...to health IT provider Kyndryl; Franciscan Health–moved 61 to a vendor. Pennywise, pound foolish. Here’s more than money you’ve left behind with your online holiday shopping–data, and lots of it. This study from Incogni Research is unnerving, as it goes far beyond what you think you’ve shared–you buy nasal spray in the winter, allergy eyedrops in the spring, etc.– to what retailers are actually collecting on you. This Editor will cite only the companies in healthcare–CVS, Walgreens, Amazon, and Walmart–according to their study: All four collect PII data that includes customers’ identifiers (like their names, online identifiers, and driver’s license... Continue Reading
Search Results for CVS-Aetna
DOJ and FTC finalize Merger Guidelines, deliver coal for holiday stockings and the New Year (updated)
...the Agencies consider the cumulative effect of the pattern or strategy.” The behemoths like UnitedHealth Group, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and CVS Health will have no rivals for many years. The flip side: they will have trouble making additional acquisitions without forcing divestitures, or find buyers when they wish to divest money-losing units. Partnerships may accelerate–with all their risks of purloined IP and monetary disputes. But smaller companies may use it to band together without antitrust risk. The SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) may make a comeback. They will not have any antitrust conflicts but risk a chancy public market, at... Continue Reading
Signs of the next phase in 2024? Veradigm CEO, CFO booted (updated); SmileDirectClub fails, TeleDentists steps up; FruitStreet sues Sharecare for $25M; Walgreens’ former CEO Roz Brewer’s platinum parachute
...three years. (Cracked SPACs, IPOs, and more) Too many players competing with each other with near-identical services in what turns out to be a limited market–and gaining advantage by cutting patient health, privacy, and regulatory corners. (DTC telemental care and drug prescribing) Layoffs at companies that over-hired in the boom spreading to larger companies that largely did not, cutting their next generation of leaders in response to Mr. Market and creating internal chaos. (Instigating panic at blue-chips like CVS and Walgreens) Stupid (yes) acquisitions being acknowledged and cleaned off the books–none too quietly, but done for survival’s sake. (Somewhere there... Continue Reading
Cigna-Humana deal fizzles after two weeks after term discussion fails, shareholders nix
...of least $5 billion of stock will take place between now and H1 2024. Cigna will also concentrate on smaller ‘bolt-on’ acquisitions and the sale of its Medicare Advantage business as previously announced. In the past five days, Cigna shares plumped by nearly $50 and Humana’s by about $10. The WSJ‘s sources stated that Cigna continues to believe in a combination with Humana, something that the two companies have danced around for years, dating back even before the proposed payer megamergers of 2015 which saw Humana’s acquisition by Aetna (and Cigna’s by Anthem, now Elevance) disapproved both by states and... Continue Reading
News roundup: ONC recommends ‘nutrition labeling’ for healthcare AI apps but Google moves forward; CVS’ health services rebranding as Healthspire (updated); Clover Health repots out of ACO REACH
...lovely bridges for sale. POLITICO, Becker’s CVS Health grouping health services and multi-payer assets under CVS Healthspire. Monday’s announcement at the Forbes Healthcare Summit will roll up new $20 billion acquisitions Oak Street Health and Signify Health along with 1,100 MinuteClinics, the CVS Caremark pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), CVS Specialty, and its new Cordavis operation that works with pharmaceutical companies to bring to market biosimilars. The rebranding, a clever melding of ‘health’ and ‘inspire’, will start this month into 2024. It’s not revealed whether the current names will be sunsetted for CVS Healthspire, or whether they will keep their established... Continue Reading
Short takes: a rumor of merger/buy with Cigna and Humana–what are the odds? (updated) And what’s up with the low number of HIMSS 24 exhibitors?
...suites to the worker cubes. After the deals were scuppered in the Federal District Court, Anthem and Cigna bitterly fought over damages and cancellation fees in Delaware Chancery Court. Aetna and Humana took their lumps and breakup fees, and went on. Aetna went on to merge with CVS, a deal that avoided most of the antitrust flak. Humana went on to acquisitions in other areas. Our betting line. Both insurers will look at the financials in this hard-to-get-arrested year. Both will feel out the Feds before going forward. Both will calculate whether it’s best to start now or wait till... Continue Reading
Has Amazon lost its ‘edge’ in healthcare? Or finally seeing reality?
Amazon’s long and winding road to Healthcare Reality is no surprise to those tracking Amazon’s moves over the past few years. And Bloomberg agrees. In the eyes of many of the industry, Amazon was one of the top companies revolutionizing healthcare in a consumer-focused, tech-driven model. They were making The Big Moves along with giants CVS and Walgreens with an open wallet, with Walmart lagging and tagging behind. But when you turn a Gimlet Eye to the track record, The Big Moves were marked by hubris, uncertainty, lack of focus, lack of healthcare expertise, and just plain bad judgment. First,... Continue Reading
Primary care provider Forward introduces CarePod kiosks, raises $100 million for deployment–but will it work this time?
...cleanliness, and claustrophobia. FierceHealthcare, PYMNTS This Editor has also taken a dim view of open kiosks placed in retailers such as CVS Health, Walmart, and supermarkets, such as Higi (bought by Babylon Health but evidently not part of the bankruptcy) and Pursuant Health (the former SoloHealth), having seen all too many of them in dusty corners, neglected, and often with Out Of Order signs. The Forward plan to restrict them to malls, offices, and gyms seems to avoid the retail crunch but one wonders what the breakeven is–or if this is a substitute for office expansion. A commenter with a... Continue Reading
This ‘n’ that: HHS settles *2017* ransomware breach, Carbon Health lays off 114 in restructuring, why oh why VC General Catalyst wants a $3B health system, when Larry Met Billy, a lexicon of workplace terms
...for 60% of their revenue, but as it waned in 2022, so did their revenue by 23%. To date, their funding has been over $622 million, with $100 million in January in a Series D funded by CVS Health Ventures. This isn’t their first big layoff–200 staffers said goodbye in January as well as 250 in mid-2022 which was about 8%. Becker’s General Catalyst’s newest venture into Health Transformation Land, HATco, The Health Assurance Transformation Corporation, is in the market for a health system in the “$1 billion to $3 billion” range. Not too small to not have an impact... Continue Reading
News roundup: Walgreens & CVS pharmacy staff 3 day walkout, DOJ ramping up healthcare acquisition scrutiny, Cantata Health sold to TT Capital, Lancashire County Council chooses Progress Lifeline for TECS (UK)
Kicking off the week, a walkout. Pharmacy staff at both Walgreens and CVS locations are participating in a three-day walkout that started today (30 October) and will go through Wednesday (1 November). The scope is limited–organizers are urging pharmacists to call in sick on those days and the actions appear to be somewhat scattered by state. This follows an earlier mid-October three-day walkout [TTA 11 Oct]. The Walgreens action, according to organizers, will end on Wednesday with Wednesday with a planned demonstration outside Walgreens’ headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. The organizer quoted by MedCityNews and CNN, Shane... Continue Reading
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