Important Industry News
December 2017 Healthcare IT Update
Funding for digital health companies hits $7.0B for 2017
The 2017 expected funding is up from $6.4B in 2016 but the same as 2015 levels. Health Catalyst, Flatiron Group, Welltok, 23and Me and ZocDoc were amongst some of the larger raises. Market is signaling that investors are putting their money into later stage companies.
United Health’s division, Optum, sets up a $250 million fund dedicated to digital health companies
Optum has already invested in handful of companies including SHYFT Analytics (life science optimization platform), Mindstrong Health (smart phone interaction analysis) and Buoy Health (symptom checker for patients). Corporate VCs are quite common in the tech world. We are encouraged to see that the movement is coming to our industry as well.
GE Healthcare signs a risk sharing contract with Jefferson Health for $1.0B
The core of the arrangement revolves around sourcing gains and elimination of redundancies that can help the health system save up to $1.0 billion. The contract is for eight years with pre-determined milestones. GE has already entered into similar arrangements with Partners Healthcare of Boston and Hartford Healthcare in Connecticut – all in 2017. These are high stake maneuvers that only a company as big as GE can afford. We hope they work out.
Epic and eCW are both sued over shortcomings of their EMR functionality
Epic is being sued for alleged anesthesia over-billing which claimant argues that it double bills the government for anesthesia services. Plaintiff, Geraldine Petrowski, worked at WakeMed Health where she was responsible for the hospital’s Epic go-live.
As a class action lawsuit, the state of a cancer patient sued eCW for $1.0B for inaccurate medical records. The lawsuit claims that the patient was unable to determine when his first symptoms of cancer had appeared which consequently complicated his treatment. The suit also claims that the records of million of patients were compromised as the software did not meet meaningful use and certification requirement set by the ONC. This lawsuit comes on the heels of the company’s $155 million fine for granting kickbacks to clients in return for the promotion of its product.