healthy muse healthcare news.
- This week in healthcare: Amazon Care expands to 17+ states, Amazon makes a home care alliance, more IPOs including InnovAge and Alignment, permanent telehealth reimbursement, Clover earnings, a scuffle between MedPAC and AHIP, declining deaths, and more.
Amazon Care expands to 17 states…and counting.
It’s happening: The online retail giant just filed paperwork in 17 (and counting) states in order to expand the medical operation that seems to indicate that Amazon is ready to expand the clinics beyond just an employee-only benefit. (Link)
- About Amazon Care: Amazon evidently runs these clinics under a partnership with Care Medical, which is an independent medical practice that provides staffing for the Amazon clinics. The firm seems to be closely intertwined with Amazon and I have to wonder how provider costs will ramp up as the operation scales nationally.
Lobbying: In other Amazon-related healthcare news, Amazon and several other prominent public home care providers announced a coalition called Moving Health Home, which is essentially a pretty powerful lobbying group aimed at educating lawmakers on the benefit of in-home care as opposed to nursing homes and other post-acute settings. (Link)
Specifically, Amazon and the others (Signify Health, Dispatch Health, Intermountain, etc.) will start “lobbying lawmakers to ease regulations on what kind of health services can be performed outside of a doctor’s office — potentially widening the services Amazon Care can provide.”
Big Picture: Amazon’s moves make sense given their recent investments and announcements. In November, the firm announced its Alexa Care Hub, a way to check on seniors living alone through Alexa. Just a WEEK later, Amazon launched Amazon Pharmacy. Not to mention its acquisition of PillPack in 2018 or its venture with Haven that ultimately failed but probably succeeded in knowledge gained in running medical services. Finally, don’t forget about Amazon’s new wearable Halo – announced in late August 2020.
- Get your popcorn ready? If you think about it, Amazon really is attacking healthcare from quite a few different angles. It’s fascinating to watch. Amazon has made some big moves in the past, but this flurry of activity signals major moves are happening.
InnovAge IPOs and Alignment preps its IPO paperwork.
InnovAge: At-home care provider InnovAge successfully debuted on the public markets this week at a $3 billion-plus valuation. The firm offers one of the largest PACE programs in the country and claims to be a compelling alternative to seniors facing nursing homes. (More about PACE) (More about InnovAge)
Alignment: Similar to Clover but with better financials, Alignment announced its intention to IPO later this year. The managed care firm operates in the Medicare Advantage space. Kevin O’leary had a great write-up on the company in his newsletter if you’re interested in getting into the weeds. (Link) (Link to S-1)
Coronavirus updates.
Cases: Are declining big-time. The U.S. seven day average is under 60k – down from 64k last week – as of this writing. (Link)
- This week marked the lowest raw reported cases since October 6th and the first time the U.S. has reported sub-1000 deaths in three months. HUGE.
Vaccines: are trending at 2.2 million per day, slightly up from last week’s 7-day average of 1.7 million. (Link). Vaccine supply is about to dramatically increase in the weeks ahead, in-line with expectations. (Link)
- In fact, the U.S. will have enough vaccines for all adults by the end of May. (Link)
- Now that an increasing majority of 65+ folks have received the vaccine, Biden seems to be shifting toward vaccinating teachers next. (Link)
Jumping the gun: Called a “neanderthal” move by Biden, several Southern states led by Texas announced their intention to lift the mask ban and return all businesses to full capacity as soon as this week.
- Although I understand where the states are coming from and that everyone’s antsy to restart their lives, I can’t help but think it would have been better to wait until the end of May at the least in order to let everyone have a chance to get vaccinated. The less this thing spreads, the better. (Link)
New Guidance: The CDC released drafted new guidance that stated fully vaccinated individuals can safely gather indoors without masks. (Link to article) (Link to CDC guidance)
- Tell me you can’t really spread COVID…without telling me you can’t really spread COVID while fully vaccinated.
Quick Hits
Biz Hits
Clover: took a beating after announcing its Q4 earnings. Chamath probably isn’t too pleased with this one. (Link)
Physician M&A: Optum closed its acquisition of Massachusetts-based Atrius Health this week. (Link)
Cancelled: Two Georgia health systems – Atrium Health Navicent and Houston Healthcare System – discard their merger plans after the FTC got more involved. (Link)
ASCs: Read about how ambulatory surgery centers fared in 2020 and what to expect for the rest of 2021. (Link)
Private Equity: This was a good overview of private equity investment in the GI space. (Link)
Best Buy: Don’t sleep on the electronics retailer. The firm just made a deal to provide its senior services on the Apple Watch. (Link)
Real Estate: Welltower is ‘largely ending’ its relationship with nursing home giant Genesis. (Link)
Policy Hits
CMS: Support for telehealth Medicare reimbursement gains steam in Congress. Good for $TDOC. (Link)
MedPAC: The health insurance lobbying group AHIP and MedPAC got into it over Medicare Advantage plans and whether or not they actually provide lower or higher costs to CMS. I’m probably biased but I would bet big-time on MedPAC here. (Link)
Stimulus: Here’s what you need to know about what’s in the stimulus plan for healthcare:
- ACA premiums capped at 8.5% of income
- Increased subsidies for ACA plans for 2 years
- Subsidies for COBRA plans
- ~$100 billion for vaccine distribution, expanded testing, VA healthcare programs, increased PPE production, etc.
- Provide incentives for the remaining states that have not yet expanded Medicaid to do so (this is actually a very interesting addition).
- Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of everything healthcare related. (Link)
Other Hits
Privacy: Wearables and health data privacy concerns. (Link – Paywall Statplus)
Covid: ‘They just were not all in’: How the White House convinced two pharmaceutical giants to collaborate on a vaccine. (Link)
Thought-Provoking Editorials
Telehealth: The next wave of the telehealth market is here. (Link)
Stimulating takes: Democrats Promised to Transform Health Care. But Their Relief Bill Hands the Health Care Industry a Big Win. (Link)
Healthy Muse Top Picks
IBM: Inside the fall of Watson Health: How IBM’s audacious plan to ‘change the face of health care’ with AI fell apart. (Link – Statplus paywall)
IT: Ripe for extortion? Navajo Nation hospital targeted by large-scale ransomware hack. (Link)
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