Oct 26, 2025

Top News Humana and Providence launch a scalable data exchange collaboration that will use HL7 FHIR standards and modern APIs to reduce administrative burden, enhance interoperability, and support value-based care. The payer-provider collaboration’s first deliverable, which provides member attribution for Humana’s Medicare Advantage members, goes live this month. Let’s be honest, the Doctor title outside of medicine is mostly a vanity project. Patients don’t care about your dissertation on 18th-century poetry or leadership theory, they just want someone who can diagnose their chest pain. Using Doctor in a clinical setting when you’re not a physician confuses patients, inflates egos, and cheapens a title that should mean something. Sign your name with your non-medical degree or have it embroidered on your lab coat if you must , but don’t use it to play doctor.” From Data Diva: “Re: AI tools. Hospitals don’t need them as much as they need fewer executives who pretend to understand them. Every ‘AI strategy’ announcement sounds like a board trying to cosplay as tech bros while nurses drown in administrivia. How about automating leadership bloat before automating bedside care?” HIStalk Announcements and Requests Most poll respondents use some form of social media, most commonly the platforms above. You could probably infer the median age of respondents by their heavy use of Facebook and near-zero involvement with TikTok and Snapchat. For me personally, I’m most often on YouTube (commercial-free with an invaluable Premium subscription) and Reddit, but when I’m doing HIStalk work it’s probably LinkedIn to grab someone’s credentials and headshot. I’ve mostly abandoned X and its cesspool of toxicity and ignorance, which are way worse on Facebook but at least easily avoidable. New poll to your right or here , extending my previous rant: should holders of non-medical doctorates introduce themselves to patients as “Dr. Smith?” Thinking beyond that question, since patients call hospital people whatever name they are given, should those doctorate holders instead refer to themselves as “Mr. Smith” or “John?” (I’ve never heard a hospital employee, other than nurses of a certain age, use courtesy titles). We have some weird title conventions in the US – addressing cooks with no specific education or certification as “Chef,” calling the airline employee who flies the plane “Captain” as though they were in the military, and rent-a-cops who title themselves “Officer” despite being associated with no office. Sponsored Events and Resources Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock CVS Health will close 16 Oak Street Health Centers, 7% of the company’s senior care locations, due to high medical costs in the Medicare and Medicare Advantage market. CVS paid $10.6 billion in cash to buy Oak Street Health in May 2023. Sales Sponsor Updates Wolters Kluwer Health team members volunteer with the Chicago Park District. Altera Digital Health publishes a new client story titled “Leading the way: Reducing police callouts and prioritizing patient safety at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.” Judi Health releases a new episode of “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “Balancing Technology and a Human Touch in Member Service, with Lisa Ellerhorst and Sonia Pettis.” Black Book Research offers an analysis of provider plans for TEFCA onboarding in 2026. TrustCommerce, a Sphere company, Chief Product Officer John Welch joins PAX Technology’s Steering Committee’s Technology & Innovation group. Waystar will exhibit at the NJ/Metro Philadelphia HFMA Annual Institute October 28-31 in Atlantic City. WellSky will exhibit at the 2025 AMRPA Fall Educational Conference & Expo through October 29 in Philadelphia. Blog Posts October 24, 2025 Thanks, Dan. Absolutely agree. We’re every bit as enthusiastic about ambient listening as the physicians you mentioned. It’s become one… October 24, 2025 $13 billion for Ensemble? I don't see it. R1, a more established company, went private at $8.9B last year. Much… October 21, 2025 I checked the web sites pf both my previous provider (and employer) in San Diego and the current hospital system… October 20, 2025 S. David Kaufman - SDK Healthcare Information Systems was named after him and was one of the companies that merged to form…