TTA’s Summer #1: Hims buys Zava for EU/UK, Omada’s IPO, Wojcicki tries harder to buy 23andMe, UnitedHealth’s miseries explored, Centene sued on AZ network, more!

June 5, 2025 | by

5 June 2025

Warmer temps, warmer news, a little earlier this week. We lead with Hims & Hers buying with their free cash UK/Europe’s similar Zava. Omada rumored to go public on Friday or shortly thereafter, while Anne Wojcicki takes a last-ditch run at buying her bankrupt company with an unnamed backer. UnitedHealth’s miseries remain very much in the news, with other opinions at variance, but all agree it’s a deep hole they’ve dug. Nonetheless, UHG shareholders seem to have some confidence in their new CEO, but aren’t yet giving him combat pay. And a lawsuit against Centene in AZ uncovers inaccurate provider ‘ghost networks’.

This just in: Hims acquires Zava, adds 1.3 million European/UK telemed customers (A way to grow and defy the bears?)

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 (Omada listing up on Friday, possibly)

Anne Wojcicki asks 23andMe bankruptcy court to reopen bidding on 12 June with fresh offer (Why, Anne, why??)

Two other views on UnitedHealth Group’s annus horribilis, for your consideration (Going inside the black box)

From last week: Our big article this week is your Editor’s think-piece on breaking up UnitedHealth Group in order to save it–and healthcare. We also look at post-GLP-1 weight gain–and what it means for providers, in-person and telehealth, ‘soft’ robotics out of Scotland, NZ’s telehealth war with GPs, and what’s doing at companies like Midi Health, AssistIQ, Ambience, Auxira, and Yosi Health. And plenty of weekend reading and viewing!

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

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 (Two disappointments that look like advances)

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 (Reality bites GLP-1s and a soft robot wee bairn)

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

Should free-falling UnitedHealth Group be broken up? Or break itself up to survive, before it becomes another GE? (updated) (Not a rant, more a ‘get going’ to avoid disaster!)

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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

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

HHS reorganizing ONC, ASTP in tech funding, talent bid; FDA’s Digital Health Advisory Committee named; GAO scores progress on VA Telehealth Access Program

August 8, 2024 | by

Time to make lemonade? The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in the midst of technical challenges such as AI and cybersecurity, has turned its weary eyes to a reorganization of a function that goes back two decades to the GW Bush administration. Technology has been under the purview of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology (HIT), currently Micky Tripathi, within HHS–but not entirely. The HHS solution is to rename ONC-HIT as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, or ASTP, and to add in IT functions distributed to other offices within HHS. 

  • Not unexpectedly, HHS will hire three new technical experts: a chief technology officer (vacant for several years), a chief AI officer (currently held by Tripathi). and a chief data officer.
  • The new ASTP will also absorb the IT functions within HHS’ Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA).
  • Another shift is being made to the HHS 405(d) Program, a partnership between the health sector and the federal government to align healthcare  cybersecurity practices. That moves from ASA to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

With this, ASTP hopes for more funding. Since the early 2000s, their budget has remained stagnant at $50-65 million, not including ‘paste ons’ for initiatives such as HITECH and 21st Century Cures. Healthcare Dive, Fierce Healthcare

Another alphabet committee formed to advise the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Digital Health Advisory Committee (DHAC) has been named to advise FDA on topics such as AI/ML, virtual reality, wearables, digital therapeutics, and remote patient monitoring (RPM). The chair will be Ami Bhatt, MD, chief innovation officer of the American College of Cardiology. A full list of the committee is in FierceHealthcare and the DHAC industry representative pool is here.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has more than a few reservations about the Veterans Health Administration’s Telehealth Access Program. The VA has had in place since 2019 a distributed telehealth program to enable veterans without internet access at home to obtain clinical telehealth services at outside locations. The Accessing Telehealth at Local Area Stations (ATLAS) pilot program works with private organizations, such as veterans service organizations, to provide locations where veterans can connect with VA clinicians for video consults. The problem is that 14 of 24 ATLAS sites active at the time had no veteran visits in Federal FY 2022 and 2023. Of the active 10, reports were favorable but not measurable. Where GAO scores VA is that the program lacked performance goals and related measures. VA going forward will implement goals and measures based on leading good practices and assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the ATLAS program on an ongoing basis. GAO report.