Quick Hits 10.7.2019
Biz Hits
Google Cloud and Meditech are collaborating to build an electronic health records platform to be held exclusively in the cloud. Read about the partnership here.
Amid a push for growth, for-profit hospital operator Steward Health reported a $592 million operating loss.
The Pennant Group, a home health and hospice operator, just spun off from its parent company, the Ensign Group. Read about the announcement and its plans here.
UPS is expanding its previously announced medical drone delivery service nationwide.
SmileDirectClub is getting shorted. Big-time.
State Hits
In Philadelphia, a judge ruled that supervised injection sites does not violate federal law
Other Hits
Doctors Limit What To Tell Patients About Their DNA Test. Should They?
When Masculinity Turns ‘Toxic’: A Gender Profile Of Mass Shootings
Walmart pulls Zantac from shelves, joining CVS, Walgreens
Other drugmakers are looking to participate in Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy in an attempt to settle opioid lawsuits.
Speaking of opioids, a doctor was sentenced to 40 years in prison for illegally prescribing them in Virginia.
My favorite reads this week
The 10-year sentence for Amber Guyger triggers chants of protest — and a hug of forgiveness
Quick Hits 10.14.2019
Biz Hits
The fines keep rolling in for Johnson & Johnson – a jury just ordered the pharma giant to pay an $8 billion fine related to a drug that caused a man (who took the drug as a child) to grow larger breasts later in life. The WSJ has a history (more of a laundry list) of all of JnJ’s massive fines over the years.
Similarly to last week’s announcement with Novartis, Microsoft and AstraZeneca join forces on artificial intelligence for healthcare.
Read more about the Google-Meditech electronic health record partnership. Why Meditech’s transition to Google Cloud is the ‘beginning of a bigger movement:’ CEO Howard Messing.
McGuire Woods Private Equity in Healthcare – an Updated Review of Selected Niche Investment Areas.
The new UnitedHealthcare app now gives millions of plan participants on-demand access to virtual visits.
MedNax announced the sale of its MedData business to Frazier Healthcare this week for $250 million in cash, and a contingent $50 million. The transaction is expected to close in the 4th quarter.
Here are 10 healthcare deals from Fierce Healthcare that made headlines this year.
CommonSpirit reported $600 million operating loss in fiscal 2019 on $21 billion in revenue, mostly related to transitional costs related to its merger.
The giant is expected to realize $2 billion in cost savings and is targeting a “normal” EBITDA margin of 8.0%.
Livongo scored a huge win with the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program – a contract for a population of approximately 5.3 million beneficiaries. The stock jumped 18% on the news. Good reason, too – the contract is the company’s largest agreement to-date.
Amazon’s Textract is now HIPAA-eligible as the tech giant expands its own AI portfolio.
Keytruda is set to become the world’s top-selling drug. Here’s a report of all the top-selling drugs.
The contract between Cigna and Mission Health is in jeopardy. HCA purchased Mission Health in early 2019.
State Hits
Colorado just became the latest state to propose running a public health care option through private insurers. It’s expected to launch in 2022. Colorado intends to “set” rates between 175% and 225% of what Medicare currently pays. Providers aren’t big fans of “rate-setting.”
Michigan wants to save $40 million by cutting PBMs out of Medicaid.
The Ohio Senate passed a bill this week to allow patients to learn hospital costs in advance.
D.C. may approve one of the highest soda taxes in the country.
The Sutter Health antitrust lawsuit began this week in California. The 24-hospital health system is accused of monopolistic practices.
Other Hits
With looming recession fears, Private equity firms are turning to smaller deals after a string of big deals collapses.
STD rates hit a record high in 2018.
Quick Hits 10.21.2019
Biz Hits
UnitedHealth announced earnings this week, and beat analyst revenue and earnings estimates for Q3 (what’s new).
Following in Nobilis Health’s footsteps, Diversicare Healthcare Services was delisted from the NASDAQ today.
Sutter Health in California agreed to a settlement this week before its antitrust lawsuit began
Walgreens announced a partnership with Centene and RxRadvance this week to increase transparency through a cloud-based PBM platform.
Meet the doctors who have licenses in all 50 states to treat patients in remote areas. #Telemedicine
Read the letter that private equity managing directors sent to Congress re: Surprise Billing
Fitbit announced a partnership with Bristol-Myers-Squibb and Pfizer to accelerate the detection and diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.
Hospital M&A isn’t slowing down – it’s slightly above last year’s pace, according to Kaufman Hall
Ancestry is taking on 23andme by rolling out its own genetic health test services.
State Hits
The infamous California bill to end excessive dialysis profits became law this week.
California’s new drug transparency laws just revealed a steep rise in wholesale drug prices.
Here’s a state by state update on Medicaid policy changes from Kaiser.
Major Blue health insurers BCBS North Carolina and Cambia are dropping plans to combine after the BCBS CEO resigned.
Other Hits
Poor People Are Still Sicker Than The Rich In Germany, Despite Universal Health Care
From 46Brooklyn: drug price increases may have slowed, but new analysis shows that drug LAUNCH prices are increasing.
My favorite reads this week
Enes Kanter: I will not be silenced over Turkey
Inside the shutdown of the world’s largest child sex abuse website
ProPublica found over 700 doctors who were paid more than a million dollars by drug and medical device companies.
Quick Hits 10.28.2019
Biz Hits
Opioids Update: Last week, we touched on the ~$50 billion opioid settlement. Reuters reported this week that talks have resumed between 4 states and the drug firms. The two sides are targeting a $48 billion settlement, but not all states are fans of the agreement since it might not get split up fairly
Hospital Profitability: Health system operating margins were up in 2018, but are still below the highs seen in 2015. Read the interesting whitepaper from Navigant here. A notable insight: smaller health systems were more profitable than larger health systems.
CVS CEO Interview: Healthcare Dive had a nice chat with CVS CEO Larry Merlo, which gave some insights into how the business views Amazon, its integration with Aetna, and more.
Teladoc Expands Services: Looks like Teladoc is trying to differentiate itself from other telemedicine ventures. This week, Teladoc launched a service called Teladoc Medical Experts. The service is meant to cover a broader range of medical conditions and diagnoses than the typical virtual care operator currently provides.
Livongo Partners with Telehealth: Speaking of telehealth, Livongo is continuing its partnership spree by teaming up with MDLIVE and Doctor on Demand, giving their members access to behavioral health and then eventually diabetes and hypertension offerings.
State Hits
From Politico – why North Carolina might be the most innovative state on healthcare in America.
The New York Health Act – which would establish single payer in New York – is drawing crowds. Read more about it here (paywall – WSJ)
Other Hits
Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat opens up about her bouts with cancer and Google’s work in early disease detection
Read an interesting essay from the WSJ about the link between aging and epigenetics
Medically necessary, or cruel? A thought-provoking article on the highly contentious issue of surgery on intersex babies.
An update on Skilled Nursing Facility values – surprisingly, SNF values are holding steady despite the reimbursement troubles facing the post-acute industry
Quick Hits 11.4.2019
Biz Hits
Stryker’s big purchase: Stryker is purchasing Wright Medical for $4 billion, with a total enterprise value of $5.4 billion.
AI Deals continue: Read about an interesting AI deal between UT Health, Virtusa, Cardinal Health, and Amazon Web Services.
UTHealth, Virtusa, Cardinal Health, and AWS Use AI and Machine Learning to Advance Medical Research
UHS ambulatory expansion: UHS is looking to expand its ambulatory network and just inked a deal to build out nationwide network of ASCs by partnering with Regent Surgical Health
Community Health’s 3rd Quarter Falls Short: Despite reporting strong same-store growth, hospital operator Community Health fell short of expectations in its Q3 earnings report. Its stock sold off 17% as a result. They’re also continuing their hospital fire sale by selling 3 more hospitals to Bon Secours Mercy Health. With the transaction, CHS will exit the Virginia market.
Teladoc’s Q3 Surge: Teladoc showed off some major growth in Q3, increasing its paid membership by 55%
Another digital health acquisition for United: UnitedHealth’s Optum just bought patient monitoring startup Vivify Health:
State Hits
California Wild Fire majorly affecting hospitals: One California hospital had to choose between saving its vaccines, or losing its electronic health records.
Drug Price Fixing Win for Illinois: Illinois to Get $248 Million From Drugmakers in Case-Closing Deal
Medicaid Block Grants Update: Tennessee’s Medicaid block grant push is getting some major pushBACK. Second that for Indiana, too.
$10 billion Medicaid contract shake-up in Texas: This week, the Texas Medicaid program chose Aetna, Centene, and UnitedHealthcare to cover various regional Medicaid contracts. The big losers? Molina (these guys lost the most here), Anthem, and Cigna. It’s a potential flip of $10 billion in premium revenues.
Louisiana’s toxic waste problem
Arisa health forms in Arkansas: Four big Arkansas behavioral health providers planned a merger this week to become Arisa Health.
Other Hits
A rough flu season is predicted — but it’s an opportunity for some
Opinion Piece from the WSJ: The biotech cures keep coming, if politicians don’t get in the way.
My favorite reads this week
They notified the wrong family.
Microsoft and its Autism Hiring Program
Quick Hits 11.11.2019
Biz Hits
Pennant’s home health debut: The Pennant group, a new smaller home health company that spun off recently, debuted on the stock market last week.
Walgreens going private? The retail giant is considering a sale to private equity.
Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder woes: J&J announced a voluntary recall of a ‘single batch’ of its baby powder this week. Ironically, Reuters reported that J&J’s own legal expert, whom they have used to testify that their baby powder is safe, was working for the FDA in testing random baby powder samples and found trace levels of asbestos in J&J’s own baby powder.
Earnings roundup:
Tenet’s volume surge: Tenet posted its 3rd consecutive quarter of volume growth.
U.S. Physical Therapy’s bad quarter: U.S. Physical Therapy tanked after its 3rd quarter amid looming PDGM headwinds. Like I said, physical therapy is getting shafted.
Medical Facilities cuts its unsustainable dividend: Medical Facilities cut its dividend to fund growth through acquisitions and faced the unfortunate wrath of income investors – they were down 27% after their quarterly conference call.
Quorum faces major struggles: Quorum Health cut guidance in Q3 and saw its stock fall 37%. The hospital operator is facing declining revenues, growth, and revenue cycle issues.
Hospital September performance: Here’s Kaufman Hall’s hospital flash report for September – it was kind of a mixed bag performance-wise. Would you guys be interested in a resources page where I aggregate/link out to all of these types of reports on one page? I’m thinking about it…
2 updates on Google Health:
They’re focusing a lot of efforts on health and its core business, online search.
They’re partnering with an AI voice startup, Suki.
State Hits
Private equity: Does private equity have a role in driving up healthcare prices?
California’s disapproved merger: In a really interesting development, California just rejected the St. Joseph-Adventist merger. Keep an eye on that development because it might point to a larger trend of states studying health system deals more closely.
Georgia’s Limited Medicaid Expansion: After Utah tried to ‘partially’ expand Medicaid earlier this year, Georgia is trying to pull the same stunt by proposing a limited Medicaid expansion.
Montana’s seasonal workers: What about seasonal workers when it comes to Medicaid work requirements? That’s the issue Montana is facing.
New York’s idiotic surprise billing arbitration: As one of the states trying to find a solution to surprise billing, New York tried out 3rd party arbitration between providers and insurers to determine reimbursement for out of network ER bills. The catch? New York legislation wrote the bill so that arbitrators would use 80% of the CHARGED rate as the starting/reference point. As you can imagine, this is getting…expensive. Quick.
Other Hits
Hope for cystic fibrosis: A new innovative cystic fibrosis therapy shows promising results.
HDHP trend reversal? High deductible health plans might be losing appeal as employers try to expand benefits to attract workers.
A working value based care model: I personally think that Intermountain Healthcare in Utah is doing a lot of interesting and innovative things in healthcare. Here’s a report from them on ways they think value based care can be implemented in an effective and tasteful way.
Generic Drug lawsuits: A quick update on the generic drug price fixing lawsuits going on in the news lately:
In the 44 state case going on, generic drug-makers just received a tight deadline by judge’s order. She wants to get the civil case going QUICK.
The companies face a lawsuit brought by 44 states that alleges industry-wide coordination to inflate prices, divvy up markets, and block competition. Potentially huge damages are at stake for the generic drug industry.
In other news, Humana is making its own headway into generic drug price fixing by suing 37 drug making companies for overcharging for commonly used drugs. They think that the companies secretly met and purposefully schemed to fix prices higher.
Read the entire 610 page complaint here. Keep in mind that Humana filed a similar complaint last year.
Maybe generic drugs shouldn’t be super cheap?
My favorite reads this week
Blue light isn’t the main cause of eye fatigue and sleep loss.
Ray Dalio’s latest: The world has gone mad and the system is broken.
Quick Hits 11.18.2019
Biz Hits
Rebranding: Providence St. Joseph is rebranding in 2020 to just ‘Providence’
All the Apple health news: Apple unveiled its medical research app this week. In a promising start to proving its clinical efficacy, Apple announced that its heart study had concluded and drew over 400,000 enrollees, which is an unprecedented amount of people for any clinical study. In other news, Apple’s electronic health records are now available to all 9 million military veterans. Don’t forget that the Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest integrated healthcare system in the nation.
CVS Success: CVS is finding early success with its HealthHUB strategy.
State Hits
Merger review: In North Carolina, the FTC is vetting the strategic partnership agreement previously made between Wake Forest Baptist Health and Atrium Health. The FTC is basically trying to figure out what differentiates the agreement made from an actual merger.
Other Hits
Kaiser Permanente’ CEO Bernard Tyson sadly unexpectedly passed away this week.
A timeline of the ACA, from the beginning, to the previous court challenges, to the current challenge.
A Florida judge might have just set a dangerous precedent regarding our DNA profile and privacy.
As more services move to the home, is senior housing facing (WSJ-paywall) stunting growth?
Here are the top 10 largest home health providers.
Quick Hits 11.25.2019
Biz Hits
Warby Parker is launching its own line of contact lenses.
Walmart’s telehealth pilot program will partner with UnitedHealth and Doctors on Demand, allowing Walmart employees in 3 states to use telehealth for a $4 copay. The pilot launches Jan. 1.
Procter & Gamble’s Do-it-yourself healthcare biz (WSJ).
State Hits
Colorado officials have finalized their proposal for a public health insurance option. Here’s what we still don’t know about it.
Tennessee just became the first state to seek a Medicaid “Block Grant” in the amount of $7.9 billion from the federal gov.
Other Hits
Health systems are issuing debt like crazy to take advantage of historically low interest rates.
S&P notes 7 key trends to watch in 2020 – it’s gonna be an election year, and healthcare is taking center stage.
Beckers did us the favor of summarizing the latest financial updates from some big name nonprofit and for profit health systems. Axios also has a great healthcare revenue and earnings spreadsheet, too.
Humana saved $3.5 billion through value-based care arrangements on its Medicare Advantage plans.
Quick Hits 12.2.2019
Interested in healthcare social media influencers?
Birth rates in the U.S. fell for the 4th year in a row
A kidney went to the wrong transplant patient. (Don’t worry, the original patient got another one. I already checked.)
We’re seeing the earliest flu season in 10 years.
Former Outcome Health Executives were Charged in a $1 Billion fraud scheme.
UnitedHealthcare is opening Medicare Services Centers in certain Walgreens Stores.
Cigna has cash to blow.
The Great American Eye-Exam Scam
Quick Hits 12.9.2019
Biz Hits
UnitedHealth’s Profit Center: Optum, UnitedHealthcare’s physician and ambulatory services wing, will provide over half of its profits in 2020.
PDGM Latest: Where PDGM’s Therapy Changes Will Hit Hardest
Centene-Wellcare Tie-Up: Centene sells Illinois plans to CVS in the next step for its purchase of WellCare. In fact, all states have now approved the deal.
State Hits
South Dakota: The Physician shortage is becoming mission-critical.
California: Anthem Blue Cross gets in trouble more often than other insurers
Other Hits
Opioid Consequences: The Class of 2000 ‘Could Have Been Anything’ until Opioids Hit
Next-Gen: How the Next Generation of Mobile Computing Is Already Changing the Face of Health Care
Healthcare Leaders: Forbes released its 30-under-30 this week. Here are all the healthcare leaders included.
Also from Forbes: Predictions for healthcare disruptions and innovations in 2020
Living Dead: Doctors ‘reanimated’ a heart for a first-of-its-kind transplant in the U.S. this week
Dementia: Step aside, biomarkers. Look to the bank account for early signs of dementia
China’s CRISPR babies: Read exclusive excerpts from the unseen original research
Artificial Intelligence: Unpacking the Black Box in Artificial Intelligence for Medicine
Quick Hits 12.16.2019
Biz Hits
Cigna (WSJ): Is shopping its non-medical health insurance unit that could be valued at $6 billion.
Civica Rx: The nonprofit generic drug-maker for hospitals to cover shortages is expanding its drug lineup to 8 by the end of the year.
3M is getting out of the drug delivery biz for $650 million
Lawyer Up: 23andMe is getting sued by a former business partner and fertility start-up Celmatix
Centene: Has been quietly lobbying to allow partial state Medicaid expansion.
Included in the Formulary: Express Scripts is adding new treatments to its recommended formulary to aid digital health innovation.
Home Health: The stories that shaped 2019.
Tenet: is exiting the Memphis market by selling two of its hospitals to Methodist Le Bonheur
State Hits
Kentucky’s Abortion Law: The Supreme Court declined from taking the Kentucky abortion ultrasound law.
In Texas: The extraordinary danger of being pregnant and uninsured.
Massachusetts: Blue Cross of Massachusetts is integrating its health plan with PillPack – Amazon’s online pharmacy service
To California: Planned Parenthood is opening up clinics inside LA high schools
Other Hits
Suicide Prevention: The FCC unanimously approved a new number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline: 988
An Inspiration: The champion behind the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Pete Frates, passed away December 9th.
Op-ed (WSJ): Former FDA head Scott Gottlieb thinks drug price controls will stifle innovation.
CRISPR: The startling secret of an invincible virus.
NFL Fraud: 10 former NFL players have been accused of defrauding the NFL’s healthcare program.
Millennials: Trust tech giants more than health systems.
Six CEOs and No Operating Room (WSJ): The Impossible Job of Fixing the Indian Health Service.
Health and Wellness: The definitive superfood ranking. The winner? Blueberries.
Quick Hits 12.25.2019
Biz Hits
Novartis: dumps its asthma drug program phase 3 failures.
Humana: is acquiring Enclara Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest hospice pharmacy and benefit management providers.
Cigna: Uses Artificial Intelligence to see if patients are taking medications.
Lawsuits everywhere: CVS, opioid makers, TeamHealth, and Illumina are all facing serious legal action.
Quorum Health: Is selling a hospital for $1.00. This is not a typo.
Monopoly Money: The FTC wants to block DNA sequencer Illumina’s acquisition of PacBio and called the company a monopolist.
State Hits
New Jersey Merger: 11-hospital system RWJBarnabas and St. Peter’s University are exploring a merger.
In Milwaukee: Ascension St. Joe’s has ‘trust issues’ to work through with its community.
Other Hits
Prescription Drugs (NY Times): The hidden drug epidemic among older people
Vaping: Damages lungs, but isn’t as bad as smoking.
Bizarre: The weirdest medical cases of 2019.
Ten People: Nature’s ten people who mattered in science in 2019.
Pop Culture: Ever wondered which medical TV shows are the most accurate?
Health Insurance: What happens when a health plan has no limits? An acupuncturist earns $677 a session.
Fraud: KHN argues that legal medical billing would be considered fraud in most other sectors.
Overwhelming Obesity: Almost half the U.S. population will be considered obese by 2040.
Play the Lottery? (WSJ) Drawing criticism from a wide range of patient advocates, Novartis is introducing a lottery-based system to give away its $2.1 million drug for free.
Thought-Provoking Editorials
Letter to the editor: Nurse practitioners are not ‘mid-level’ providers (Beckers)
What would happen if the ACA went away? (KHN)
Why Big Tech Companies Won’t Solve Healthcare’s Biggest Challenges
Why digital health has been such a disappointment, and how to change that
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