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Cincinnati-based Mercy Health announced this week that it is investing in San Diego-based NucleusHealth, developer of cloud-hosted picture archiving communications systems and teleradiology services. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Mercy Health implemented the technology this past year, and apparently liked it so much that it's decided to become a minority investor in the company. It's the most recent instance of a health system embracing that strategy for innovation – partnering with a third-party vendor to help spread technology it believes can help drive improvements for other hospitals. In 2016, NewYork-Presbyterian purchased a stake in telehealth company Avizia, for instance, and UPMC invested in predictive analytics and pop health startup RxAnte. NucleusHealth's Nucleus.io platform leverages secure Microsoft Azure cloud for better scalability and cost efficiency for PACS. The health system implemented the technology in less than three months – and managed to extend out a sharing network of 300 different locations over the next six, said Mike Hibbard, Mercy Health's vice president of IT, applications and service delivery. Mercy Health's IT team now taps Nucleus.io as a backup PACS when the main enterprise system is undergoing updates or maintenance, but may expand its use for other applications, he noted. NucleusHealth will still operate as an independent company, but will work in tandem with Mercy Health to create new features and workflows for system-wide deployment of its browser radiology workstation, Azure-based cloud storage and other image management tools, officials said. "We are very pleased to have this unique opportunity to partner with Microsoft and one of the nation’s best health systems,” said Vishal Verma, MD, NucleusHealth CEO. “This combined team has the unique ability to optimize our platform to create a true transformation of the medical imaging market." Mercy Health, which operates hospitals across Ohio and into Kentucky, is not to be confused with Mercy, the large St. Louis-based health system that spans Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. But both have made big cloud-hosted PACS news in the past two weeks. Earlier this month, Mercy Technology Services, the IT division of St. Louis-based Mercy, announced it would commercialize its own cloud-based PACS system for other hospitals to deploy. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

When developing, funding, scaling and evolving innovation projects, it's key to gain insights from around the world – and to keep consumer top of mind, HIMSS innovation expert Ian Hoffberg says.

Dave Chase puts forth contrarian viewpoints in his new book, and predicts that millennials will redirect the future of healthcare – which is a good thing.

President Trump on Wednesday threatened to add new import taxes on an additional $257 billion of Chinese goods to the $200 billion established on Monday. This was in response to China on Tuesday announcing plans to impose new tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. exports. Even though it’s only a threat at this point, rather than brush it off, hospital IT executives would be smart to monitor the developments because further tariffs could bring higher prices on everyday technologies, such as computer hardware and software, not to mention consumables, pacemakers, MRI Machines and other medical equipment manufactured in China. Hospital supply chain directors, in fact, “are appropriately paranoid but cautiously optimistic,” said Peter Allen, executive vice president of sourcing operations at Vizient, which is a member of the Healthcare Supply Chain Association. Allen and others from the management consulting company have met with the top 20 hospital supply chain managers in the country. Because supply contracts through a Group Purchasing Organization are often three years long and many got renewed last year, hospitals are currently much more concerned over whether the government is going to cut 340B or Medicare reimbursement to unsustainable levels, Allen said. But Allen said, “We work everyday on pricing. It’s still a work in progress. The next question is, what’s the supplier going to do? They might just move the production to Vietnam.” The trade war began in July, when the U.S. implemented tariffs of 25 percent on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports and Beijing retaliated with its own tariffs on $16 billion worth of U.S. goods, according to CNBC. If fully implemented, the new tariffs would cover virtually all imports of Chinese goods, according to The Wall Street Journal. Two hospital supply chain directors interviewed said they won’t fully know the impact of the tariffs until they start doing their new, yearly budgets. Jerry Dea, executive director of Supply Chain Management at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, will begin the budget process in February for a July 1 start to the fiscal year. The hospital has its group purchasing organization through Vizient. The consumable supply contract will keep prices stable for now, he said. “Our contract is recent and the price is locked,” Dea said. But when current contracts with suppliers expire, whether in a year or three years, the tariffs could increase prices on everything from medical devices to parts for printers and copiers, computers, furniture, machinery for paper products - which in turn could affect the cost of paper towels or toilet paper - batteries, microscopes and scientific equipment. Consumables include such high-use devices as pacemakers. Cedars Sinai purchases from 600 to 700 a year, according to Dea. Dea said he would be asking for budgetary quotes from vendors about any tariffs on the products when he starts his budget. “At that time we will go through categories of supplies to see where we’re expecting an increase,” Dea said. “Where I’m more concerned is some of the capital equipment.” For instance, MRI machines are bought on as as-needed basis. “That’s where I’m more concerned about the tariffs,” Dea said. “I still think this is one of those situations where you don’t know what you’re going to be hit with, until it comes up.” There’s also the unknown of which goods will be added to the federal exemptions list. For instance, Apple products have been given an exemption. Dea said he originally thought orthopedic implants would be a concern, and then the ortho implants were given an exemption. Cedars-Sinai uses products from Cisco, Dell and HP, companies which have all requested exemptions to the tariffs. “We buy from all those companies,” Dea said. “Our primary provider for PCs is Dell, we use a lot of Cisco Systems. Even from a technology standpoint we could be hit by these tariffs.” Reddy Gottipolu, chief supply chain officer for the Memorial Hermann Health System, said the tariffs could affect a lot of imaging items and the commodity items. Another piece that’s difficult to estimate is the impact due to the assembly that goes into a final product. Components could be made in China, but assembled in the U.S., or the other way around. They’ll know when the suppliers come back asking for price increases, he said. Gottipolu admits the tariffs have the potential to adversely impact all hospitals’ profitability and cash flow. “We just started discussing it, we haven’t seen the impact yet,” Gottipolu said. “I’m a little concerned but at the same time not too alarmed.” Allen believes that competition will help to keep prices low on supplies from China, even with the tariffs. For instance, one wheelchair manufacturer they use makes wheelchairs in China. But if their competitors do not, they can’t increase prices and stay competitive, he said. “I still think it’s a wait and see of what’s impacted and how it’s going to impact each individual system,” Dea said. Twitter: @SusanJMorse Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com

Drafted by the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, the guidance provides insight into preventing phishing attacks, bolstering third-party management and other security threats.

The National Health Service in England has announced two new innovator programs to accelerate the use of digital health tools that benefit patients and remove barriers slowing adoption of innovation.  NHS England is funding a small number of proven innovations through the Innovation Technology Payment (ITP) 2019/20, part of a wider effort led in collaboration with the country's Academic Health Science Networks. Solutions eligible for the programme have to be used in at least three NHS sites and demonstrate the potential for a return on investment within a year of deployment. A PUBLIC report published earlier this year, authored by former Health Minister Nicola Blackwood, found that partial interoperability and poor procurement practices were some of the key hurdles to selling new tech into the NHS, making the health service a 'challenging digital terrain'.  Recent innovations selected to take part in the ITP scheme include the HeartFlow FFRct (fractional flow reserve) Analysis technology from California-based company HeartFlow, which uses data from CT scans to create a personalised 3D model of the coronary arteries and then analyse the impact of blockages on blood flow to help clinicians diagnose coronary artery disease by eliminating the need for patients to undergo invasive procedures. Applications are also open for the 4th call of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), providing bespoke support, aimed at innovators whose solutions are addressing one or more of the following priorities: prevention and early diagnosis, mental health, and primary care. “These two programmes will allow exciting innovations to flourish and spread as NHS England is once again prepared to support innovators and foot the bill for a select group of products so patients can benefit faster,” said Professor Tony Young, NHS England National Clinical Lead for Innovation. Innovations supported through the last round of the NIA include Healthy.io’s Dip.io tool, a home-based urinalysis kit that turns a smartphone into a clinical-grade diagnostic device. The start-up, which recently received FDA 510(k) clearance for Dip.io, announced in June that it was partnering with the UK's Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in a project known as the ‘virtual renal clinic’. “Technology has the potential to transform healthcare and we must do all we can to break down the barriers that prevent patients from accessing the best possible treatment," added Health Minister Lord O'Shaughnessy.  Innovators have until 3 October to apply for the ITP programme and until 24 October to submit their applications for the NIA.  .jumbotron{ background-image: url("https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/default/files/u2231/Innovation-month-jumbotron.jpg"); background-size: cover; color: white; } .jumbotron h2{ color: white; } Focus on Innovation In September, we take a deep dive into the cutting-edge development and disruption of healthcare innovation.

HIMSS Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Steve Wretling says developers need to build the experience healthcare hasn’t had yet.

And there’s already one in the JASON Report from 2014 that was eclipsed by the industry’s excitement about open APIs.

Change Healthcare on Tuesday said that its blockchain-enabled Intelligent Healthcare Network will be available on Amazon Web Services. Change’s network enables blockchain technologies for more secure and efficient financial transactions throughout the claims process. Hospitals and health insurance companies can use the cloud service to track the status of claims submissions and remittances. They will benefit from having an immutable, auditable and accessible record, as well as reduced administrative costs and near real-time claim adjudication, Change said. This takes to the next level January’s s announcement that Change’s  intelligent healthcare network is now blockchain enabled. The intelligent healthcare network is now being paired with a cloud-based network built on Amazon Web Services. "AWS's flexibility, scalability, and reliability makes them an ideal partner to extend our connectivity to the cloud and offer next-generation technologies, such as blockchain, to facilitate and speed payer-provider information exchange,” said Kris Joshi, EVP and president of Network Solutions for Change Healthcare. “Moving forward, we will enlist the expertise and technologies of other players in the healthcare space to extend the availability, functionality, and value of this network." Through its blockchain, the intelligent healthcare network can generate nearly 50 million milestone blockchain transactions per day at an average rate of 550 transactions per second, Change said. The network reaches nearly all government and commercial payers, more than 5,500 hospitals, 800,000 physicians, and 60,000 pharmacies. It handles approximately one of every five patient records in the U.S., and processes 12 billion healthcare transactions and $2 trillion in claims annually. AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments, on a paid subscription basis. Twitter: @SusanJMorse Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com

Beginning Sept. 21, VA will start accepting proposals for contractors to handle the technical and administrative services of its legacy EHR.