< + > How to properly evaluate AI technologies? UVA Health analytics leader has answers

Glenn Wasson, administrator of analytics at the health system and a doctor of computer science, discusses a dialog between providers and vendors that can highlight sources of risk that must be understood to govern AI within an enterprise.

< + > AI Roundup: Ambient recording for emergencies and more EHR enhancements

Also: New partnership aims to create an artificial intelligence-driven platform combining digital operations and regulatory compliance to bolster healthcare organizations' digital transformations.

< + > HIMSS launches new partnership with AMDIS to advance clinical innovation

The two organizations will collaborate on education, digital transformation, leadership, networking and other offerings for physicians, CMIOs and other clinical and IT execs.

< + > Moving from Data Chaos to Clarity: Hyland’s Strategy for Smarter Healthcare Systems

AI’s incredible advances in healthcare are built on the structured data that is currently available. Yet healthcare is mostly full of unstructured data which is not as easily processed by AI. Imagine what would happen if healthcare data was readily accessible? Hyland is working towards that goal.

Healthcare IT Today sat down for an exclusive interview with Jitesh Ghai, CEO of Hyland, provider of enterprise content management solutions to healthcare and other industries, to learn more about the company’s efforts to unlock the value of healthcare data by making it more accessible. In particular, we wanted to ask Ghai about the concept of “content intelligence” that was touted by the company at #RSNA24.

Key Takeaways

1. Unlocking Unstructured Data. Hyland is focusing on making unstructured data, like medical images and patient records, accessible and valuable for healthcare providers.
2. Unified Data Across Systems. Hyland’s enterprise imaging SaaS solution consolidates fragmented data from different devices, enabling seamless sharing between clinicians and patients.
3. Standards-Based Integration. Hyland is meeting providers where they are by using open standards like DICOM and FHIR, ensuring smooth integration without disrupting existing workflows.

Unstructured Data Chaos

Data.Gov defines unstructured data as “computerized information which does not have a data structure which is easily readable by a machine.” Examples from healthcare include X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, faxed documents, scanned paper forms, and clinical notes.

According to studies, as much as 80% of healthcare information is unstructured.

Unstructured data is often scattered amongst different clinical and administrative systems. The first step to unlocking the value of this data is consolidating it so that it can be managed more efficiently.

“We are in the business of making unstructured data consumable,” explained Ghai. “We are unifying medical images from fragmented devices across providers, departments and practices. We are also enabling sharing of those images between clinicians and patients to improve outcomes.”

Hyland’s enterprise imaging SaaS solution unifies fragmented medical images from different devices and securely shares them between clinicians and patients.

Unified Data

Ghai’s strategic vision for Hyland is centered on meeting healthcare providers where they are, leveraging standards-based connectivity like DICOM and FHIR to unify content without disrupting existing workflows.

“We are now able to connect to every system where financial, patient, imaging, clinical, and other data exists,” said Ghai. “We can unify it and provide content intelligence which can be used to drive more efficient processes.”

Hyland has already worked with many of its health system customers to bring data from different applications together, including:

• patient records
• written records
• faxes
• prescriptions
• referral documents
• clinical notes
• images
• billing and finance
• HR records

By combining AI with content intelligence, Hyland is unlocking new possibilities for healthcare providers, enabling smarter processes and more intuitive applications. As Ghai noted, “The opportunity to deliver better patient care more productively is immense, but you have to bring all of this unstructured data together.”

Learn more about Hyland at https://www.hyland.com

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< + > Connected health tools help seniors, but a digital divide persists

Most adults aged 50 to 80 in the United States are now using digital health technologies (DHTs), with patient portals leading adoption rates, according to a

< + > What Does Business Resilience Need to Look Like for Hospitals and Health Systems in 2025?

The following is a guest article by Mike Garzone, Security Compliance Practice Leader at Impact Advisors, and Marc Johnson, Director, Security Compliance Practice at Impact Advisors

Experiencing a disruption is no longer a matter of “if” in healthcare delivery – it is a matter of “when.” Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and many cybercriminals are specifically targeting hospitals and health systems. Prevention is essential, but when the inevitable outage from a ransomware attack or other disruption occurs, healthcare delivery organizations need to minimize the impact on processes that enable them to care for patients, bill for services, order supplies, and pay staff.

The threat landscape will continue to evolve in 2025, exacerbated by financial pressures and fallout from modernization and transformation initiatives. Healthcare delivery organizations’ business resilience efforts must evolve accordingly. Specifically, business resilience in 2025 must be:

Comprehensive

Hospitals and health systems need to look at every organizational business function holistically, which includes all departments, acquisitions, and third-party vendors. Anything that supports a given business function – whether an IT application, a workflow, or a trading partner – needs to be carefully assessed and have contingencies proactively developed around it in case a disruption occurs.

There may be a temptation to focus primarily on evaluating high-profile areas, like the EHR, but the reality is that any point of failure can result in disruption. There is nothing wrong with initially prioritizing the assessment of critical applications, workflows, and third-party vendors that directly impact patient care first. However, ignoring ancillary systems, processes, and vendors simply because they are perceived as “less important” will only lead to disruption of the business. If an IT application, workflow, or trading partner is important enough to support one of your organization’s business functions, it is important enough to be tested and have contingencies developed around it.

Regularly Assessed and Exercised

Culture is vital to any hospital and health system’s business resilience efforts. Stakeholders across every part of your organization need to embrace the value of awareness and repetition. Assessing business functions, addressing vulnerabilities, and developing contingencies cannot be viewed as a one-time event or an inconvenience done to “check a box.” Business resilience efforts should be performed regularly and executed strategically. For example, conducting a comprehensive information security assessment every year before annual budgeting activities can help ensure any newly identified vulnerabilities are addressed within the upcoming fiscal year.

While it is critical to have contingencies proactively in place for all of your business functions, those contingency plans must also be frequently practiced. Breaches, cyberattacks, and other types of outages will happen. When the inevitable disruption occurs, having well-documented and regularly rehearsed plans will enable you to respond and recover. Performing a tabletop exercise or running tests of recovery procedures does not benefit the organization if done in isolation. However, scheduling simulated disruptions – where staff follow the documented processes required if a core application is actually encrypted – will help provide your organization with well-informed estimates about the potential costs and recovery time of a given event. Learning in advance of an actual disruption or incident can be the difference between a few hours of downtime versus a few days of downtime.

Built on the Right Foundation

Successful business resilience in 2025 hinges on having a mature governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) program. It is important to note that the legal liability for this program lies at the board of directors and executive management level, as in the event of an investigation, HHS would look at the GRC program to assess compliance or negligence.

The GRC program serves as the foundation for the organization’s business resilience efforts, aligning your business and IT strategies while driving standardization across the enterprise. The role of technology is to automate the programmatic security controls identified and organized by the GRC program. The technology itself is not the safeguard; the technology is guided in its configuration and usage by the safeguards and countermeasures outlined in the GRC program. Given rapidly evolving industry pressures and resource constraints, many hospitals and health systems may want to look to a trusted third-party vendor to help them build and grow their GRC program.

The Bottom Line

With disruption inevitable this year, business resilience is essential for hospitals and health systems. Efforts must be comprehensive, regularly rehearsed, and supported by a mature governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) program.

About Mike Garzone

Mike is an accomplished healthcare consulting executive. During his career of over 30 years, he has developed and managed large, multidiscipline teams delivering enterprise-scale solutions for application integration, information management, enterprise resource planning, and advanced infrastructure.

 

About Marc Johnson

Marc is a performance-driven, C-level information security leader with a long history of driving complex, enterprise-scale technology security programs envisioning to value realization. a proven track record of building and guiding diverse teams toward actionable goals (PCI, HIPAA, GLBA, etc.) and results.

< + > ECRI Acquires The Just Culture Company to Transform Healthcare Patient and Workforce Safety

ECRI, a global nonprofit organization improving the quality and safety of healthcare, announced today it acquired The Just Culture Company, which specializes in transforming workforce culture in high-risk industries.

The Just Culture Company assists organizations in deploying a balanced system of accountability between the organization and employee that fosters a fair, learning culture – referred to as a “just culture” – by implementing its proprietary algorithm through advisory services, educational programs, and coaching.  

“Just culture” is an essential component of ECRI’s Total System Safety (TSS) approach to drive efficiencies, improve healthcare, and reduce preventable patient harm by designing systems for impact and sustainability. Through the acquisition of The Just Culture Company, ECRI now operates a leading cultural transformation organization.  

“Alarming rates of preventable harm are inflicted on patients every day. By offering Just Culture programs throughout ECRI’s global network, we can prevent harm before it happens,” said Marcus Schabacker, PhD, President and CEO at ECRI. “To create lasting change and improve patient and workforce safety, we must shift from evaluating accidents and errors after they’ve taken place, to designing systems and cultures that prevent harm from happening in the first place.” 

The Just Culture Company has partnered with healthcare providers, health departments, and insurers to assess and improve workforce culture, from C-Suite to frontline staff, through a holistic systems-based approach. 

“Our just culture model is founded on the principle that workforce learning, holistic system design, mentoring, and coaching are stronger interventions than the ‘shame and blame’ culture that’s so prolific in healthcare,” said David Marx, CEO at The Just Culture Company. “Errors must be recognized and addressed in a way that becomes learning opportunities for all the people in the system.” 

The significance of just culture in the healthcare workforce was highlighted in the CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure taking effect in 2025. The measure requires hospitals to demonstrate they have established a culture and structure that prioritizes patient safety, specifically referencing just culture in the domain about strategic planning and organizational policy. 

“Too many healthcare staff, through no fault of their own, are operating in poorly designed systems, with hierarchical cultures that prevent staff from speaking up about safety hazards and ‘near misses,’” explained Schabacker. “Not only does this lead to more incidents of patient harm, but it fuels high rates of burnout and stress among overworked healthcare personnel. We can’t train our way to improved safety and quality. Only through a cultural transformation can we adopt a completely new way of supporting and collaborating with our healthcare workforce.”  

According to Schabacker, joining forces with The Just Culture Company is a milestone that reflects ECRI’s strategy to identify and mitigate the root causes of harm and inefficiency in healthcare.  

“As the industry has evolved, we have continued to launch data-informed, evidence-based solutions that address the systemic failures that are causing the most harm – areas where healthcare leaders have struggled to create lasting change despite valiant efforts,” said Schabacker. “We are thrilled to add this on-demand solution and strong brand to ECRI’s portfolio to accelerate our mission to advance effective, evidence-based healthcare globally.” 

This latest acquisition comes four years after ECRI’s move to acquire the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) to help healthcare partners tackle one of the leading causes of preventable harm: medication errors. 

To learn more, visit ecri.org/just-culture-company.

About ECRI

ECRI is an independent, nonprofit organization improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care across all healthcare settings. With a focus on technology evaluation and safety, ECRI is trusted by healthcare leaders and agencies worldwide. ECRI is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices PSO is a federally certified Patient Safety Organization as designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2020, ECRI acquired ISMP to create one of the largest healthcare quality and safety institutions in the world. Visit ecri.org.

About The Just Culture Company 

The Just Culture Company helps organizations across industries create accountable, safe, supportive cultures. For 30 years, they have helped transform work systems that erroneously demand perfection from fallible human beings. CEO and founder David Marx worked as an engineer and human factors leader in the aviation industry, where he established an award-winning error investigation process in use by airlines around the world to this day. He led a research and consulting practice focused on the management of human error through the integration of systems engineering, human factors, and the law. He advised the Federal Aviation Administration’s Human Factors Research Program and the NASA Space Shuttle Program. He developed novel risk modeling methods that have been used to model risk in high-consequence industries worldwide. The Just Culture Company has helped healthcare institutions and regulatory agencies reduce the risk of iatrogenic patient harm. In the area of system design, David Marx’s novel error investigation process has been used to model and mitigate risks from wrong-site surgery to medication errors.

Originally announced December 2nd, 2024

< + > How genAI and precision medicine will change healthcare in 2025

Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, chief innovation and transformation officer at Israel's Sheba Medical Center, says there will be much progress with these technologies – and health system IT leaders must be ready to adapt.

< + > New York governor antes funding for hospital modernization projects

The $188 million, which could increase, will help fund technology projects such as EHR integrations, ED and NICU improvements and other digital health initiatives to "bring vital resources to underserved New Yorkers."

< + > LLMs in Healthcare: A Measured Path to Impact

The following is a guest article by Julien Dubuis, Chief Commercial Officer at Nym

The excitement surrounding large language models (LLMs) and generative AI in healthcare is palpable. Predictions abound, heralding a new era where these technologies reshape patient care, administrative processes, and medical research. Yet, much like the early days of AI in other sectors, healthcare’s embrace of LLMs has sparked an initial wave of overestimation. While their transformative potential is immense, the journey to realizing it will be long, requiring both technological maturation and sector-specific adaptation.

The $1 Trillion Opportunity

McKinsey estimates that generative AI, including LLMs, could unlock up to $1 trillion in value for the healthcare sector. This value could manifest in many ways, from improving clinical outcomes and reducing operational inefficiencies to streamlining administrative tasks. Healthcare, however, is unlike finance or retail, where AI adoption has rapidly advanced. It is a field where a single error can have life-or-death consequences. Additionally, patient safety, privacy, and ethical considerations present significant challenges for seamless AI integration.

Healthcare’s diversity adds further challenges. Each discipline has unique workflows, data structures, and regulations. Many LLMs have been trained and fine-tuned on clinical data, each with its own performance scorecard. Some are better suited for specific healthcare tasks, such as aiding in drug discovery, while others excel at automating patient communication or interpreting medical images. Developing AI systems that effectively address this broad range of needs requires a deep understanding of each sub-sector’s intricacies. In this landscape, a “one-size-fits-all” solution simply doesn’t exist.

Early Wins in Administrative Efficiency

Despite these hurdles, LLMs are beginning to carve out meaningful roles, particularly in healthcare administration. Insurance claims processing, patient correspondence, and billing tasks often consume valuable resources that could be better spent on patient care. Reducing such administrative burdens is where LLMs can shine.

A particularly striking example of LLMs’ impact is in ambient scribing. LLMs can now produce detailed, structured clinical notes by listening to doctor-patient interactions, significantly reducing the time clinicians spend on note-taking. While the ROI and long-term impact are yet to be fully proven, this innovation in clinical documentation shows promise in improving provider satisfaction and potentially reducing burnout, allowing clinicians to focus more on patient care and spend less time on burdensome administrative tasks.

In medical coding, LLMs have shown potential, but, as highlighted in NEJM AI, off-the-shelf LLMs are not a “silver bullet.” Nym takes a more tailored approach by selectively using LLMs for specific tasks, such as parsing documentation and performing Named Entity Recognition (NER), a process that identifies medical terms within text. Nym fine-tunes clinical LLMs trained on biomedical literature to excel at tasks like negation, temporality, and subjectivity, ensuring higher accuracy. Nym’s coding engine then applies a rules-based system rooted in established coding guidelines from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), and Scripps Health Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) to assign billing codes. This process occurs within seconds and with zero human intervention, delivering over 95% accuracy, streamlining workflows, reducing errors, and recovering revenue efficiently.

Payers are also adopting LLM-driven processes to improve claims adjudication, further streamlining the overall billing ecosystem. This kind of automation can save time and money, allowing healthcare providers to focus more on their core mission—delivering care. 

Furthermore, LLMs are showing promise in automating repetitive tasks such as drafting appeal letters for insurance claims. Currently, hospitals and clinics invest significant resources in appealing denied claims, a process that often involves manually gathering medical records, summarizing clinical justifications, and drafting comprehensive responses. By employing LLMs to generate initial drafts of these letters, healthcare organizations can save time, reduce errors, and potentially recover more in reimbursements, enhancing their operational efficiency.

Another area showing progress is appointment scheduling. LLMs can assist in managing appointment requests and cancellations, streamlining communication between patients and providers. By automating these interactions, healthcare facilities reduce administrative strain and improve the patient experience with quicker response times.

Critical Care: Progress in Diagnostics and Safety

While administrative applications of LLMs are gaining traction, their deployment in direct clinical care is advancing more cautiously. That said, progress is being made in areas where the technology serves as an adjunct to human expertise, offering tools to enhance accuracy and speed, without replacing critical decision-makers.

Pathology is one field where LLMs are proving useful. Traditionally, pathologists manually review slides of tissue samples to diagnose conditions like cancer—a process that is time-consuming and susceptible to human error. In one study published in The Lancet, LLMs were trained to analyze medical images, flagging abnormalities that may be missed by even the most experienced pathologists. The LLM doesn’t replace the specialist, but provides a second set of “eyes.” This allows pathologists to focus their attention on the most critical cases, speeding up the diagnostic process and improving the overall accuracy of disease detection, especially in high-volume areas where human error is a risk.

Another emerging application is in pharmacy error detection. Medication mistakes, such as incorrect dosages or dangerous drug interactions, are a leading cause of preventable harm in healthcare. According to a 2024 study in Nature Medicine, LLMs are being used to review prescription orders for potential errors, such as contraindications or excessive doses, before the medication is dispensed. By flagging these mistakes in real time, LLMs can help reduce the incidence of adverse drug events and improve patient safety.

The Challenge of Product-Market Fit

Despite early successes, LLMs have yet to deliver the sweeping transformations some have anticipated. Achieving product-market fit in this space remains a significant challenge. One of the main hurdles is addressing the long tail of healthcare use cases—those low-frequency, high-complexity scenarios that require specialized knowledge and nuanced handling. While it’s possible to build solutions that effectively address 30-50% of more common cases, the long tail presents a unique problem. As Benedict Evans points out, many AI technologies initially perform well in narrow applications but struggle when scaling to more complex, real-world use cases. In healthcare, where the stakes are high, adapting LLMs to handle this wide range of scenarios demands extensive testing, fine-tuning, and collaboration across disciplines.

Regulatory compliance further complicates adoption. Technologies that interact with patient data must adhere to strict privacy and security laws, such as HIPAA in the U.S. There is also a need to mitigate algorithmic bias, which could exacerbate health disparities. Achieving true product-market fit will require not only technical innovation but also alignment with healthcare providers, technology developers, and regulatory bodies.

Building a Sustainable Future for LLMs in Healthcare

Though the road to widespread adoption may be slow, the long-term potential of LLMs in healthcare is immense. As the technology matures, it could become integral to areas such as personalized medicine, predictive analytics, and patient engagement, fundamentally transforming how care is delivered.

To realize this potential, stakeholders must focus on patient safety, ethical transparency, and fostering collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem. The promise of LLMs lies not in replacing human expertise but in augmenting it, creating a more efficient and accurate healthcare system, while safeguarding trust and well-being.

About Julien Dubuis

Julien Dubuis is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Nym, where he leads the sales and marketing teams to drive commercial growth. Prior to Nym, Julien served as Vice President of Sales at Clarify Health and as a project leader at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he focused on the intersection of technology and life sciences. He holds a PhD in physics from Princeton University and a BSc in physics from the Ecole Normale Superieure in France.

< + > This Week’s Health IT Jobs – January 29, 2025

It can be very overwhelming scrolling though job board after job board in search of a position that fits your wants and needs. Let us take that stress away by finding a mix of great health IT jobs for you! We hope you enjoy this look at some of the health IT jobs we saw healthcare organizations trying to fill this week.

Here’s a quick look at some of the health IT jobs we found:

• Chief Medical Officer – Penobscot Community Health Care
• Epic Analyst – Core Clinical – University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMC)
• Health Informaticist – Intermountain Health
• VP, IT Support Model – OneOncology
• Medical Coding Manager (Senior) – Synergy Health Partners MSO, LLC
• Director of Patient Care – St. Luke’s Health System
• Assistant Director-Clinical Information Systems – NYC Health + Hospitals
• EpicCare Ambulatory EHR – Analyst – ChristianaCare
• Clinic Director – MercyOne
• Chief Financial Officer – CFO – Clay County Medical Center
• EHR Application Analyst – Prime Healthcare
• System Analyst Epic OpTime – Mount Sinai Medical Center of Florida
• Clinical Application Specialist – Sentec
• Healthcare Data Analyst – Orthopedic Associates of Hartford
• Informatician III – Public Health – Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
• Compliance Analyst – SCA Health
• Ambulatory Market Medical Director – Adventist Health
• Director of Clinical Informatics – Baylor Scott & White Health
• Medical Biller – Reproductive Medicine Institute
• EHR Application II Analyst – BJC HealthCare

If none of these jobs fit your needs, be sure to check out our previous health IT job listings.

Do you have an open health IT position that you are looking to fill? Contact us here with a link to the open position and we’ll be happy to feature it in next week’s article at no charge!

*Note: These jobs are listed by Healthcare IT Today as a free service to the community. Healthcare IT Today does not endorse or vouch for the company or the job posting. We encourage anyone applying to these jobs to do their own due diligence.

< + > Use a military approach to get C-suite buy-in for AI, says one physician

Dr. Michael S. Barr, a veteran and a healthcare consultant, explains how SBAR – Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation – will bring C-level health system execs onboard for strategic artificial intelligence investments.

< + > HEALWELL Acquires Control of Mutuo Health Solutions To Build Next Generation of AI-Powered Physician Co-Pilots

HEALWELL has Acquired a Majority Controlling Interest in Mutuo Health Solutions, a Toronto-Based Medical Artificial Intelligence Company Focused on Developing Predictive Clinical AI Technology

Mutuo Health’s AutoScribe Platform is an Advanced AI-Powered Ambient Scribe Solution that Transcribes Clinician-Patient Interactions into High-Quality Electronic Medical Records in Real Time Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Technology

AutoScribe’s Speech Recognition Capabilities, Designed with a Robust Patient Privacy Framework, Allows Healthcare Providers to Focus on Patient Care, Significantly Reduce Administrative Burden, and Enhance Care Delivery

HEALWELL Plans to Combine AutoScribe with its Proprietary AI -Enabled Decision Support Co-Pilots, Creating a Next-Generation Suite of AI-Powered Physician Co-Pilots that Significantly Elevate Physician Efficiency

HEALWELL AI Inc., a healthcare artificial intelligence company focused on preventative care, is pleased to announce that it has acquired a 51% majority controlling interest in Mutuo Health Solutions, for $5.5 million in cash and shares of HEALWELL. Mutuo is a medical technology company specializing in AI-powered ambient scribe solutions for clinical documentation whose flagship product, the AutoScribe platform, transcribes clinician-patient dialogue into structured electronic medical records (EMR) data in real-time using machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP). This acquisition is aligned with HEALWELL’s strategy to acquire and enhance AI-enabled healthcare technologies that improve clinical efficiency and patient outcomes and ultimately assist with early disease detection.

Founded in 2018 by a team of AI researchers and healthcare professionals, including a family doctor who experienced first-hand the challenges of documentation burnout, Mutuo’s commercializing of AutoScribe was initiated as part of a unique collaboration between the University of Toronto and Unity Health Toronto. The platform sets itself apart with its focus on precision, security, and integration within Canadian healthcare, making every patient interaction an opportunity to optimize care. By capturing and structuring patient data in real-time, AutoScribe enables healthcare providers to focus on patient care, enhancing clinical accuracy and operational efficiency.

Mutuo’s AutoScribe platform transcends traditional medical dictation by utilizing advanced AI-driven transcription and predictive capabilities, continuously improving through its machine-learning framework. HEALWELL’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Mutuo will deepen the Company’s technology portfolio and expand its offering of AI-driven healthcare solutions. HEALWELL plans to integrate AutoScribe into its proprietary best-in-class AI-enabled clinical decision support co-pilots; creating a next-generation suite of physician co-pilots that will provide highly integrated best-in-class clinical administration automation and clinical decision support. By integrating AutoScribe’s capabilities, HEALWELL will be able to provide advanced, customizable digital assistance to healthcare providers, particularly addressing the growing need for documentation and electronic medical record (EMR) automation in clinics and hospitals. The acquisition helps to further position HEALWELL as a leader in predictive AI solutions designed to streamline clinical workflows, improve patient care, and assist providers with advanced clinical decision support.

Dr. Alexander Dobranowski, CEO at HEALWELL, commented, “We are excited to welcome Mutuo and their remarkable AutoScribe technology to HEALWELL. This acquisition is another step forward in our mission to provide healthcare professionals with the most advanced AI tools to optimize patient care and ultimately help with the earlier identification and detection of disease. AutoScribe’s unique real-time transcription capabilities, combined with its predictive AI framework, will significantly enhance how clinicians manage patient data, allowing them to focus more on patient-centered care. We look forward to working with Mutuo’s team of talented researchers and medical professionals to further scale this technology.”

Dr. Noah Crampton, CEO at Mutuo Health Solutions, commented, “Our team at Mutuo is thrilled to join forces with HEALWELL to bring AutoScribe to more healthcare providers across Canada and beyond. This partnership allows us to leverage HEALWELL’s expertise and vast network to accelerate our mission of reducing administrative fatigue for doctors while improving the quality of care that patients receive. We are eager to see the positive impact this collaboration will have on the healthcare community.”

About HEALWELL AI

HEALWELL is a healthcare artificial intelligence company focused on preventative care. Its mission is to improve healthcare and save lives through early identification and detection of disease. Using its own proprietary technology, the Company is developing and commercializing advanced clinical decision support systems that can help healthcare providers detect rare and chronic diseases, improve the efficiency of their practice, and ultimately help improve patient health outcomes. HEALWELL is executing a strategy centered around developing and acquiring technology and clinical sciences capabilities that complement the Company’s road map. HEALWELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “AIDX” and on the OTC Exchange under the symbol “HWAIF”. To learn more about HEALWELL, please visit healwell.ai.

Originally announced December 3rd, 2024

< + > State of privacy consent management requires more collaboration, says Sequoia Project

The organization shines a light on technical and other challenges healthcare providers face when implementing patient privacy consent to comply with healthcare data exchange requirements in a new landscape paper.

< + > Telepsychiatry practice uses AI to reduce time to complete session notes by 23%

Impower therapists love the ambient listening technology, its COO reports. Artificial intelligence is helping them produce more clinically detailed notes, better comply with documentation submission and be more present with clients.

< + > How MetroHealth broke free of its imaging data silos

"Both the image and the report have to be available to anyone involved in the care of the patient, at any time from anywhere – including the patient," says the health system's chief health informatics officer Dr. David Kaelber in a HIMSS25 preview.

< + > CIO Podcast – Episode 89: Healthcare IT Data with John Lee

For the 89th episode of the CIO podcast hosted by Healthcare IT Today, we are joined by John Lee, MD, FAAEM, FAMIA, FHIMSS, Founder at HIT Peak Advisors and Former CMIO to talk about healthcare IT data! We kick this episode off by discussing how the consumer has evolved in healthcare and its impact on the IT and services we need. Next, we evaluate the data in healthcare to determine three things — how good it is, where we are at with it, and what will happen if we don’t improve it. Lee then talks about his use of Epic Cosmos and how that has changed his approach to leveraging data in healthcare. Then we debate over how to bridge the communication gap between clinical and IT. Next, we share some examples of where IT is changing healthcare and examples of where we’re just paving dysfunctional cowpaths. Lastly, Lee passes along the best piece of advice he’s gotten in his career.

Here’s a look at the questions and topics we discuss in this episode:

• How has the consumer evolved in healthcare and how is that impacting the IT and services we need?
• How good is the data in healthcare? Where are we at with data and what’s going to be the impact if we don’t improve it?
• You use Epic Cosmos a lot — how is that changing how you approach leveraging data in healthcare?
• How do you bridge the communication gap between clinical and IT?
• What are some examples where IT is changing healthcare and examples where we’re just paving dysfunctional cowpaths?
• What’s the best piece of advice you’ve gotten in your career?

Now, without further ado, we’re excited to share with you the next episode of the CIO Podcast by Healthcare IT Today.

We release a new CIO Podcast every ~2 weeks. You can also subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today podcast on any of the following platforms:

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We’d love to hear what you think of the podcast and if there are other healthcare CIO you’d like to see us have on the program. Feel free to share your thoughts and perspectives in the comments of this post with @techguy on Twitter, or privately on our Contact Us page.

We appreciate you listening!

Listen to the Latest Episodes

< + > Why Healthcare Leaders are Turning to QR Solutions

The following is a guest article by Sharat Potharaju, Co-Founder and CEO at Uniqode

Healthcare organizations face two pressing challenges. The first is security: Ransomware attacks hit 67% of healthcare organizations in 2023, with the average payment reaching $4.4 million. The second is efficiency: physicians spend 4.5 hours daily navigating electronic records and multiple login systems instead of focusing on patient care. Healthcare organizations need solutions that address both challenges.

QR code technology fills this gap by creating secure efficient pathways for managing healthcare data. Rather than implementing another layer of conventional security measures, these dynamic codes streamline operations while protecting sensitive information. The technology appeals to providers and patients — 80% of physicians already use smartphones and medical apps, while 3 in 4 patients say mobile solutions improve their healthcare experience. This alignment of provider readiness and patient preference creates an ideal environment for healthcare organizations to implement QR solutions.

Building Business Value Through Secure Technology

Hospitals make attractive targets for cybercriminals because they can’t afford system downtime that puts patient care at risk. That explains why over half (53%) of healthcare organizations paid ransoms in 2024, up from 42% in 2023. With the average data breach costing $9.77 million, healthcare leaders must carefully balance security investments against other operational needs — from updating aging infrastructure to implementing new patient care technologies.

The pressure to digitize while maintaining security has led many healthcare organizations to layer on complex authentication systems and access protocols. While these measures address security concerns, they often create new friction points. These layers further delay physicians, forcing them to spend valuable patient care time managing multiple logins and authentication steps — a key driver of workflow disruption and staff burnout.

QR technology offers a path forward, but adoption requires careful consideration. Healthcare organizations must evaluate factors like integration with legacy systems, staff training requirements, and initial implementation costs. However, those who successfully deploy these solutions see measurable gains in security and efficiency. QR codes can transform traditionally vulnerable touchpoints, such as medication tracking and streamlined patient identification, into secure digital workflows.

The benefits extend beyond security. In an industry facing a projected shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036, any technology that reduces administrative burden becomes strategic. Healthcare systems implementing secure, user-friendly solutions report improvements in staff satisfaction, patient experience, and operational efficiency. Simple applications like digital patient check-in, automated form completion, and easy access to post-visit instructions demonstrate immediate value while building confidence for broader implementation.

Measuring Business Success

Healthcare organizations don’t need complex rollouts to demonstrate the value of QR technology. A focused pilot program that targets specific pain points — like admission processes or equipment management — can quickly show measurable improvements. Starting small allows organizations to fine-tune their approach while building staff confidence and documenting clear wins.

Success metrics should align with organizational priorities. Security teams can track reductions in login-related incidents and unauthorized access attempts. Operations can measure time saved in patient registration and equipment tracking. Clinical teams can document improved medication verification rates and reduced documentation errors. Most importantly, organizations can demonstrate enhanced HIPAA compliance through detailed access logs and stronger authentication protocols.

For board-level reporting, organizations should focus on metrics that directly impact the bottom line: reduced administrative costs, improved staff efficiency, enhanced patient satisfaction scores, and stronger security measures that help avoid costly breaches. These data points build a compelling case for broader implementation while justifying the initial investment.

Evaluating Your Next Steps

Before implementing QR solutions, healthcare leaders should assess their organization’s specific needs and capabilities. Key questions include:

• How will the solution integrate with existing electronic health records?
• What security protocols are in place to protect PHI?
• How will staff access be managed and monitored?
• Does the platform offer detailed analytics for compliance reporting?

Organizations should also evaluate vendor experience in healthcare specifically, including their track record with HIPAA compliance, ability to customize solutions for different departments, and capacity to scale as needs evolve.

Healthcare leaders no longer need to choose between security and efficiency. QR technology addresses both priorities, allowing organizations to protect data while creating smoother workflows for staff and patients alike. Modern solutions make the security versus efficiency trade-off obsolete.

About Sharat Potharaju

Sharat Potharaju is the Co-Founder and CEO at Uniqode, responsible for crafting the overall strategy and execution. Sharat is dedicated to achieving Uniqode’s vision to enable digital connection with every physical object and place on the planet. Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Sharat spent a few years working in investment banking at Merrill Lynch in New York. Sharat holds a master’s degree in engineering management from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.

< + > Sirona Medical Secures $42M in Series C Financing to Enhance Customer Success With Its Cloud-Native Unify Platform

The Investment, Led by Avidity Partners, will Enable the Company to Scale Rapidly and Ensure Customer Success Amid Tremendous Growth

Sirona Medical, a pioneer in cloud-native radiology workflow software, announces $42 million in Series C financing, inclusive of equity and converted debt. Avidity Partners, a participant in the previously announced Series B financing, led this round with additional participation from other existing investors, including 8VC and GreatPoint Ventures.

Following a successful commercial launch last November, this round represents continued investor commitment to Sirona’s novel, cloud-native approach to radiology IT. Not only is Sirona differentiated in its ability to seamlessly integrate the critical elements of the Radiologist’s workflow — worklist, viewer, reporter, and PACS archive — but it is the only company demonstrating this capability through commercial validation.

As such, this new capital will support the following key initiatives:

1. Continued evolution of the Unify platform, particularly around workflow efficiency and AI-powered report generation
2. Ongoing customer service and support
3. Commercial expansion

As Sirona prepares for this next growth stage, the company also announces that Hooman Hakami, a seasoned healthcare leader who has served as a senior executive at GE Healthcare and Medtronic, has been appointed CEO. Cameron Andrews, Sirona’s founder, will remain actively involved in his new role as President.

“We are entering the next phase in the company’s maturity and ability to deliver our next-generation solution to a broader audience while supporting the success of every customer,” said Cameron Andrews.

“The Sirona vision is compelling. Cameron and the entire team have done an excellent job achieving a level of workflow integration across multiple platforms that no other company has reached in radiology IT. I look forward to working alongside Cameron and the entire Sirona team as we enter this new growth phase,” said Hakami.

Sirona’s Unify platform is the flagship radiology workflow solution that unifies diagnostic & clinical image viewing, radiology reporting, worklist, and AI (including impression generation) on a single cloud-native platform. The Unify platform can be deployed as an overlay to existing on-premises systems (PACS and RIS), allowing radiology practices that service multiple hospitals and health systems to combine disparate workflows into a single unified workflow experience.

The Unify platform was built from the ground up and built to be deployed in the cloud to provide the following advantages:

• Simplify data security and access using advanced protocols, supporting industry standards, and providing safeguards against cyber threats
• Offer real-time monitoring to address potential issues proactively
• Deliver a fully redundant workflow solution that is always on and includes built-in fault tolerance
• Enable seamless integration and deployment of both 1st and 3rd party AI algorithms

“Our belief in the unique value proposition that Sirona offers is unequivocal,” said Jacob Garfield, Managing Director at Avidity Partners. “The response from customers validates the unmatched capabilities of a cloud-native approach, and we are confident in the long-term growth of this company.”

About Sirona Medical Inc.

Sirona Medical Inc. is addressing the needs of today’s radiology practices with a novel cloud-native platform that unifies radiology IT applications — worklist, viewer, reporter, archive, and AI — into a single, streamlined workspace. Sirona’s radiology operating system (RadOS) represents the first-of-its-kind rearchitecting of an enterprise imaging IT infrastructure. It puts radiologists in the driver’s seat with novel AI-powered solutions that simplify their workflow and amplify their work product. Based in San Francisco, CA, Sirona Medical is founded on a deep understanding of both the practice and business of radiology, to enable radiologists to work as fast as they can think. To learn more about how Sirona Medical can enhance your radiology practice, visit sironamedical.com.

Originally announced November 26th, 2024

< + > Bonus Features – January 26, 2025 – 87% of dental patients prefer digital payment reminders, Consensus Cloud Solutions’ eFax free for those affected by L.A. wildfires, plus 19 more stories

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

Partnerships

• Quantitative AI vendor SandboxAQ is collaborating with Mayo Clinic to explore how ECG and MCG can be used to characterize disease progression and treatment response. In addition, SandboxAQ models are now available through Google Cloud Marketplace.
• Aidoc is collaborating with Amazon Web Services to optimize clinical AI foundation models.
• Ambient AI documentation from DeepScribe is now integrated with Flatiron Health’s OncoEMR.
• Collaboration vendor Bamboo Health is partnering with Radial, a decision support vendor, to help Medicare ACOs provide more targeted interventions.
• Value-based care data and analytics vendor WellSky selected Kno2 as its QHIN.

Products

• Cloud fax vendor Consensus Cloud Solutions is offering a free plan of eFax to those affected by Los Angeles-area wildfires.
• Independent medical practice software vendor AdvancedMD released its free CPT/HCPCS Codes Guide for 2025.
• NextGen Healthcare unveiled NextGen Gastro Suite, which brings gastroenterology workflows into NextGen Enterprise EHR.
• MEDITECH released its latest set of APIs, and they’re compatible with USCDI version 4.
• Holon Health released Holon Vibe, a digital therapeutic to assist with substance use disorder treatment.

Sales

• Washington state’s MultiCare Health System is expanding its deployment of IllumiCare, which provides recommendations within Epic when clinicians are ordering medications, lab tests, or imaging studies.
• Safety net health system Denver Health selected Nabla as its ambient AI assistant.
• Multi-specialty surgical group SurgOne chose Phreesia to support digital payments.
• Maryland-based Medicare Advantage health plan Alterwood Advantage selected Inovalon to help address member care gaps for both quality measurement and risk adjustment.

Company News

• A survey from Vyne Dental found 87% of dental patients prefer digital reminders that payments are due, with nearly half of patients preferring text messages.
• eClinicalWorks has been formally designated as a QHIN, with the company’s PRISMANet named as the supporting technology.
• Independent primary care Aledade launched Aledade Policy Institute to advocate for value-based care.
• Gastroenterology medical practice Oshi Health added to its recent Series C funding round.

People

• Urgent care EHR and practice management vendor Experity appointed Dr. Andrea Giamalva as Chief Medical Officer.
• Provider credential management company Modio Health announced John Bou as President; he’s a company co-founder and previously served as Chief Operating Officer.
• Network microsegmentation vendor ColorTokens appointed Dr. Guru Gurushankar as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Healthcare and Life Sciences.

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo. Note that submissions received after the close of business on Thursday may not be included in Bonus Features until the following week.

< + > Weekly Roundup – January 25, 2025

Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.

Why NextGen Is Being Selective and Prudent With AI in 2025. In an exclusive interview, NextGen CEO David Sides sat down with Colin Hung to discuss an AI approach that helps practices achieve meaningful changes without overwhelming their systems or compromising quality. Read more…

Precision in Practice: A Deeply Clinical Approach to AI. Colin caught up with Amit Phadnis at RapidAI, who talked about why it’s so important for AI outputs to be directly integrated within PACS systems, along with how AI can reduce radiology’s many administrative burdens. Read more…

Improving Data Collection and Analysis to Address Health Inequities. The first step is gathering data from more diverse sources, the experts in the Healthcare IT Today community said. From there, it’s often a matter of deploying AI responsibly as part of a larger strategy to of building trust with vulnerable patients. Read more…

Why the FDA’s Involvement in AI Is a Good Thing. Dr. Samir Shah at Qure.ai talked to Colin about how FDA regulation of AI tools ensures their reliability, which is critical for building trust in the technology and expanding its adoption. Read more…

Keeping an Eye on Elderly Patients With Radar, Not Cameras. Colin caught up with Jamey Edwards at Cairns Health to learn about non-intrusive ways to monitor vital signs, track movement, and even sense changes in behavior patterns. Read more…

Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Equity in Underserved Communities With SDoH. Addressing financial equity, increasing access to care, and improving diversity in clinical trials are some key areas of focus from members of the Healthcare IT Today community. Read more…

Improving Access to Behavioral Health Crisis Support Services. John Lynn interviewed Vatsala Kapur at Bamboo Health about using technology as well as workforce innovation to expand access to behavioral healthcare, particularly in rural areas. Read more…

First #HITsm Bluesky Chat: ViVE 2025 Conference Preview. The #HITsm chat is returning on January 31 at noon Eastern on Bluesky! With ViVE 2025 hitting Nashville in a couple weeks, we’ll use the inaugural #HITsm chat on Bluesky to preview the conference. Read more…

Healthcare IT Today Podcast: Dissatisfaction With Healthcare Costs. John and Colin unpack why healthcare costs so much and whether rising costs are sustainable. They also debate whether the industry can reverse the trend. Read more…

Though Supplemental Benefits Skyrocket, Access to Care Remains a Challenge. Ashish V. Shah at Dina described why health plans need to bring digital transformation to care coordination in their efforts to help members access in-home support, meal services, and other supplemental benefits. Read more…

Beyond Patching: Securing Medical Devices Postmarket. Patching is essential to medical device security, but it’s often reactive. Runtime protections help protect devices from unknown vulnerabilities when immediate updates aren’t feasible, said Joseph M. Saunders at RunSafe Security. Read more…

This Week’s Health IT Jobs for January 22, 2025: Roles with providers from Alaska to Ohio to Massachusetts. Read more…

Bonus Features for January 19, 2025: 183 million patient records were exposed in cyberattacks in 2024; meanwhile, 74% of organizations rely on manual processes for workforce management. Read more…

Funding and M&A Activity:

• Workforce education and training vendor Relias acquired Feedtrail, maker of patient experience and reputation management software.
• Restorative care software provider Net Health acquired Alinea Engage, which offers patient engagement software for private and senior rehabilitation therapy providers.
• Remote teleradiology company ONRAD acquired Direct Radiology, the teleradiology group of Royal Philips.
• Innovaccer secured $275 million in Series F funding.
• Connected medical device company FIRE1 completed a $120 million financing round.
• Medication adherence and access vendor TailorMed secures $40 million in financing.
• Practice Better secured $13 million in growth capital; the company offers practice management software to health and wellness providers.
• Claims appeal vendor Cofactor AI launched with a $4 million seed round.
• Third-party EHR integration vendor Red Rover raised $4 million in seed funding.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our latest Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundups.

< + > Trump's interim HHS chief issues agency-wide gag order

While the president's pick for Health and Human Services Secretary awaits his nomination hearing, acting director Dr. Dorothy Fink issued a "pause on issuing documents and public communications," including social media, to all department heads.

< + > How responsible AI can improve health equity and access to care

Jennifer Stoll of the Oregon Community Health Information Network will speak at HIMSS25 on deploying artificial intelligence to benefit rural health systems and medically underserved communities.

< + > HIMSSCast: AI assurance labs and improving quality

Inequities that already exist in the healthcare system and may be amplified by LLMs could be addressed through the proving ground of artificial intelligence assurance labs, according to Brigham Hyde, CEO of Atropos Health. 

< + > Precision in Practice: RapidAI’s Unique Approach to Clinical AI

Are we finally moving past AI hype in healthcare? RapidAI believes so. The company has been working on something they call “deep clinical AI” – a thoughtful, targeted application of AI for radiologists. So far, it’s looking good.

At #RSNA24, RapidAI showcased its commitment to helping radiologists with the company’s AI solution designed to do more than just detect abnormalities in an image. Amit Phadnis, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer at RapidAI, sat down with Healthcare IT Today to share details on the company’s work on what they call “deep clinical AI,” a process that goes beyond simple triage to localize, quantify, and visualize disease states.

Key Takeaways

1. Deep Clinical AI aids decision-making. Because RapidAI does more than detect abnormalities in an image (it can help visualize a disease state), it supports faster and more accurate clinician decisions.
2. Clinician-Driven Development. As a clinician-founded company, RapidAI ensures its tools meet practical needs by using curated datasets and advanced image processing techniques. User feedback is incorporated at every step.
3. Seamless Workflow Integration. RapidAI’s Rapid Navigator Pro integrates directly with PACS systems, allowing radiologists to interact with AI insights without switching between applications.

RapidAI Assists, Does Not Diagnose

Phadnis emphasized several times that RapidAI does not diagnose. Its AI provides insight and information to radiologists who can more rapidly (pun intended) and confidently render their diagnosis.

“We’re not here to diagnose for clinicians but to provide enough actionable information to help them make accurate decisions faster,” said Phadnis.

This clarification is important since radiologists are currently skeptical of AI that claim to completely diagnose a patient based on a single image.

Seamless Radiology Workflow with Navigator Pro

Rapid Navigator Pro is a tool that seamlessly integrates with existing radiology workflows. It allows radiologists to interact with AI outputs directly within their PACS systems, avoiding the need to switch between applications.

“Radiologists are already dealing with burnout,” explained Phadnis. “The last thing they need is more complexity. With Navigator Pro, we make their workflow seamless, letting them focus on insights without disruption.”

Features like automated structured report generation, prioritizing critical findings, and pre-fetching prior studies (even from external enterprise systems), further reduce documentation burdens, letting clinicians focus on patient care.

RapidAI’s success stems from its clinician-founded roots, bringing clinical depth to the development of its AI. Their solutions are built with careful curation of datasets and advanced techniques like image processing, ensuring their tools are both precise and practical. By prioritizing radiologists’ needs and developing AI that integrates deeply with their daily tasks, RapidAI is an example of how the thoughtful application of technology can significantly enhance healthcare delivery.

Learn more about RapidAI at https://www.rapidai.com/

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< + > Innovaccer Secures $275M in Series F to Scale its Healthcare Intelligence Cloud

Innovaccer Inc., a leading healthcare AI company, today announced a $275M Series F funding round. The round was a combination of primary and secondary, and includes participation from B Capital Group, Banner Health, Danaher Ventures LLC, Generation Investment Management, Kaiser Permanente, and M12.

This investment will fuel Innovaccer’s efforts to expand its collaboration with existing customers, introduce new AI and cloud capabilities, and scale a developer ecosystem on the platform. The company plans to add multiple copilots and agents to its offerings, including utilization management, prior authorization, clinical decision support, clinical documentation, care management, and contact center.

Founded in 2014, Innovaccer helps healthcare organizations by providing a comprehensive suite of software solutions to power value-based care programs, modernize the patient experience, and reduce the administrative burden on providers. It stands out as a technology platform that achieved Best-in-KLAS recognition across multiple categories, including Data and Analytics, Population Health Management, and CRM. This recognition reinforces Innovaccer’s commitment to excellence and innovation, reflecting its unparalleled ability to deliver high-quality solutions across various healthcare segments.

“Innovaccer is dedicated to transforming healthcare through data-driven insights and cutting-edge AI technology. We are grateful for the confidence our investors have in our vision and capabilities. This funding will enable us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in healthcare AI,” said Abhinav Shashank, Co-Founder and CEO at Innovaccer. “Our goal is to make healthcare more proactive, predictive, and personalized.”

Over the past two years, the company has significantly grown its customer base, now serving 6 of the top 10 health systems and growing its public sector partnerships with San Mateo County and Alameda County. Innovaccer’s platform now supports over 130 leading healthcare organizations and continues to be the market-leading platform for population health, data management, and AI, with 50% year-over-year revenue growth for the past five years.

“Innovaccer has a vision for how data and AI can power the future of healthcare that aligns with the opportunities for AI we see at Danaher,” said Julie Sawyer Montgomery, Executive Vice President at Danaher Corporation. “We see this investment as an opportunity to partner with Innovaccer and other industry leaders to tackle some of healthcare’s biggest challenges. We believe providing clinicians with the data and analytics to drive meaningful clinical insights, more quickly, at the point of need, we can accelerate the transition to more effective, more personalized care.”

To date, Innovaccer has raised a total of $675M from leading venture capital firms and strategic investors. The company’s momentum is reflected in its growing customer base and the successful deployment of its AI platform across leading healthcare organizations. Over the past year, Innovaccer also announced the acquisition of two companies– Cured and Pharmacy Quality Solutions.

About Innovaccer

Innovaccer activates the flow of healthcare data, empowering providers, payers, and government organizations to deliver intelligent and connected experiences that advance health outcomes. The Healthcare Intelligence Cloud equips every stakeholder in the patient journey to turn fragmented data into proactive, coordinated actions that elevate the quality of care and drive operational performance. Leading healthcare organizations like CommonSpirit Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Banner Health trust Innovaccer to integrate a system of intelligence into their existing infrastructure— extending the human touch in healthcare. For more information, visit innovaccer.com.

Originally announced January 9th, 2025

< + > Practice Better Secures US$13 Million in Growth Capital from CIBC Innovation Banking to Accelerate Expansion of Holistic Health Solution

CIBC Innovation Banking is excited to announce a US$13 million growth capital facility for Practice Better, a leading all-in-one practice management software platform serving health and wellness professionals. The investment will support Practice Better’s continued expansion into new markets and accelerate product innovation empowering health and wellness professionals to reach millions of clients.

Practice Better offers a suite of tools that integrate scheduling, Telehealth, client engagement, and billing, helping practitioners save time on administrative tasks and focus on delivering client-centric care. This growth capital will be used to enhance Practice Better’s platform with transformative AI-driven features, expand its product development, and scale its sales and marketing efforts to meet the increasing demand for digital healthcare solutions.

“Practice Better’s innovative platform is helping thousands of healthcare practitioners run more efficient practices, giving them more time to focus on their clients and scale their impact,” said Josh Olawale, Director at CIBC Innovation Banking. “We are excited to support their continued growth and help redefine what is possible in the health tech space.”

Nathalie Garcia, Co-Founder of Practice Better, said, “Since day one, our goal has always been to support practitioners and their clients by providing them with the tools they need for long-term success, and this partnership with CIBC Innovation Banking will allow us to accelerate that mission. We’re excited to continue to solve real problems for our practitioners by expanding our platform and continuing to empower practitioners to run more efficient and successful practices.”

The investment comes at a pivotal time as healthcare professionals seek to adopt technologies that streamline workflows, unlock growth opportunities, and improve patient engagement. As the healthcare industry continues to shift towards digital solutions, Practice Better is well-positioned to lead the charge in transforming practice management for health and wellness practitioners.

About CIBC Innovation Banking

CIBC Innovation Banking delivers strategic advice, cash management, and funding to innovation companies across North America, the UK, and select European countries at each stage of their business cycle, from start-up to IPO and beyond. With offices in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Durham, London, Menlo Park, Montreal, New York, Reston, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver, the team has extensive experience and a strong, collaborative approach that extends across CIBC’s commercial banking, private banking, wealth management and capital markets businesses.

About Practice Better

Practice Better is a leading all-in-one practice management platform with a mission to empower health and wellness professionals to help millions of clients live better lives. The company serves tens of thousands of practitioners in 70+ countries, reaching more than 1 million clients across the globe. From its earliest days supporting nutrition-focused practitioners and coaches, Practice Better has been embraced by a wide range of health and wellness practitioners, including naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, and mental health therapists. The platform empowers wellness professionals to streamline administrative work, engage clients, and scale their practices beyond the traditional 1:1 model. Learn more at practicebetter.io.

Originally announced November 26th, 2024

< + > Even modest meds adherence can be financially transformative for health systems

While medication adherence is a cornerstone of value-based care, it depends on the right team, tools and targeted patient engagement to be effective, says one chief medical officer.

< + > Trump VA pick pledges to get Oracle EHR rolling

Former Georgia rep Doug Collins, President Donald Trump's choice for Veterans Affairs secretary told members of Congress that the minimal deployment of the new electronics health records system "is not acceptable."

< + > Supplemental Benefits Skyrocket but Access to Care Remains a Challenge

The following is a guest article by Ashish V. Shah, Co-Founder and CEO at Dina

Payers Lean on Technology to Coordinate New Innovative Supplemental Benefits to Improve Quality, Outcomes, and Costs for Seniors

Non-medical supplemental benefits like in-home support services, meal delivery, home modifications, and transportation have skyrocketed with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. As care continues to move into the home and community, the trend toward benefits that address health-related social needs (HRSN) will continue. 

But activating, coordinating, and measuring the impact of these new benefits remains elusive and difficult.

Traditional care coordination is hampered by time-consuming tasks– phone calls, faxes, multiple emails–to stay on top of which service providers can fulfill certain benefits, and have the necessary capacity to do so in a timely manner. Meanwhile, benefit providers are plagued by persistent staffing shortages at all levels that further exacerbate their ability to be responsive partners to new payer partners. 

And the MA market is changing. After years of explosive growth, the market is now at a tipping point, with more than half of all seniors enrolled in an MA plan. Today, most plans are looking to not only use supplemental benefits to grow membership but also leverage them to deliver on cost and quality targets. Furthermore, regulators are now mandating that utilization data and effectiveness be reported back to CMS.

The Medicare Advantage Star Ratings program includes a Health Equity Index (HEI) Reward Factor that will be introduced in 2027 to encourage plans to deliver equitable healthcare. The HEI Reward Factor will assess how well plans serve beneficiaries with social risk factors such as low income, disability, or dual eligibility for Medicaid. Data from measurement years 2024 and 2025 will impact Star ratings in 2027. 

The new HEI is part of a broader effort by the federal government to use payment as a mechanism to spur action on closing health equity gaps. For example, a critical, and largely underutilized, resource is leveraging the set of income-based programs available to more than half of Medicare members including both the HEI qualifying programs — Medicaid, Medicare Savings Program, and Low-Income Subsidy — as well as those that support paying for utilities, prescriptions, and food.

I would expect that the new administration will rebrand and/or repackage some or all of these measures in some way in 2025; however, there is largely bipartisan support for addressing the health-related social needs of seniors. Also, I fully anticipate that consumer experience will grow in importance, and accessing benefits will be very critical in that regard.

Poor Access = Bad Outcomes

To thrive under these conditions, we need to get care navigators in situations where they are actually spending more with members to understand their needs versus battling outdated systems to complete basic tasks related to care navigation and coordination. We know that providing timely access to care and services to people following a hospital stay or during an extended illness is critical. In fact, research shows that even a seven-day delay in arranging home health services can lead to:

• 31% increase in Emergency Department (ED) visits
• 40% increase in unnecessary hospital readmissions
• 22% increase in mortality
• $2.289 increase in 90-day average total cost per member

Operationalizing Supplemental Benefits for Members

For payers and providers, the process often involves intricate workflows, multiple IT systems, and continuous communication with multiple benefits providers. To expedite the process, payers are beginning to embrace digital solutions to enable innovative care coordination software for their members. 

Reducing this complexity requires a new level of interoperability, integration, and responsiveness. When done right, quality is improved, costs are contained, processes are streamlined, care gaps are closed, and coordinators can serve more members. Ultimately, seniors are happier with the experience. 

Here are 7 steps to jumpstart your digital transformation:

Evaluate Your Network of Benefit Providers

Review contracted benefit providers in your network and identify gaps and coordination challenges, particularly with supplemental non-medical services like in-home support services, home modification, meal deliveries, and more.

Share Technology with Key Benefit Providers

Extend your technology to important benefit providers to create a shared digital experience that results in faster and more coordinated benefits. This can reduce the time required to align resources to serve members in a timely manner. You can leverage integration to reduce trivial data entry tasks (e.g., the manual duplication and entry of demographic data across systems).

Maintain a Database of Benefit Provider Capabilities and Capacity

Maintain a database of benefit provider capabilities and capacity with the technology to keep benefit provider data current and organized so they have up-to-date information at their fingertips and can quickly connect people with the right resources at the right time. 

Boost Coordinator Productivity with AI

Boost coordinator productivity with AI to drive more efficient processes so coordinators have more time to work with the seniors who need care. For example, the power of generative AI can provide useful summarizations of the plan of care and other information necessary for coordinators to make timely decisions.

Real-Time Data Sharing

Real-time data sharing for service coordinators and in-home service partners to engage, collaborate, and create a great experience for seniors. This can include jointly setting performance goals around care, encouraging partners to validate outcomes with data, and using shared technology to facilitate communication. Be clear about what information is most important and make it easy for your partners to supply it via automation or simple workflow tools.

Evaluate Service Delivery and Performance

Leverage data to determine if partners are meeting commitments on member satisfaction and service delivery. This helps manage the partner network and improve member experience. 

Educate Members

Educate members about available benefits and stay connected to determine satisfaction with services.

Improving connectivity between benefit providers is often easier said than done. And as more supplemental benefits are offered, the importance of making sure those benefits are easily accessible will become a measure of quality and Star ratings. When done right, investing in the technology to manage and coordinate supplemental benefits can lead to better outcomes, higher member satisfaction, and, ultimately, lower cost of care.

About Ashish V. Shah

Ashish V. Shah founded Dina in 2015 and leads the team on its mission to make in-home care accessible, reliable, and transparent. Dina provides digital network management and coordination solutions to help health plans and providers improve access to in-home care, long-term services and supports, and supplemental benefits. Today, the company works with top health plans and providers to improve the delivery of home-based benefits and help people live their very best lives.