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.

News

• U.S. Reps Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Bill Foster (D-IL) introduced the Patient Matching and Transparency in Certified Health IT (MATCH IT) Act of 2024, which would standardize the way demographic information is entered into certified health IT products and ensure more precise patient matches.
• Fourteen professional healthcare, life science, and consumer organizations formed the Digital Health Collaborative to advance evidence and value in digital health technology.
• The 29 members of the EHR Association shared concerns with ONC about upcoming deadlines for  Certified EHR Technology deadlines given the complexity of needs specified in HTI-1 and beyond.
• Median hospital margins hit 5.2% in January, according to the latest data from Syntellis. That’s the highest that margins have been in about two years.

Studies

• More than 90% of healthcare executives agree that AI capabilities are expanding and will improve their organizations, according to Accenture’s Technology Vision 2024 report. That said, 69% of consumers want healthcare orgs to develop guidelines on privacy, ethics, and standards for using AI.
• A survey published in JAMIA found 73% of digital health vendors are using standards-based FHIR APIs when integrating with EHR systems. The news isn’t all good, as ONC noted in a blog post, as 68% of vendors are also using some form of proprietary APIs as well.
• A report from Hospital for Special Surgery found ChatGPT provided responses to patients’ questions that were easier to understand that medical literature – but also less comprehensive.
• Roughly 83% of clinicians agree that telemedicine is effective for managing chronic conditions, according to a SteadyMD survey.

Partnerships

• Instacart is now integrated with Pack Health, the patient engagement program from Quest Diagnostics.
• Dandelion Health has partnered with The SCAN Foundation to incorporate SDoH data on older adults into its data sets training clinical AI models.
• Clearwater is partnering with 25m Health to develop a cybersecurity and compliance program for health tech startups.
• Family caregiver education platform Trualta is now available through PointClickCare’s Marketplace.

Product and Company News

• Authenticx introduced a generative AI tool for summarizing recorded customer conversations.
• Trilliant Health released Network Explorer, which analyzes physician referral patterns and network performance.
• Edifecs said it will now enable compliance with CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule.
• Provider network management vendor Medallion launched a one-day credentialing solution.
• Health information network Availity issued five principles for the responsible use of AI.
• X-trodes receives FDA 510(k) clearance for Smart Skin, its wireless wearable for monitoring brain, heart, eye, and muscle activity.
• Experity announced its 2024 Limelight Awards at its annual Urgent Care Connect conference.

Sales

• WellSpan Health chose Biofourmis to support its bundled payment program for post-acute care at home.
• Texas-based community health center Healing Hands Ministries selected Sunoh.ai.
• California-based HIE entity Serving Communities Health Information Organization is using NextGen Healthcare’s Mirth interoperability solutions.
• Mental health service provider Brightside Health expanded Medicare and Medicaid coverage with payers in more than a dozen states.
• The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress selected AXYS for data management and integration.
• Ohio-based insurer Medical Mutual chose Strive Health to deliver value-based kidney care across all lines of business.
• Substance use treatment provider Flyland Recovery Network chose iPad software for in-room patient engagement, education, and entertainment from Volo Solutions.

People

• Home care management solution provider HHAeXchange named Scott Schwartz as Chief Operating Officer and appointed Lori Harrington as Senior Vice President of Product.
• Cancer care cost management platform OncoHealth made three executive appointments.
• In-room digital marketing platform Lincata appointed Rick Carpani as President.
• Provider-payer data exchange platform Madaket Health named Megan Schmidt and Tim Suther to its Board of Directors.

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.

Stay tuned on Tuesday for a special edition of Bonus Features with news and notes from ViVE 2024!