healthy muse healthcare news.
Welcome back to the Healthy Muse and another week of lit healthcare news.
- Talkspace is going public via SPAC in a $1.4 billion deal, another SPAC is raising $1 billion to target health-tech companies, 14.7 million doses administered in the U.S., a bad batch of Moderna vaccines in California, 400k lives lost, and catching up on Biden’s health policies headed into inauguration.
Talkspace goes Public.
Talkspace, the virtual behavioral health app, will go public via merger with Hudson Executive Investment at a $1.4 billion valuation.
The firm becomes the latest in a long stretch of digital health firms to hit the public markets this year and last. The fact that Talkspace operates in the behavioral health sector is a tailwind for the firm, as the behavioral health market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. (Link)
- Speaking of SPACs…Intel’s Chairman is planning to raise funds for a SPAC targeting up to $1 billion in the health tech space. Yet another indication of money pouring into healthcare…and the markets in general! (Link)
Coronavirus updates.
Updates: We reached 400,000 lives lost this week. Moderna is investigating a bad batch of Covid vaccines in California that may be causing allergic reactions. The vaccine is still safe – the batch distributed included 1,272,000 doses, and 964,900 from the same batch had already been administered. Finally, Biden is preparing a vast federal expansion of the pandemic response.
Vaccinations: 14.7 million doses have been administered in the U.S. Follow along by checking out this fantastic tool – Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. Since Jan. 12th, the U.S. government has been encouraging states to vaccinate not only healthcare workers and nursing homes, but also the general 65+ population.
- JnJ’s vaccine: Johnson & Johnson’s candidate – which is a single dose vaccine – unveiled promising results earlier this week. We may soon have three vaccines in circulation. (Link)
- Issues: Vaccine adoption rate appears to be suffering as the news disproportionately reports on adverse reactions (1 in 100,000, according to the CDC) to the shots. Healthcare workers are refusing the vaccine. (Link). This is a huge boundary to society returning to normal.
Mutations: You may have heard of the new virus variant found in the U.K. initially. The variant spreads ~70% faster and is making its way around the globe. A few other mutations are beginning to pop up globally as well (Germany, Japan, South Africa, etc.).
- The faster-spreading variant from the U.K. is expected to cause an increase in U.S. cases in as early as two to three weeks. (Link) However, it’s still likely that vaccines will be effective against these variants.
Quick Hits
Biz Hits
Notable JP Morgan ’21 Highlights:
- Tenet: Will continue its outpatient mission and plans to acquire 25 – 40 ASCs as part of its USPI division. (Link – Fierce Healthcare)
- Cerner: Is trying to expand its data analytics business into the pharmaceutical industry and eventually create a $1 billion operation. (Link)
- Teladoc: Projects its revenue will grow to $1.1 billion in 2021. (Link)
- Strategy: You might see more health system and insurer partnerships in the near future as a result of the pandemic. (Link) Speaking of strategy, private equity is continuing its M&A foray into healthcare in 2021. (Link)
Hospital transactions:
- CommonSpirit: Will sell 14 rural hospitals – critical access hospitals, mainly – to Essentia. (Link)
- Ascension: Will sell 7 hospitals and 21 physician practices to Aspirus Health. (Link)
- Optum: After several years of trying, Optum will finally acquire Atrius Health, a 715-physician group in Massachusetts. (Link – Beckers)
- Accolade: The recently public health benefits firm acquired 2nd MD, an ‘Expert Medical Opinion’ company. Unsure if that means they’re just telehealth but…it seems a lot like telehealth for specialists. (Link to investor presentation)
- Google: Somehow managed to close its $2.1B Acquisition of Fitbit this week despite continued antitrust probes into the acquisition. (Link)
Policy Hits
- Regulation: Read a deeper dive into specific healthcare regulatory items that Biden and a Democratic-led Congress may address. (Link – The Commonwealth Fund)
- Subsidies: Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan includes a one sentence provision that would create ACA premium subsidies for both the middle-class and low-income people. If you remember Biden’s healthcare platform, these subsidies were a big part of his plan to expand Obamacare. (Link – NY Times – Soft Paywall)
- A First: Biden’s pick for assistant secretary of HHS would be the first transgender federal official. (Link – TheHill)
- Bye Bye Bye: Read former HHS Secretary Alex Azar’s departure letter. (Link – TheHill)
- Merger Scrutiny: The FTC has decided to start a massive study into the impact of physician practices merging with health systems – namely, do these mergers increase healthcare costs? Cause healthcare monopolies? Hurt the consumer? Etc. Interestingly, the FTC has requested claims data from all the large insurance companies. The study’s findings will be a must-read whenever those emerge. (Link – FTC.gov)
- In Court: Read about healthcare related litigation and how things change with the Biden administration. Key cases include the ever-looming ACA case at the Supreme Court, Medicaid work requirements, and other state-led initiatives challenging former Trump policies. (Link – The Commonwealth Fund)
- New AHA Prez: Providence St. Joseph Health’s president and CEO Dr. Rod Hochman will assume the AHA chairman for 2021. (Link – HFN)
Other Hits
- A Generic Billionaire: Mark Cuban wades into the generic drug shark tank with a new company. (Paywall – StatPlus)
- Homeless: Lots of metropolitan areas have no idea how many homeless reside there, as counts continually get canceled or delayed. (Link – NPR)
Thought-Provoking Editorials
- Costs: Employers can’t fix healthcare alone. (The Commonwealth Fund)
- Virtual Boom: Amwell’s CEO reflects on year of unprecedented telehealth adoption and predicts more digital chronic care for the future. (Link – MobiHealthNews)
Healthy Muse Top Picks
- Systemic: How kidney failure is the perfect storm of an unequal health care system. (ProPublica)
- Politics: The crash landing of ‘Operation Warp Speed’ (Politico)
- Atul Gawande: To fix our broken healthcare system, start with primary care. (Fast Company)
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