Healthy Musers,
This week’s Muse will be short and sweet. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday, and happy 2020!
The Big Stories.
- One Medical, a primary care physician practice platform backed by Google, is going public.
- SmileDirectClub announced a substantial deal with Walmart to include its latest oral care products within 3,800 retail stores.
- A New England Journal of Medicine study released over the holiday asserts that hospital mergers do not increase quality metrics at the merged hospitals. Here’s a summary writeup of the study.
- Select Medical, a large post-acute operator, Buys more of Concentra this week. They had already owned a decent chunk of the urgent care and occupational medicine operation. After buying 17.2% more of Concentra this week for $338 million, Select now owns about 65%.
- The WSJ reports that with little financial/profitability incentive to make better antibiotics, superbugs might flourish as they increase resistances.
- In a contentious and sad case that’s been going on for a while, a judge ruled that a Texas children’s hospital may end life support for an infant after months of maintaining it at the parents’ insistence.
- Remember that one Chinese scientist who gene-edited a couple of babies to make them more HIV resistant? He’s getting thrown in prison (WSJ).
- Kaiser Health News takes a deeper dive into whether or not artificial intelligence use cases in healthcare are actually real, or just overblown fluff.
- A one-on-one with Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma.
- What happens when sheriffs Release Violent Offenders to avoid paying the offenders’ medical bills.
- As is typical at the beginning of a new year, drugmakers are raising list prices on over 200 drugs.
Policy Corner, Week of Jan. 6th
- In 2020, expect much more health policy – like public options – in the states rather than nationally as bipartisanship heats up.
- From the WSJ: The Indian Health Service is Reeling
- Vaccinate or GTFO: Seattle public schools say students must be vaccinated or they cannot come back
- FDA officially raises the tobacco buying age to 21
Election 2020 News:
- Elizabeth Warren is conspicuously backing off Medicare for All rhetoric (NY Times paywall)
- 10 health policy questions to answer in election year 2020.
- Democrats want the Supreme Court to expedite the ACA case.
- You can’t please everyone: any plan for universal health care coverage will anger some voters
Quick Hits
Biz Hits
- How the Ensign Group’s CEOs — All 78 of Them — Built a Skilled Nursing Giant
- Investors are predicting a burst of private equity activity, then slowdown before the 2020 election. (Read the source WSJ article here).
- NYU cardiologist sues Apple over smartwatch AFib detection
State Hits
- Utah And Idaho are getting ready to expand their Medicaid programs.
- Wisconsin health systems Gundersen and Marshfield Clinic called off their planned merger on Dec. 19th.
- Sutter Health settled its antitrust lawsuit in California and posted a $689 million loss in Q3 2019 because of it.
Other Hits
- Why a Philadelphia landlord says offering telehealth to tenants is a ‘no-brainer’.
- First reported occurrence and treatment of spaceflight medical risk 200+ miles above earth.
- For Her Head Cold, an Insurer Coughed Up $25,865.
- A Tiny Tweak to Sugar Is About to Make the World’s Sweets a Lot Healthier.
Thought-Provoking Editorials
- Doctors, Nurses, and the Paperwork Crisis that could Unite them. (NY Times).
- StatNews’ favorite healthcare stories that they didn’t write.
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