Phreesia, which offers software for patient scheduling and check-in, is receiving an undisclosed investment round from a venture fund backed by health systems.
Protenus (no, they are not in favor of the sport involving hitting a ball over a net) has raised $11 million in fresh capital to support its software that uses artificial intelligence to detect privacy breaches.
Digital health coaching company Pack Health breaks from the pack, raising an undisclosed amount from an odd investor, Coverys, a medical malpractice insurer.
A PE firm has invested $30 million in Bio-Optronics, which offers clinical trial management, staff scheduling and patient safety software for providers.
Zipongo hurriedly raises a quick $18 million in new capital for its "digital" nutrition app that delivers personalized meal plans for patients with chronic illnesses.
Change Healthcare, which offers price transparency, payment and related services to payers and providers, is acquiring National Decision Support, which delivers relevant imaging guidelines at the point of care.
A survey from the American Medical Group Association finds that profitability per physician declined for the average group practice in 2017, from an operating loss of about 10% of revenue in 2016 to around 17.5%. Operating revenue per doctor increased somewhat. Private practices had operating gains while health system owned practices had large losses, and smaller practices performed worse than did large ones. If the survey results are accurate, this should add pressure to increase physician reimbursements by payers.
Here is how not to do good research. In a study in Health Services Research the authors talked to executives at physician practices to determine if a switch to being owned by a health system lessened patient responsiveness and concluded from the interviews that it did not. What do you expect them to say? Maybe you should talk to patients or use some objective measures.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29143325
About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.