Veradigm’s interim CEO departing, CFO continuing. Tom Langan, who has been in place as Veradigm’s CEO for the last 11 months, will be departing after a little more than 13 months, according to Veradigm’s SEC Form 8-K securities filing dated 22 April. The former president and chief commercial officer (CCO), who replaced an earlier interim CEO, Dr. Dr. Shih-Yin (“Yin”) Ho, on 7 June 2024, has signed a separation agreement effective 31 July. According to the filing, the Veradigm board will be resuming a search for a permanent CEO. Mr. Langan declined the opportunity to participate as a candidate.
Lee Westerfield, who has been interim CFO since 7 December 2023 through three six-month agreements, has signed an extension until 31 December.
Both Mr. Langan and Mr. Westerfield have been through considerable tumult at Veradigm: first (for Mr. Langan), the inability to file audited financial reports for 2022-24; the failed effort to sell, merge, or find a strategic partner [TTA 31 Jan]; finally, a major investor, Kent Lake, stepping in and controlling the board with the chairman stepping down as well as two other directors [TTA 22 Feb]. While the 2022 financial report was released last month along with 2025 guidance, the catchup won’t be done until sometime in 2026 [TTA 19 Mar].
One could not blame either of them, but especially CEO Langan, for tiring of the entire situation. He has been there in various positions since 2018 when it was Allscripts. His tenure will certainly be worth his while. Based on the filing, after termination he will receive $1.4 million over 12 months, which is a year of salary plus his target bonus; a lump sum cash payment for $406,000 for his pro-rated annual bonus, based on target performance; a year of health and dental coverage at active employee rates; and reimbursement of $10,000 in attorney’s fees incurred in negotiation of the separation agreement. His unvested portions of the stock options, restricted stock units or other equity awards will vest through those dated 31 July 2027. CFO Westerfield, on board as an interim for a considerably shorter time but in a mission-critical position, has a less golden package–a simple pay continuance through the end of the year plus five months if he is terminated not for cause or departs for good reason. Healthcare Dive
Blue Shield of California breached personal health information (PHI) via Google, in the second largest breach of 2025 to date. The unusual breach was not from the usual bad actor, but from Blue Shield’s use, unbelievably, of Google Analytics. According to their submission to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights’ (HHS-OCR) breach portal, their Google Analytics on how customers used their websites was configured in such a way that sent selected member PHI data over to Google Ads. Google Ads could then send these users and members targeted advertising. This went on for three years, ending only in January 2024.
The data included:
- Insurance plan name, type and group number
- Patient names, city, ZIP code, gender and family size
- Blue Shield of California identifiers for members’ online accounts, medical claim service date and service provider and patient financial responsibility.
It may have also included data around “Find a Doctor” search criteria and results, such as location, plan name and type, provider name and type. Other sensitive information, such as SSI#, credit cards, and driver license numbers, were not included. Because of its duration, it could potentially affect up to 4.8 million BSC members. BSC’s notice
The questions are–who programmed it this way? Was it Google? And if Google, who is responsible there? Is it configured that way at other health plans? And if not Google, who did it at BSC?
The analyses in both FierceHealthcare and Healthcare Dive point accusing fingers at Google, which has also been kicked very hard by the Department of Justice in their antitrust win on Google’s online advertising products or “ad tech stack” that dominates the industry–and may force the divestiture of Google Chrome as the result of another decision on web search. The Verge
M&A-ing? Premarket Notifications now in place makes it tougher. Our series of articles in 2023-24 explained the steeper requirements to our Readers for transactions that fall under the nearly 50-year-old Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act requirements. The threshold of value for 2025 is set at $126.4 million. Our 15 October 2024 overview summarizes the changes and links to other documentation on the many changes, particularly around the buyer’s investors and a five-year lookback at the under-the-HSR-wire serial acquisitions (rollups) made by both companies. The information required now is much more extensive and demanding. FTC will also have an online portal for comments on every acquisition. HIMSS has a six-minute plus interview with Michael Ramey, a managing principal of Strategic & Transaction Solutions at PYA (better known to many of us as Pershing), that touches on the highlights.
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