Bernie Monegain

Venture capital funding for health information technology totaled $4.6 billion in 574 deals in 2015, according to Mercom Capital Group, a global communications and consulting firm that keeps tabs on VC investments.

Thirty-one top health systems, hospitals and clinics are urging the Department of Health and Human Services to think again about pressing forward on Stage 3 meaningful use. Among them are Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Partners HealthCare in Boston; Geisinger Health Systems in Pennsylvania; Henry Ford Health System in Michigan and Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City. In a January 14 letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, the organizations say they are concerned that Stage 3 might even thwart much needed improvements to electronic health record systems. [Also: Meaningful use will likely end in 2016] “We recognize that the MU program has successfully driven the adoption of EHRs, with over 80 percent of hospitals and physicians now using these systems,” they write, adding that now is the time to make sure all practices “have high-functioning technology to achieve interoperability across all care settings.” Their pleas come on the heels of CMS chief Andy Slavitt’s claim that meaningful use would come to an end in 2016, a statement he made January 12 at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. He gave few details beyond that, except to say the program would be replaced by something better. John Halamka, MD, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, posted the letter on his blog. Halamka had already called for a halt to the program back in November. [Also: Did meaningful use spawn or stall EHR innovation?] “In particular, the MU program has diverted clinician, staff, and other resources away from activities with greater patient benefit and has forced technology to develop in a way that limits innovation,” the healthcare organizations said in their letter to Burwell. Also, the group points to the meaningful use program as the driving factor behind the poor design of EHR technology. “We believe Stage 2 EHR design requirements have been a fundamental drag on interoperability and that Stage 3 will worsen these problems,” they said. “The Stage 3 final rule, like its predecessor rules, is too focused on pass-fail requirements and lacks emphasis on outcomes. By maintaining this flawed structure, we do not believe Stage 3 will support movement towards more innovative care models or encourage continued participation.” [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] Robert M. Wachter, MD, a professor and the interim chairman of the department of medicine at the University of California, in a Jan. 16 opinion piece in the New York Times pointed to several measures that he said have failed doctors and teachers. “Of course, we need to hold professionals accountable,” he wrote. “But the focus on numbers has gone too far. We’re hitting the targets, but missing the point.” Twitter: @HealthITNews

Pharmacy giant CVS Health announced Thursday it has forged clinical partnerships with another four healthcare systems across the country: John Muir Health in California; University of Chicago Medical Center in Illinois; Novant Health, serving the Winston-Salem area in North Carolina; and University of Michigan Health System.

Jonathan Bush, the high-octane, no-holds-barred co-founder and CEO of athenahealth, became Johnny-on-the-spot on Wednesday. While in San Francisco to attend the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Bush took a few minutes to perform CPR on a man he found lying on the sidewalk. The man appeared to not be breathing, possibly suffering from a heart attack, according to an account of the incident published in Bush's hometown newspaper, The Boston Globe. The incident occurred near the corner of Mission and 1st Street in San Francisco's downtown. According to the Globe, Bush had been to a nearby Walgreens drugstore to buy an ice pack (he recently hurt his knee skiing). He was on his way to a meeting at the J.P. Morgan event when he saw the man lying on the sidewalk, turned him over, saw his face was blue and he seemed to not be breathing. After Bush performed CPR, the man started breathing again. Bush, who has long been critical of inefficiencies in American healthcare, is quoted by the Globe as saying, "It was like the U.S. healthcare system. Everybody was standing there, nobody was helping." Long before he and former U.S. CTO Todd Park started athenahealth, Bush worked as an emergency medical technician in New Orleans. He writes about it in his book, Where Does It Hurt?: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Fixing Health Care. [See also: Jonathan Bush on where it hurts most.] Bush writes in his book that he was looking for a summer job when a family acquaintance told him that, to save lives, the best thing he could do was to work on an ambulance and get to know a crack trauma unit. That's how Bush ended up that summer working with the trauma unit at Charity Hospital in the Big Easy. He and the crew did save lives, he writes. New Orleans gave him hands-on training in urgent care, "and, just as important, a primer on American society." A spokeswoman for Bush told Healthcare IT News on Thursday that athenahealth could confirm the event in San Francisco happened, but would not comment at this time because Bush and his staff are still working to understand how the man is doing. [See also: Newsmaker interview: Jonathan Bush.]

The Department of Health and Human Services is not doing enough to manage its workforce programs, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, the federal government's watchdog agency.

Healthcare chief information officers breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday when Andy Slavitt said the end of the meaningful use program was near. But many are waiting on the details before celebrating too much.

The chief information officer and chief operating officer of Denver Health Medical Center, along with some of its top physicians, left their positions, since CEO Arthur Gonzalez arrived in 2012, ostensibly over disagreements with him over the medical center’s $170 million investment in a new Epic EHR system, The Denver Post reported on January 10.

Daniel Barchi has taken the reins as chief information officer at NewYork-Presbyterian, where he will oversee a new telehealth program set to launch this year as well as the development and implementation of technology across the health system.

Execs hope deal will turn system developed for UPMC into one that could be adapted for other health systems and hospitals.

Biotech firm will purchase a number of Flatiron’s life science offerings and the companies.