This just in: Hims acquires Zava, adds 1.3 million European/UK telemed customers

June 4, 2025 | by | No Comments

Hims & Hers expands to Ireland, France, and Germany, and adds to UK. Announced yesterday, the ambitious strategic acquisition of Zava, a similar online direct to consumer provider of telemedicine remedies for weight loss, ED, asthma, STI testing, and birth control (varying by country), will add over 50%, or 1.3 million customers, to Hims’ US base of 2.4 million. Acquisition costs or staff transitions were not disclosed. It is an all-cash deal financed off their existing balance sheet. It is expected to close, subject to the usual approvals, in the second half of 2025. 

Hims stock peaked on the news yesterday to above $62/share and since has settled down to its previous $52-53 range. They remain the only unqualified SPAC success in healthcare.

Zava has operated in Europe since 2011, preceding Hims by six years. It is a private company, corporately Health Bridge Limited, registered with Companies House in London, and the UK company was formerly known as DrEd. One of their partners is Asda supermarkets in the UK. Their CEO and co-founder David Meinertz lives in Hamburg.

Hims already has a UK presence due to its acquisition of Honest Health in 2021. From the release, apparently the Zava name will transition to Hims & Hers at some point and be accretive to earnings in 2026. This expansion will include access to British, German, and French healthcare providers in local languages. Another positive factor is that pharmaceuticals are generally less expensive in Europe than in the US.

This Editor wonders if an English-language brand name will transition easily to France and Germany, versus the ‘neutral’ Zava. Hims also states that they aren’t through with their international expansion, so their name will continue to be a concern. Developing  CNBC, Fast Company

Some cautions are apparently coming from Wall Street. Reportedly, investor analysts have been consistently shorting the stock on NYSE for months. Both Bank of America and Citi are bearish, with BoA tagging it as an ‘underperform’ with a $28/share target and Citi with $30. (Disclaimer–this is not investment advice). InvestorsObserver

Need to knows: Omada’s $158M IPO at flat valuation, AZ lawsuit on Centene plan’s ‘ghost network’ fatality, UHG shareholders OK reduced package for CEO Hemsley, new ASTP/HIT-ONC leader, NJ’s Cooper Health patient data breach, Net Health buys Limber Health

June 4, 2025 | by | No Comments

Omada Health nears a dip in the chilly IPO waters. Chronic care manager Omada Health started last week to road-show its long-anticipated public offering to interested investors. It’s been a long time in the making, with their first IPO S-1 filing back in October 2024.   Their 9 May SEC Form S-1 registration and preliminary prospectus, updated 29 May in their S-1/A, now reveals the extent of the offering–7.9 million shares. With an initial offering price of $18-$20/share, that is a raise of $142.2 to $158 million for OMDA (Nasdaq Global Market). The IPO may take place later this week, according to CNBC, with other sources saying Friday 6 June.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co., and JP Morgan are acting as lead book-running managers for the proposed offering–a high-level crew for what was in the past a relatively small offering, but times have certainly changed with a dearth of IPOs continuing. 

Omada has raised $528.5 million through 11 rounds since the Ur-Health days of 2011, with a $192 million Series E in 2022 and the last round in 2023 an $80 million debt financing (Crunchbase). Investments came from major VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Norwest Venture Partners, Wellington Management, Intermountain, New Enterprise Associates, and Founder Collective. Their repositioning into ‘between-visit care model’ expanding from diabetes into obesity, hypertension, and MSK patients has met with success. With 2,000+ customers and over 679,000 total members enrolled in one or more programs, their 2024 revenue grew 38% from $122.8 million in 2023 to $169.8 million in 2025 , with Q1 2025 by 57% to $55.0 million from Q1 2024’s $35.1 million. Their prospectus revealed that they are closely tied to investor Cigna, with one health plan or PBM accounting for 31% of revenue, then a second health plan or PBM accounted for 29% of its revenue. according to FierceHealthcare. 

Unlike much-larger Hinge Health, Omada isn’t taking a valuation haircut, just a small trim when adjusted for inflation. The market capitalization versus valuation at its last letter raise is essentially flat: $1.1 billion versus $1.02 billion. Omada release, Mobihealthnews, Axios

Centene’s Health Net/Ambetter hit with ‘ghost network’ lawsuit on member fatality. Finding out that your provider isn’t in network is usually an annoyance, though it can be an expensive one. In this case, the consequences were fatal. 36-year-old Ravi Coutinho purchased an Affordable Care Act plan through Ambetter in 2023 and was being treated for mental health and addiction treatment in Phoenix. Both Coutinho and his mother, Barbara Webber, tried to find therapists who contracted with Arizona Ambetter who met Coutinho’s needs. Ambetter failed repeatedly, Coutinho’s condition deteriorated without care, and he was found dead in his apartment in 2023.

Ms. Webber filed a lawsuit last month in Maricopa County. Centene is accused of violating state and federal laws requiring network accuracy and adequacy, as well as negligence and fraud. Keeping provider networks current, especially in ACA plans, has been a known problem for years and under Congressional investigation. Studies from 2023 have indicated that 80% of provider listings contain inaccuracies, with only one-third of provider listings contacted by Senate subcommittee staffers were accurate. This is especially acute in mental health, with a shocking 3 in 4 insured adults who receive mental healthcare experience insurance problems, according to a 2023 survey (KFF). Health plans receive no incentives to keep their network listings current and accurate, though the ACA, state and other Federal laws such as the ‘No Surprises Act’ require plans to keep accurate lists of network providers. This also is not the first roundup on this issue for Centene’s plans. Healthcare Dive, FierceHealthPayer

UHG’s Stephen Hemsley will be seeing a pay cut, compared to his predecessor. UnitedHealth Group’s shareholders on Monday approved a compensation package for their new CEO. Mr. Hemsley will receive a base salary of $1 million per year. For stock options, he will receive only a one-time, $60 million equity award in nonqualified stock options with cliff vesting in three years. There will be no further awards for three years. It’s expected that Mr. Hemsley, 73, who was board chairman, will not remain CEO for the long term in this second round in the top spot. Another task he has is to find a leader who enjoys investor confidence–and who is capable of leading the company through what this Editor considers to be an inevitable change of model, likely a downsizing.

Shareholders are cutting the comp, not quite the 50% that the shares have fallen. This is considerably less than Sir Andrew Witty’s $26.3 million package for 2024, which was top of the pack from 2022 on. That year’s compensation started with a $1.5 million base salary, plus $17.25 million in stock options and $5.75 million in option awards. He also received $1.5 million in non-equity compensation plus ‘other’ of $339,000. Whether he will enjoy all of this based on 2024’s disappointing performance is not disclosed, as he resigned effective 13 May 2025 after Q1 results and a suspended forecast for 2025 were disclosed. Runner-up was Karen Lynch, who departed CVS Health last year but with a comp package of $23.4 million. FierceHealthcare 2 June, 12 May

Short takes:

The Trump Administration has named Thomas Keane, a software engineer and interventional radiologist, as Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, formerly the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). According to his ASTP bio, Dr. Keane previously served in ASTP and also as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of HHS. Among other duties, he was an administrator of the COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund and lead the development of the AHRQ National Nursing Home COVID Action Network. ASTP oversees Federal technology, data and artificial intelligence policy. More changes may be coming as Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be reorganizing most areas of HHS. FedScoop, Healthcare Dive

Moving north to Camden, NJ, last March the Cooper Health system detected a data breach dating back to 2024. Personal health information (PHI) was apparently “accessed and acquired” without permission by an unknown actor around 14 May 2024. Abnormal network activity was noticed at the time and their systems were secured. However, the incident review which wrapped in March 2025 confirmed the PHI acquisition and Cooper has since notified the suspected individuals. Information accessed on individuals may include names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health insurance information, treatment information, medical record numbers. and medical history information. Mobihealthnews

Net Health acquires Limber Health. Net Health, a provider of specialized EHR software plus diagnostic and predictive analytics, including wound care and rehabilitation, is adding Limber Health’s MSK remote therapeutic monitoring and analytics to its platform. Acquisition cost was not disclosed but from the release at least some of the team will be transferring over to Net Health’s Pittsburgh team. Net Health is a 35-year-old portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, Level Equity, and Silversmith Capital Partners. Limber’s last raise was a $16 million Series A in October 2022 from Glenview Capital Management, Ironwood Ventures, and The Blue Venture Fund. (Crunchbase).  Release

Anne Wojcicki asks 23andMe bankruptcy court to reopen bidding on 12 June with fresh offer (updated with $305M bid)

June 3, 2025 | by | No Comments

Anne Wojcicki still wants her 23andMe. This time, she is requesting that the auction be reopened for more bids–hers, along with a new backer. The unnamed “Fortune 500 company with a current market capitalization of more than $400bn and $17bn in cash” is interested in participating only with her TTAM Research Institute, described as a “California non-profit public benefit corporation” (PBC).  The 12 June date would allow TTAM plus the unknown backer to offer additional bids, as well as Regeneron, as requested in the filing.

The filing with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri was made this past Saturday, 31 May. No date was revealed for the approval, which would have to be fast.

Regeneron, a $66 billion company, won the three-day auction on 16 May with an all-cash bid of $256 million. It included the Personal Genome Service (PGS) and Total Health and Research Services business lines–but not Lemonaid, which will be shut down. As is usual, it requires final approval by the court, approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, and customary closing conditions. The bankruptcy court was scheduled to hold the approval hearing on 17 June, which would be after any reopened bidding. TTA 21 May

During the 14-16 May auction, TTAM’s formal bid was $150 million. Legal and financial advisers to 23andMe had reservations about the financial resources of TTAM and both the value and liquidity of its portfolio assets. The Wojcicki filing states that the 23andMe advisers had improperly and unfairly capped TTAM’s highest bid to $250 million. TTAM claimed that their bid would have exceeded $280 million.

According to the Financial Times, if the court permits a reopening of bids for 23andMe, Ms. Wojcicki’s bid would compete with any  Regeneron offer, but offer a “last look” to them to top any offer from TTAM along with a $10 million termination fee. FierceBiotech

One wonders where the egos shake out. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has sound reasons for acquiring 23andMe’s genomic data to add to its developing genomics research. The price, based on our own estimate of over 10.85 million users left providing consent, was generous on a per-user basis. But you really do have to wonder why Anne Wojcicki cannot let go and say ‘enough’. 

This Editor, while not a mindreader nor an attorney, believes that the Missouri court may look upon Ms. Wojcicki’s new filing with a severely jaundiced eye.

  • There was plenty of time for Anne Wojcicki to line up a fully backed bid for 23andMe to best any rival. Buyers were in the pipeline in early April, though not a single bidder rumored in the April ‘early line’ made it anywhere near the finals.
  • 23andMe advisers, who would have access to 23andMe’s board and debtors, would also have access to information about Ms. Wojcicki’s resources. She made multiple lowball bids for 23andMe prior to the bankruptcy, including a bid with New Mountain Capital that disappeared in a week before even being presented to the board. 
  • The court, which could have stopped the bidding process, evidently agreed with the advisers.
  • The court’s purpose is to work through the bankruptcy and make the best out of what is available to satisfy the company’s debtors and a potential buyer.  
  • Finally, there is Anne Wojcicki. She was the CEO from the founding to the bankruptcy, including an astronomical public offering via a SPAC. She was not a CEO in name only, with tight control over management and the board, backed by effective full control over the public company via her special class of shares. Moreover, she has not taken any responsibility for mistakes, including the 2023 coverup of their database hacking that the company blamed upon users reusing passwords. Au contraire.

Considering the above, it’s hard to believe that at this point that Anne Wojcicki and her bid, backed by an undisclosed company, would have any credibility with the court. But let’s see what the court says. We won’t have long to wait.

Updated 5 June: Wojcicki has presented a $305 million bid to the court. Yahoo Finance

Two other views on UnitedHealth Group’s annus horribilis, for your consideration

June 2, 2025 | by | No Comments

After this Editor’s call for breaking up UnitedHealth Group–two more views, for your consideration (as Rod Serling used to say before we entered ‘The Twilight Zone’).

MedCityNews examines The No Good, Very Bad Year for UnitedHealth. It’s a more, shall we say, measured view, than mine, though we plow many of the same furrows in UHG’s fertile ground. 

Additional points are made by the astute Ari Gottlieb (A2 Strategy, who had the best takes on both Cano and NeueHealth), the critical Robert Pearl, MD (formerly CEO of the Permanente Medical Group and presently a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Graduate School of Business), and Dr. Adam Brown (emergency physician and founder of healthcare advisory firm ABIG Health).

  • Mr. Gottleib focuses on UHG attributing its challenges to Medicare Advantage issues such as increased utilization. Yet other major insurers are stating they anticipated this and it’s trending about how they expected. He believes that UHG will manage their way out of this, much as (smaller, less complex) CVS Health apparently has, which was looking at a breakup in October 2024. But it will take time.
  • Dr. Pearl hits upon a point that I had not thought of, which is that UHG’s strategy was out of an old playbook that doesn’t work today:    “(to) become successful is you increase the medical loss ratio (MLR), by which I mean you lower the value, meaning that you invest less in actual care delivery. He (Witty) does that by a lot of prior authorization {denial}, a tremendous amount of claims denial.” In his view, UHG hasn’t moved beyond that nor is anticipating the future. In this Editor’s view, CFO John Rex’s 13 May statement of UHG’s challenges reinforces this ostrich-head-in-sand approach.
  • Finally, Dr. Brown’s fine point is taken (Editor’s emphasis): “I do believe it’s a bit of a reckoning where United, over the past several years, has been building an empire on Medicare Advantage and on vertical integration. And remember, Medicare Advantage is taxpayer dollars. … I think regulators, politicians — we see it even in a bipartisan manner — and of course patients are asking similar questions: Have we gone too far in vertical integration, and have we handed over too much of healthcare to one single entity?” He also sees them at risk due to scrutiny from the DOJ, FTC, HHS, and Congress, as well as public perception.

Takeaways: other insurers are challenged but UHG, for 40 years the best managed of the lot, is stumbling and falling into a hole of its own shoveling; it hasn’t moved beyond ‘squeezing the rock’ of MLR and reducing care delivery; vertical integration has gone too far; and it’s too much for one company.

A Substacker provides more quantification of the deep hole UHG has dug for itself in its endgame. And it’s damning. Published on 28 April before the Sir Andrew Witty resignation, and not read by this Editor before today, healthcare analyst Jeff Goldsmith on Substack analyzed the sudden end of, as he put it, UHG’s 40-year growth saga, from a primarily financial perspective. The bloom is not only off the rose, but it’s wilting. Some highlights from this Must-Read:

  • “The company is a $400 billion black box. The main United businesses-health insurance, care delivery, pharmacy benefits management and business intelligence/services–are so intertwined with one another that only United CFO John Rex and a few other senior managers actually know from whence United’s earnings actually flow.”
  • Two decades of growth were fueled by United buying other companies out of its astonishing cash flow ($3 billion per month!) 
  • They have literally run out of profitable or near-profitable companies, “accretive transactions”, to buy and add to Optum. They cannot buy other health plans without running into the antitrust buzzsaw. They can’t buy up many more physician groups as over one-third are owned by hospitals–and they are money losers (e.g. they wisely passed on Steward Health’s practices).
  • They sit on a swelling mountain of cash, which is starting to attract the Wrong Kind of Attention.
  • OptumHealth’s margin is shrinking. At seven years ago, a quarter of its present size, its margins were 10%. They are now 25% less. It also bought high-quality practice groups like Kelsey Seybold that had profitable contracts with competitors like state Blues’ Medicare Advantage or their own plans (Kelsey)–which aren’t so profitable anymore.
  • OptumInsight was decimated by hasty acquisitions–Equian, Change Healthcare, and naviHealth. It went from a 28% margin business to 16.5%. (Change Healthcare alone was responsible for a $2.9 billion loss.)
  • Then Change’s ransomwaring and hacking proved that UHG was negligent in running that type of business. As stated before in writing about Change, UHG did not do its due diligence on the only partly digested meal-via-acquisition that Change really was, nor spent the two years before the cyberattack reviewing and hardening Change’s systems. His conclusion–United can’t run that type of business competently. (Too true of ‘black boxes’)

He also returns to the brutality of UHG’s ‘denial machine’ of AI-driven claims and prior authorizations, killing them not only politically but also in a research metric commonly used to rate plans. United has a minus 12 ‘net promoter’ score, which is as bad as it sounds.

It confirms that no one except perhaps (!) at the C-level really had their arms around all of UHG’s businesses. The facts are far more than inconvenient, more like damning. While the tide was lifting all the boats, it was keen and peachy. But when the end hits the fan…will one of the strategy’s architects, Stephen Hemsley, try to save it whole or dismantle it?  Hat tip to Matthew Holt via LinkedIn.

Weekend reading/viewing (for me too): Rural telehealth blackouts and value-based care’s ‘utopia’

May 29, 2025 | by | No Comments

Your Editor recommends grabbing lunch or a cuppa for these lengthy reads/views:

Flawed Federal Programs Maroon Rural Americans in Telehealth Blackouts. This is mostly about the billions spent in ‘last mile’ programs since the Clinton Administration (!) through the first Trump Administration that were supposed to subsidize better internet connectivity to the un- and poorly connected in US rural areas. This Editor has written about both the FCC Rural Health Program, state programs funded by Covid money, and more pilots going back a decade that never seemed to culminate in success. The programs were makeshift and while some have worked, have left nearly 3 million other rural Americans, young and old, in “dead zones” where even where there is connectivity, there’s not enough bandwidth for telehealth. It focuses on about one-third of West Virginia: 14 counties where high-speed internet deserts overlap with health care provider shortages. Warning, mildly ax-grinding political. Published in the Daily Yonder from KFF Health News.

Value-Based Care: Sluggish Adoption or an Unrealistic Utopia? This panel discussion up on YouTube hosted by Alex Koshykov brings together Sergei Polevikov (AI Health Uncut, see sidebar), Arvind R. Cavale (Clinical Endocrinologist, Diabetes & Endocrinology Consultants of Pennsylvania, LLC), Sally Lewis (Swansea University Professor Value in Health Management), and Mendel Erlenwein (Founder and CEO of CareCo) to discuss what the infamous VBC is really (again) all it’s cracked up to be. It’s supposed to be all about the outcomes, but when was the last time a patient walked in and asked for ‘value’? Having played in the ACO world where the mantra was VBC all the time, like ACOs what it meant went from three supports to four and in the view of whomever you were speaking with. 1 hour 20 minutes.

Short takes: Midi Health’s longevity care for women covered by (some) insurance, NZ government 24/7 telehealth scored by GPs, Auxira tele-cardiology follow-up launches

May 29, 2025 | by | No Comments

Midi Health broadens mid-life women’s health into longevity–covered by some insurance. Midi Health, which targets women in their middle years (a limiting definition, as this Editor will explain), is pursuing a broader spectrum of services. Their “longevity care” service, dubbed AgeWell, is promoting their ‘whole person’ care. The first step is blood testing and then a virtual visit to review a  personalized care plan involving supplement and medication recommendations, such as hormone therapy. This is an interesting development as it 1) mass markets longevity ‘lite’ and 2) repositions it to be at least partly paid by insurance. Midi is clearly shifting to be more than menopause and about more of the total women’s longevity picture. Axios

Unfortunately, the drawbacks are many to many most interested. There’s no genetic testing. And while some commercial insurers like UnitedHealth, Cigna, HealthNet, and some Blue plans participate, the big omission is Medicare and Medicare-related plans, such as Medicare supplements and Medicare Advantage. The third is marketing that excludes older women. This Editor hates to be Debbie Downer as Midi is trying hard to provide more care plus a continuity of care to women traditionally ignored who are most interested in health and longevity–and believe me, she is, for decades. But it’s very clear that Midi is not interested in women with a few more cycles on the old airframe who are basically healthy, consider themselves still in mid-life, and want to remain so.  All the pictures and testimonials are from women who are 35 (perimenopause) and early menopause (maybe up to 55). Ouch. One can, of course, cash pay for services but it’s very clear that older healthy women in the 60+ age group who are seeking and need services like their offerings aren’t where Midi is at. And that is disappointing.

GPs in New Zealand are warning that the government’s 24/7 telehealth scheme is not all it’s cracked up to be. This Editor hasn’t heard much from NZ (or in Maori, Aotearoa, which seems to be widely used there) of late but this is perhaps an instance of good intentions gone sideways. The chair of NZ’s association of general practitioners, Dr. Buzz Burrell, is cited in Nine to Noon (NZ) 28 May that “to his knowledge, no GP organizations had been consulted over the design of the new telehealth platform, which was concerning.” Dr. Burrell points out that the country has an acute shortage of GPs, estimated at 500-1,000, and further fragment the continuity of GP practice into ‘hit and run’ medicine. An interesting point he made, FTA, was that “research had shown that patients who had the same GP for five years, lived four years longer on average, and had 30 percent fewer referrals to secondary services.” This is a terrific argument for family/primary care.

Background: The NZ Digital Health Association chair is promoting it as it would making it easier for patients to access a doctor and help to avoid “clogging up the hospital system”. NZ is funding a scheme for after hours urgent care but GPs have already said that the NZ$164 million (US$ 98.1 million) funding over the next four years is nowhere near enough–and with the local shortages, who will be staffing the centres? Nine to Noon 19 May  Hat tip to Editor Emeritus Steve, from Roy Lilley’s NHS newsletter today (but I didn’t see it!)

Auxira Health moves out of stealth for ‘white label’ tele-cardiology services. The telehealth startup is centered on cardiology followup as what they term a ‘practice extension’ (clever!) supplementing practices with remote advanced practice providers (APPs) to serve patients in low-acuity visits and handle administrative tasks like inbox messages for physicians. Where it’s different is to match the APPs and services to meet the needs of specific cardiology practices. It was designed out of MedStar Health, funded by the American Heart Association’s Studio Red venture arm, plus Abundant Health Ventures and the investor’s consortium of 17 health systems about a year ago. CEO Inna Plumb was a founding partner at Redesign Health and CEO and co-founder of MedArrive. FierceHealthcare

News roundup: GLP-1 weight regain real, soft robots walk off 3D printer, Ambience’s AI coding beats doctors by 27%, Get a Second Opinion debuts, $11.5M for AssistIQ

May 29, 2025 | by | No Comments

Another review/meta-analysis confirms that GLP-1 weight off doesn’t stay off. A University of Oxford systemic review and meta-analysis of 130 full texts, distilled to 11 studies with 6,370 participants, determined the quantity of weight gain after discontinuing GLP-1 RA (receptor agonists) drugs. The gain was approximately 0.8kg (1.8 lbs.) per week for the new, more effective and common GLP-1 drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide, which means that weight loss was regained in approximately 1.5 years (76 weeks+). The meta-study notes that the regain is greater than observed following behavioral weight management programs. The study was done by researchers at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford and the National Institute of Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford. Presented at the 32nd European Congress on Obesity (ECO) 2025 in Malaga, Spain.  Poster PDF here.

Another study from Sacred Heart University (Connecticut) noted last week as a sidebar to our WeightWatchers and Calibrate article also found that the weight regain was proportional to the original weight loss. The regain varied by type of GLP-1 drug, but the study labels it ‘significant’. Obesity Reviews (Wiley) 4 April 2025 

GLP-1 weight loss is not puppies and rainbows as it’s being marketed right now. First, 30% of users quit in four weeks and 42% by 12 weeks due to side effects like nausea, constipation, vomiting, and worse.  BCBS study, GLP-1 Digest 4 Apr  The flip side is that over half make it past the three-month bar. But it is not ‘one and done’, and right now expectations are not being managed well, especially by the teleprescribers advertising on TV and radio. For the clinically obese, to maintain their hard-won goal weight and health benefits, it will require management as a chronic disease,  continuing weight/lifestyle management, and perhaps another round of the drugs in future. For the non-obese, it requires continuing weight/lifestyle management and a recognition of the rebound. It’s a good news/bad news scenario for teleprescribers and pharmas: users will require ongoing management and may cycle through another round in a year or two- to lose weight again, but they could also be disappointed and not want to spend the money. Hat tip to the GLP-1 Digest 25 May on Substack.

A “soft robot” that strolls off its 3D printer. We’ve missed our robots. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh developed a new, inexpensive printer that created a palm-sized, 100% soft plastic, walking robot. When connected to a compressed air supply, the robot walks off the 3D Flex Printer (video download here). It’s not much to look at (at left in the picture) but soft plastic robots have great potential for use in areas such as nuclear decommissioning, the biomedical sector and in space. Designs for the printer are public and the printer uses inexpensive off-the-shelf parts that cost less than £400 and don’t require a PhD to put together. University of Edinburgh release

Ambience Healthcare’s ambient AI model now outperforms board-certified physicians in ICD-10 coding accuracy. Ambience’s platform, trained using OpenAI’s Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (RFT) technology, has a 27% relative improvement over physician benchmarks, which means a significant reduction in ICD-10 coding errors. The Ambience system combines scribing patient encounters with identifying the ICD-10 codes to generate a fully informed note that then allows the clinician to review and confirm accurate documentation and coding in real time. Ambience covers codes in over 100 specialties and is in use at 40 health organizations for documentation.  Release

Get A Second Opinion enters the DTC information market on medications. The subscription model at a modest $35/year solves the problem of consumer confusion over medications, interactions, alternatives, and cost. Its two tools are:

  • Discovery Tool: Analyzes a single medication and/or condition against a unique profile, generating a comprehensive report with rankings, supporting data, and average monthly cost—often identifying more effective alternatives with fewer side effects at a lower cost. The annual plan covers up to 10 reports.
  • Planner: Evaluates up to 10 medications treating up to 10 conditions simultaneously, identifying optimal treatment combinations while minimizing side effects and adverse interactions. The annual plan covers up to two reports.

The profile is built using their AI Diagnostician engine, which analyzes age, sex, BMI, medications, pre-existing conditions, and price. It  cross-references each unique profile with FDA data, medical studies, warning labels, and clinical outcomes. Get A Second Opinion also offers a 100% accuracy guarantee. Having all the information in one place is more than reassuring and worth it, especially when prescribed new drugs. Your Editor can say this from first-hand experience–and her brother is a physician! Release

AssistIQ’s surgical supply chain management system raised a Series A of $11.5 million. Funders were Battery Ventures, with participation from existing investor Tamarind Hill. AssistIQ tracks actual supply and implant usage in operating rooms and procedural areas using the AIQ Capture platform that tracks supplies and implants as they are used, eliminating RFID and barcodes, and integrating them into EHR and billing records with 98% accuracy versus half in manual systems. The Montreal-based company had an initial seed raise of C$2.5 million from StandUp Ventures. Its US flagships are design partner Northwell Health (Allscripts transitioning to Epic), Owensboro Health Regional Hospital in Kentucky (Epic), and others in coming months. It is also a partner with CHUM— Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal , the anchor hospital for the University of Montreal. Mobihealthnews, Battery Ventures release, BusinessWire release

Job Posting: Yosi Health seeks Demand Generation Manager and Manager, Data Analytics & Reporting

May 28, 2025 | by | No Comments

One of our Perspectives contributors, Yosi Health, is seeking candidates for two positions:

Demand Generation Manager

This role combines lead generation with marketing analysis, coordination with sales and marketing, and digital marketing to the B2B buyer customers. It is a full time position, remote/hybrid/in-office NYC.

About Yosi Health:
Yosi Health is a leader in pre-arrival patient intake and engagement solutions, transforming how healthcare practices interact with patients. Our platform streamlines administrative workflows, enhances patient experiences, and drives revenue growth for providers. As we continue expanding, we’re looking for a Demand Generation Manager to accelerate net new lead acquisition, optimize marketing performance, and position Yosi Health to be the segment leader.

About the Role – Is this You?
Yosi Health is looking to add a talented Demand Generation Manager to accelerate our company’s growth. We are looking for someone who wants to be part of a team that is making healthcare smoother and more pleasant for patients of medical practices. We want to bring on an energetic teammate who knows how to turn interested readers/viewers into potential buyers. If you are a demand generation expert who knows how to engage B2B healthcare buyers, that dives into solve problems rather than arranging meetings to study the situation and explores out-of-box ideas, then you may be the person to lead Yosi Health’s demand generation efforts.

For more details and to apply, see their Careers section and the job listing here.

Manager, Data Analytics & Reporting

This position oversees data collection, analysis, reporting and infrastructure maintenance to help gain valuable insights to make business decisions. It is a full-time position, hybrid and based in their NYC office.

About the Role – Is this You?
As Manager of Data Analytics & Reporting, you will play a central role in shaping Yosi Health’s data strategy — helping us unlock the full value of our data to drive growth, improve patient outcomes, and deliver outstanding client value. You’ll lead efforts across analytics, reporting, and insights while working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Customer Success. You’ll dive into millions of patient records to uncover key trends, create powerful client KPIs, and guide strategic decisions across the company.

For more details and to apply, see their Careers section and the job listing here.

Should free-falling UnitedHealth Group be broken up? Or break itself up to survive, before it becomes another GE? (updated)

May 28, 2025 | by | No Comments

Breaking up is hard to do. But should be done if UHG wants to survive and thrive.

Our proposition: UnitedHealth Group has become a victim of its own giantism, conflicts, and focus on financials–and its failure will drag down healthcare.

How big? By far, it is the largest US health insurance company based on 2023 enrollments with a 15% market share, 29 million members, and $371.6 billion in revenue. It leads by far Elevance Health (formerly Anthem, 12%), CVS Health/Aetna (12%), Cigna (11%) and Health Care Service Corporation (7%). A more realistic picture of its size is that it is now is the US’ fourth-largest firm by revenues, just behind Walmart, Amazon, and Apple. (Visual Capitalist 17 Dec 2024, based on American Medical Association data). Their growth has been led by acquisition into Optum, their health services division. It houses their owned physician practices as the largest owner of practices in the US with 90,000 physicians, their ACO relationships, data analytics, Change Healthcare, the largest billing and claims management company, home care/hospice, the third largest PBM Optum Rx, a venture investment arm, and much more. Optum is the massive symbol of the integration envisioned by former and current CEO Stephen (Steve) Hemsley. Other health plan companies have health services units, for instance PBMs–CVS has Caremark and Cigna Express Scripts, both larger than OptumRx, and analytics–but not to the vertical and horizontal integration depth and extent of UHG’s continuing search for revenue and profit.

The road this vision took under Mr. Hemsley and later Sir Andrew Witty took diversions along the way that have escalated into a cadence of legal troubles, a near-perfect storm of corporate misery, that have damaged them among customers, shareholders, and regulators. A list of the recent highlights (bold type links are new information; standard type links refer to earlier TTA articles):

  • The contentious two-year-long purchase for an eye-blinking $7.8 billion or $13 billion of Change Healthcare that finally closed in 2022. While opposed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the District Court disagreed and said it wasn’t anti-competitive or prevented competitive entry. 
  • Change Healthcare was a House That Jack Built that collapsed spectacularly in February 2024 with the ALPH-V/BlackCat ransomware attack. It was evident that Optum didn’t conduct basic due diligence on Change Healthcare’s multiple systems, built up over multiple acquisitions, nor set to work fixing them after the closing, leaving the largest claims/payment system vulnerable. UHG’s response managed to anger patients, providers, and HHS. It took Optum most of 2024 to fix it at a loss of at least $2.3 billion. 
  • DOJ has been investigating certain relationships between the company’s UnitedHealthcare insurance unit and its Optum services unit, specifically around Optum’s ownership of physician groups. This started in March 2024.
  • The $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys home health has taken over two years (since June 2023) and has taken multiple rounds of divestitures–and still DOJ is grinding its Paul Bunyan-sized ax against it, filing their suit in Maryland along with four state attorneys general in November 2024.
  • DOJ’s insider trading investigations may have started as early as October 2023. The $300 million Hollywood (Florida) Firefighters Pension Fund filed a class action lawsuit in mid-December 2024 alleging that the sales were made while the Department of Justice (DOJ) was considering an anti-trust action against UHG that would revisit the so-called ‘firewall’ between it and Change Healthcare. Named in the lawsuit were Brian Thompson, head of UnitedHealthcare, Andrew Witty, and Steve Hemsley. (Sir Andrew resigned from UHG’s board effective 20 May, Becker’s and SEC Form 8-K)
  • DOJ is reportedly investigating UHG for criminal Medicare Advantage fraud, according to the WSJ earlier this month, reported in HealthcareFinance.
  • The latest accusation: kickbacks to nursing homes to reduce patient transfers to hospitals and thus costs, based on an investigative report from the UK Guardian reported in FierceHealthcare last week.

The Brian Thompson assassination earlier in December uncapped a boiling volcano of resentment against the health care system that crossed political lines, then focused on UHG itself and its claims treatment. Next it revealed something that UHG undoubtedly didn’t want known–that UHG’s AI-powered claims review system had a 33% rate of claims denial on marketplace plans across 20 states, the second highest in the US (first was BCBS Alabama, a single-state plan) (KFF). This eruption unleashed a tsunami of heartrending social media stories of denied care and approved then denied care by UnitedHealthcare, including one for a patient delivered to a surgeon post-operation.

  • Instead of examining their methods, UH doubled down on featuring ever-so-trendy AI. Revealed recently to the WSJ, half of their 1,000 + AI-powered apps use generative AI and the remainder a more “traditional” form, without explanation of “traditional” according to chief digital and technology officer Sandeep Dadlani, Their software, not necessarily AI-powered but usually rules-based or using algorithms, ‘auto adjudicate’ 90% of UHG claims. And this wasn’t new. UHG was sued in Federal Court as far back as 2023 in using an AI-powered application to evaluate and deny claims.

This is above and beyond the business conditions that have affected every insurer: high utilization costs resulting from accelerated care activity, more (and more expensive) benefit offerings, and higher costs associated with Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, along with a minor reduction in MA benchmark rates.

One healthcare observer’s–and marketer’s–opinion, drawn from her experience not only in healthcare but also outside it.

UHG has pursued profit and growth to justify an immense share price and return to its shareholders. It has become unmoored from its business customers, instead trapped in an ever-widening gyre of increasing its revenue, profit, share price, and dividend every quarter, every year, to satisfy investors. It remains profitable, yet its share price has collapsed from over $600 on 3 December 2024–the day before the Thompson murder–to $378 on 12 May, the day prior to Witty’s resignation, to today’s close of $295. This is despite massive share purchases by Mr. Hemsley and other UHG executives, presumably to demonstrate confidence. Last week, three major investment banks downgraded their recommendations on UHG.

It’s time to sell off businesses and refocus on either being an insurer or being a healthcare services company. Not both. 

  • If UHG chooses to be an insurer, refocus on a service mission, not the shareholders. Respect their members (and commercial businesses) who pay the premiums. Focus on member health, first preventative, then managing chronic care. Stop treating patients and providers as always trying to game the system or grift them. People depend on insurance at the time of need, when they are sick, and treatment is complicated. Make it easier for both members and their providers.
    • Bring back humans evaluating prior authorizations and claim approvals–and get better tools with a final review by humans. Treat providers in and out of network better.
    • Get back to being the insurer of choice for individuals and groups. Contract for the services you need, not own them and try to manage them too. UHG would not be the first insurer who has faced this–both Molina and Centene have divested all or many of their service businesses.
  • If UHG chooses to be Optum, it needs to focus on their services and how well they integrate. Divorcing Optum from UnitedHealthcare resolves a lot of conflicts around interest but there are still others.
    • Owning and controlling practices creates multiple conflicts and a closed system. The feedback from doctors in Optum-owned practices that this Editor has seen is that they are micro-managed down to the penny, escalating administrative costs and taking focus from patient care. Optum practice locations that this Editor has seen have a ‘bad look’–underused, often repurposed locations.
    • Abandon the Amedisys acquisition and rethink (or spin off) the entire home care business for the same reason as owning practices.
    • Refocus their ACOs from ‘captives’ to management services provisioning that more naturally integrates with Optum services–or get out of the business.
    • Expand analytics into providing the best and most convenient tools for hospital and practice management, which likely will require some acquisitions.
    • Optum Rx is facing its own challenges from new competitors and eroding market share–and simplification can help management focus on it. If Change Healthcare is kept, rework and reform how they process and pay claims across healthcare; harden it against the cyberattack/ransomware that cost the economy and healthcare billions. Optum Ventures and its role should also be examined for conflicts with the main business.

UHG is a company now demonstrating the end stage of integration: too many complex parts, too much administration needed to keep the juggernaut going, too many inherent conflicts, no central theme, too little focus, culminating in failure to customers and shareholders. It has become toxic in reputation to its own members, providers, and to businesses who sign commercial contracts. It’s become a falling knife, a rolling failure such as GE before its breakup or (returning to my airline days) Texas Air Corporation, once the world’s largest airline holding company. Unlike GE or TAC, UHG’s business size and outsized vertical integration choking off alternatives have created multiple situations, such as Change Healthcare’s failure, which can damage the entire healthcare system. It’s time that their new CEO and their C-levels sit down and have a long think about what their future, and the future of their role in being a healthcare leader, should be. Think…smaller.

Update 28 May: The American Hospital Association (AHA) has also provided comments to the Trump Administration, DOJ, and FTC, as part of the administration’s 10:1 deregulation initiative*, addressing payer vertical integration and its effects on providers. Payer control, concentrated among four payers that control half the market (UnitedHealth, Elevance, Aetna, Cigna) , far outstrip those of health systems, and have led to higher premiums and constraints on care. The AHA is demanding review of regulations within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that permit insurers to circumvent medical loss ratio (MLR) requirements through high-priced practice acquisitions yet enjoy exclusions in the Stark Law (physician self-referral) that health systems cannot. Their comments also included simplification of prior authorization processes and other utilization management practices, and swiped at the increased Premarket Notification process for M&A, something that the new administration is already reviewing. FierceHealthcare published 27 May.

*For every new regulation passed, canning 10 rules, regulations or guidance documents

News roundup 22 May: an inflight ‘save’ and AliveCor’s KardiaMobile, rolling out the VA/Oracle EHR in ‘waves’, Fuze Health formed from LetsGetChecked/Truepill, hacking and ransomware 92% of PHI data breaches

May 23, 2025 | by

Leading our news with a short, heartwarming story.

A passenger on a 29 April KLM flight from Uganda to Amsterdam experienced, three hours in, heart attack symptoms and extreme pain. The Dutch passenger’s luck was that a group of passengers were medical volunteers with Cura from the World, a Oklahoma-based group returning from a medical mission to Uganda. Dr. TJ Trad, the founder/CEO and an invasive cardiologist, created an aid station for the passenger where his legs could be raised and his vitals monitored with the assistance of a nurse. The lucky part was that the team had most of its equipment aboard, including a 12-lead ECG to confirm his cardiac status, plus five medications used for emergency treatment. He was stabilized, but the interesting part was that Dr. Trad used his personal AliveCor KardiaMobile to monitor the patient for arrhythmia, the later and high emergency stage. Dr. Trad was carrying it because a year earlier, he had experienced his own heart attack that canceled out his last medical mission trip and used it to monitor himself. With the patient under monitoring and medications, the KLM flight did not have to divert to Tunisia and it landed at Amsterdam Schiphol three hours later. At the hospital, the Dutch patient was examined over 12 hours and eventually discharged, as he was not diagnosed with a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism, according to the passenger’s wife speaking with CNN. Dr. Trad was able to catch his connecting flight home. From an aviation perspective, it underscores the need for medical training and an emergency kit for monitoring this type of incident. Hat tip to Dave Albert, MD, founder and chief medical officer of AliveCor.

VA now dubbing the rollout of the Oracle Cerner EHR as a ‘wave’ strategy. Dr. Neil Evans, the acting executive program director of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration (EHRM) Office elaborated on the ‘wave’ in an interview with GovCIO Media & Research. Each rollout will be clustered in sites that routinely work together and where patients flow for care from one location to another. For instance, the planned 2026 rollout previously announced in December 2024 will be in four Michigan locations: VA Battle Creek Medical Center, VA Detroit Healthcare System, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and VA Saginaw Healthcare System. The nine additional sites in 2026, except for Alaska standing alone, are similarly clustered [TTA 4 April]. The new news? FTA:

  • The White House’s proposed discretionary budget for FY 2026 calls for an increase of nearly $2.2 billion in funding for the EHR program as a “top priority effort.”
  • The proposed budget also plans to streamline much of the agency’s over 1000 IT systems, which it claims are “decades old” and “duplicative.”
  • It pauses procurement of new systems and directs the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency Service (DOGE) to conduct a full review of the agency’s IT systems alongside the VA.
  • Other government agencies are going through the same process: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Defense Department (MHS), and the Coast Guard also are modernizing their EHRs. VA is learning from them as well as the private sector, according to Dr. Evans.

The ‘wave’ needs to work. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins outlined VA plans at two House appropriations hearings last week on the 2026 and 2027 VA budgets. The total for the EHRM is $3.5 billion in FY 2026 (Federal budgets start in October; the total budget has been dubbed the ‘Big Beautiful Budget’) and is needed for additional rollouts in FY 2027. But given the failures at the six existing implementations and the continuing fixes and patches, in a process that seems like it started in 1900 (actually 2018), one can understand the consternation of Veterans Affairs committee member Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC): “I’m still dumbfounded at the billions and billions and billions of dollars that have been poured into an EHR that should have never been done in the first place. It’s not a system that should be used for the largest healthcare system in the country.” Healthcare Dive

Fuze Health launches–phase 2 of a merged LetsGetChecked and Truepill ‘arranged marriage’. The merger of the two last October with digital/mail order pharmacy Truepill operating as a subsidiary of at-home diagnostics via testing kits LetsGetChecked was a $525 million deal that we classified as a ‘smush’ when it was announced last August. Both were heavily invested in by Optum and torching  through cash. While $525 million was the purchase value in the headline, only $25 million was in cash and the rest of the financing didn’t add up to the total. The Phase 2 of this entity, Fuze Health, now has a third partner, prescription deliverer Alto, and a new name, Fuze Health. No acquisition amount is mentioned for Alto, which has a total funding of $62.4 million through a June 2021 Series B plus equity crowdfunding (March 2024!) and no financing from Optum (Crunchbase). The only Fuze management mentioned in the release are Alicia Boler Davis, Alto’s CEO, and Paul Greenall, Fuze chief development officer. Their website links back to the four individual companies.

In 2022, LetsGetChecked acquired Veritas Genetics, now prominently featured as part of Fuze. Also in 2022, Truepill fell under DEA scrutiny with a ‘show cause’ action after being a fulfillment pharmacy for Cerebral and Done Health in their Schedule II controlled substance violations. This was settled in November 2023 with multiple requirements including continuing heightened compliance (DEA release). Fuze Health promotes itself as “a technology-powered home health screening, genomics and pharmacy services provider committed to transforming patient experiences and enabling its healthcare partners – including care providers, health plans, employers and life sciences companies – to excel in an outcomes-focused system.” No mention of investors or backing, as is typical in these announcements.  Now go forth and make money. Hat tip to HIStalk 5/23/25 

Hacking and ransomware now constitute 92% of healthcare data breaches. Once upon a time, when this Editor reported on what were then unusual data breaches, the more common causes were insider theft, unauthorized access/disclosure, and improper disposal or loss. They have nearly vanished as the ‘business of breaches’ has settled down and internal security has approved. A cross-sectional study published as a research letter in JAMA Network surveyed breaches from 2009 to 2024 using HHS’s Office of Civil Rights (HHS-OCR) reporting. Of 566 incidents in 2024, 457 were “IT incidents” and 61 were tagged as ransomware, totaling 92%. Despite the massive Change Healthcare breach, ransomware breaches fell to 11%.  Considering patient records, there were 170 million breached in 2024 and hacking/IT incidents accounted for 91% of the total. Of 732 million records affected from 2010 to 2024, hacking or IT incidents and ransomware (considered as a subset) accounted for 88% (643 million) and 39% (285 million) of incidents. Since 2020, ransomware has affected more than half of all patients annually, reaching 69% in 2024–again, the effect of Change Healthcare. Also Healthcare Dive

News roundup: Hinge Health public @$32/share, lower valuation. Is WeightWatchers game over? Calibrate replaces CEO, new prez for Oak Street, NMC gets ‘Smarter’ rolling up 3 portfolio companies, another splash of investor ‘cold water’

May 22, 2025 | by

Hinge Health now public. Today (22 May) Hinge Health debuts as HNGE on the NYSE, the first big IPO for healthcare tech in two years. Last night, the virtual MSK/physical therapy provider raised $437.3 million in its IPO. Shares were priced at the high end of the offering range at $32. The timing is a small surprise, as in early April insiders said to press that they had not committed to any dates due to the market’s roller coaster, but they stayed on their original schedule [TTA 8 Apr].

The nitty-gritty:

  • The floating is 13,666,000 shares of Class A common stock, 8,522,528 of which are being sold by Hinge Health and 5,143,472 of which are being sold by certain selling stockholders.
  • The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,049,900 shares of Class A common stock at $32, less underwriting discounts and commissions.
  • The valuation comes in at the $2.6 to $3 billion range. This is a shave-and-a-haircut from the bubbly days of November 2021, when its Series E raise of $600 million gave it a valuation of $6.2 billion–and this was on top of a January 2021 Series D of $300 million [TTA 5 Nov 2021]. 
  • Hinge also has a Class B voting share class that ensures that major investors including Insight Partners (19% prior to the IPO) and Atomico (15%), along with co-founder and CEO Daniel Perez (18.9%), retain control of the company

The IPO was delayed repeatedly in an uncertain market for health tech raises, much less IPOs. Starting in 2024, rumors flew, early filings were made from last April then in October last year [TTA 3 Oct 2024]. Total raises for Hinge as a private company were $826 million from multiple investors, who were undoubtedly clamoring for OPM (other people’s money) and a full or partial exit. Hinge also let some positive results sink in; they reported a 50% increase in Q1 revenue to $123.8 million from $82.7 million in Q1 2024. Net income went positive at $17.1 million, reversing a net loss of $26.5 million in last year’s Q1.  Endpoints (requires registration), Hinge Health release, CNBC  Will competitor Omada Health be far behind?

The rest of the news is a bit more sobering, reflective of the real challenges health tech/digital health faces, in multiple businesses.

WeightWatchers’ bankruptcy and fast reemergence may be only a brief waypoint in its troubles. This Editor opined at the time of the 45-day prepackaged Chapter 11 that WW was simply kicking the can down the road. Their subscription model of low calorie diets, points, and exercise no longer worked when well-funded teleprescribers such as Hims & Hers, LifeMD, FuturHealth, and Ro, along with traditional telehealth providers like Teladoc, had long since jumped on the GLP-1 promise of quick and assured weight loss. WW didn’t enter GLP-1 prescribing until October 2024, well after it took off even in high prices and scarcity, but continued to lose subscribers. The coup de grace? The partnering deals that teleprescribers as well as CVS Health’s Caremark PBM worked with Novo Nordisk to stimulate their volume for Ozempic and Wegovy. Thus the Chapter 11 and the dumping of $1.15 billion in debt may buy time, but not solve, their market disconnect.

An article from earlier this week in MedCityNews takes the same tack in an interview with industry analyst Michael Schnell, a director in health consultant West Monroe’s healthcare M&A group. Mr. Schnell regards WW as a legacy company in representing the old ‘diet culture’, with the new teleprescribers representing “private, digital-first, affirming wellness experiences that are in themselves a rejection of ‘diet culture.’” It’s a positioning (real estate in the mind/Denny Hatch) dilemma that in its clarity somehow evaded this marketer. It’s echoed by another industry analyst and Virta Health’s CEO Sami Inkinen, a company that has focused on diabetes control and weight loss via nutrition but pivoted last year to add GLP-1s.

WW’s fundamental dilemma is encased in its fundamental 60 year old promise–that you can lose weight, but it requires commitment and work. Their traditional weight loss model of diet and exercise, once fairly simple, grew complicated and not cheap. Complicated and costly will be beaten every time by those who promise a lot less effort, even with cost and side effects that are significant. Now it costs even less. Cigna’s Evernorth announced yesterday that its PBM Express Scripts now will cap monthly out-of-pocket costs of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound at $200/month, saving an estimated $3,600 annually versus typical DTC discount programs. FierceHealthcare Can WW buy enough time to solve their market problem? Based on prior marketing experience, it’s not likely even if WW completely reinvents itself.

Even among the weight loss teleprescribers, all is not keen and peachy. Calibrate changed out its second CEO in just over a year. Rob Rebak, most recently CEO for three months of Mosaic Diagnostics and earlier CEO of Forefront Telecare (sold to Access TeleCare), replaces Rob MacNaughton, who joined in February 2024 from venture chair of Redesign Health. Other executives have also departed: CFO Bert Smith and chief clinical officer Jane Ruppert. According to CEO Rebak, MacNaughton will remain on Calibrate’s board as an advisor to him. Joining is a new COO, Paul Merrick, another former Forefront Telecare exec. The breaking report is in Endpoints (may be paywalled) and oddly, not elsewhere including the Calibrate website which does not have an executive list, nor press releases on Business Wire.

Originally a portfolio company of Redesign Health, Calibrate has had its ups and downs. The company sold a 70% interest in a 2023 ‘reorganization’ to private equity firm Madryn Asset Management along with other investors  with founding CEO Isabelle Kenyon departing. An early entrant in the GLP-1 obesity management game, promoting ‘metabolic reset’, it also received the brunt of drug scarcity and social media backlash, refunding millions to subscribers.[TTA 26 Oct 2023]

A sidebar on GLP-1s. A systemic review and meta-analysis of 497 articles by a team at Sacred Heart University (CT), retaining eight randomized controlled trials comprised of 2372 participants, all with a BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2, indicates that after discontinuing GLP-1 therapy, weight regain was proportional to the original weight loss. The regain varied by type of GLP-1 drug, but the study labels it ‘significant’. Obesity Reviews (Wiley) 4 April 2025   GLP-1 weight loss is not one course and done–actually good news for the teleprescribers and pharmas as in ‘they’ll be back’. 

Oak Street Health replaces its president. The CVS practice unit named Creagh Milford, DO, MPH as Oak Street’s new president. He comes from CVS’ Minute Clinic as head of retail health from January 2024. Dr. Milford replaces Brian Clem, a 10 year Oak Street veteran who according to the Crain’s Chicago Business article and his own LinkedIn posting, “had decided to move on” after being president since May 2019, prior to CVS. Previously, Mike Pykosz, CEO and co-founder of Oak Street Health, had moved up in the months after the May 2023 buy of Oak Street into CVS corporate, eventually heading up their Health Care Delivery unit. He departed fairly suddenly in November 2024 [TTA 27 Nov 2024]

New Mountain Capital (NMC) does the smush again with three portfolio companies. The new entity, Smarter Technologies, combines SmarterDx (AI for chart analysis catching missed billing codes and appeal denied claims), Thoughtful.ai (agentic AI for checking insurance eligibility and prior authorization), and Access Healthcare (RCM). The revenue cycle management (RCM) company for health systems and hospitals will be headed by Jeremy Delinsky, an executive advisor to NMC and founding COO of Devoted Health. It now totals according to their release 200 clients, including more than 60 hospitals and health systems with over 500,000 providers. It processes more than 400 million transactions and manages over $200 billion in combined revenue annually. No other management transitions are mentioned but on the website, the co-founders/CEOs of the three companies are listed alongside Mr. Delinsky. It’s the second big rollup in less than one year for NMC, which last September combined Apixio’s payment integrity business and Vario into The Rawlings Group to create one giant $3 billion payment integrity company. Last January, NMC acquired Machinify Inc. to roll into Rawlings.

NMC is a big investor with $55 billion in management assets that evidently buys with an eye to combining companies–and also isn’t afraid to back quickly out of deals that don’t work. Just ask Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe.

Gimlet EyeWe close with a Gimlety view from three health investors. MedCityNews’ recent INVEST conference hosted three investors who opined on three important topics: Raffi Boyajian, Principal, Cigna Ventures; Aman Shah, Vice President of New Ventures, VNS Health; Dipa Mehta, Managing Partner, Valeo Ventures. Your Editor’s comments follow.

  • Does every startup need to be AI-powered? Everyone may be pitching AI in their models, but it may not really mean anything. What really means something is building a good business first, then adding in AI to make it better, according to Aman Shah of VNS Health. When is AI just a buzz word and really machine learning? Much of the time. Do these companies really understand it? Or is it a money and time-burning diversion?
  • There aren’t a lot of new things to build anymore. It used to be that companies found a problem and invented a new way to solve it (ah, remember the cocktail parties of yore?), but that is not the way it works now. Where the most success is now is “creating companies with customers versus trying to create something on their own,” according to Dipa Mehta of Valeo. This is a partnership model that can go sideways if a young company is not careful. Customers may not want to pay and you remain in ‘pilot hell’.
  • Value-based care isn’t everything. For early-stage companies, “you can get upside down on your contracts very, very quickly in terms of a financial perspective,” according to Raffi Boyajian of Cigna Ventures. VBC is complicated for providers and for management service companies (MSOs)–imagine being an outsider. 

Update: Masimo’s website status and an analysis of the Sound United sale

May 22, 2025 | by

Things are apparently a lot more together for Masimo online. Their website structure has settled down since their cyberattack at the end of April brought down their websites, then by 6 and 13 May, a confusing and partial restoration [TTA 7 May]:

  • A new Masimo site at https://www.masimo.com/ that leads with Professional Health with a tab at the top for Consumer Health. Professional Health opens a series of sub-tabs leading with Technology and Products. A tab for Masimo Audio does not appear unless you open Consumer Health, leading to pages for their brands Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, and others. A new feature is at the top right with a dropdown for multiple languages/countries, including English and French for Canada, UK English, French, Spanish, and German. The footer is where the detail is for customer support, legal, investors, and internal links to pages–but not Audio. One drawback this Editor sees is that once on the foreign sites, you are unable to return to the US English website as the dropdown does not link back to the US.  
  • Entering masimo.com still redirects you to the Canadian shop domain and pages that feature the pulse oximetry device and app (SafetyNet Alert) monitoring prescribed opioid usage for difficulties in breathing (respiratory depression). Clicking on support features only ‘hearables’ and opioid safety–an educated guess is that this supports a specific Canadian initiative and is maintained for that only. Clicking on the tabs above will lead you to the new masimo.ca website pages which have no mentions or links back to opioid information. 

The investigation into the cyberattack that brought all Masimo IT systems down is ongoing. What is not known is 1) the type of the attack, 2) acknowledgement of the extent of the attack, and 3) any lasting damage to their internal systems, databases, and manufacturing systems. This Editor will be waiting to see if the new Masimo will be transparent with customers, investors, and the press as to what happened, the remediation of their systems, and securing their IT. Customers will need reassurance that their continuous monitoring and patient-worn monitoring devices are secure. Moreover, Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (HHS-OCR) requires reports of data breaches affecting or potentially affecting protected health information (PHI). I will also be waiting to see if their consumer health wearables bounce back and go back on sale (they are currently unavailable)–after winning their fights with Apple, it would be a shame if this investment is abandoned. 

More on this in Strata-gee 15 May. More good news–Editor Ted Green is recuperating and back at his desk, if only part-time. He has been invaluable for his inside looks at Masimo’s endless drama over the past few years. Thank you for the hat tip to TTA at the end of this article!

Masimo’s Sound United sale–the good and the not-so. Ted digs deep into the sale of Masimo’s ill-starred Sound United unit.  As we reported previously, Samsung’s Harman International unit picked it up for $350 million in cash, a mere one-third of its 2022 purchase price of $1.025 billion–a “shockingly low valuation for such great brands” such as Marantz, Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, Polk, Boston Acoustic, and others. Clearly, a sale was the desire of the new sheriffs running Masimo, Politan Capital, and shareholders, but a 66% haircut is still shocking. The share price rose prior to the annual meeting, but is now lower, likely from the cyberattack and uncertainty around tariffs affecting Masimo’s mainline medical device manufacturing.

Harman is the home of other storied audio brands such as Harman/Kardon, JBL, AKG, Mark Levinson, Arcam, and Revel. While a small part of giant Samsung, it is not puny in revenue, ending their 2025 at $10.2 billion. Because Strata-gee and Ted focus on the audio business, there is an extensive discussion here on how the Sound United brands will fit into the Harman portfolio and whether they will expand Harman’s business which has been rather flat. For Harman, consumer audio is their growth opportunity, from premium audio to headphones, and they just bought a quality group. The downside is that some of the brands collide in their market segments, notably B&W and Revel in the audiophile segment and Denon and Marantz versus ARCAM and JBL in audio video receivers (AVR). Interestingly, their largest segment is automotive electronics: car audio, telematics, and digital cockpits. For a more complete analysis, catch Ted’s Strata-gee article, ‘Temper Your Enthusiasm’, here.

23andMe sold to Regeneron for $256M in court-supervised bankruptcy, sans Lemonaid. And is it worth it? (Updated 27 May for delisting)

May 21, 2025 | by

Most of 23andMe bought for a lot more than one could have thought–and why? Yesterday, the board of 23andMe confirmed that they have a court-approved definitive agreement for the sale of their core genomics units to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded (Nasdaq) biotech company based in Tarrytown, New York. The purchase price of $256 million includes the Personal Genome Service (PGS) and Total Health and Research Services business lines–but not Lemonaid. 23andMe will be operated as a wholly owned direct or indirect subsidiary.

The asset auction was completed on 16 May. The acquisition by Regeneron remains subject to approval by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, and customary closing conditions. The bankruptcy court will hold the approval hearing on 17 June. With the court’s and HSR approvals, the closing is anticipated to be sometime in Q3 this year, which is fairly rapid.

What didn’t sell to Regeneron or anyone else was Lemonaid, their DTC telehealth/prescribing business. It will be wound down “in an orderly manner, subject to and in accordance with the agreement” according to 23andMe’s press release. The lack of an approved bid for Lemonaid is puzzling, given the popularity of DTC telediagnosis and teleprescribing of various remedies stimulated by GLP-1 based weight loss. Perhaps Lemonaid’s business (or lack thereof), never reported by itself, along with its 2021 acquisition for an inflated $400 million ($100 million cash/$300 million in now-worthless stock), contributed. According to early April reports, Nucleus Genomics was interested in Lemonaid, to combine it with their own genetics marketing to add treatment to the ‘one and done’ of genetics testing, roughly along the lines of 23andMe’s original vision.  Nucleus had made a pass at 23andMe in 2024 but never got beyond the talking stage. [TTA 3 Apr]

Required in the Regeneron sale and otherwise agreed are:

  • Adherence to data privacy policies both under 23andMe’s privacy policy and ‘applicable law’. Presumably that also adheres to FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson’s statement re privacy and data security.
  • A court-appointed, independent Consumer Privacy Ombudsman. The CPO is responsible for examining the transition and the impact, if any, on consumer privacy once it is approved. Regeneron, a large and long established company, has a track record and programs in genetics research. The report is due to the court by 10 June, one week prior to the approval hearing.
  • Regeneron is offering employment to 23andMe’s remaining employees within the purchased business units. This promise may be less charitable than it seems. Two weeks ago, 23andMe filed a WARN notice with the California Employment Development Department that it plans to terminate 250 employees and close its San Francisco office by 17 June. Whether the successful sale will halt the layoffs in part or totally is not yet known. Preceding layoffs and operational closures had whittled down the employee group to an undetermined number.  SF Chronicle

Regeneron’s Aris Bara, MD, senior vice president and head of the Regeneron Genetics Center, commented on security in their statement:  “As a world leader in human genetics, Regeneron Genetics Center is committed to and has a proven track record of safeguarding the genetic data of people across the globe, and, with their consent, using this data to pursue discoveries that benefit science and society. We assure 23andMe customers that we are committed to protecting the 23andMe dataset with our high standards of data privacy, security and ethical oversight and will advance its full potential to improve human health.” Their Genetics Center has used in research deidentified data from nearly 3 million people.

Debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing continues. At the time of the Chapter 11, JMB Capital Partners had provided DIP financing of up to $35 million [TTA 28 Mar]. This continues with a second tranche of financing for an unknown amount.

Why did Regeneron make such a generous offer? What did they see? 23andMe was a company with essentially zero value, where assets and liabilities canceled each other out possibly as early as 2018 (Sergei Polevikov), three years before it went public. The only bids prior to the Chapter 11 were made by co-founder and then CEO Anne Wojcicki, with two take-private offers estimated at $12 million from her with the highest but short-lived bid of $71 million (Wojcicki with New Mountain Capital) [TTA 4 Mar]. Wojcicki, like other shareholders, has no chance of reward from this sale, unless some arrangement was made on her class of stock (purely speculative by this Editor).

The value to Regeneron is 1) more genetic data on 15 million users, minus the unknown number that deleted their data and samples as advised by multiple states or never provided consent, 2) research from terminated operations (e.g. drug discovery), and 3) survey data. 85% of 15 million users consented at the time to individual de-identified data being used for research. That research included an optional survey which added to their profiles. Once you consented to answering surveys, every time you visited the research page, you’d get questions to answer until they were all answered. How many of close to 13 million research-consenting users took the surveys? Reports deduced that deleting data and samples didn’t delete voluntary survey information.

The bottom line:  To start, Regeneron is a $66 billion company. $256 million is, basically, pocket lint. But what makes 23andMe a smart buy for them, at least on the surface?

  • 85% of 15 million users consented to have their data used for research–12.75 million. (We will leave aside the question that this was ‘meaningful consent’, as the Electronic Privacy Information Center termed it in Recorded Future News.)
  • Let’s assume that 15% took the advice of their attorneys general and deleted (or will delete) their data, or that data is somehow compromised. Subtract 1.9 million.
  • That is data on 10.85 million users–not counting the unknown amount of deidentified survey information from the data deleters that may or may not be accessible.
  • Regeneron is acquiring genetic data and some research at $23.60 per user. That raw number does not count the value of other information and research, nor of talent being acquired in the company. This Editor does not know the going rate for genetic data, but it seems inexpensive to me. 

Given that Dr. Bara and the Genetics Center have been doing research using a database of only 3 million or less, Regeneron hit a jackpot of pre-consented data. That may make Ms. Wojcicki’s prediction back in December 2024 in a CBS interview that the company would be thriving in a year and ‘transforming healthcare’ in five. It just won’t be hers anymore.

Update 27 May: 23andMe announced that will be voluntarily delisting from Nasdaq on or about 6 June. The stock was suspended from trading on 31 March, a week after it filed for bankruptcy. Oddly, Nasdaq usually files the Form 25 Notification of Delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but in this case it has not, so 23andMe is filing. CNBC, 23andMe release

This story is developing.

Short takes: Synchron BCI integrates with Apple devices, Shields Health partners with Duke on specialty pharmacy, raises for Cohere Health, Olio

May 15, 2025 | by | 1 Comment

Another brain-computer interface (BCI) makes a major advance. Synchron, a BCI company based in Brooklyn, NYC, announced that it will be the first BCI company to achieve native integration with Apple’s new BCI Human Interface Device (BCI HID) profile. The 13 May Apple announcement of a native integration means that Synchron’s BCI can control iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro directly with their thoughts without physical movement or voice commands. Synchron’s BCI device, Stentrode, is placed in a blood vessel in the brain via a minimally invasive endovascular procedure, not directly in the brain, captures the neural signals, and connects to the IRT signaling device that has a two-way interface with the Apple devices. Controlled rollouts with trial participants using BCI HID-compatible features are expected to begin later this year. Synchron release, Mobihealthnews, MassDevice

The Synchron Stentrode device is still in clinical trials and has been in development since 2012. Synchron achieved the first BCI in 2019. In March, they and NVIDIA announced Chiral, a foundation model of human cognitions, and developing a cognitive AI model—artificial intelligence trained directly on human neural activity. From their announcement release, Chiral will be trained on a roadmap via NVIDIA’s Holoscan (motor inference), NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform and Cosmos world foundation models to simulate environments, and then through deidentified data. They have also partnered with Team Gleason, a foundation dedicated to improving the lives of people living with ALS. Earlier this month, Neuralink announced its third successful human implant in an ALS patient [TTA 8 May]. 

Shields Health Solutions partnering with Duke Health in North Carolina. The partnership between Duke Specialty Pharmacy and Shields Health Solutions aims to enhance personalized patient care by expanding services, reducing costs, and improving access to treatment options and medication management. Shields Health equips health systems with integrated specialty pharmacy solutions, enabling Duke to support patients with complex chronic conditions through regular follow-ups, side effect management, financial assistance, and medication delivery, with the goals of better medication adherence and patient outcomes. Shields partners with nearly 80 health systems, providing access to over 80% of limited distribution drugs (LDDs) and with most payers. Their clinical model is designed to reduce the total cost of care by 13%. Release

Two raises of note this week (are we seeing the return of lettered rounds?):

Cohere Health lands a $90 million Series C raise. The round was led by by Temasek, with continued support from Deerfield Management, Define Ventures, Flare Capital Partners, Longitude Capital, and Polaris Partners. Their total funding now exceeds $200 million since their start in 2019. Cohere Health automates prior authorization workflows, accelerating decisioning and review for physician practices. They are planning to expand their technology with AI to improve care management and other types of administrative burden.  Release, FierceHealthcare

Olio Health raised $11 million in a Series B. The round was led by by Fulcrum Equity Partners, with participation from Mutual Capital Partners (MCP). Their Series A round of $13 million in August 2022 was led by MCP for a total since 2017 of $26.5 million. Olio’s ‘oil’ is a care management platform for value-based care primary care providers, payers, and health systems for post-acute care. The additional funding will be used for product expansion and accelerate their go-to-market initiatives. Olio is headquartered in Indianapolis.  Release, Mobihealthnews

Theranos’ revenge? Holmes’ partner Billy Evans founds a startup for diagnostic testing, denies it is ‘Theranos 2.0’; Holmes loses Federal rehearing appeal.

May 14, 2025 | by

The technologies may differ, but the functions remain the same. Haemanthus, a biologic testing startup founded by hotel heir Billy Evans—widely recognized as Elizabeth Holmes’ partner and father of her two children—has suddenly and bumpily emerged–kind of–from stealth mode. Coverage in the New York Times and NPR has drawn unfavorable comparisons to Theranos’ failed blood-testing venture and highlighted Evans’ connection to Holmes, who is currently serving an approximately 11 year sentence at the women’s Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas.

Haemanthus, named after the Latin name for the blood lily plant, has developed a prototype box-like device (right) that uses Raman spectroscopy, using lasers, photonics, and other light technologies, coupled to AI-based software that analyzes biologic samples. The initial diagnostics will focus on pet diseases and the veterinary market before entering the human market, with the machine analyzing blood, saliva, and urine for biomarkers such as glucose and hormones. Deep learning models based in the software would then have the ability to detect diseases such as cancer and infections. Raman spectroscopy is already used in human diagnostics to analyze biomolecules like proteins, DNA, and lipids, as well as studying cell structure, tissue composition, and cellular processes. The company, in its investment materials, intends to develop a stamp-size, wearable device for humans.

The company, currently backed by Evans, has raised money from friends, family and other supporters so far, according to one of the sources quoted by NPR. The NYT stated that was a $3.5 million raise. This spring, Evans has been reaching out to other investors in Austin, where he lives with the children, and the Bay Area. The goal is eventually $50 million. To expand to humans after pets, their investor materials state that it will take three years and a total raise of $70 million.

James Breyer of the eponymous Breyer Capital was approached for investment but turned it down for the same reasons as he did Theranos, twice. Michael Dell also passed, according to the NYT. A local investor the NYT identified is Matthew E. Parkhurst, an investor who is also the part owner of a Mediterranean tapas bar in downtown Austin.

The NYT article brings up regulatory oversight. The USDA, the US Department of Agriculture, regulates veterinary medicine and diagnostics. Yet Mr. Evans sent to the NYT a partially redacted document from the USDA that said, “It does not appear that the proposed product is within the regulatory jurisdiction” of the Center for Veterinary Biologics, which is a part of the USDA.” 

What has created the most news is that the NPR article explicitly stated that Elizabeth Holmes was advising Evans on the startup, without specifics on what and how. The company reportedly has about 12 employees, some of whom worked at Evans’ prior venture, Luminar Technologies, a developer of autonomous vehicle sensors, according to the company’s patent and Delaware incorporation paperwork.

The two articles generated enough stir that Haemanthus took to X on 11 May to state in several tweets (samples below):

We’re Haemanthus. Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes’ partner. Skepticism is rational. We must clear a higher bar. When @nytimes contacted us, we invited them: see our lab, tech, and team. They declined. The headline was already written. Our reality inconvenient.
2/This is not Theranos 2.0. Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests. Our approach is fundamentally different. We use light to read the complete molecular story in biological fluids, seeing patterns current tests can’t detect. Not an improvement. A different paradigm.
3/ Setting the record straight. Elizabeth Holmes has zero involvement in Haemanthus. We’ve learned from her company’s mistakes, but she has no role, now or future. NYT & @NPR implied otherwise. We’ve stayed quiet to build real tech, not conceal. Demonstrating, not promising.

Fast Company and the Mercury News also review Haemanthus’ sudden emergence. Hat tip to HIStalk 5/12/25

Elizabeth Holmes will likely be remaining in Bryan for the remainder of her sentence. The Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals rejected her petition last week to have a full en banc or original panel review of her fraud conviction appeal. The District Court’s sentence of both Holmes and Sunny Balwani were upheld in February [TTA 5 Mar]. “The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc, and no judge of the court has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc,” the panel said in its short, four-sentence order. Unless the US Supreme Court issues a highly unlikely writ of certiorari based on her petition, this is the end of her long-running courtroom drama. Her 11 year sentence is at this point at about two years served with additional reductions of two years and four months, now with a release date of 18 February 2032.  There is also a small matter of Holmes and Balwani paying back $452 million in restitution for their fraud. Courthouse News Service, CNBC  

The only discussion of Balwani’s separate petition for a review (Court Listener) has been on Reddit by legal maven mattschwink. Balwani’s argument for a rehearing is based upon an assertion that a witness, investor Brian Tolbert, lied on the stand about being told by Holmes on an investor call that the Theranos machines were being used on Afghanistan medevac helicopters. The investor call was not played, nor the testimony brought up at Balwani’s trial, which based on precedent may constitute withholding of exculpatory evidence. In his view, this is likely not enough to constitute a falsehood by the prosecution.

Regardless of whether Haemanthus’ denials of Holmes’ “advisory services” are true, it’s unlikely that Holmes could provide substantial guidance to the company beyond brief, casual talks during Billy Evans’ visits—especially considering whether such activities are allowed while residing in an FPC.

News roundup: Omada Health files for IPO, UPMC-Redesign partner on chronic pain management, OK and PA AGs warn 23andMe users to delete data, Verily to build Parkinson’s dataset, what payers paid for exec security

May 13, 2025 | by

Omada Health’s IPO filing kicked off the week’s news. The chronic condition care management company is the second with a major IPO this year, stirring a dormant healthcare market. There aren’t a lot of offering details in the 9 May SEC Form S-1 registration and preliminary prospectus, but the IPO will launch on Nasdaq Global Markets under the symbol OMDA. There is no disclosure of timing, number of shares to be offered, or pricing. Their prior funding since 2011 is over $528 million through a Series E and debt financing, with lead investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest Venture Partners, Wellington Management, New Enterprise Associates, and Founder Collective (Crunchbase).

Omada’s focus on ‘bending the disease’ curve via a ‘between-visit care model’ for diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and MSK patients has met with success. With a listing of 2,000+ customers and over 679,000 total members enrolled in one or more programs, their 2024 revenue grew 38% from $122.8 million to $169.8 million in 2023, with Q1 2025 by 57% to $55.0 million from 2024’s $35.1 million. Revenue does not mean profit, with net losses of $67.5 million in 2024 and $47.1 million in 2023, with $9.4 million in losses during Q1 2025 reduced from $19 million in Q1 2024. CNBC, Mobihealthnews, FierceHealthcare

Larger and MSK-focused competitor Hinge Health announced its own IPO back in mid-March [TTA 14 Mar] via a SEC S-1 filing and preliminary prospectus, but sent out word that it was postponing by April [TTA 8 April]. With markets doing much better, it’s anticipated that their debut on the NYSE will be this summer. Their funders which have invested over $826 million since 2012 are undoubtedly eager for ROI.

The Redesign Health-UPMC Enterprises partnership launches Glimmer Health. The new company supports primary care physicians to manage their patients’ chronic pain. Chronic pain affects 25% of, or 70 million, US adults. It addresses the lack of resources that primary care practices generally lack to manage the chronic pain of their patients. The Glimmer Health platform integrates advanced medical expertise, behavioral health support, and seamless care coordination via specialized nurse-practitioners, care managers, and social workers to coordinate care plans and guide patients. The company grows out of UPMC’s pain clinics and 12 years of experience in comprehensive assessment and multimodal treatment approaches. Ajay Wasan, M.D., M.Sc., professor of anesthesiology and psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and vice chair for pain medicine at Pitt and UPMC, who leads the clinics, is now medical director of Glimmer Health. CEO is Alissa Meade, previously CEO of Together Senior Health, sold last year to Linus Health according to her LinkedIn profile. UPMC release

“Delete Your 23andMe Data!” say Oklahoma’s and Pennsylvania’s Attorneys General. Oklahoma’s AG Gentner Drummond finally got the news (via the wind whistling down the plains?) along with Pennsylvania’s AG Dave Sunday that 23andMe went bankrupt in March and it, or parts, are up for sale. The two AGs advise citizens of their respective states to delete their data, instruct 23andMe to destroy their test sample, and revoke research consent for their data. Well, the rush is over at least…it’s better late than never. The instructions are clear, though their efficacy with 23andMe in actually removing it, including survey data, versus following FTC policies on securing the data, is in reasonable doubt [TTA 3 April]. After all, user genetic data and information is all that 23andMe has to sell.  Oklahoma AG’s release, The Oklahoman, Levittown (PA) Now

Alphabet/Google’s Verily health data/AI unit to build a Parkinson’s molecular research dataset. With a $14.7 million grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), Verily will be building what they term is a comprehensive molecular dataset to advance Parkinson’s disease research. The dataset is based on data previously collected as part of the Personalized Parkinson’s Project (PPP), a collaboration with the Radboud University Medical Center, in a two-year longitudinal study of 520 people with Parkinson’s. It included detailed clinical histories, data from the Verily Study Watch, imaging data, and matched biospecimens such as blood and cerebrospinal fluid. It will be made publicly available to researchers through Verily’s Workbench solution. According to Verily’s release, the molecular data includes:

  • A comprehensive, high-resolution immunogenomic data resource to fuel research on the immune system’s association with Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis.
  • Whole genome sequences for those that have consented to enable discovery of genetic factors associated with different aspects of Parkinson’s disease.
  • Metabolomic and alpha-Synuclein data, which have shown promise for assessing and predicting disease activity and stages.

No deadline was disclosed. Mobihealthnews

How much does it cost to protect healthcare corporate executives? Executive security is one of those hidden costs that is not always easy to determine. Some receive it, others do not, at least for public consumption or paid for by the company.

  • UnitedHealth Group in 2024 totaled $1.7 million in security costs.  The largest cost was for executive protection for Optum CEO Heather Cianfrocco, $926,989. CEO Andrew Witty’s security costs, not included in the $1.7 million, totaled $150,951. He was also required to use the company’s corporate aircraft for business travel (cost not itemized) and was encouraged to do so for personal travel, should the plane be available. Witty did not use it for the latter in 2024. Brian Thompson unfortunately received no security.
  • CVS Health did not itemize direct security costs for CEO David Joyner in 2024. His disclosed expenses from October on were $15,787 on personal use of the company plane; $7,713 for the use of a company car and driver; and $82,603 on home security. Personal travel expenses using company resources must be reimbursed over $250,000 (!). Previous CEO Karen Lynch racked up expenses of $242,051 on personal aircraft use; $95,199 on the use of a company car and driver; and $44,645 on personal protection. Security totaling $56,610 was extended to her for six months after she was replaced by David Joyner.
  • Cigna’s CEO David Cordani is required to use the company aircraft for business and personal travel. The latter totaled $231,008 in 2024. Spending for executive protection was not disclosed. Cigna does not consider security a perquisite for executive compensation purposes. There is no further information about executive security.
  • Elevance Health lists executive security as “other perquisites” and apparently it is modest. For CEO Gail Boudreaux, they spent $93,387 and for Peter Haytaian, president of Elevance’s Carelon unit, $36,213. Boudreaux also was permitted limited use of corporate aircraft for up to 50 hours of personal flight time each year not to exceed a total of $199,000 in costs. 
  • Centene Corporation discloses few costs around executive security, only providing it to CEO Sarah London until December 2024. Her 2024 security totaled $69,133. Interestingly, CFO Drew Asher received $98,358 in protection services and COO Susan Smith $33,244. London also had $143,854 in expenses for personal aircraft usage. Centene policy is that the aircraft is available for security reasons but did not disclose whether London or other executives were required to use the plane for business use.
  • Finally, Humana’s only disclosures around security was for the perquisite of personal corporate plane usage, and it’s limited. CEO Jim Rechtin incurred $36,166, with former CEO Bruce Broussard spending $37,434 .

FierceHealthcare’s Paige Minemeyer did the dig.