Agoura Hills health care software developer Casamba Inc. has entered into a three-way merger with two other software providers – Boston-based HealthWyse and TherapySource of Birmingham, Ala. Effective immediately, the merger will allow the combined entity to provide comprehensive software offerings for most types of post-acute care. Prior to the merger, Casamba’s management software primarily served skilled nursing facilities; HealthWyse’s computer programs were geared toward home-based care; and TherapySource, a former division of Source Medical Solutions Inc., offered outpatient software for physical therapy providers. “Each area is highly regulated in and of itself and reimbursed differently through Medicare with different payment models,” said Casamba Chief Product Officer Jane Moffett. “We can be a better partner to our customers by providing services and software that cover the post-acute care continuum.” Casamba aims to integrate all three platforms so the software can track patients through different phases of care, relaying information back and forth to facilitate better patient outcomes. In addition, it will help providers comply with regulatory requirements related to record keeping, billing, reimbursements and lowering overall costs. For certain procedures subject to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, hospitals are responsible for total patient spend for 90 days after a patient is discharged, regardless of where the patient receives care thereafter. According to Moffett, there is currently no process in place to help hospitals track where a patient obtains treatment after the initial hospital stay. She also said that more procedures will be added under this payment model in the beginning of next year, which is why Casamba sought out the merger. “We know this is the way health care reimbursement is going,” she said. “We feel very strongly that there needs to be an established patient relationship across health care settings. At the very least, we can track patient spending and report that back to the at-risk hospital, and at the very best, pass information about the patient all the way up and down the health care continuum.” Exec’s Next Venture Biotech veteran Keith Leonard is the new chief executive of San Francisco startup Unity Biotechnology Inc. after the company received $116 million in Series B financing. Leonard will replace Nathaniel David, who will become Unity’s president. Prior to this new venture, David and Leonard co-founded Westlake Village-based Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of chin fat reducer Kybella. At Kythera, David served as chief science officer, while Leonard served as chief executive before the company was acquired by drug giant Allergan Inc. for $2.1 billion last year. Aside from his new duties at Unity, Leonard is also executive chairman at Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc., a Westlake Village company that is developing laser treatments for hair removal and acne. He also spent 13 years at Thousand Oaks biotech Amgen Inc. before starting Kythera. Unity is focused on developing anti-aging drugs, which attracted investors like Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, Arch Venture Partners and Mayo Clinic Ventures. The new round of funding will be used for ongoing research as well as preclinical trials in human subjects. Cancer Screenings St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo is offering a lung cancer screening program in conjunction with its sister hospital St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. Both members of San Francisco-based Dignity Health, the hospitals were the first in Ventura County to develop a lung cancer screening program, which spurred other hospitals and physicians in the area to follow suit, according to Alicia Zaragoza, oncology nurse navigator for both locations. “Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer among both genders and has the highest incidence in the state of California,” she said. “Last year, Medicare came out with other guidelines that said it will start paying for lung cancer screenings, but we started screening in May 2013.” On the provider side, the Affordable Care Act and other legislation prompted reimbursements for preventative care over recent years with the aim of improving health care and reducing costs. On the patient side, many insurance providers are beginning to cover these types of tests as well with similar goals in mind. At Pleasant Valley, if a patient meets the criteria – which involves age, smoking history and risk factors – then he or she will receive a low-dose computerized tomography scan of the chest to look for small nodules. If the nodule is deemed cancerous, a team of physicians will review the data and will discuss options for further evaluation and treatment. “Between both campuses about 325 patients have been screened over a three-year period,” said Zaragoza. “From our program, we have identified five early-stage lung cancers. If more people are screened, more people will get early diagnoses.” Staff Reporter Stephanie Henkel can be reached at (818) 316-3130 or [email protected].
