Chutes & Ladders: UnitedHealth’s disastrous day and industry portents; Sword Health buys Kaia for $285M and gains German entry, $250M Series D for OpenEvidence, Pomelo’s $92M Series C, NOCD buys Rebound Health

January 29, 2026 | by

Chutes go first…

UnitedHealth Group’s 2025 financials not only triggered a one-day drop in its stock of 19.6% ($282), but cracked the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) by 409 points– close to 1% (0.8%). Revenue hit a record–$447.6 billion–but profits suffered another drop to $12.1 billion from $14.4 billion in 2024. Worse, it was the lowest annual profit since 2018, not even adjusted for inflation. Their care organization within Optum services, Optum Health, went from a 2024 operational gain of $7.8 billion to a loss of $278 million in 2025. 2026 projections for UHG include a revenue contraction for the first time in years. Healthcare Dive, Yahoo Finance

But the stock free-fall hinged on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule move announced on Monday to essentially keep Medicare Advantage (MA)  average rate payments flat at less than 1%, versus an expected 4-6%. This was topped by another rule excluding patient diagnoses that aren’t linked to actual medical care that inflated MA patient risk adjustments, flattening risk scores and payments. The adjustments would save taxpayers about $7 billion. Another major hit is that UHG projects a 2026 loss of 1.3 to 1.4 million MA members. The stock price recovered about 11% today to close at $294.02.

UHG’s stock drop was the 6th worst since 1987’s Black Tuesday. The rule changes also swatted other insurers with major MA markets such as Centene, CVS Health (Aetna), Elevance, and Humana. 

Congress is also going hard after health insurers, with hostile House Ways and Means committee and House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearings last week skewering CEOs from UnitedHealth, CVS, Cigna and Elevance over their compensation, rampant vertical integration with pharmacy benefit management (PBMs) and providers (including rate setting), prior authorization, and care denials. Fun fact: non-insurance business can be as much as one-third of revenue for the insurer giants. Only the Blue Shield of California CEO (Ascendiun), a non-profit, who basically agreed with all the criticisms of healthcare and threw himself on the mercy of the court, somewhat escaped. It was a Bad Day on Capitol Hill that may portend Boot Hill for some CEOs. Healthcare Dive, Becker’s 

Other portents for the industry aren’t great either. ACA individual plan subsidies, which had ballooned beyond recognition in the past few years, are not expected to return, and members are fleeing. Many insurers such as Aetna have already exited the exchanges. Health policy reforms are iffy in a midterm election year. Medicaid state payments are still in unknown territory. A bit more favorable is that margins are stabilizing and commercial plans remain positive. Healthcare Dive

All of which means that in a hot midterm year, there will be renewed bipartisan calls to restrict insurers on practices of their painstakingly integrated service businesses–and increased calls for divestitures. By last year, it was clear that UHG was becoming a victim of its own size and a strategy rapidly becoming obsolete. This Editor in May 2025 (just before her extended hiatus) in an extended brief advocated a voluntary breakup of UnitedHealth Group before it wound up like GE, wrecked by its own problems. The finalized acquisition of Amedysis in August, dangling with DOJ since 2023, was the swan song. Or honk. The days of big UHG accretive buys, Optum acquiring practices, and Optum Ventures making big bets in digital health are over, and darn well should be.

A very tart take–but requiring a subscription–is in yesterday’s (27 Jan) AI Health Uncut. Sergei Polevikov details the multiple fraud cases that UHG is fighting, the devastation that Change Healthcare’s suspension of provider payments for months in 2024 wreaked, insider trading, and more.

And here are the Ladders, which are finally showing up in healthtech after a thoroughly depressing 2025…

MSG physical therapy/mental health/telehealth provider Sword Health today (28 Jan) announced the acquisition of Kaia Health for $285 million. (Updated) Kaia is also in MSK management for employers, payers, and public health systems, but adds a pulmonary therapy for COPD, Kaia Breathe. The Sword brand will replace Kaia in the US, while Kaia’s prescription app footprint in Germany (DiGA) will open the digital health Rx reimbursement pathway there for Sword. Clearly that was a very big asset of interest to Sword. At present, Sword has 700,000 members across three continents and 1,000+ enterprise clients. Their financing to date is $500 million raised from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Transformation Capital, and Founders Fund. Kaia had funding of about $123 million but hadn’t had funding since their April 2021 Series C, which is a prolonged time and indicates that they were having trouble with that ol’ devil Profitability. (Crunchbase) Sword release, Mobihealthnews

OpenEvidence, the medical information search engine for doctors that is 2026’s ‘hot number’, scored a $250 million Series D, led by Thrive Capital and DST Global. The AI-enabled (what isn’t?) free search engine trained on journals and clinical medical data only, coupled with an AI chatbot agent, claims scorching growth, from 3 million clinical consultations/monthly in December 2024 to 18 million/monthly in December 2025, all from verified US physicians. The Miami-based company also claims daily average usage by 40% of US doctors in 10,000 hospitals and medical centers. Its funding and valuation are scorching too, totaling $700 million from a Murderer’s Row of major investors, doubling its valuation to $12 billion, making it the most valuable healthcare AI company on Planet Earth. (This gives OpenAI and Anthropic something to ‘shoot’ for.) The fresh funding will be invested in R&D and compute costs associated with their multi-AI agentic architecture. “Medical superintelligence” may be an overstatement, but in discussions around physician marketing and engagement, OpenEvidence is showing metrics that dust the traditional providers such as Doximity, Medscape, and Epocrates. FierceHealthcare, Mobihealthnews, release

Pomelo Care’s $92 million raise will take it beyond maternity care. At present targeted to fertility, maternity, and pediatric care for women and children, the company is expanding into midlife women’s health, including perimenopause and menopause symptoms and mental health support. The Pomelo app enables access to a dedicated care team and customized care plans. Currently, the NYC-based company founded by Marta Bralic Kerns and named after the doughy citrus fruit has access to 25 million covered lives through health plan payers and employers. The Series C was led by Stripes with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, PLUS Capital, Atomico, BoxGroup, and SV Angel. Valuation is now up to $1.7 billion. MedCity News, Mobihealthnews, Forbes

On the other end of the barbell, NOCD, a virtual care provider for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), purchased trauma care provider Rebound Health. The two companies are forming under a parent entity, Noto. Rebound provides for trauma patients a mobile app that provides structured self-help support. The overlap/extension for the two companies is in treatment of PTSD and Complex PTSD. NOCD has raised $84 million since its founding eight years ago but Rebound Health only $150,000 in a pre-seed round (Crunchbase). Acquisition cost was not disclosed but could not have been much. Behavioral Health Business

Thursday’s short takes: Walmart’s delivery drones expand, AWS lands Geisinger for AI and cloud, UHG-Kaia Health partner for virtual MSK therapy

May 26, 2022 | by

Look, up in the sky! If you live in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, you might be seeing a Walmart delivery drone sooner than you think. By end of 2022, the DroneUp delivery service will be expanding to 34 sites in six states, including Orlando and Tampa, covering 4 million households. What stores in those states will fill these orders between 8am and 8pm haven’t been disclosed, but Walmart estimates that delivery may reach 1 million packages. They will be limited in weight to 10 lbs, promise a 30-minute turnaround, and the delivery fee will be a modest $3.99. “Certified pilots” will be flying these drones. A side business for DroneUp is aerial photography for city and state governments’ construction projects. Color this Editor skeptical, as she wonders how many packages will be dropped and drones shot at. Also, they need to stay clear of restricted airspace. Walmart release, Epoch Times, The Verge

Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues its foray into healthcare with a prime partnership with Geisinger Health, a regional (PA) integrated health system.  They will be transitioning to AWS as their strategic cloud tech provider including their EHR, over 400 applications, plus workflows, after a multi-year review. Geisinger has estimated that post-implementation, they will save several million dollars. Their EHR migration will be one of the largest AWS migrations to date. AWS for Health is rivaled by Microsoft with Teams, Azure IoT, and chatbots for clients such as Humana, plus Google’s partnerships with healthcare giants such as Mayo. FierceHealthcare, Geisinger release

UnitedHealthcare and Kaia Health are partnering for a musculoskeletal (MSK) virtual therapy program. United Healthcare members recovering from surgery or injury will be assessed and referred to the Kaia program when appropriate. These members will then be able to download the Kaia app for physical therapy, tailored to them via “artificial intelligence”. Progress is monitored by that person’s smartphone camera to record motion in real-time and offer suggestions via coaches either 1 to 1 or through the app’s chat feature. At this point, UHG will offer it only to their self-funded employer clients. FierceHealthcare

Short Takes 20 Nov: Doro Eliza social alarm in UK, R2G diabetes market study, KOMPAÏ Robotics update, Bluestream Health integrates LanguageLine translation, and Optum’s 18

November 20, 2020 | by

Why does this whole year feel like we are Pauline in Peril, all tied-up, with an Evil Man menacing us while the Train barrels down the tracks? Nonetheless, there are bites of news to be consumed, even though this year’s Thanksgiving in the US will be at best a muted one, and the Grinch may be stealing Christmas.

Doro remains ‘on a tear’ with new product introductions for the UK. The Doro Eliza (right) is a 4G/digital IP compatible social alarm/”smartcare” hub, with a modern design that connects to telecare accessories. The modern design has HD audio on the speaker for personal alarms, and also connects to smoke detectors, fall sensors, security cameras, and pill dispensers. Already introduced in Europe, its timing is part of the transition from analogue to digital telecare for 1.7 million UK telecare users as telecom moves to full digital by 2025. Release.

If your business is in diabetes care and the apps that assist them, Research2Guidance’s study and forecast, “The Global Digital Diabetes Care Market 2020: Going Beyond Diabetes Management” will be of interest. The 91-page report covers a global picture of growth from 2008 projecting out to 2024, as well as digital solutions, their segmentation, and competition. For instance, from 2019 to 2024, the number of diagnosed diabetics with access to smart devices is set to increase from 109 million to 180 million. It includes profiles of 10 countries. Priced from €3,290, so it will set you back a bit. More information here. 

We missed updating you on KOMPAÏ Robotics, which Editor Emeritus Steve Hards first covered in 2011. Their latest developments were earlier this year as their assistance/companion robot finally debuted for sale–right in the middle of the pandemic. This Pulse article recounts the road for CEO Vincent Dupourqué from 1975 to the third version of KOMPAÏ.

LanguageLine, which is a long-time provider of language translation services live to in-patient and acute care settings, announced an integration with Bluestream Health’s virtual visits. With a single click, a Bluestream user can access audio and video interpretation in 240 languages and over 13,000 interpreters. LanguageLine also assists with deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Bluestream provides whitelabeled telehealth services to approximately 50,000 providers. LanguageLine has headquarters in California, with offices in Taiwan and London.  Release

And finally, Optum’s 18. Optum Ventures, the funding arm of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, has invested in a large number of healthcare ventures this year, nearly all with a health tech or AI spin. It’s neatly distributed internationally and between Series A through C, with UK companies like Oxford VR (VR used for therapies, no connection to Oxford Medical Simulations) as part of a $12.5 million Series A, Germany’s Kaia Health with a $26 million Series B tranche, and US companies like LetsGetChecked as part of a $71 million Series C. Not quite Ocean’s 11, but Optum’s bet a lot more than Danny Ocean got from those casinos in 1960. Becker’s Health IT.