Short takes: Orion digital pain therapeutic to be commercialized by Newel Health; Verma to head Oracle Health; CVS to shut 25 LA-area MinuteClinics

February 2, 2024 | by

Orion Health licenses its chronic pain therapeutic to Newel Health. Orion’s ODD-533 (Rohkea), classified by FDA and the EU MDR as software as a medical device (MDSW or SaMD) will be developed, manufactured, and commercialized by Newel. Newel, located in Salerno, Italy, designs and commercializes digital medicine and digital therapeutics (DTx) for the US and EU such as Soturi, a digital therapeutic app for Parkinson’s Disease [TTA 23 Feb 23], Orion, located in Espoo, Finland, develops primarily human and animal pharmaceutical products. Orion release

Oracle wastes no time in finding a new Oracle Health head, Seema Verma. Conveniently in-house, the former head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from April 2017 to January 2021 joined Oracle in April last year as senior VP in charge of life sciences.  As executive VP, she will oversee both Oracle Health and life sciences as general manager. Verma’s appointment was announced internally in December, according to Bloomberg. In January, Oracle Health’s general manager, Travis Dalton, announced his departure effective 1 March to join MultiPlan as CEO and president. Verma’s government experience will come in handy, as she has the difficult situation of the stalled Millenium EHR at the VA as well as finalizing the Military Health System rollout, ensuring interoperability–as well as growing the faltering hospital EHR business. By combining the positions, Oracle also eliminates one large C-suite salary. Becker’s

And confirming signs of softness in the clinic business [TTA 24 Jan, JPM’s new reality], CVS announced the closure of 25 MinuteClinics in the Los Angeles area. Closing date is 25 February. They will retain 11 MinuteClinic locations in the Los Angeles area, including an on-demand virtual care practice. Clinics are losing out to virtual care and for more immediate needs, urgent care. This follows Walgreens’ closure of a planned 60 VillageMD adjacent practice locations and softness in their CityMD clinic group. List of 25 closures (LA Times), Becker’s

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?

December 2, 2023 | by

crystal-ballCigna and Humana, perfect together? Only if they can get the deal through the Feds and the states. Late this week, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Cigna and Humana were exploring either a merger or, as some theorize, a buy of Humana ($93 billion in revenue, $60 billion valuation) by much-larger Cigna ($181 billion in revenue, $78 billion valuation). Between them, it is estimated that they would have 35 million members. No transaction cost has been estimated, but the WSJ sources indicate it will be a stock-and-cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year if all goes well.

On paper, industry observers like it but point out the overlap in one significant area.

  • Cigna earlier announced that it wants to sell its relatively small Medicare Advantage business, concentrating on its leadership in the commercial business and with its service businesses under the Evernorth umbrella.
  • Humana is exiting its commercial health plans to focus on MA and Medicaid, as well as its large footprint in the home health business with CenterWell.
  • Humana’s CEO Bruce Broussard is retiring next year, with newcomer to Humana Jim Rechtin joining as COO in January 2024 as his replacement. Cigna’s CEO David Cordani is a sprightly 57 and likely not to go anywhere.
  • The overlap area that could be problematic is pharmacy benefit management (PBM) with each having about 17-18 million in Express Scripts (Cigna), the second largest in the US, and Humana Pharmacy Solutions. 

Liking it on paper is one thing–FTC, DOJ, and 50 states may not feel so enthusiastic. It’s established through their actions that both Federal agencies are reining in M&A with new and restrictive merger guidelines scheduled to go into effect next year [TTA 20 July]. Healthcare is a major political hot button for this administration for cost–especially drug costs. That is where the reportedly equally sized in revenue PBM operations present the most major conflict to a merger or a buy, both in service and valuation. Both serve their own plan members as well as others, notably Express Scripts with 24% of claims, whereas Humana’s serves primarily its own plan members with 8% of claims. Neither are easy to divest without creating antitrust questions for acquirers and a major dent in Humana’s services. The final factor: Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, has never seen a merger that she’s liked based on her own statements [TTA 24 Aug].

Doomed to repeat history? In 2015, two payer mega-mergers involving these same companies were concocted: Cigna with Anthem and Humana with Aetna. They hit the buzzsaws of DOJ and before that, state approvals. The DOJ pursued them on antitrust in the Federal courts which derailed both by January 2017. Running up to that, every state got an approval vote through review by each state’s Department of Banking and Insurance or equivalent. Many did not approve or with conditions. The other factor is corporate. In the runup to the merger, Anthem-Cigna was marked by escalating animosity from the management 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 next year and a possible change in administration. Neither company wants to be a political target in an election year. Defensively, Cigna may make noises about other combinations–Centene and Molina have been mentioned–which present their own difficulties and troubles, to strategically try to force the issue. Stay tuned! MedCityNews, Axios

Update: Other analysts suddenly are on board with this Editor’s gimlety view of the matchup, citing antitrust and how Federal regulators are primed to challenge major deals. The FTC is specifically probing the PBM business. The fact that the deal, according to JP Morgan, could take 12 to 24 months is no surprise as par for the course, but Mr. Market didn’t like it, dragging down both companies’ share prices every day since the rumor broke. (Hmmmm….do they read TTA?)  But a small lamp was lit by one analyst: a Cigna-Humana combo could present real competition to the 9,000 lb. elephant of healthcare, UnitedHealth Group, and that might help to put it over. FierceHealthcare

Another concern that occurred to your Editor: Cigna’s international footprint could mean additional approvals by UK and EU regulators.

According to Healthcare Dive’s analysis, the combined entity would have a PBM market share of 32%, right up against CVS Health-Caremark at 33% and UHG’s OptumRx way behind at 22%. It’s a small group with big barriers to entry which makes it a slam-dunk to antitrust regulators.  A whistle in the dark might be UHG’s long-drawn-out buy of Change Healthcare, but there were divestitures of business before closing and both parties managed to prove to the satisfaction of a US District Court that the separation to Optum Insight would not affect business relationships with other health plans. But here, both are health plans, and both have PBMs.

HIMSS 24 exhibitors, where are you? An item in today’s HIStalk on the ‘interesting’ choice as closing keynoter of football coach Nick Saban (U of Alabama Crimson Tide) at a healthcare IT conference went on to compare the number of booked HIMSS exhibitors to date with HIMSS 23’s floor total. This Editor, who for a few years booked the least expensive HIMSS space for the company she worked for back then well in advance, could not believe the low number of exhibitors three months from show time in March. Checking the HIMSS show website, there are 501 exhibitors listed. In 2023, according to HIStalk, there were 1,216. Many of these exhibitors have multiple booths in the Orange County (Orlando) Convention Center, but it still indicates the uncertain state of healthcare, pullbacks in marketing budgets, the rise of real competition in HLTH and ViVE, and perhaps some concerns about the show management transition from HIMSS itself to Informa. Are industry and IT influentials skipping HIMSS next year? Stay tuned or comment below!

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)

October 31, 2023 | by

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 Jerominski, a former Walgreens pharmacist and now with an independent pharmacy, stated that the issues are over short-staffing and overwork. In addition to their main tasks of accurately filling prescriptions, he said that they also deal with requests for administering vaccinations, testing, setting up auto-refills and other tasks. Mr. Jerominski claims that 2,500 Walgreens pharmacists and technicians will participate, which is coming as a surprise to Walgreens management. He also claimed to CNN 25 store closures.

Pharmacy workers are not currently unionized, but both the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU) are interested and support the walkouts. The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) also issued a statement of support from their CEO including issues such as patient harassment, burnout, quotas, and additional fees imposed by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) such as Express Scripts and Optum. Becker’s

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues its warning shots over the bow to Big Healthcare. POLITICO, the daily broadsheet of the political class, reported that Andrew Forman, a deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s antitrust division, warned that DOJ would be 1) closely scrutinizing all deals for antitrust and 2) stepping up post-merger investigations. This is all about “monopoly’ of healthcare markets as deemed by DOJ–and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), currently ax-tossing at Amazon. Mr. Forman cited national economic data, blame-gaming among health care providers, insurers and drug makers, and economic analysts–as well as the public comments registered as part of DOJ’s draft merger guidelines. Hiding behind value-based care isn’t going to help as DOJ is questioning whether payer/provider consolidation actually delivers on VBC, but instead “delivers on increased power and conduct that increases barriers and otherwise harms competition”. A far more complete summary of his remarks at the Health Care Competition Conference of The Capitol Forum is at Medical Economics. 

Our backgrounders on both DOJ and FTC actions around antitrust and mergers are summarized on 24 August (lead item) including our 20 July analysis of the Draft Merger Guidelines and this Editor’s educated guesses on the cloudy future of M&A. Also Becker’s

Slipping in under the DOJ radar is Cantata Health’s majority sale to a private equity group, TT Capital Partners (TTCP). Cantata developed and markets the Arize EHR and revenue cycle management platform for behavioral health, human services, acute and post-acute care. Arize is in 280 healthcare facilities across 45 states, as well as Canada, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Investment amount nor percentage are disclosed, nor who exited or management changes. However, a look back at a 2017 release about Cantata’s formation states that another PE, GPB Capital, acquired NTT DATA’s healthcare software assets for acute and long-term care. TTCP release

In Lancashire, the County Council has chosen a new preferred provider for technology enabled care services (TECS), Progress Lifeline, in a competitive bid. The Council currently provides personal alarm button pendants, wristbands, and wireless home sensors and detectors to local residents for a monthly fee. A significant factor in these new bids is enabling a smooth analogue-to-digital changeover, a critical issue for UK telecare providers. Progress release   Hat tip to Diane Gannon of Progress

Mid-week roundup: CVS-Oak Street closes, DEA extends controlled substance telehealth waiver, Bright Health selling CA MA plans, Talkspace, Teladoc turnarounds? (updated)

May 4, 2023 | by

CVS closed its $10.6 billion deal for Oak Street Health, well before the anticipated end of 2023. It picks up 169 primary care offices in 21 states–and an unprofitable operation that clocked a loss last year of $510 million without much of a change till 2025. The quick closing was likely spurred by both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) letting their antitrust challenge period expire at the end of March with nary a whimper. DOJ and FTC, the latter which has been remarkably ‘pixelated’ of late on privacy issues with GoodRx and Teladoc’s BetterHelp, evidently passed on ‘egg on the face’ and let the ovoid land squarely on Elizabeth Warren’s Senate desk. She had asked FTC to ‘carefully scrutinize’ the deal. Shareholders received a tidy $39 per share. OSH will remain a multi-payer practice and now-former CEO Mike Pykosz will lead the company under CVS’ new healthcare delivery arm. This follows on CVS’ closing of Signify Health [TTA 30 March].  CVS release, FierceHealthcare Our prior gimlety coverage of CVS/OSH: 16 Feb, 2 March, Unlike OSH, CVS had a strong Q1 with $2.1 billion in profit, slightly down from 2022’s $2.4 billion, and an 11% boost in revenue. FierceHealthcare

DEA in-person prescribing requirements on Schedule II and higher controlled substances postponed indefinitely. The proposed rule would have added back in-person requirements for telehealth prescribing of controlled substances after the official end of the Public Health Emergency and its in-person waivers on 11 May. On 25 April, the DEA filed a draft temporary rule with the Office of Management and Budget for the extension. The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 requires that Schedule II medications and narcotics (including Adderall and Ritalin) require an in-person prescription, while Schedule III or higher medications, including buprenorphine, Ambien, Valium, Xanax and ketamine can be prescribed for 30 days via telehealth but would require an in-person visit before a refill. The DEA was deluged with 38,000 comments and advocacy pressure from ATA. The change has also thrown a wrench in the works of online mental health companies which prescribe many of these drugs. FierceHealthcare  Updated–The ATA has weighed in favorably about the DEA postponement. Kyle Zebley, executive director of ATA Action, stated in their release that “Our hope is that the DEA will use the time of an extension to be responsive to the concerns of telehealth advocates, patients, and the American people to create rules that ensure access to clinical care that is not inappropriately restricted.”

Bright Health put its California Medicare Advantage plans up for sale. The company, staring down at bankruptcy [TTA 7 Apr, 20 Apr] does not yet have a buyer for the MA plans. When they are sold, it will be Bright’s exit as a health insurer, as it has exited MA plans in Florida and exchange plans everywhere else–in a flurry of state investigations ranging from Tennessee to Texas. Bright plans to focus on its provider arm, NeueHealth. Healthcare Dive

Talkspace narrowed its loss, increased revenue. The telemental health provider narrowed its Q1 net loss to $8.8 million compared to 2022’s $18.3 million in Q4 2022 and $20.4 million in Q1. Revenue increased to $33.3 million versus last year’s Q1 of $30.2 million. Their source of business has shifted to B2B with a 71% increase, a sharp departure from their formerly dominant consumer segment which has declined 40%.  Their 2023 forecast revenue is $130-135 million. It is still facing a Nasdaq delisting as trading below $1.00 per share and a class action lawsuit on subscription renewals. Mobihealthnews

Teladoc also waxed positive, ‘beating the Street’ with Q1 revenue growth of 11% to $629 million. This was powered as expected by BetterHelp, Teladoc’s direct-to-consumer mental health business. Their revenue grew to $279 million, a 21% increase. Teladoc’s enterprise business also had a 5% boost to almost $350 million. Their weight loss business is expected to be another net positive income generator, but not affecting results until 2024 as it won’t be introduced until Q3 [TTA 21 April]. The road to profitability will be a long one, as losses this quarter were $69.2 million, but compared to last year’s $6.7 billion writedown of Livongo, it’s positively smooth. Healthcare Dive

Mid-week corral: CVS closes Signify Health; Bertolini to lead Oscar Health; ViVE highlights from Wellvana, AWS, Everly Health; Better Therapeutics lays off 35%, CoverMyMeds 815

March 30, 2023 | by

CVS closed its acquisition of Signify Health today. This $8 billion transaction ($30.50/share) adds a network of more than 10,000 clinicians nationally, including the 170-provider Medicare ACO group originally organized by Caravan Health. It was beneficial to the major shareholder group, New Mountain Capital and their investors, which owned 60% of Signify and have a tidily profitable exit. The CVS press release stated that Signify would continue to operate as a ‘payer-agnostic’ business within CVS Health. As earlier stated, Kyle Armbrester, Signify’s CEO, will continue to lead the business. Also Healthcare Dive (updated)

The bulldog engineer of the CVS-Aetna merger, Mark Bertolini, now tapped to head Oscar Health. Bertolini, the former chairman/CEO of Aetna (center), in the past three years since his unwilling (according to him) departure from the CVS board of directors [TTA 6 Feb 2020], has not been idle. From 2022, he was co-CEO of asset management firm Bridgewater Associates, and in the last 18 months, he has been a ‘strategic advisor’ to insurtech Oscar. Now he moves to the CEO office effective next Monday (3 April) and joins their board. Co-founder Mario Schlosser (left) steps back from CEO to president of technology, reporting to Bertolini, and joins the board. Joshua Kushner, a co-founder and major investor (Thrive Capital), as well as executive chairman of the board, is on the right in the leadership picture supplied with the Business Wire release.

Once a skeptic of insurtechs like Oscar, Bertolini by his statements is now a true believer. In a call with investors on Tuesday, he cited their technology that included digitization, individualization, and personal care. A major factor is that consumers are more comfortable since the pandemic with telehealth. Oscar was a pioneer in offering free telehealth with their plans.

Investors have pressed Oscar to get over to a profitable state by next year. Oscar has not been profitable since its 2012 founding by Schlosser, Kushner, and the long-departed Kevin Nazemi. In the time since Bertolini joined as an advisor, they have largely shed their Medicare Advantage business and concentrated on their individual market and ACA plans, which have seen huge growth along with overall record enrollment on the exchanges. But Oscar paused on new ACA signups in Florida and hauled back its glitchy and over-featured +Oscar tech platform [TTA 24 April 2021], which is now available unbundled. 2022 financials were substantially in the red with a loss of $610 million on revenue of $4 billion (Oscar release). However, the news of Bertolini moving to Oscar’s helm was met with a round of investor confidence. Share price moved from Monday’s close of $3.41 to $6.70 midday Tuesday and has largely stayed in the $6.00 range. Oscar release on Business Wire, FierceHealthcare, Healthcare Dive, YahooFinance

ViVE, the digital health spinoff of HLTH, concluded its annual meeting in Nashville this year with an announced attendance of 7,500, including 650 startups, 425 investors, and 330 hosted buyers. The energetic start on Sunday was sadly marked on Monday with the shooting at the local Covenant School where six were killed. Impressions from an anonymous attendee to HISTalk today were that most of the sessions were panels (which gets more people up front, but can be sunk by a dull moderator) versus individual speakers (who can either be fabulous or duds). Content could have been more inspiring and, as usual, many speakers are throwing out headlines for those in media to write about. This Editor has read relatively little so far but more will come this week. Highlights so far:

  • Nashville-based Wellvana Health, which provides technology for healthcare providers and health systems to implement value-based care, raised a stunning Series B of $84 million for a total raise of $140 million. Heritage Group and Valtruis co-led the investment with participation from Memorial Hermann Health System. The funding will be used to expand from its present 22 states and over 100,000 lives. Their current agreements are with multiple payers, Medicare Advantage, and three national contracts for the 2023 ACO REACH model. FierceHealthcare, Mobihealthnews
  • Everly Health is moving beyond its current home testing kits to integrate lab testing with telehealth. This will cover certain conditions, such as COVID-19, flu, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), urinary tract infections (UTIs), thyroid, weight management, and men’s and women’s health. Cost is out of pocket $59 and if insurance covers, $10-50. In its weight management program, Everly will offer GLP-1 drugs, a class of drugs that includes Ozempic and Wegovy, to qualified patients. FierceHealthcare
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced 23 startups for their 2023 Healthcare Accelerator: Global Cohort for Workforce. This year’s accelerator cohort is finding solutions for the healthcare industry in three core areas for healthcare employees: retention, deployment, and training. More on the accelerator here and the list here, including 10 from the UK. FierceHealthcare
  • Health systems are demanding a quick ROI on their digital expenditures, according to a panel of CIOs and digital officers from Providence, Allegheny Health Network, Sutter Health, and Adventist Health. It should not be a surprise to anyone that they are looking for returns in the next year or so–yet are pushing forward with investments because of inflation and increased workforce pressures. FierceHealthcare

Another digital cognitive behavioral therapy trims. Better Therapeutics is reportedly releasing 35% of staff, or 15 people, in yet another cutback of another company in the formerly high, wide, and flying sector. Better specializes in prescription digital therapeutics to address cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes. Better SPAC’d in 2021 [TTA 8 April 2021] hitting the market at $10.25 and currently trading on Nasdaq at about $0.60. According to their SEC filing, they are trying to stretch remaining cash to reach potential FDA marketing authorization and subsequent commercial launch of BT-001 in Type 2 diabetes. Better is in the same jam as competitors Pear Therapeutics and Akili Interactive, both paring back to the bone and looking for buyers, according to Mobihealthnews. Also LayoffsTracker. 

CoverMyMeds, a division of healthcare giant McKesson, is also laying off 815 by mid-April and closing its Scottsdale, Arizona office. The Arizona office has the company’s patient support center; workers there will be given the option to move to Columbus, Ohio. Other offices including Columbus (Franklinton) and Atlanta will be condensed and space leased out. CoverMyMeds automates the prior authorization process for medications for payers. What is unusual is that the company, bought for about $1 billion in 2017, accounted for $1.1 billion of McKesson’s $70.5 billion in 2022 revenue, and $136 million in McKesson profit–the most profitable of their four divisions. Columbus Dispatch, Layoffs.fyi

Short takes and updates: FTC may not be done with CVS-Oak Street, VistA moves to cloud–why?, Oracle Cerner lays off 10%. at least

March 24, 2023 | by

The CVS-Oak Street Health buy may be finalized on paper for $10.6 billion, but it’s not a done deal. While the papers are signed and the preparations may be underway for a closing at the end of the year, it’s still subject to Federal and state approvals [TTA 9 Feb]. This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a one-time presidential candidate who cherishes her bully pulpit as a member of two finance committees (but chair of none), sent a letter (office release) to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “carefully scrutinize” the deal.  In addition, she urges FTC to “retrospectively review similarly consummated deals and challenge in court any mergers that have reduced competition in violation of antitrust laws”. FTC is a prime candidate for a nudge because their newly activist stance needs little encouragement for the commissioners to pull out the cudgels.

CVS may very well find itself challenged as well by the Department of Justice (DOJ)–a more complicated action since it requires preparing a case, going to Federal Court, filing papers, and convincing a judge that it involves true antitrust issues worthy of further examination. CVS  may well be spending time in Federal and state courts before the closing, and likely expects it. Even so, DOJ appears to be positioned on the sidelines. There is a memorandum of understanding between DOJ and Health and Human Services sharing concerns about antitrust.  DOJ may also be tired of complicated, labor-intensive suits like UnitedHealth Group and Change Healthcare that wound up in favor of the defendants and with egg on DOJ’s face [TTA 23 Mar]. Unlike DOJ, FTC has more latitude and they have been using it. Thus Sen. Warren’s appeal is a strategic one. FierceHealthcare

Yet where does it end? Horizontal integration or consolidation–businesses buying similar businesses–has obvious limits. But vertical integration–owning part or all of the care continuum or means of production–is less obvious. It can make healthcare more available and effective. But it may reduce competitive opportunity and create a ‘one or none’ business model. That is where the Feds tend to step in unless it’s a bank (of late). 

VistA’s new tune is ‘I’m Still Here’–in the cloud. Yes, VistA, facing phase-out at the VA, is moving its system to the cloud, and has major reasons why. Reginald Cummings, the deputy chief information officer for VA’s infrastructure operations,  explained during a panel discussion of the Association for Federal IRM (AFFIRM) that the ‘lift and shift’ (the hip IT term for this) was done for two things: to move it away from being multiple systems running at each facility, and to ‘containerize’ it,  packaging the application together with the resources it needs to operate, such as the operating system itself, the storage and interfaces. This improves security and portability. The real news is that VA is now admitting that it will take years to transition to Oracle Cerner. According to Daniel McCune, a VA software executive, VA may need VistA for another 10 years. (Perhaps 15?) Supposedly, this isn’t modernization…but it does keep a legacy system running indefinitely, like the Energizer Bunny, which would 1) suit many at VA, and 2) perhaps avoid dealing with the Oracle Cerner issues. No mention is made in the article if this makes transitioning to Oracle Cerner easier, which this Editor finds odd. The chair of the panel discussion, Tom Temin, is also the article author on Federal News Network. As some of our international Readers know, VistA is used in countries such as India as open-source software (WorldVista.org).

And speaking of Oracle Cerner, the layoffs are on. Rumors have it as high as 10% of Oracle Cerner’s global workforce of about 28,000. It is surmised that at Cerner’s former HQ sites in Kansas City, the layoffs may be several hundred, though no WARN notices for group layoffs have been filed with Missouri. These notices are required when layoffs are at least 50-499 employees if they represent at least 33% of the total active workforce, excluding any part-time employees; or 500 or more employees (excluding any part-time employees) in which case the 33% does not apply. (DOL WARN Act guide) The Cerner workforce in the KC area was about 12,000 at one point. Severance packages were reported to be four weeks plus one week per year of service.

In addition, Oracle employees who were working from an Oracle office but transitioned to remote work during the pandemic must return to in-office work at their previous campus. They will be notified by managers in the next 30 days whether they will be full time in office, ‘flex’ or hybrid without an assigned space, or continuing as remote. Perhaps this is why WARN notices were not filed. Many workers moved out of area, and refusal to return to office can be called quitting. HISTalk, Becker’s

More gimlety views on CVS-Oak Street Health, Amazon-One Medical acquisitions

March 2, 2023 | by

Perhaps this Editor is not that much of an Outlier in thinking that these deals don’t beat, say, sliced bread. Oak Street Health (OSH) disclosed its financials in an SEC 10-K filed on Tuesday. One must wonder what CVS is seeing in the company other than bulking up its primary care profile. Their loss grew to $510 million from 2021’s $415 million. While OSH grew impressively in 2022 with a 51% increase in revenue to $2.2 billion, driven by 40 new centers ending with a total of 169 facilities in 21 states, expenses grew exponentially for the new patients: medical claims expenses grew 48%, cost of care went up 49%, and sales and marketing up 38%. Scalable, so they claim; profitable, not till 2025 at earliest.

Other problems were revealed in the 10-K. OSH has substantial business from other payers, which may not be pleased that CVS owns a small payer called Aetna, though has pledged to keep OSH payer-neutral. OSH leases or licenses most of its care centers from Humana. That payer also accounted for 32% of its 2022 capitated revenue. Centene’s plans and HealthSpring made up an additional 23%. Other, more routine concerns are regulatory review, attrition of physicians and clinician staff, and last but not least, breakup fees ($500 million if CVS walks away, $300 million if it’s OSH). When you add these to other factors as outlined in our earlier article, such as the Medicare Advantage and high-need populations, CVS is cutting off a hefty slice of loaf, especially considering that the more complex Signify Health buy is due to close this quarter. Earlier opinions on the buy [TTA 16 Feb], Healthcare Dive

Now to Amazon and One Medical. This Editor received her invitation to buy a One Medical membership earlier this week (left). Countering this Editor’s analysis from last week, which maintains that Amazon is already under a broad antitrust microscope viewed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Healthcare Dive counters, quite logically and in the view of their experts, that if either agency was going to object, they would have done so before the closing, and the grounds were likely too novel. The article concedes that the FTC could take action further down the road, for instance if Amazon violates HIPAA or consumer privacy with ad trackers. Instead, the focus is on objections by consumer groups, Amazon leveraging health data, privacy violations, and a general consumer unease around Amazon dealing with their health issues.

  • Consumer protection group Public Citizen urged regulators to block the deal in a letter to regulatory groups after it was announced last summer. For instance, it could bundle One Medical and Prime membership (a no-brainer). By tying the two together, Amazon could gain consent for using patient data from health records. Amazon could also serve ads for products related to medical conditions without that access (that old Pixel/ad tracker business again). These concerns are publicly shared by two FTC commissioners.
  • “Analysts said that data acquisition was likely a big driving factor for the deal. After linking One Medical’s data with that from its other products and services, Amazon can analyze petabytes of healthcare data in the cloud and use the findings to better manage the health of One Medical’s Medicare population, build new products and pinpoint people with rare diseases to solicit participation in clinical trials, according to (market research firm) Forrester’s (Natalie) Schibell.” [Editor] That would, of course, require patient consent. 
  • Forrester noted that the consumer unease around Amazon in healthcare is substantial. 34% of surveyed adults weren’t at all comfortable with Amazon for healthcare needs with an additional 17% only somewhat more comfortable (tier 2). Trust levels are low, and it would take only one or two incidents, such as a security breach or HIPAA violations, to destroy it. This Editor would add that if One Medical practices were not managed impeccably, that would go viral among individual and corporate members, in a way that Amazon Care did not.

News roundup: UHG closes $5.4B LHC deal, Teladoc’s record $13.7B ’22 loss, Olive AI divesting UM, Cigna exec can’t join CVS, VA anti-suicide program awards, Equiva-Infiniti ACP initiative, Newel Health’s Parkinson’s device

February 23, 2023 | by

UnitedHealth Group added more home care to its Optum unit with the close of the LHC Group deal on 22 February. Final cost was $5.4 billion or $170 per share of the now-delisted Nasdaq company. The acquisition was announced in March and survived two reviews: a request from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for additional information which held up the close past the original December date and a shareholder suit on ‘material nondisclosure’ in the SEC filing. FTC requested information on worker pay and ‘vertical harm’ on market competition, but did not proceed with further action prior to the closing. LHC Group serves 960 locations in 37 states, with 30,000 employees and revenue of $2.2 billion last year. The original announcement indicated that the Louisiana-based management team will be coming over to Optum Health and co-founders Keith and Ginger Myers will personally invest $10 million in UHG following the acquisition close. Interestingly, as of today (Thursday noon ET), neither company has announced the closing on their websites. Home Health News, FierceHealthcare  For those into value-based care, as previously noted, Optum is acquiring via LHC Imperium Health, a good-sized ACO, population health, and management services company. It’s another fit as Optum is a major physician group owner, many of whom are also in ACOs, and made LHC even more attractive. According to their website, Imperium now manages 16 ACOs and is in partnership with a large ACO group. 

Unsurprisingly, Teladoc notched a record loss for 2022– $13.7 billion on revenue of $2.4 billion. This included the Q1 2022 $6.6 billion write-off of the Livongo acquisition. On the investor call, company executives scaled down 2023 revenue forecasts to $2.55-$2.68 billion, which is about 9% growth. Teladoc remains at about 80 million members. The company’s ‘balanced growth’ plan to move toward profitability has already resulted in January’s announcement of 6% of staff being laid off and a reduced geographic footprint, presumably including real estate and leases. Healthcare Dive, HISTalk 2/24/23 which also cross-references the MedCityNews Livongo ‘lemon’ interview

Olive AI continues to shrink and juggle, with today’s announcement of their putting their utilization management service line up for sale. Earlier, they announced divesting their population health and 340B service lines to a sister company. The UM line buyer would take on the accounts and the 100-person staff. Olive AI is an automator of routine health system administration tasks such as these. Their pivot will be in automating revenue cycle management for health systems. Last week, Olive announced the release of 215 employees, about 35% of its remaining staff, in addition to its July layoff of 450 employees, then about 33% of staff. If this Editor’s calculations are correct, Olive is down to about 900 or less. Becker’s  Original report in Axios is paywalled, but indicates problems with the software’s efficacy, multiple executive departures, and a previous asset sale.

Yes, Virginia–non-competes ARE enforceable. So Amy Bricker, Cigna’s former head of pharmacy benefits unit Express Scripts, found out when she tried to join CVS as a senior executive as chief product officer for its consumer area, not Caremark which is a direct competitor. She had signed a two-year non-compete/non-disclosure barring her from any employment with any direct competitor. Cigna apparently imposes non-competes on only their most senior executives, a total of 16. This is a temporary restraining order from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to bar her from joining the company, duration unknown. Cigna had to post a $250,000 bond for possible future damages. FTC (again) is attempting to ban non-compete use both in future and retroactively. Restraining order, Healthcare Finance News, Healthcare Dive

Some blue side up news: 

  • Mission Daybreak Grand Challenge awarded by the VA. 10 companies were awarded $20 million to pursue digital health approaches to prevent veteran suicide as part of a 10-year VA initiative. The first-place winners were Stop Soldier Suicide and Televeda, awarded $3 million each. Healthcare IT News has additional details on all the finalists.
  • Digital health is leveraging an existing $14.2 billion FCC initiative called the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Two companies, Equiva Health, a digital patient engagement and health relationship management solution provider, is partnering with internet provider Infiniti Mobile to create Equiva ACP Connect. The product configures tablets and mobile devices for care management and patient education distributed by hospitals, nursing homes, insurers, and other healthcare organizations. Release
  • Newel Health has received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to further development for Soturi, a digital therapeutic solution for Parkinson’s disease management. Soturi utilizes data collected from a wearable sensor, using an algorithm-based decision-making method, for personalized treatment. The project will be presented at the SINdem conference in Bressanone, Italy on 24th February. Release (PharmaPhorum)

Breaking: Amazon closes One Medical $3.9B buy, despite loose ends–and is the Antitrust Bear being poked?

February 23, 2023 | by

The Big Deal closes, but loose ends and larger issues remain. Today’s news of Amazon closing its purchase of the One Medical primary care group is being received in the press, especially the healthcare press, enthusiastically. This Editor cannot blame her counterparts, as since last year there’s not been much in the way of good news, compared to 2020-21’s bubble bath. Her bet as of a couple of weeks ago was that the deal would not go through due to Amazon’s financial losses in 2022 and/or that the FTC would further hold it up, both of which I was wrong, wrong, wrong on. (Cue the fresh egg on the face.)

Wiping off said egg, here is what Amazon is buying and their first marketing move. (Information on size and more from the 1 Life 2022 year end 10-K):

  • Amazon acquired 1Life Healthcare Inc. for $3.9 billion, or $18 per share in cash.
  • The practices are primarily branded as One Medical, closing out 2022 with 836,000 members and 220 medical offices in 27 markets
  • It is a value-based primary care model with direct consumer enrollment and third-party sponsorship across commercially insured and Medicare populations. Their Net Promoter Score (NPS) is an extremely high 90. (NPS is a proprietary research metric that indicates customer loyalty and satisfaction.)
  • They also have at-risk members from the $2.1 billion Iora Medical acquisition in seven states, in Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare shared savings value-based care (VBC) arrangements [TTA 27 July 22].
  • One Medical has contracts with over 9,000 companies, establishing Amazon at long last in the desirable corporate market.
  • One Medical also provides a 24/7 telehealth service exclusively to employees of enterprise customers where there are no clinics.
  • Amazon will be offering a discounted individual membership of $144 versus $199 for the first year, without an Amazon Prime subscription.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had additional questions about the buy as part of a Second Request in the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act reporting process, did not act in time to prevent the closing. Nor did the SEC or DOJ. This is CEO Andy Jassy’s first Big Deal at Amazon and certainly, the champagne and kvelling are flowing at HQ plus One Medical’s investors and shareholders for a successful exit. But should Amazon be looking over their shoulder? 

What are the open issues? Is a large, hungry Bear called Antitrust being poked, or lying in wait for its prey?

  • The FTC has the right to probe into the transaction despite the closing and a deadline passing for antitrust review. In FierceHealthcare and STAT, FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar is quoted as telling the WSJ (paywalled) in a statement that “The FTC’s investigation of Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical continues. The commission will continue to look at possible harms to competition created by this merger as well as possible harms to consumers that may result from Amazon’s control and use of sensitive consumer health information held by One Medical.”
  • As previously reported here, only in December did the FTC send out subpoenas to current and former One Medical current and former customers as part of its investigation. That’s late to stop a buy–unless FTC had something else larger in mind.
  • Early February reports in Bloomberg and the WSJ indicated that this may be part of a larger FTC action in developing a wide-ranging antitrust lawsuit against Amazon on multiple anticompetitive business practices. Their chair, Lina Khan, is highly critical of Amazon’s business practices. Amazon’s buy of iRobot, maker of Roomba, which at $1.7 billion was a comparative snack, is still not closed and has received a lot of negative attention for possible misuse of consumer information. 
  • Sidebar: This FTC is ‘feeling its oats’ on antitrust. GoodRx found itself making history as FTC’s first culprit of the 2009 Health Breach Notification Rule, used to prosecute companies for misuse of consumer health information. This was for their past use of Meta Pixel, discontinued 2019, to send information to third-party advertisers. One Medical is a HIPAA-covered entity which puts it at a far higher risk level. 
  • The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not publicly moved to approve or disapprove–yet. 
  • The change of ownership has not been reported as passing muster by regulators in multiple states. Example: Oregon approved it, but with multiple stipulations [TTA 6 Jan]–and there are only five One Medical clinics in Oregon. States like New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California are not exactly pushovers for approval, with California alone having two approval entities.
  • Congress is increasingly feisty on data privacy–consumer health information and its misuse in telehealth [TTA 9 Feb]. 

Will this be ‘buy now, regret later’, a lá Teladoc’s expensive acquisition of Livongo, or Babylon Health going public with a SPAC? Is this a clever trap laid for Amazon?

  • Amazon is already under a Federal and state microscope on data privacy. Information crossing over from One Medical to their ecommerce operations such as Pharmacy and Prime will just add to the picture. 
  • Accepting Medicare/Medicare Advantage increases scrutiny on quality metrics and billing, to name only two areas. At-risk patients in Medicare and other VBC models, especially Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) fall under CMS scrutiny. Amazon may take a look at that and spin-off/sell off the former Iora Health practices/patients.
  • Amazon has failed in healthcare previously, as a partner in the misbegotten Haven and in its own Amazon Care ‘home delivery’/telehealth model selling to companies, now closed. Its asynchronous virtual care service, Amazon Clinic, is too new to judge its success. 
  • Office-based, brick-and-mortar healthcare provided by doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals is an entirely new area for Amazon. Will they be satisfied with their new masters–and new metrics? It is also expensive. One Medical has never been profitable and did not project breakeven for years. (If one asks how this is different than CVS acquiring Oak Street Health, or Walgreens acquiring VillageMD and Summit Health, CVS and Walgreens have experience for decades in multiple aspects of providing healthcare–profitably and in compliance.)
  • One wonders how heavy of a hand Amazon will place on One Medical’s operations. How their management, doctors, and other professionals will feel after a year or two of Amazon ownership is anyone’s guess. This Editor doubts they will remain in place or silent if unhappy.
  • Selling to enterprises–and account retention–is a vastly different relationship-building process and buyer journey than 1:many consumer transactions. One Medical made a go of it with 9,000 companies and enrolling employees at about a 40% rate, so they did something right. By contrast, Amazon failed to sell Amazon Care well to companies. Humility and service, for starters, are required.
  • Last but certainly not least, is how Amazon will deal with regulation and compliance at multiple levels.

Expect that the FTC and DOJ will not be done with Amazon any time soon in what looks like a wider antitrust pursuit that may take some time, which they have. Amazon has tens of millions in government business (AWS) at stake and shareholders expecting a reversal of losses. Pro tip to Amazon: run One Medical as a separate operation with minimal integration and no information sharing until past this. And then some.  Healthcare Dive, Becker’s

Is CVS’ Oak Street Health deal genius? Or a waste of time and $10B?

February 16, 2023 | by

A sample of the split opinion. In the buccaneering between CVS and Walgreens, plus Walmart and Amazon, to add primary care, CVS definitely buckled the swash with three deals: Signify Health (being questioned by DOJ and FTC) [TTA 21 Oct 22 latest], a $100 million investment in Carbon Health [TTA 11 Jan], and Oak Street Health [TTA 9 Feb]. These are in line with their strategy of acquiring companies to expand their capabilities in primary care, provider enablement, and home health. The wisdom of the first–primary care–is being questioned by a few in healthcare. 

The basic argument is that primary care is money-losing, ‘unless you have significant ancillary revenue and downstream referral income’ according to Randy Davis, vice president and CIO of CGH Medical Center, based in Sterling, Illinois. Oak Street’s Medicare Advantage business is also money-losing because of its dependence on increasing severity scores (risk adjustment) and is generally an ‘uphill battle’. This Editor will add that as previously noted–and lauded in CVS’ release–Oak Street is notable for serving underserved patient populations–50 percent of Oak Street Health’s patients have a housing, food, or isolation risk factor. That equates to greater expenses that may or may not be reimbursable. Oak Street certainly has proven the money-losing part, forecasting a loss of $200 million for 2023 and not projecting a profit until 2025. Mr. Davis was blunt, calling it a deal that made no sense and “CVS better have a plan they implement in 18 months or they’ll get slaughtered.”

Another rap on the deal is that it is not big enough. Given the size of Oak Street at about 169 offices and the national figure is quoted as 600,000 ambulatory sites, it’s tiny. However, what isn’t considered is Aetna’s existing relationships with primary care physicians through ACOs formed as joint arrangements, and if Signify Health goes through, the Signify/Caravan ACOs. In fact, this may be a factor in the DOJ/FTC consideration of antitrust.

Others see opportunity in integrating primary care into CVS’ retail locations (Carbon Health) and serving historically underserved communities–much the same tack that Walgreens is taking with VillageMD (acquiring Summit Health) and Walmart with Walmart Health clinics. Becker’s Hospital Review

And as to Amazon, this Editor’s prediction is that Amazon will strike its Jolly Roger and sail away from the One Medical buy.

CVS opens the checkbook, does the Oak Street Health deal for a generous $10.6B

February 9, 2023 | by

Staying on strategy, CVS buys provider group Oak Street Health. First rumored in mid-January, CVS Health and Oak Street finalized their deal today. The $10.6 billion purchase price of the NYSE traded company rewards shareholders with a $39 per share purchase price. 45% of the shareholders are composed of Newlight Partners LP and General Atlantic LLC plus certain members of the Oak Street Health Board of Directors. They have agreed to vote the shares they own in favor of the transaction (with a whew! at exiting). It is expected to close this year subject to the usual Department of Justice antitrust, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state-level review.

The $39 per share price was a tick lower than the January speculation that the price would be over $40 per share. $39 is not bad; at close of last week OSH was trading at $26.80, a far cry from its 2021 share prices in the $50-60 range. Today’s price closed at just above $35.  It has 169 offices and 600 providers across 21 states, making it a manageable size for CVS. OSH is headquartered in Chicago. Their CEO Mike Pykosz will continue to lead OSH, which will become part of CVS’ new Health Care Delivery organization and will be payer agnostic.  Oak Street is notable for serving underserved patient populations–50 percent of Oak Street Health’s patients have a housing, food or isolation risk factor.  

CVS Health’s long term plan, announced at recent earnings calls, is to add services in three categories: primary care, provider enablement, and home health. They are not hurting for profit or financing, closing out 2022 with $4.2 billion profit which certainly is a shining star in the depressed healthcare sky. CVS projects more than $500 million in synergy potential at the 2026 goal which is over 300 centers by 2026. But there will be losses first: 2023 loss about $200 million and not turning the profit corner till 2025 at earliest. An attractive point for CVS is  Canopy, their proprietary technology that determines the appropriate type and level of care for each OSH patient–and care integrates nicely into CVS Health’s community, home and digital offerings, as they say.

Will DOJ allow it without divestment? This administration has already taken a fairly hard tack on antitrust, trying (and failing, though appealing) to block UHG-Change Healthcare. Already the CVS-OSH tie-up has been opposed by an antitrust think tank, the American Economic Liberties Project. Oak Street adds primary care practices to those already under Aetna, many of which are in Federal ACO programs. Signify Health also has Medicare ACO practice groups, including the Caravan ACOs bought late last year. The Signify buy is already under a rolling DOJ and FTC review that has been moving slowly since last October. Signify’s other strength is diversification into home health, CVS’ third target area.

CVS’ investment in Carbon Health ($100 million Series D investment into primary and urgent care clinics in Western states) may be considered as Carbon will be piloting clinics in CVS retail locations. Release, Mobihealthnews, Healthcare Dive, Becker’s (including a breakdown of CVS’ 2022 financials), FierceHealthcare

VillageMD opens the Walgreens purse, set to buy Summit Health for $8.9B

November 9, 2022 | by

Moving from rumor to deal in a New York Minute. Primary care provider VillageMD has moved to a definitive agreement to acquire specialty/urgent care provider Summit Medical in an $8.9 billion deal including debt. This was heavily rumored last week [TTA 1 Nov]

This will create a provider behemoth of 680 provider locations, 750 primary care providers, and 1,200 specialty care providers in 26 markets. The fun facts:

  • VillageMD has 342 total primary care clinics in 22 southern and northeastern markets covering 15 states, with 152 co-located with Walgreens; these will eventually increase to 200.
  • Summit Health has 370 locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and central Oregon. VillageMD and Summit do not overlap (except in NJ) on markets.  
  • VillageMD consists of primarily owned and affiliated primary care practices; Summit Health specialty practices (neurology, chiropractic, cardiology, orthopedics, dermatology) plus 150 CityMD urgent care locations.
  • VillageMD has successfully mastered value-based care models in Medicare and entered advanced Medicare ACO models early and vigorously (Editor’s information). Summit Health presently is primarily is fee-for-service with some participation in value-based programs.

The participation in this one is interesting: 

  • Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) will invest $3.5 billion through an even mix of debt and equity 
  • Cigna’s health services organization Evernorth will become a minority owner; the exact percentage is not disclosed at this point
  • It’s not disclosed at this time whether Summit Health’s current majority owner, Walburg Pincus, will retain an interest in the combined companies. 

WBA remains the largest and consolidating shareholder of VillageMD, but with this acquisition, reduces its ownership share from approximately 62-63% to 53%. WBA’s other US non-retail healthcare interests include specialty pharmacy company Shields Health Solutions and at-home care provider CareCentrix.

Based on their release, the acquisition is expected to close in January 2023, subject to the usual Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) premerger notification and report with the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that initiates a 30-day waiting period.

Bet on VillageMD and Summit closing deeper into Q1–but closing. This Editor’s over/under is that this is overly optimistic given the current DOJ and FTC’s scrutiny and apparent dislike of healthcare acquisitions, even though the provider groups don’t overlap except in a minor way in NJ. But perhaps Amazon, with a healthcare footprint primarily in pharmacy and shuttering Amazon Care, thought OneMedical would move smartly. CVS thought the same with Signify Health, yet both are on information Second Requests that extend the waiting period. DOJ is after all smarting hard with a Federal District Court nixing their challenge of UHG’s Optum with Change Healthcare, but it’s hard to throw typical antitrust at this one.

Go big or go home, indeed.     Healthcare Dive, Becker’s

Friday short takes: was there a bidding war for One Medical? A concussion risk wearable tested. Get Well’s monkeypox digital care plan

August 19, 2022 | by

Amazon’s scoop-up of One Medical apparently was not all Skittles, Rainbows, and Unicorns. Large companies like Amazon, Walmart, Allscripts, and CVS are on the hunt to fill gaps in their portfolio and technologies, but only “healthy health tech companies at the right (discounted) price that fill in their tech gaps.” Of course, some of these companies have more chips on the table and in the safe than others.

We know from earlier reporting [TTA 7 July] that One Medical and CVS had some talks, but that One Medical spurned the offer. It did establish that One Medical was in play. Some digging by Heather Landi at FierceHealthcare, taking a walk through SEC documents according to a regulatory disclosure with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed 10 August, found that CVS (identified as Party A) and 1Life Healthcare, the parent of One Medical, started their acquisition talks in October 2021. 1Life was short on cash, getting shorter, needing to expand, and was having trouble raising the $300 million they estimated they needed. Starting this past February, 1Life management started to negotiate with Amazon. On 1 June, CVS offered $17 per share, boosting it by $1 the following day, but were informed by 1Life that there was another suitor. By 2 July, Amazon put $18 in an all-cash deal on the table. When news leaked via Bloomberg on 5 July that CVS was in discussions, CVS bowed out. By the end of July, 1Life and Amazon closed on the deal [TTA 27 July].

It came down to this–Amazon needed One Medical more than CVS. Watch for CVS and Walmart to make more provider/primary care moves by the time the snow flies this year. We’ve already noted that CVS inked a deal with Amwell a few days ago as their provider for Virtual Primary Care and that Walmart outright owns a telehealth provider, MeMD, though their overall strategy remains a bit murky.. CVS also has resources through Aetna that are integratable, such as provider networks.

And speaking of Amazon, they just inked a deal with Ginger to add telemental health as an option for Amazon Care. Healthcare Dive

In the US, we are very close to football–and concussion–season. Multiple concussions lead to CTE, which took a long time to recognize as a cause of premature dementia. A mHealth wearable has been tested to measure head kinematics–head movement–and detect sudden neck strain, such as whiplash. Current systems are embedded in helmets or the X-Patch, which uses accelerometers.  According to the report in AAAS’ EurekAlert!, Nelson Sepúlveda of Michigan State University and colleagues developed a novel patch sensor using a film layer of thermoplastic material, a ferroelectret nanogenerator or FENG. “This produces electrical energy when physically touched or pressure is applied. The electrical signal produced is proportional to the physical strain on the neck and can be used to estimate the acceleration and velocity of sudden neck movement, two important markers for predicting concussion.” For this test, a dummy was used. Nature Scientific Reports, mHealth Intelligence

Monkeypox, its transmissibility, and treatment have also percolated this summer.  Get Well Network, which we noted last month in a JAMA study used its GetWellLoop RPM and monitoring in a Covid-19 home treatment study, released a new monkeypox digital care management plan. It will permit monitoring of symptoms from home using RPM, help direct patients to higher levels of care if and when needed, and aids hospitals in managing mandatory regulatory requirements for reporting and tracking infectious diseases. LifeBridge Health in the Baltimore area began offering Get Well’s monkeypox symptom monitoring tool last month. Release

Babylon Health: fending off bubbly rumors of acquisition this week

August 16, 2022 | by

On Monday, the New York Stock Exchange stopped trading of Babylon Holdings Limited (NYSE:BBLN), the corporate name of Babylon Health. The reason was a sudden spike in the share price along with a huge spike in trading volume. Price moved from $0.76 to $0.96 from 12.45 pm ET to 1.15pm, with volume spiking from ~3,000 to 1 million (see the bottom bar chart). The volume and price shift automatically trigger a stop trade. Based on the Yahoo Finance chart, it resumed Tuesday morning and cruised down to just above recent prices at $0.77 closing today at $0.79, along with a drop in trading volume nearer the recent averages.

Babylon issued two terse press releases: the first on Monday 3.59pm ET which stated “that it is not engaged in nor has it had contact or discussions with any potential acquirer”, then a second on Tuesday at 6am which briefly addressed the ‘M&A speculation’ and the sudden (but short-lived) 20% rise in share price. The response from CEO Ali Parsa was that they “delivered very strong financial results and operational performance that demonstrate its continued momentum. Babylon is taking active steps to maximize shareholder value and to improve its shareholder base and capital structure.” 

Babylon Health went public last October in likely the last of the major healthcare SPACs at a debut of over $10 and a valuation that exceeded $4 billion. Its current value represents a 90% loss, not much different than what happened to the share values of Amwell and Teladoc, as well as other health tech SPACs [TTA 15 July]. Before the SPAC, they raised $200 million and bought Meritage Medical Network and First Choice Medical Group, opening an office in Palo Alto. Babylon also bought the remainder of Higi health kiosks they did not own in December, closing out an investment option with Higi in May that this Editor thought was puzzling for starters.

Babylon’s Q2 financials were, as we noted, a mixed picture but encouraging [TTA 11 Aug] in their US growth and lack of drama. The company had previously stated that it intends to save $100 million in Q3 and discharge about 100 people as part of this. This is nothing that would prompt a sudden swoop by an investor or investors–not disclosed–reminiscent of the buccaneering days of T. Boone Pickens. But in recent weeks there’s been a change in the investment climate. Certain companies such as CVS and Allscripts plus health plans have signaled that they want to buy healthy health tech companies at the right (discounted) price that fill in their tech gaps. ‘Second generation’ remote patient monitoring (RPM) and telehealth are having a hot moment. For traders, it’s the boring dog days of August in a market that’s had more down than up days this year.

The market action was a blip, but one that benefited Babylon and certainly put it back in the news. Which can’t hurt.

Mr. Parsa announced back in January at JPM that Babylon’s goal was to close 2022 at $1 billion in revenue, triple that of 2021. With Q2 revenue of $265 million, they are on track (he quoted a run rate of $80 million per month). There is also the Transcarent/Glen Tullman (late of Livongo) investment connection that came over via the Higi acquisition. Transcarent is heavily invested in value-based care models for self-insured employers as a benefit for their employees, as is Babylon. Dots are here and ready to be connected.

 Also HISTalk.

Weekend roundup: telehealth claims ticked up again in January, Walmart opens Florida health ‘superstores’, Blue Shield California partners with Walgreens’ Health Corners

April 8, 2022 | by

Telehealth now above 5% of January claims. Perhaps Omicron, winter weather, or the post-holiday blues, but telehealth visits after a long drop have risen to 5.4% of January medical claim lines. It’s also the third month in a row of increase: November was 4.4%, up from October’s 4.1%; December was 4.9%.

As a percent of the total, claims increased in November and December for acute respiratory and Covid-19, but leveled off in January. The numbers remained in single digits compared to the leading diagnosis code group, mental health conditions, which rose in January:

MonthMental healthAcute respiratoryCovid-19
January 202258.93.43.4
December 202155.06.04.8
November 202162.24.51.4

February and March claims will be the proof, but telehealth is leveling off to a steady 4-5% range of claims with seasonal rises, barring any mass infectious diseases. The FAIR Health monthly map also enables drill-down by region. Healthcare Dive

Walmart Health ‘superstores’ open in Florida, finally. The concept, which had gradually spread to 20 locations in Arkansas, Georgia, and Illinois starting in 2019, now has two locations in the Jacksonville area. Three additional locations will be opening by June in the Orlando and Tampa area. Openings were delayed from 2021 so that Walmart could debut their Epic EHR and patient portal in those locations. Plans for expansion in Florida, filled with areas with aging populations, have been hinted at but coyly not confirmed by Dr. David Carmouche, senior vice president of Omnichannel Care Offerings.

After a few false starts and retrenching, Walmart is leveraging its strong physical point in delivering health–retail supercenters–against competitors such as CVS, Walgreens, and Amazon. The centers provide primary and urgent care, labs, X-rays and diagnostics, dental, optical, hearing and behavioral health and counseling for a checkup priced around $90, with most under contract with payers. Walmart has not announced expansion beyond Florida or in current states, but prior statements have indicated their desire to open Walmart Healths across the country. Walmart release, Healthcare Dive, Miami Herald

And Walgreens is not far behind the curve with 12 Health Corners in California. Walgreens’ joint model with Blue Shield of California in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas is designed to boost community health, especially in areas with low health coverage or ‘health deserts’. Health advisers can provide simple in-store care along with guidance on preventive screenings, chronic care management and medications. Select health screenings, such as blood pressure checks and HbA1c tests will be available. 

Both in-person and virtual services through the Health Corner app are available at no additional cost to members enrolled in Blue Shield’s commercial PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) and HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) plans, who live within 20 miles of a Walgreens Health Corner location. It is part of both Walgreens’ enlarging of patient care offerings, including telehealth at a local level, and Blue Shield’s health transformation goals.

Their release promises an additional eight locations by mid-year. Healthcare Finance, FierceHealthcare

Friday news roundup: CVS filing for metaverse patents; Orbic-Verizon smartwatch debut, Amwell and LG partner for hospital digital health–and what *doesn’t* make for a good partnership

March 11, 2022 | by

What’s a metaverse anyway? It’s a bright, shiny piece of jargon meaning the virtual reality or 3D virtual world. And CVS is rushing right to the US Patent Office to patent its goods and services–including their clinic services and telehealth–in the metaverse. While it’s hard to imagine prescription drugs, healthcare, wellness, beauty and personal care products being wholly virtual, shopping for them can be and obviously CVS doesn’t want to miss out on a world where we’re all wearing 3D headsets and ordering our healthcare in VR and AR. CNBC, USPO filing  

Orbic, a US-India manufacturer popular for being one of the more budget-friendly makers of mobile phones (including flips), tablets, laptops, routers, and accessories, has debuted a smartwatch in partnership with Verizon, the SmartWrist. It has monitoring features such as pulse oxygen levels, body temperature, heart rate, and sleep. It also sets and keeps track of fitness goals and, for those who need it, fall detection, autodial emergency services or contacts in event of emergency, and geofences safe zones. The watch face is 1.78” AMOLED, dock charging, and Android Go 8.1. All for an affordable $199. Our contact Erin Farrell Talbot tells TTA that the SmartWrist is integrated with EHRs plus currently going through FDA approvals that when completed will enable it to be prescribed for patients with medical issues or chronically ill.

Amwell goes into the hospital to connect with LG on TVs and monitoring devices. LG is the leading provider of smart TVs in the hospital market, and where Amwell will initially partner is with Converge, its unified provider-patient platform, inputting information from LG peripheral devices already in or being introduced into acute care. Amwell and LG are also looking beyond the hospital setting into home or sub-acute care. As Healthcare Dive noted, this is not Amwell’s first fling with TV-based care–they demonstrated at last April’s Client Forum a TV-based hospital-to-home integration with Solaborate. LG release (Yahoo)

Sometimes digital health partnerships start at a low level–and auger in from there. Becker’s Hospital Review quizzed three hospital executives, including one from Geisinger Health, an early adopter, on three signs that your digital health partner is not one for the long haul:

  1. It doesn’t have a genuine mission. The mission that hospitals are interested in are about patient outcomes and interest in the hospital partner’s business, not the digital health company’s funding or press.
  2. It hasn’t earned your trust. It seems obvious, but do your due diligence on how the company has handled other partnerships. Red flags include inadequate funding and the terms of the partnership fluctuating.
  3. It lacks responsiveness. This is a big one that this Editor has experienced as both a vendor and buyer. It’s a willingness to listen to and address pain points in “the never-ending troubleshooting” that’s across the board.

As a digital health company, the first is attitude, the second is performance, but #3 is generally the grind point where internal frustrations build and relationships go south.