- Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) announced it has acquired Chicago-based Lumere, a provider of evidence-based data and analytics solutions that enable healthcare organizations to build clinically integrated supply chains and optimize medication formulary management. - As reimbursement models move from fee-for-service to fee-for-value, GHX believes Lumere’s capabilities will extend its value to more directly improve patient outcomes at the lowest cost by empowering customers to make
Read More
Medication| Policy, News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
4 Digital Health Tools for Combating Opioid Addiction in 2020 & Beyond
The human and economic statistics surrounding the opioid epidemic are staggering. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 11.4 million people have misused prescription opioids, and more than 130 people die daily from opioid-related drug overdoses.Moreover, the Society of Actuaries found that the total economic burden of the opioid crisis in the United States from 2015 to 2018 was at least $631 billion. The organization attributed nearly one-third of that cost to extra
Read More
House Lifts Ban on Funding of NPI System: 7 Implications to Know
Jerris Heaton, Digital marketing Specialist at Medsphere
The House of Representatives recently voted to lift a ban prohibiting funding for a national patient identifier system (NPI) designed to improve patient matching.
So, what does that mean moving forward?
Let’s dive into the implications of the House’s vote.
What Will an NPI System Do?
Now that the House has lifted the ban on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) providing funding a national patient identifier, it’s
Read More
Top 60 Health IT/Digital Health Mergers & Acquisitions in 2019
- From Google's acquisition of Fitbit to Philips acquisition of Carestream Health's health IT business, here is a look at some of the biggest health IT/digital health mergers & acquisitions in 2019 by each quarter.
Q1 M&A Activity
Johnson & Johnson Acquires Auris Health for $3.4B to Expand Digital Surgery Portfolio
Johnson & Johnson acquiresAuris Health, a developer of robotic technologies for $3.4 billion in cash. Auris Health is a privately-held developer of
Read More
DrFirst’s Patent-Pending AI-Based Tech Solves Major Hurdles to Medication Reconciliation
- DrFirst announced a pending patent for AI technology today that breaks down the “prescription language barriers” between different EHRs – a crucial step in the process to avoid adverse drug events – solving a once intractable problem faced by hospitals. - The new U.S. patented tech uses an advanced approach for applying AI to unstructured medical information to process free text into appropriate data fields of the EHRs, infer missing prescription elements based on context, and convert free
Read More
Amazon Comprehend Medical Adds Ontology Linking to Help Clinicians Detect Medication and Medical Conditions in Unstructured Clinical Text
- Amazon Comprehend Medical, Amazon’s HIPAA eligible natural language processing service that uses machine learning to find insights in unstructured texts, announced a new capability of linking information to medical ontologies. - The new ontology-linking feature will help clinicians to detect medication and medical conditions in unstructured clinical text. Amazon will now support ICD-10-CM and RxNorm ontologies through Comprehend Medical. Amazon Comprehend, a HIPAA eligible natural language
Read More
Can Digital Health Bridge The Low-Income Gap?
Rey Villar, Founding Partner at HealthChampion
We’ve known for a few years that income correlates with health in a major way. From the length of life to stroke risk to self-reported health status, the more access, opportunity, and means of upward mobility a person has, the better their projected health outcomes.
Waves of organizations are stepping up to help put things on a better course. Accountable and managed care organizations like Upward Health are working with payers, providers, and
Read More
Blue Cross Becomes First Health Plan to Offer Direct Integration with PillPack
- Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts announced a new pharmacy integration with PillPack by Amazon in its MyBlue member app and website that enables members to seamlessly manage and fill their prescriptions. - Blue Cross worked with PillPack to create a digital option for eligible members to switch to PillPack directly from their Blue Cross MyBlue member app or website. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts ("Blue Cross") announced a new pharmacy integration in its MyBlue member app
Read More
Cerner Names AWS as Its Preferred Cloud and Machine Learning Provider
- Today at AWS re:Invent, Cerner has selected Amazon AWS as its preferred cloud and machine learning provider.- Cerner will use migrate its core apps to AWS’s broad portfolio of services, including ML, analytics, and Internet of things (IoT), to help create the next chapter of healthcare’s digital age.- Cerner will offer providers and healthcare organizations the ability to access and leverage clinical data in new ways to drive faster innovation, improve quality of care, and provide patients
Read More
How Telehealth Technology Can Support Telepsychiatry and Telehealth-Supported Mental Health Practices
Ed Cladera, MD, AristaMD Medical Director
Primary care practices—supported by telepsychiatry and telehealth resources—are best positioned to improve access to mental healthcare, resulting in earlier intervention and improved mental health outcomes.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen encouraging improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions in the United States. Notably, recent government acts have improved access to mental health services for many Americans. Despite
Read More
