Digital Transformation

This evolution of healthcare involves using technology to improve diagnosis, treatments, monitor patients, enhance hospital operations and culture, and bolster consumer-focused care. This includes virtual reality tools, wearable devices, workflow software, health apps and other digital health tools.

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Amazon's Alexa has its own ‘health & wellness’ team

Made up of more than a dozen Amazon employees and led by manager Rachel Jiang—a veteran of Facebook and Microsoft who has been with Amazon since 2013—the “health & wellness team” within Alexa's division has been working on how the voice assistant can adapt to the requirements of HIPAA.

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VA sets Memorial Day deadline to decide on Cerner EHR

Nearly a year after it was first announced the Department of Veterans Affairs would be replacing its in-house electronic health record (EHR) system with a Cerner platform, the contract hasn’t been finalized. A senior VA official now says the agency’s acting chief has set a deadline of Memorial Day—May 28—to make a decision on the acquisition.

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Change Healthcare partners with Microsoft, Adobe on new engagement platform

Nashville, Tennessee’s Change Healthcare has announced a collaboration with tech giants Microsoft and Adobe on a new patient engagement solution—one that Change promised would unite “engagement orchestration proven to work in consumer marketing with industry leading healthcare IT across the continuum of care.”

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FDA is looking for an EHR system

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested quotes for a “large electronic medical record system” that could assess the safety and surveillance of FDA-regulated products through the agency’s current systems for reporting adverse events and leverage the database of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

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Allscripts paying $60M for patient engagement platform HealthGrid

In the latest acquisition by health IT vendor Allscripts, it has purchased HealthGrid, a mobile patient engagement platform, for $60 million in cash and adding its capabilities to the Allscripts FollowMyHealth portfolio.

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Cerner earnings hurt by delay in EHR contract for VA

Cerner reported its first quarter net earnings fell by $13 million compared to 2017, with the health IT giant acknowledging the delay in finalizing its hefty contract to bring a new electronic health record system to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contributed to the decline.

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AAFP: EHRs ‘suck the life out of everyone that uses them’

A blog post from Shawn Martin, senior vice president of advocacy, practice advancement and policy at the American Academy of Family Physicians, argued the electronic health record (EHR) industry has failed to live up to promises to reduce costs, improve care and help avert dangerous medical errors—and what it needs now is a disruptive infusion of competition.

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Trump’s friends reportedly holding up Cerner-VA deal

Eleven months after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) selected Cerner to replace its in-house electronic health record system, the $16 billion contract hasn’t been finalized. According to Politico, two men in the social circle of President Donald Trump may be to blame for holding up the project—and neither man officially works for his administration.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.