INSIGHTS
February 3, 2020

Practice Fusion pays up

When Allscripts bought Practice Fusion for just $100M in 2018, it promised to absorb any potential fallout from a pending DOJ investigation. Now, the fallout has finally arrived—with a $145M price tag. Practice Fusion owned up to a $1M kickback scheme of clinical decision support alerts designed to nudge doctors toward prescribing more opioids.

In other news, a slew of AI headlines caught our eye. An EHR’s no-show prediction tool reveals potential bias, an AI-designed drug is entering a human trial, Microsoft unveiled its $40M “AI for Health” initiative, algorithms are supporting the coronavirus response, and AI’s ability to find more cancer may harm as much as it helps.

Headlines

Stakeholders Call For Interop Rules “Without Further Delay”
+ HHS Sec. Azar says “scare tactics” won’t stall reform FierceHealthcare | (Tweet)

One Medical Soars In Public Debut
“‘We’re really in this for the long run’” Yahoo Finance | (Tweet)

Walmart Opens Second Primary Care Supercenter
A peek into the retailer’s burgeoning health strategy STAT+ | (Tweet)

Former Outcome Health Employees Plead Guilty
They played a part in the startup’s $1B fraud scheme Crain’s Chicago Business | (Tweet)

Doctors On TikTok Try To Go Viral
Tailoring medical messaging to adolescents The New York Times | (Tweet)

National Identifier Not A Patient-Matching “Panacea”
But proponents argue it’s an important step Modern Healthcare | (Tweet)

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