Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / How the FTC's noncompete ban could affect Epic, Advocate to sell remote monitoring company it bought for $290M + more
Transcript
- 0:00- This is Naomi Diaz
- 0:01with the Becker's Digital Health Podcast.
- 0:03Here's your daily industry news briefing
- 0:05for today, April 29th.
- 0:07First, answering patient inquiries is a predominant
- 0:10application of large language model technology within
- 0:12the healthcare industry.
- 0:14An April 23rd survey from AI Healthcare Company,
- 0:16John Snow Labs, found the company conducted the 2024 Gen AI
- 0:21and Healthcare Survey with 304 participants.
- 0:24The survey conducted from February 12th
- 0:26through March 15th had 196 respondents employed
- 0:30by organizations actively involved in assessing, using,
- 0:33or implementing gen AI technologies.
- 0:36The survey revealed that the primary use
- 0:37of gen AI technology in the healthcare industry was
- 0:40addressing patient inquiries accounting
- 0:42for 21% of instances.
- 0:44Medical chat box constituted 20%
- 0:46of applications while information extraction
- 0:49and data abstraction compromised 19%.
- 0:52Second, the Federal trade commission's recent non-compete
- 0:57could affect the nation's largest EHR vendor.
- 0:59Wisconsin Public Radio reported
- 1:01former Epic employees told the news outlet
- 1:04and wrote to the FTC
- 1:05that the company's non-compete clauses have prevented them
- 1:08from advancing their careers in healthcare and technology.
- 1:11But the commission's April 23rd decision could do
- 1:14away with those agreements.
- 1:15At the EHR Giant, an Epic spokesperson told Becker's,
- 1:19the company is reviewing the FTCs ban,
- 1:21which is being challenged in court to determine its impact.
- 1:25The vendor said its non-compete agreement applied
- 1:27to a few dozen health tech companies.
- 1:30In 2021 Epic's non-compete list included about 4,500
- 1:34competitors and customers, including nine health systems.
- 1:38The clause of health prevented health systems from vying
- 1:41for four x epic staffers.
- 1:43IT leaders have told Becker's.
- 1:45It's definitely about people retention
- 1:47and maybe people investment from an education standpoint
- 1:50more than it is about, I think,
- 1:52guarding any specific intellectual secret in our
- 1:55intellectual property.
- 1:56A former Epic employee told WPR third
- 2:01Advocate Aurora Health now a part of Advocate Health plans
- 2:04to sell a remote patient monitoring.
- 2:06Company Aid acquired for 290.7 million
- 2:10in 2022.
- 2:11The health system strategic investment arm Advocate,
- 2:13Aurora Enterprises brought mobile help,
- 2:17which provides medical alert
- 2:18and fall detection technology planning to pair it
- 2:21with an in-Home senior company, senior Helpers.
- 2:24It purchased a year earlier for 187 million.
- 2:27But Advocate Health,
- 2:28the health system headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois
- 2:31and Milwaukee stated that it has since become part
- 2:34of the larger Advocate health base in Charlotte,
- 2:35North Carolina, and it intends to close a sale
- 2:38of mobile help later this year.
- 2:41Advocate already sold senior helpers
- 2:42to a private equity firm in March.
- 2:45The company's no longer fit the strategic
- 2:47priorities of Advocate Health.
- 2:50The report stated the health system has already accounted
- 2:53for $150 million asset impairment write down related to it,
- 2:56the expected loss on the sale of mobile
- 2:58- Health.
- 2:59According to the report, we remain committed
- 3:01to investing in innovative health related companies
- 3:03to advance healthcare transformation
- 3:05and redefine patient care.
- 3:07A health system spokesperson told Becker's.
- 3:10We're focused on building relationships
- 3:12and pur pursuing strategic investments that enable us
- 3:15to remain nimble while strengthening our ability
- 3:17to provide the safest and highest quality of care.
- 3:19The spokesperson continued.
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