TTA welcomes Spring: WBA’s Pessina takes big stake in Walgreens buyout, Foodsmart’s new CEO, NHS England to be abolished, Veradigm’s interesting outlook, telehealth flexibilities extended, more!

March 21, 2025 | by | No Comments

 

21 March 2025

Spring–time to clean up the picnic table. The Walgreens financing took an interesting turn, with WBA chairman Pessina doubling his table stakes. Foodsmart lays out a spread for a new CEO from Amwell. A semi-independent NHS England proved to be an unsteady table for the UK Government–off it goes to the thrift store. Veradigm closed its 2022 books–but their table is a bit wobbly. Elsewhere, two mergers, and Congress keeps limited Federal telehealth flexibilities into September. And our guest Perspectives returns with another view on telehealth and accessibility to addiction treatment.

Short takes: interesting takeaways from the Veradigm earnings call, VA cuts ~6 EHRM contracts; mergers for DispatchHealth-Medically Home, Wysa-April Health (‘Standalone’ for Veradigm may be a bumpy road, as costs are cut at VA, and mergers mark ‘hot’ hospital-at-home and telementalhealth)

News roundup: NHS England to be abolished, absorbed into UK DHSC, while IT glitch shorts 5,200 from screenings; Veradigm *finally* files 2022 financials (updated), VA-Oracle EHR now promises 13 installs in 2026 (Government change whacks NHS England, Veradigm reports 2022 at last, and VA to resume more Oracle installs in 2026)

Breaking: Stefano Pessina to near-double stake in Walgreens after Sycamore Partners takeover–reports (Sr. Pessina surprisingly puts a LOT more chips on the table)

Can kicked down road: telehealth flexibilities extended to 30 September (That takes care of the next six months, but the real story is what the FY2026 budget portends for telehealth expansion)

Perspectives: Telehealth Expands Access to Addiction Treatment and Specialized Care, But Navigating Regulations Remains Key (More on how telehealth prescribing affects addiction care)

Breaking: telehealth nutrition provider Foodsmart taps former Amwell COO Kurt Knight as CEO (Moving from traditional telehealth to lead a newly ‘hot’ part of healthcare)

Last week: Financings come alive and we dig dig dig into them, between the huge LBO for Walgreens, the Hinge Health preliminary IPO filing, and ModMed’s majority stake sale. Anne Wojcicki keeps trying to buy her own company for dimes, but put a slightly sweeter offer on the table–if you like waiting. Elizabeth Holmes is waiting for the courts to see it her way. And our guest Perspectives from the field presents a view of improving telehealth policy on opioid use treatments.

News roundup: MSK is ‘it’ with Hinge Health’s IPO filing, Vori Health’s $53M raise, Dario Health’s 33% revenue increase; CoachCare buys VitalTech, ModMed investor sells majority stake, Health NZ uses Excel–only; Holmes gets rehearing extension (IPO, investment unfreezes despite market turmoil, and two ‘I can’t believe it’ stories from NZ and Ms. Holmes’ continuing appeals)

Sycamore Partners taking on 83% debt in financing their Walgreens leveraged buyout–some observations (Another season for leveraged buyouts, including a walk back to the LBO Golden Age of the 1980s. Can Walgreens do better than this?)

Update: Wojcicki increases 23andMe per share offer to $2.94 from $0.41–but there’s three contingency ‘catches’, and more (Another amazing penny-ante offer for 23andMe. Will the board succumb? Is there a choice?)

Perspectives: How the DEA Telehealth Extension Impacts Patient Access to Opioid Use Disorder Treatments & Buprenorphine Prescriptions (A clinician’s view from the field) 

The $10 billion Walgreens take-private deal with Sycamore: what you need to know (We look into the deal’s devilish details, and what Walgreens might look like in a year or two)

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Short takes: interesting takeaways from the Veradigm earnings call, VA cuts ~6 EHRM contracts; mergers for DispatchHealth-Medically Home, Wysa-April Health

March 21, 2025 | by | No Comments

The Veradigm earnings call following the 2022 financial release had to be…interesting, perhaps in what wasn’t said. HIStalk’s reporter took away several key points succinctly; a full reading at their site is recommended (scroll down). In brief:

  • “The financial impact of the internal control failures was $239 million in asset reduction and $46 million in fees.”
  • The company will not be current on its financial reporting until 2026
  • The core provider and life sciences businesses went wobbly
  • ScienceIO, bought in February 2024, generated no revenue. The AI/LLM acquisition was touted as being incorporated into other business lines, trimmed with jargon.

The accumulation of things that just aren’t tucked, tied, and moving forward gives the impression of uncertainty. And uncertainty is a bad place to be in a billion-dollar business. Veradigm consists of a complex mix of businesses. Yet the CEO, Tom Langan, is still ‘interim’ after 10 months which affects the leadership. Months ago, the company was for sale, yet all the interested bidders who could have well afforded Veradigm took a pass. Now they are facing a ‘standalone future’.  Right after that announcement, an activist investor intervened and is now calling the shots on board members [TTA 19 Mar, 22 Feb]. Stay tuned….

VA cutting contracts, including six EHRM sub-vendors–a wrench in the EHRM works? According to this Federal News Network report, the total number of canceled contracts, originally announced as 875 contracts, was later reduced to 585. Included in the cuts were at least six small contractors tied into the EHR Modernization (EHRM) with Cerner. While VA is ‘walking back’ the termination of some of these EHRM contractors working on essential pieces such as interoperability and HIPAA compliance, these small, generally veteran-owned companies with specialized workers have already laid off staff. What’s really telling is the statement from FNN’s source, which this Editor doubts you’d hear outside of government or a huge global company: “For every FTE in government, there’s maybe two, three, even four support resources that are assisting. The government is just there for decision-making. The groundwork, and all the other work, is being done by this contract support team. Right now, they’re just trying to do damage control.” In addition, 24 on the EHRM team either were laid off or took the buyout. Having once worked for a contracting RPM company for the Veterans Health Administration which had its contract terminated after over 10 years, this Editor can testify to 1) the devastating effect and 2) the specialized skills of people making up these support teams.  Hmmmm….

Hospital-at-home DispatchHealth and Medically Home to merge, effective mid-year. Terms of the transaction, headquarters location, and employee transitions were not disclosed. According to Healthcare Dive, Jennifer Webster, CEO for DispatchHealth, will lead the combined organization under the DispatchHealth name. Both offer same-day in home medical care, recovery services, and hospital-level care at home. DispatchHealth, headquartered in Denver, raised $403.2 million through a March 2021 Series D. Medically Home in Boston raised $197 million through a January 2022 Series D. They don’t have investors in common, unusually for mergers of late. Medically Home focuses on health systems and physician groups for serious and complex care decentralized management, while DispatchHealth base is with insurance companies, value-based entities, as well as health systems. Coverage for the combined entity is stated as nearly 40 health systems, as well as most major health plans and value-based care entities, with 2,200 employees, over half in frontline care. Release. 

Over in Telemental Health Land, Wysa and April Health are merging. Wysa primarily features an AI LLM chatbot for cognitive behavioral therapy, targeted to individuals and employers, while April Health partners with primary care providers for behavioral care management with live managers. The Wysa chatbot in 2022 received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for use by patients 18 years old and older with a diagnosis of chronic musculoskeletal pain, depression and anxiety. April Health has already integrated the Wysa chatbot with its services for LifePoint Healthcare and The Newton Clinic (affiliated with MercyOne). Terms of the transaction, headquarters location, and management transitions are not disclosed. Wysa has raised about $35 million in funding, with the last round in 2023, while April Health has seed funding only. Release, Behavioral Health Business, Mobihealthnews 

News roundup: Musk’s Neuralink implants first human BCI; Cigna’s $3.7B MA sale to HCSC; no Amazon deal for iRobot; DispatchHealth-Instacart food Rx; 5 India health tech fundings (updated)

February 1, 2024 | by

Elon Musk first out (again) with a human brain-computer interface (BCI). Announced Monday by Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, is the first human implant of a BCI. No details in the tweet beyond “recovering well’ and “promising neuron spike detection”. The device is a cosmetically invisible implant (N1) in the part of the brain that plans movements. It interprets neural activity, sending a signal to a computer or smartphone through thought. The N1 device, containing several dozen threads holding over 1,000 electrodes, is implanted by a R1 robot. FierceBiotech, MM+M Online

The subjects of the PRIME study are likely those recruited last fall after the FDA approved proceeding with a clinical trial. A blog post on the Neuralink website recruited adult volunteers with quadriplegia–paralysis of the arms and legs caused by a cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Earlier, Neuralink raised $280 million in a Series D led by Founders Fund. FierceBiotech 8 Aug 2023  There were difficulties, however. Within the past two years, Reuters reported 1,500 animal deaths over four years of research that attracted the attention of the Department of Transportation (DOT) (!) and the Department of Agriculture’s inspector general. FDA held up approval of human clinical trials until last year.

Research and companies in the BCI race have been making news since at least 2016 but have not reached clinical trials. In 2022 Synchron had an oversubscribed Series C of $75 million for the Stentrode blood vessel device (in clinical trials) and Synchron Switch BCI devices [TTA 17 Dec 22]. Last year, Precision Neuroscience raised $41 million in a Series B [TTA 28 Jan 23]. Their focus is on treatment of neurological illnesses and events such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, and dementia. Of course, one could debate implant ethics, but not for these limited uses right now.

To no one’s surprise including the relatively low price of $3.7 billion, Cigna sold its 600,000-member Medicare Advantage business to HCSC, beating out Elevance (the former Anthem). Cigna is also selling its supplemental benefits and Medicare Part D plans, along with CareAllies, a subsidiary that assists primary care practices with value-based care in Medicare and commercial plans. Together, they cover 3.6 million people, but the now-money-losing MA business represented only 2% of the total MA market. Closing is expected to be in 2025, subject to the usual regulatory approvals. HCSC currently operates in five states and this marks a major growth opportunity for them, if they pass state and Federal scrutiny.

Update: Some speculation remains that now that Cigna has agreed to sell the MA and other businesses, a Humana buy may be more of a go–at a reduced price given Humana’s recent earnings difficulties. This feels, to this Editor, like whistling in the dark. Prima facie, it ignores two factors: the major stumbling block was their respective strengths in pharmacy benefit management (PBM) though with different focuses, and that Cigna, having rid themselves of a money loser in MA, would buy it back and take on short term pain just to get bigger. Perhaps the two, because they seem to like dancing with each other, may partner in some areas like home health or other services, but for now the regulatory landscape is waaaay too hostile to mega-mergers in healthcare and the shareholders feel the same. Why buy the cow, etc.? MedCityNews  Further evidence? The CEO bragged about the sale as moving towards a leaner and more focused organization (the new catchphrase) on the 2 February earning call, as well as their interest in providing services via their Evernorth unit to MA providers, such as tying pharmacy services to the MA plans for four years after the HCSC buy. Healthcare Dive

iRobot sale to Amazon fails due to “no path to regulatory approval”, company lays off 31% of staff. In more bad news for Amazon, regulatory disapproval by the EU finally put paid to the deal for the Roomba maker. The EU found that Amazon’s ownership would have restricted competition in the robot vacuum cleaner category by restricting access to Amazon’s marketplace. This is no different than the FTC and DOJ in the US which blocked it for two years. Amazon will pay iRobot a $94 million breakup fee, which the latter will need as their market capitalization has crashed to $400 million from the $1.7 billion original sales price.  iRobot is reducing staff by 350, its CEO is also stepping down immediately, and they are concentrating now on margin improvements, restricting lines of business, and reducing R&D. CNBC  Consider this Lina Khan’s first ‘scalp’ in her War on Amazon.

DispatchHealth, an in-home care provider, has a new partnership with Instacart, a food delivery service, to directly address nutrition needs for their advanced care patients being treated at home.  Dispatch provides same-day, urgent medical care; hospital alternative care; and recovery care. With Instacart Health, Dispatch creates meal plans and medically tailored meals through shopping lists on Instacart that can be delivered direct to home. Payment must be made by the patient or if their Medicare Advantage plan permits. Food is a significant part of social determinants of health (SDOH) and Dispatch has found that 33% of their patients struggle with this and 22% have serious food insecurity. Orders can be made by phone, phone app, or website. McKnights Home Care, Mobihealthnews, DispatchHealth release   DispatchHealth has also experienced recent layoffs of 88 employees. Home Health Care News

And now for something completely different. India has been buzzing with several fundings in digital health. The roundup’s from Mobihealthnews with additional information from other sources:

  • CureBay, a rural-focused e-clinic from visits to lab tests and prescriptions with 90 locations, scored another Rs 620 million ($7.5 million) in funding as part of a Series A round led by Elevar Equity. IndianStartUpTimes
  • Mental health platform Amaha raised over Rs 50 million ($6 million) in an extended Series A funding round. The app-based treatement platform connects members with clinicians and psychiatrists. It also acquired the Delhi NCR-based Child and Adolescent Mental Health Institute, Children First, that has been providing support to 12,000+ families since its inception in 2008. Release
  • Healspan, an insurance tech startup that manages cashless health insurance claims for 60 hospitals, raised Rs 1.2 million (over $100,000) in pre-seed funding from a round led by startup accelerator PedalStart. ExpressHealthcare India
  • FlexifyMe, a chronic pain digital therapeutics platform with AI-powered patient scanning, gained pre-seed funding from angel platform ah! Ventures Angel Platform. Based in India but with operations in the US and Dubai, their therapy addresses back pain, cervical pain, spondylosis, and other conditions via what they term a unique combination of online physiotherapy, yoga therapy, and AI. BiospectrumIndia  In October, they had raised $1 million from Flipkart Ventures. Times of India
  • Docosage, described as an AI-driven health solutions provider with a telehealth consult, e-prescribing, lab testing, and genetic studies platform, also has an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from an individual angel investor. The funding will be used for strategic partnerships by exploring collaborations with hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and incorporating tech advancements to enhance product features. ExpressHealthcare India 

*Updated 2 Feb for additional analysis around Cigna MA sale to HCSC and copy editing

Midweek heat wave roundup: GE Healthcare’s new name, hospital-to-home health trending big, over 2 million patient records hacked

July 20, 2022 | by

GE’s breakup into three public companies, announced last November [TTA 12 Nov 21], has been formalized with brand names. No surprise, the healthcare business has but a teeny tiny change to GE HealthCare (logo left) and after the spinoff will be trading sometime in early 2023 under GEHC on Nasdaq because “GE HealthCare will benefit from the exchange’s profile and track record as a market for innovative, technology-led public companies, particularly in the healthcare sector. The heritage ‘meatball’ (as we called it in marketing internally, but formally the Monogram) will be retained but the color will change from poison green to “compassion purple” to reflect more humanity and warmth and achieve greater distinction”. The hardest hit part of GE, the energy businesses, will be spun off as GE Vernova and key color an ‘evergreen’. What is left will be GE Aerospace, retaining its name and change its color to an ‘upper atmosphere’ blue that is almost black. Outer space, anyone? GE release, interview on YouTube

Au courant is hospital-to-home (H2H) and home health, digitally enabled mais bien sûr.

  • Mass General Brigham (MGB) is reportedly expanding its current 25-bed program to 200 in the next 2.5 years. Since 2016, MGB has treated nearly 1,800 H2H patients. By end of 2023, they plan 90 hospital-at-home beds managed across Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and Salem Hospital. Their new head for home-based care will be Heather O’Sullivan, who comes from EVP and chief clinical innovation officer spots at Kindred at Home, acquired by Humana in 2021. FierceHealthcare
  • Out in rural Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic is rolling out a H2H program with DispatchHealth, to coordinate medical care for injuries and illnesses including viral infections, COPD exacerbations, congestive heart failure, and more. The goal is to reduce non-emergency ED visits. DispatchHealth can also perform services such as onsite diagnostics, mobile imaging, and CLIA-certified labs for kidney function, electrolytes, and urinalysis. In March 2021, they closed a $200 million Series D bringing their funding to unicorn level. HealthcareITNews
  • UHG’s Optum has moved closer on its $5.5 billion acquisition of LHC Group home health and hospice [TTA 31 Mar] with shareholder approval on 21 June. Once closed later this year, LHC will be integrated into Optum Health. LHC operates in 37 states and the District of Columbia, employing about 30,000 individuals. Home Health Care News, Becker’s

And what would a week with a heat wave that melts runways at RAF Brize Norton and Luton be without a couple of big data breaches to heat up things? Stolen: an iPad chock full of 75,000 Kaiser Permanente patients’ PHI from Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center’s COVID-19 testing center. While the information on the iPad included first and last names, dates of birth, medical record numbers, and dates and location of service (but not SSN or financial information), Kaiser was able to remotely erase the data. At this point, there is no evidence of theft or misuse. NBC Los Angeles, Becker’s   An even larger breach of 2 million records came via a February hack attack on health provider debt collector Professional Finance Company (PFC). Hackers got into PFC’s computers and accessed patient names, addresses, SSN, health insurance, and medical treatment data. Among the 650 client companies affected were Banner Health and Nevada physician network Renown Health. Healthcare Dive

Funding update, 4 March: big Series Ds for new unicorn Dispatch Health and Tyto Care; USDA’s $42M for rural telehealth; UK’s Perfect Ward hospital inspection app secures £4m

March 4, 2021 | by

Once upon a time for health tech companies, Series D funding and unicorn status were rare, especially when the tech relates to the under-the-radar, formerly unsexy area of home health. 

  • DispatchHealth, an in-home mobile care provider based in Denver, just closed a $200 million Series D led by Tiger Global with additional participation from Alta Partners, Echo Health Ventures, Humana, Oak HC/FT, and Questa Capital. This comes less than a year after a $135.8 million Series C led by Optum Ventures, The new total of $417 million in funding brings its valuation to a unicorn level of $1.7 bn. DispatchHealth is in the desirable, high potential cost-saving areas of care that replaces ER visits or hospital stays. The platform integrates in-home care services booked through a call, their app, or online by patients, care providers, payers, EMS, senior living, and health systems. The objectives of care are to substitute for ER visits, hospital stays, and to coordinate ancillary services. Currently serving 19 markets across 12 states with care to more than 170,000 patients in 2020, the new funding will be used for expansion to 100 national markets. DispatchHealth recently announced partnering with Humana for advanced hospital-level care for their Medicare Advantage members in several cities. Release, FierceHealthcare
  • More on the health tech side is Tyto Care’s remote diagnostic exam platform. Today they are announcing an additional raise of $50 million, doubling the earlier Series D and now totaling $100 million. Leading the extension is Insight Partners, with participation by Tiger Global (see DispatchHealth), Qumra Capital, Qualcomm Ventures LLC, Olive Tree Ventures, and Shenzhen Capital Group Company. Tyto’s funding is now $155 million and claims a doubling of its valuation. Release.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is surprisingly now an investor in rural telehealth, in part courtesy of the CARES Act from March 2020. (Yes, there were considerable funds left over from that $2.2 trillion pandemic relief bill and now some of them are being used.) USDA is funding projects with a total of $42.3 million, including $24 million from the CARES Act, to improve infrastructure for telemedicine and distance learning infrastructure. Approved to go are 86 projects through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program, to help rural education and healthcare organizations remotely reach students, patients, and outside expertise. USDA’s study found that due to population health, lack of insurance, and lower access to health facilities, there are higher rates of COVID-19 related deaths in rural areas. Healthcare IT News

A UK company that’s in an unusual area of health tech is Perfect Ward, which is designed to put on a laptop and mobile app the complicated process of health inspections of hospitals, care homes, and other health and social care organizations in the UK and internationally. Their £4 million round comes from Octopus Investments (Octopus Group). Current clients include King’s College, Barts Health, The Royal Free and London Ambulance Service. Release (Business Cloud)