Bonus Features – October 9, 2022 – Optum completes Change Healthcare acquisition, interest in flu shots is declining, and more

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 UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum closed its acquisition of Change Healthcare for $13 billion following an unsuccessful U.S. Department of Justice challenge of the deal. Optum first announced its intention to acquire Change in January 2021, but the DOJ initially blocked the deal in February 2022 due to anti-competition concerns. MedStar Health received a $2 million grant to continue research into how telehealth access impacts health equity. The grant, awarded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, comes weeks after the research team published a study in njp Digital Medicine indicating that increased telehealth access during COVID-19 did not result in increased, unnecessary access to primary care. The granted-funded, follow-up research will explore ways to connect patients with chronic conditions and other vulnerable populations to telehealth services. A PatientsLikeMe survey concluded that patient interest in flu shots is declining. While 40% of patients surveyed didn’t get a flu shot in 2021, 43% haven’t gotten a flu shot yet this year or don’t...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: C-Suite Leadership Health IT Company Healthcare IT Advata ahrq Alinea Ben Grabski BeneTalk Brigham and Women's Hospital Brightside Health CARIN Alliance Change Healthcare Communicare eClinicalWorks eCW FinThrive Forward Adv Source Type: blogs