautious about the certain reported matters.

The same approach applied by doctors can improve the provided medical service and eliminate the usual problem of having too many doctors' profiles with very few reviews. Without doctors’ engagement, review websites wouldn't be able to display the complete data, and there would remain a strong limitation on valuable outcomes for current and potential patients. Any poor data displayed is solely due to the lack of participation and doctors could strengthen the level of their reputation by being more active in the reviews concept, reduce the misleading reviews and be rewarded with a valuable response from the patients' community.

The Internet-based mind set of rating every interaction of our social life is already in place, and ignoring it is like an ostrich that sticks its head in the sand when scared: it will not stop patients from writing reviews.

Kaiser, Johns Hopkins partner on EHRs August 04, 2014 | Healthcare IT News http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/kaiser-johns-hopkins-partner-ehrs Seek new ways to optimize health data for improved outcomes, cost-effective treatment Kaiser Permanente and Johns Hopkins are joining forces to share data and look for better ways to put electronic health records to work toward better care.

The two giants announced this past week that they'll collaborate to develop best practices to improve population health, and will explore other ways to leverage their expertise to drive improvements in care coordination and cost efficiency.

"Kaiser Permanente is committed to providing high-quality healthcare and service, while also leading the nation in making healthcare more affordable for Americans," said Bernard J. Tyson, Kaiser's chairman and CEO, in a press statement.

"This enhanced collaboration with Johns Hopkins will help us deliver on that commitment and continue to meet the evolving health needs and expectations of our members, patients and customers," he said.

"Through a strategic collaboration with Kaiser Permanente, we will be able to cultivate the human and intellectual capital found in both organizations to significantly improve the safety and quality of care while enhancing the patient experience," said Paul B. Rothman, MD, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, in a press statement.

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The initial focus of the partnership will be to share best practices and leverage EHRs to accommodate providers' – and patients' – need to access clinical information quickly and efficiently, officials say.

Among its other goals: bolstering the partnership between Kaiser and Suburban Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine; working on home health initiatives, leveraging IT to deliver personalized medicine; advancing the partnership between Kaiser Permanente and the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality to improve treatment outcomes and lower costs; pursuing new educational programs and research-based best practices.

"This new agreement builds on the relationship Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States and Johns Hopkins Medicine have had for more than 15 years," says Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, in a statement. "Care providers from both organizations successfully have been working together to deliver high-quality care."

By way of example, he pointed to a Kaiser collaboration with Bethesda, MD's Suburban Hospital, "where physicians from both care teams work side by side to ensure the best patient outcomes."

"Working more closely with Johns Hopkins Medicine will help us deliver an innovative care experience for our members that will translate into quality care that's also affordable," added Kim Horn, president of Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. "This strategic collaboration will facilitate additional population health research and innovative practices benefiting both individual patients and the larger community."

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Strategy Molina Healthcare Pens Deal to Acquire First Coast Advantage August 12, 2014 | Zacks http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/143617/molina-healthcare-pens-deal-to-acquire-first-coastadvantage Although Molina Healthcare Inc.’s decision to acquire Florida Medicaid Assets from First Coast Advantage, LLC has failed to drive the share price in the last trading session, no one can deny the importance of the news after considering the immense opportunity the acquisition holds.

Pursuant to a definitive agreement between Molina Healthcare of Florida, Inc. – a wholly owned subsidiary of Molina healthcare – and First Coast Advantage, the former will assume Medicaid contracts and some of the provider agreements of the latter for Region 4 under the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) program in Florida. The deal is currently pending approval from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

Last year, First Coast Advantage was selected to participate in the MMA program and was placed under the Region 4 counties which comprise Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, St. Johns and Volusia. This provider service network currently serving 65,500 individuals is affiliated with the University of Florida Jacksonville Healthcare and UF Health Jacksonville, and thus boasts a strong reputation as a health care coverage provider in the aforementioned region. Therefore, acquiring this entity will help Molina Healthcare tap its resources and capitalize on the strong brand name, paving the way for an alliance with the University of Florida Health Care Network.

Molina Healthcare of Florida is a popular name when it comes to providing managed health care services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs. It had been selected by the AHCA to participate in the MMA Program for counties like Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Orange, Brevard, Osceola, St. Lucie, Seminole, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and Monroe. On culmination, the aforementioned acquisition will facilitate this health care services provider’s entry into Northeastern Florida. This will not only benefit Molina Healthcare in terms of scale but will also accentuate the company’s capacity to offer superior quality healthcare services.

Molina Healthcare had reported second-quarter 2014 financial results last month which showed that enrollment at the Florida health plan had deteriorated sequentially. This downside stemmed from a membership reassignment under the Florida MMA program. However, management remained affirmative regarding an improvement in Florida health plan enrollment in the remaining part of the year. We believe the aforementioned acquisition to help the company recover from this membership trench.

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Prime Healthcare said to be pursuing acquisition of six California hospitals August 12, 2014 | Med City News http://medcitynews.com/2014/08/prime-healthcare-said-pursuing-acquisition-six-californiahospitals/ Prime Healthcare Services is reportedly in acquisition talks with Daughters of Charity Health System, a nonprofit operator of six California safety-net hospitals that have struggled to remain solvent in recent years.

Prime, a private, for-profit system based in Southern California, said it cannot comment on matters of acquisition, but several Bay Area media outlets have reported the potential deal, while a union representing thousands of workers for Daughters has protested Prime as a potential buyer. The San Jose Mercury News reported that Santa Clara County, where two of the hospitals are located, has submitted a bid for two of the facilities, but Daughters is looking to sell all six facilities at once.

Early this year, Daughters of Charity said it was putting itself up for sale after five of its hospitals hemorrhaged $62 million in the last half of 2013. That came shortly after a failed merger attempt with Ascension Health, allegedly over Daughter’s dwindling market share in the competitive San Francisco Bay Area hospital landscape that includes Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, among others. Daughter’s operates four Bay Area hospitals and two in Southern California.

It’s a theme felt throughout the industry, as a wave of consolidation and closures continues throughout the country. Public and nonprofit safety-net hospitals in particular have struggled with reduced Medicare reimbursements and a disproportionate share of Medicaid and Medicare patients, which reimburse at far lower rates than commercial insurance.

While tight lipped regarding Daughters, Prime spokesman Edward Barrera issued a statement saying it is “always looking both in and outside of California for partners.” Daughters of Charity spokeswoman Elizabeth Nikels similarly said she could not comment on any pending sale of the system.

The health system operates 27 hospitals across seven states. Since 2005, Prime says it has invested approximately $788 million into renovation, equipment purchase and general capital improvements across its hospitals.

That’s apparently not enough to allay the concerns of California’s biggest healthcare union, SEIUUHW, which recently took to protesting Prime and any potential Daughter’s deal because of a 2013 whistle-blower lawsuit alleging Prime fraudulently over billed Medicare and Medicaid by some $50 million.

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Apple reportedly in talks with major healthcare providers over HealthKit partnerships August 11, 2014 | Apple Insider http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/08/12/apple-reportedly-in-talks-with-major-healthcareproviders-over-healthkit-partnerships Ahead of Apple's iOS 8 rollout this fall, a report on Tuesday revealed the company has been in talks with major healthcare providers and medical records systems firms over the HealthKit framework, which will serve as a central hub for users' personal health data.

According to Reuters, who spoke with people familiar with Apple's plans for HealthKit, the tech giant has held talks about the upcoming service with various companies, including Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins and medical records providers Allscripts and Epic Systems.

Apple has already revealed HealthKit to be a framework available to third-parties for storage and aggregation of data, which will subsequently be available to the user via a corresponding app called Health. The hope is that HealthKit can serve as a central hub for information gathered by third-party medical apps and hardware.

Apple is already known to be working with the Mayo Clinic, Nike and Epic, though it appears other industry players are eager to tie in their services with the iOS-based platform as well.

With the partnerships comes responsibility to keep highly sensitive medical records and data private, though Apple is trying to steer clear of regulatory hold ups, sources said.

Apple's developer relations branch, for example, is reportedly working with app makers like iHealth Labs, the developer of specialized activity trackers and fitness-related apps. According to iHealth's chief marketing officer Jim Taschetta, consumer privacy issues are paramount to the HealthKit initiative. He offers the example of a toggle that allows users to choose if they want third-party apps or healthcare providers to share sensitive data with HealthKit. Fleshing out the technical side of HealthKit, an Apple employee said the company is planning to incorporate iCloud for data storage. The person told Reuters that data transfer and storage to Apple's servers will be fully encrypted. Further, HealthKit's backend will be designed in such a way that providers will be responsible for patient privacy, not Apple.

Finally, to help bring HealthKit to market, Apple has consulted with or hired health experts and legal professionals to navigate the stringent data privacy and regulatory policies outlined by government agencies. In June, the Food and Drug Administration disclosed it had discussed "mobile medical applications" with Apple over the course of multiple meetings, though details regarding the upcoming rollout were not made public.

"Apple will work closely with the FDA as they develop future products," the FDA said at the time, adding, "The earlier FDA is involved and advising, the less likely that Apple would be caught by surprise later when they wish to release a new product, if that product must be regulated."

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Earlier this year, it was reported that Apple executives were meeting with the FDA over similar matters. With its robust data sharing and collection capabilities, HealthKit is moving into uncharted waters for a massively distributed consumer solution. As such, the rollout may face complications with existing privacy laws, but Apple is apparently working hard to prevent such scenarios.

Jackson Healthcare acquires consulting company August 11, 2014 | NorthFulton.com http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-BUSINESS-c-2014-08-11-204800.114126-sub-JacksonHealthcare-acquires-consulting-company.html Jackson Healthcare, a national staffing company, announced the purchase of Michigan-based Sullivan Healthcare Consulting.

The Alpharetta-based company did not release terms of the transaction or announce when the transaction would be completed.

Sullivan Healthcare Consulting is specialized in perioperative governance, surgery benchmarking, scheduling, staffing, sterile processing and surgery IT implementation in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers in the United States and Canada.

Jackson Healthcare, which was started 40 years ago, is one of the largest health care staffing companies in the U.S. It serves more than 5 million patients in more than 1,300 health care facilities.

Practice Fusion eyes telehealth future August 07, 2014 | Healthcare IT News http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/practice-fusion-eyes-telehealth-future New acquisition 'will advance development of our full-fledged telemedicine platform' In a deal it says will be its "springboard for entry into the telemedicine market," cloud-based EHR developer Practice Fusion is acquiring Ringadoc, which makes communication technology linking patients with physicians.

"There are three things necessary to make telemedicine possible: doctors, patients and data – and Practice Fusion's EHR has all of these at scale," said Ryan Howard, founder and CEO of Practice Fusion, in a press statement. "Ringadoc was a natural fit for us and will advance development of our full-fledged telemedicine platform, which could translate to avoiding millions of in-person trips to see a doctor for everything from a fever to a potential concussion."

Ringadoc, a startup launched in 2010, offers an automated, cloud-based answering service that enables doctors to access in real-time and respond to after-hours messages via a Web browser, Android or iOS apps. It also offers physicians the ability to triage patient calls and centralize communications. The technology will be integrated directly into Practice Fusion's EHR, officials say.

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"I created Ringadoc as a way to use technology to make communication between doctors and their patients easier, faster and more cost-effective," said Jordan Michaels, co-founder and CEO, Ringadoc, in a statement. "Now that we're part of Practice Fusion, we look forward to accelerating our combined vision of telemedicine and making it a reality."

"When it's midnight on a Saturday and your child has a fever of 101, waiting the industry average of 18.5 days to see a primary care physician is not an option," said Howard. "Acquiring Ringadoc allows us to continue delivering on our mission of connecting doctors, patients and data to drive better health and save lives."

It also allows Practice Fusion to tap into a burgeoning and potentially very lucrative market. In announcing the deal, the company points to a study earlier this year from IHS, which predicts the worldwide telehealth market will grow tenfold by 2018 – to $4.5 billion, compared to roughly $450 million today.

"Amid rising expenses, an aging population and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, the healthcare industry must change the way it operates," said Roeen Roashan, medical devices and digital health analyst at IHS Technology, in a press statement. "Telehealth represents an attractive solution to these challenges."

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