TTA’s Blooming Spring 2: Teladoc buys UpLift to buck up BetterHealth, Novo Nordisk partners with Hims, other teleprescibers on Wegovy, Masimo’s former CEO claiming un-granted shares, Commure-HealthTap partner, more!

May 2, 2025 | by

2 May 2025

Cherry blossoms are starting to fall, much like Teladoc’s revenue for Q1 in our lead story. Can their acquisition of a small virtual mental health provider with insurance coverage help turn around BetterHelp? And what about their main business? Novo Nordisk would rather partner than fight with teleprescribers Hims & Hers, Ro, and LifeMD for GLP-1 Wegovy–will this be a trend? Commure adds to its ‘house that Jack built’ tech stack with a HealthTap partnership. And Masimo’s latest episode of its ongoing soap opera is that its former CEO (and major shareholder) is claiming ownership of shares as part of his severance–but they haven’t been granted and very much in dispute. (Irony alert: they’ve increased in value since his departure!)

This just in: Teladoc acquires UpLift for $30M, bolstering struggling BetterHelp telemental health; Q1 revenue down 3% (Can this telemental health be saved with one acquisition?)

News roundup: Hims, Ro, LifeMD and Novo Nordisk partner on Wegovy prescribing (updated); Commure partners with HealthTap for virtual care after hours; WebMD Ignite adds texting to member health ed; hellocare.ai raises $47M for virtual nursing  (When you can’t beat ’em in weight loss meds, join ’em. With a side of Commure’s interesting M.O. on acquisitions.)

Masimo updates: former CEO Kiani claims 13.2% ownership, and a review of the new management’s style (updated) (The soap opera continues)

From last week: Cherry blossoms are blooming (finally) and so is the news. The roundups include Walgreens’ continuing Aisle 9 cleanup of their Federal opioid prescribing allegations, a huge and mysterious breach of Google Analytics sending Blue Shield CA member info to Google Ads, and Veradigm’s interim CEO will be taking the summer off. Our big reads include two surveys: the first on the state of healthcare AI (more show than go) and the second on RPM utilization–and effectiveness. Two raises, a BCI/telehealth merge, and international initiatives.

Product & funding very short takes: South Australia 1st with Sunrise EMR; S. Korea pain research, new emergency services app; BCI + telehealth for stroke patients; VirtuSense monitoring launches at Emory; Series B raises for Nourish, Healthee

Short takes: Veradigm’s interim CEO departing, Blue Shield CA breached 4.8M members’ PHI to Google, advice on expanded M&A premarket notification rules (You can’t blame that CEO for ankling after all the trouble he’s seen! And Blue Shield has 2nd largest breach–involving Google Analytics. Bad timing for Google.)

News roundup: Walgreens’ $350M opioid settlement, only 30% of healthcare AI pilots reach production, Medicare RPM usage up 10-fold despite benefit limitations (Walgreens cleans up again, and two surveys on AI and RPM for weekend perusal)

Holding this over: The weekend read: why SPACs came, went, and failed in digital health–the Halle Tecco analysis/memorial service; why OpenAI is going to be a bad, bad business (Grab the cuppa and lunch for a good read and podcast. Updated–Also Tecco’s blog post on why she quit being an angel investor.) 

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News roundup: Hims, Ro, LifeMD and Novo Nordisk partner on Wegovy prescribing (updated); Commure partners with HealthTap for virtual care after hours; WebMD Ignite adds texting to member health ed; hellocare.ai raises $47M for virtual nursing

May 1, 2025 | by

Partnerships and add-ons are much in the news this week.

Hims & Hers isn’t worrying about GLP-1 drug sourcing. Neither are Ro and LifeMD. All three made a deal with Novo Nordisk on providing branded Wegovy to cash-paying members with a prescription. Wegovy is supplied through NovoCare Pharmacy through each of the telehealth suppliers.

Hims & Hers received immediate benefit–their stock jumped 23% on Tuesday above $33. Wegovy is already available to Hims & Hers members, but  those without a membership, they will bundle a membership with Wegovy and supply services including 24/7 care, nutrition guidance, and clinical support, starting at $599/month. Longer term, the two companies plan to match up Novo Nordisk’s technologies with Hims & Hers’ ability to scale access to care. Novo Nordisk’s programs with competitive telehealth prescribers Ro and LifeMD start at $499/month, but may be more based on services provided.

Updated: The smaller LifeMD, a below $10 Nasdaq stock, also jumped 40% to above $8 and settled in around $7 this morning (Friday 1 May). (Ro–Roman Health–is a private company.) FierceHealthcare LifeMD also recently acquired assets of women’s telehealth provider Optimal Human Health MD as their entrée into the women’s health market. The new service will be focused on menopause and osteoporosis, monitoring hormone health, bone density, metabolism and long-term wellness. Debut is this summer. No financials were disclosed.  Release, FierceHealthcare

This was just in time to meet the FDA deadline on GLP-1s. All three teleprescribing companies were using less expensive compounding pharmacies to supply generic versions of semaglutide up until recently. In February, the FDA reclassified the drug as no longer scarce, which ended that authorization to sell the compounded drugs as of now [TTA 25 Feb, 27 Feb]. Hims, as the largest, stood to lose the most and fought very hard to keep the compounded versions of these drugs including an aggressive ad blitz blasting the pharmas. Evidently, they’ve now reconsidered–as has Novo Nordisk in lowering prices and selling through the teleprescribers. If you can’t beat them, join them. However, based on what this Editor hears on the radio, companies like FuturHealth are selling compounded versions alongside branded GLP-1 medications. Mobihealthnews, CNBC

Software integration meets virtual healthcare for after-hours coverage. Healthcare software integrator Commure is partnering with HealthTap‘s online primary care network and telehealth services to provide what they term a ‘unified solution that bridges the gap between in-person and virtual care’. Commure’s slightly bewildering tech stack centers on EHR integrations for workflow, scribing, RPM, RCM, and AI-powered agents–along with a workplace security system, Strongline. The partnership now offers to providers turnkey implementation for services such as after-hours coverage and virtual primary care, with the big plus of not adding staff. Mobihealthnews, Release 

Commure’s interesting developments in the past year or so included a fire-sale priced buy of Memora Health for $30 million in December 2024, adding its conversational AI-powered agent to its ‘stack’, undoubtedly to the relief of in-common investors General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). In October, Commure bought ambient AI medical documentation company Augmedix (one of the few SPACs that didn’t crack) in a $139 million deal [TTA 8 Jan].    Axios‘ further analysis of the Memora Health buy is worth a read.

WebMD Ignite’s Coach health education and engagement platform adds text messaging. The Coach platform, used by care managers for health plan members, has added an integrated SMS text messaging app. This provides for plan care managers:

  • Real-time reach: Push notifications ensure messages are seen promptly, keeping health education and motivation top of mind.
  • Custom branding: Text templates can be customized to reflect each health plan’s brand and messaging.
  • Member convenience: Deliver concise, actionable information directly to members’ mobile devices.
  • Seamless workflow integration: Care managers can select, send and track text-based education within Coach, including opt-in and opt-out management.

The text messaging can also be used for population-wide campaigns to engage members at scale for health initiatives. Text’s advantages over email delivery is immediacy and also more narrow targeting, as many have multiple emails but only one (or two) mobile phone numbers. Release, FierceHealthcare  (Disclaimer: this Editor previously worked as a marketing consultant to what was then Krames, now part of the services under WebMD Ignite)

Our one significant raise of the week is (again) in virtual nursing. hellocare.ai‘s $47 million raise was led by HealthQuest Capital led the round with participation from several health systems and digital health investors, including UCHealth, Bon Secours Mercy Health, LRVHealth and OSF Ventures. hellocare.ai provides an in-room AI-assisted virtual nursing platform for “smart hospital” rooms plus telehealth and hybrid care services for hospitals, home care, and primary care. The platform includes virtual sitting in up to 32 rooms 24/7 on a single remote clinician’s monitor, virtual consultation, ambient documentation, digital whiteboards, patient engagement, and hospital-at-home integrated into the hospital’s EHR. hellocare.ai claims installations in 70+ health systems that include the investors. Since 2012, the Clearwater, Florida company has raised over $88 million. Release, Mobihealthnews

News roundup #1: UHG-Amedisys extended, NeueHealth going private in NEA’s ‘deal deal’, Commure buying Memora Health, VA resuming Oracle rollouts–now mid-’26

January 8, 2025 | by

The end of year is a favorite time to slip in news that deserves wider notice. Sometimes it’s by design so as not to be noticed…and sometimes it’s timing. Or both. Here’s a potpourri of analyses of late December moves of note.

UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys home health agreed to extend their deal window to 31 December 2025. Amedisys filed regulatory paper on 26 December (file here) that moved the acquisition termination date to end of this year, or alternatively to 10 business days after a final court ruling blocking the merger. The latter is a distinct possibility since the Department of Justice back on 12 November filed a lawsuit to prevent the acquisition [TTA 14 Nov 24] on anti-trust grounds, joined by the attorneys general of four states. Amedisys, a major competitor to UHG/Optum, would be merged into Optum’s existing home health operations.

This long-running acquisition started back in June 2023 as an all-cash deal for $3.3 billion and went into DOJ review by August. The target closing at that time was end of 2024 as both companies knew that divestitures would be necessary. The penalty for non-completion was also upped to $325 million if needed divestitures to the VitalCaring Group proposed last July aren’t completed by 1 May. Even with a new Attorney General coming in after Senate confirmation, the wheels are already in motion for this antitrust action that throws a completion into doubt. Becker’s, Healthcare Dive

Gimlet EyeNeueHealth to be taken private by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and other investors. The latest episode of the long-running NeueHealth (formerly BrightHealth) show dropped on 23 December. Existing investor NEA and 12 other investors with preferred shares in the company will take it private at an enterprise value of approximately $1.3 billion and roll over their shares for equity in the private company. Other holders of common stock will be cashed out, receiving $7.33 per share, a premium of 70% over the $4.31 closing on 23 December. The final price may change as common shares went up sharply the next day and remain up–today (8 January) opened at $7.49. Closing timing of this ‘deal deal’ is dependent on shareholder and regulatory approvals. Management will remain and roll over their shares into the company. Hercules Capital’s loan facility remains in place.  

Buried in the release is this caveat: “The merger agreement includes a 30-day “go-shop” period that will expire at 12:01 AM New York City time on January 23, 2025, which permits the Special Committee and its financial advisors to solicit and consider alternative acquisition proposals.” These proposals will be kept under wraps. But in this Editor’s view, outside offers are highly unlikely given the company’s death-defying history, continuing losses, and Ticking Time Bombs (see below). Their Q3 results had projected full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA between $15 million and $25 million–but they lost $40 million in Q3 with the 2024 loss to date over $102 million.

As Ari Gottlieb dryly noted in his LinkedIn post, the company is $1.4 billion in debt. $7.33 per share is quite a comedown from the June 2021 IPO at $18 and an $11 billion valuation. The payout to the 36% of shares held by the other public shareholders is a paltry $21 million. Bottom line–NEA and the preferred investors are buying the company for $21 million–such a deal!

This Editor has previously and Gimletly noted NeueHealth’s high-wire act. It has truly Dodged Disaster with aplomb, skillfully creating its Own New Reality. But its Ticking Time Bombs remain: $300 million in CMS Repayment Agreements due on or before 14 March 2025 and $89 million owed to Texas from last year to cover risk liabilities for its shuttered ACA plans [TTA 14 Feb]. To be continued…   Release, Star-Tribune, FierceHealthcare

Commure bought digital health navigation platform Memora Health. Neither acquisition cost nor management transitions were disclosed on 20 December. Commure has one of the more interesting stories out there as the current company emerged from a General Catalyst-engineered estimated $6 billion merger between Commure and Athelas, with Athelas taking the upper hand in the reorganization [TTA 23 Oct 2024]. It should then be no surprise that Memora has significant investment from General Catalyst, which led its last round of funding in April 2023, making this another investor-arranged deal.

Commure’s primary products are the Strongline duress systems for worker distress and patient elopement and the Patient Keeper EHR, with Athelas in revenue cycle management and sensor-based remote patient monitoring. The combined company now features AI-aided workflows, RCM, duress systems, and a software development platform accessible to outside vendors. What Memora is primarily known for is automating practice follow-up texts before and after procedures. The Memora acquisition is positioned as reinforcing CommureOS’ clinical documentation, RCM, and real-time location services (RTLS). In October, Commure closed their acquisition of Augmedix, an AI-assisted physician scribe used by 20 health systems, for $139 million ($2.39/share), giving it a huge leg up into those providers. Augmedix IPO’d via a SPAC in 2021 at $4/share. About 400,000 physicians are claimed to be users of the Commure suite of products.  Release, Mobihealthnews, Endpoints, FierceHealthcare (Augmedix)

And what end of year would it be without a hopeful note from the VA about the Oracle Cerner rollout–now continuing in mid-2026? The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on 20 December officially targeted mid-2026 for four Oracle Cerner implementations, 18 months from now. It’s carefully hedged that they are beginning ‘early-stage planning’ for deployment in four Michigan facilities — Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit, and Saginaw. Meanwhile, improvements will continue at the five sites that use Oracle Cerner plus the sixth joint implementation with the MHS (Lovell). Interestingly, the current VA secretary, Denis McDonough, announced at an 11 December press conference that new implementations would start before the end of 2025 [TTA 19 Dec 2024]. This Editor assumes that the staff sharpened their pencils and recalculated right before Christmas. What’s also hopeful for Oracle and the VA are continuing  improvements in veteran outpatient trust and clinician satisfaction scores, as well as effectively eliminating outages for 200 days as of the release date. VA release, Healthcare Dive 

News roundup: Cano Health board fight, board shakeup; Memora Health’s $30M raise; Teladoc enters weight management race

April 21, 2023 | by

The continuing drama at Florida-based primary care provider Cano Health focuses on the board and CEO. The three board members who resigned in late March [TTA 7 April]–Barry Sternlicht, Elliot Cooperstone, and Lewis Gold (who we’ll dub the Cano 3)–are now demanding that the company board reopen the window for director nominations at the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. In a letter/press release targeted to fellow shareholders released on Monday, the group cited “drastically changed circumstances”, exclusion of the three from decision-making prior to their resignation, and “the emergence and disclosure of additional self-dealing and concerning related-party transactions that were not previously disclosed – have cast serious doubt on the credibility and fitness of the current Board and CEO Marlow Hernandez.” The letter/release also focuses on the company’s negative (-83%!) performance over the past year. The three own 36% of the common stock of Cano Health, which means they have a very loud voice.

Cano management responded on Monday with a very long letter/press release of its own rebutting the “destructive actions” of the Cano 3  with a lengthy but somewhat anodyne six-point action plan to move the company toward profitability, improve performance, and increase liquidity. Point 6 was quite the kicker: appointing a non-executive chairman of the board, Solomon (Sol) Trujillo. This separated the chairman and CEO roles, with the highly controversial founder Dr. Marlow Hernandez remaining as CEO. Not addressed were the issues around Dr. Hernandez. He has been accused of self-dealing in two instances: $23 million to the CEO’s father for general contracting work, and $8.5 million to a dental care company owned by Mrs. Hernandez. Earlier coverage included dubious transactions with Miami medical claims recovery company MSP Recovery (also known as LifeWallet).

What’s interesting about this is that it may turn into a battle royal between two major figures: chairman Sol Trujillo against Barry Sternlicht. Mr. Trujillo is highly experienced in board/CEO roles in high-stress turnaround situations, such as at Orange SA and most recently Australia’s Telstra Communications. Mr. Sternlicht is well known as the CEO of Starwood Hotels and is a major real estate and private investor.

Cano Health was founded in 2009 and went public via a SPAC in 2021. It lost $426 million in 2022. The shareholder meeting date hasn’t been released yet, but in 2022 it was in May. Stay tuned. Healthcare Dive, MarketWatch

Memora Health raises $30 million. This venture round was led by General Catalyst and joined by several health systems including Northwell plus existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Transformation Capital, and Frist Cressey Ventures. Memora has AI-based technology for complex care management and digitizes clinical and administrative workflows. FierceHealthcare, Crunchbase

Teladoc to premier weight management program using GLP-1 agonist drugs. This will be part of their physician-based care product for employers, and will target patients needing additional assistance in weight loss and diabetes prevention. The program provides access to a Teladoc-employed doctor for a personalized care plan, along with daily coaching with digital tools. Debut is projected during Q3. GLP-1 drugs such as the widely advertised (in US) Ozempic injectable were originally designed for diabetes management but have found a different market in weight loss. Companies such as Calibrate, Ro, and Sequence (acquired recently by Weight Watchers) are competitors. Healthcare Dive