TTA’s Overactive October ‘Best Of’: CVS may break up, another Teladoc C-level departs, Steward’s now ex-CEO sues Senate, Omada and Hinge consider IPOs, more VA EHR ‘oops’, ATA 2025, fundings, closings, more!

 

 

While your Editor is on leave, we’ll recap the (unconfirmed) CVS breakup bombshell and Teladoc’s latest reorg putting its COO out to pasture. IPOs may revive by next year for ‘overdue for exit’ companies. In CEO Land, one former CEO strikes back at the Senate holding him in contempt, while another one, having lost her board, now can easily take 23andMe private. ATA announces 2025 Nexus and call for papers. And some new fundings and products…and why can’t VA stop stubbing its toe on Oracle EHR issues, or staff diving into politicians’ health records?

Your Editor is on leave this week and most of the next week, so new articles will be limited until the week of 22 October.

News roundup: Omada Health files S-1 for IPO in 2025–and a look at 2024 healthcare IPOs, Philips debuts new smart baby monitor, ActiveAlert launches in UK, ATA Nexus 2025 calls for speakers, abstracts (An small IPO revival?)
Breaking: another exit at Teladoc, with COO resigning effective 31 December (Something about ships? Spirals? Musical chairs?)
Industry news short takes: fundings for Qure.AI, Centivo, Rippl, Surescripts; M&A closings for GE Healthcare-Intelligent Ultrasound, LetsGetChecked-Truepill. And is Hinge Health going public soon?
Two ‘oops’ at VA: OIG finds VA, Oracle performance misalignments, makes 9 recommendations; VP candidates’ EHR records improperly accessed by VA employees (Enough already!)
Two follow ups: Steward Health CEO resigns–and sues the Senate HELP committee, Wojcicki will take 23andMe private (Time to take the yachts for a long trip?)
Now CVS Health may be reviewing ‘options’–including a possible breakup–report (PBM and health plan troubles)

Steward’s CEO will likely face prosecution on criminal contempt of Congress for not showing up at a hearing, Stefano Pessina’s net worth down by 97% as Walgreens tanks, and Joe Kiani, after founding Masimo 35 years ago, is booted from the board and ankles–now it’s up to Politan.  

What’s next for: Steward CEO now in criminal contempt of Congress; Walgreens’ Pessina’s fortune vanishes by 97%; Masimo’s Kiani now a man without a company

It’s the last week of summer and this Editor has been catching up all over. While away, there have been buys, M&A, and yet another PE ‘smush’ merger. In developing stories, the Masimo-Politan proxy war ends and Steward’s CEO no-show may result in charges–both on Thursday. Congress and the industry argue over continuing telehealth prescribing waivers. And it’s hard to see a future for a broke 23andMe controlled by its founder/CEO–and with a board that just exited today. 

News roundup: Owlet expands to EU, mPulse buys Zipari, New Mountain PE merges 3 payment integrity firms in $3B smush, Candid Health’s $29M raise, Oura buys Veri, Bloomer Tech’s cardio bra (M&A activity revives, as does Owlet. Oura doing just fine)
23andMe settles 6.9M data breach lawsuit for $30M. Breaking–all seven independent directors quit ($30M the best they could get–and the board throws the towel at Wojcicki)
Rounding up follow ups: Walgreens shareholder suit on pharmacy performance, Steward CEO no-shows Senate committee, Masimo-Politan proxy fight has court win for Politan–vote on for 19 September (Walgreens’ misery never ends. Masimo nears its end.)
US telehealth controlled substances prescribing waiver may expire at year’s end; DEA may further restrict (Controversy on continuing virtual prescribing of Schedule II)

One more jumbo deal announced before Labor Day–Evolent Health’s acquisition bids from payer Elevance Health as well as at least three large private equity firms, in a deal that could top $4 billion. (Sensibly, their CEO is cleaning up his stock option portfolio.)

Evolent Health talking major acquisition by payer Elevance, private equity (Could be over $4B)

Counting down before the Labor Day holiday, one large deal of note sneaks through–LetsGetChecked’s $525M deal for Truepill. SVB’s latest report confirms the ‘valuation trap’ for the overvalued companies of the 2020-22 period but that investment is crawling back. Generative AI is much talked about but no one is comfortable with it. And two surprising survivals–NeueHealth and Stewardship Health.

Truepill to be acquired by LetsGetChecked for $525 million (Throwing in together to survive?)
Signs of life: another view on healthcare investments and exits as of mid-year (SVB’s 14th POV)
Are patients and physicians ready for generative AI? How will it be most acceptable? (Resembles telehealth’s early days on the early curve)
“I will survive” updates: NeueHealth survives Q2 with small net loss, Steward sells off Stewardship Health practices to private equity firm for $245M (Dodging disaster)

An unusually busy mid-August, with early stage fundings for Amulet, Levels, and MD Ally–and a new healthtech VC fund starts up. M&A is also perking with Stryker-Care.ai and Health Catalyst-Lumeon. Announcements are rounding up with 510(k) clearances from SleepioRX and Masimo’s W1 watch, new features from Caregility and Otsuka releasing Rejoyn. What to watch: will 23andMe, once worth $4.8 billion, survive–and who buys Veradigm?

Short takes: Stryker to buy Care.ai, Masimo W1 medical watch clears FDA for oxygen, heart monitoring, Create Health Ventures forms $21M fund (Stryker on a spree and more ‘up’ signs)
Veradigm update report: initial bids collected to take company private (Should be more?)
News roundup: SleepioRx clears FDA 510(k), Caregility adds AI fall detection, Otsuka releases Rejoyn depression app, MD Ally’s $14M Series A, Alcove launches CallConnect247 (UK), Health Catalyst buys Lumeon for $40M
Food–allergy and metabolism–takes center stage with Series A fundings for Amulet and Levels (Health in what you eat)
23andMe drops drug discovery group, expands Lemonaid into GLP-1 weight loss medications, loses $69M in Q1–and board rejects CEO’s buyout offer (Drama watch as founder’s buy bid rejected)

August didn’t start well for Walgreens, conceding that it was best to sell VillageMD and in the meantime, raising needed cash through another sale of Cencora stock. It wasn’t good for Steward in its Ch. 11 asset sale nor Aetna and their president in their Q2 results. But there was good news for Clover and Oscar Health, R1 RCM’s going private, and (perhaps) HHS in reorganizing ONC into ASTP.

Short takes: both Clover and Oscar in the black; Aetna prez booted after 11 months; Ava-VSee bedside robot; updates on Change, OneBlood ransomware, Masimo proxy fight (Upstarts succeed, legacy stumbles)
HHS reorganizing ONC, ASTP in tech funding, talent bid; FDA’s Digital Health Advisory Committee named; GAO scores progress on VA Telehealth Access Program (What the US government is up to)
Breaking: Walgreens considering sale of entire stake in VillageMD (Now really tossing in the towel)                                                                                           
Midweek wrap: Walgreens sells off $1.1B Cencora shares, R1 RCM goes private for $8.9B, Steward’s unwinding with 2 hospital closures, 1,200+ laid off, $30M state funding, bids due for physician group, CEO Senate hearing  (Walgreens raising cash, Steward a tough sell)


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Telehealth & Telecare Aware: covering the news on latest developments in telecare, telehealth, telemedicine, and health tech, worldwide–thoughtfully and from the view of fellow professionals

Thanks for asking for update emails. Please tell your colleagues about this news service and, if you have relevant information to share with the rest of the world, please let me know.

Donna Cusano, Editor In Chief
donna.cusano@telecareaware.com

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TTA’s Overactive October: CVS may break up, another Teladoc C-level departs, Steward’s now ex-CEO sues Senate, Omada and Hinge consider IPOs, more VA ‘oops’, fundings, closings, more!

 

 

A Big Week for news as we start October. The bombshell this week was CVS reportedly looking at breakup or reorg options, facing up to a concatenation of Bad News. IPOs show some signs of life for ‘overdue for exit’ companies. Teladoc loses yet another C-level executive in yet another reorganization. A former CEO strikes back at the Senate, while another one, having lost her board, will take her company private.

Your Editor will be on leave next week and most of the following week, so publishing will be limited until the week of 22 October.

News roundup: Omada Health files S-1 for IPO in 2025–and a look at 2024 healthcare IPOs, Philips debuts new smart baby monitor, ActiveAlert launches in UK, ATA Nexus 2025 calls for speakers, abstracts (An small IPO revival?)
Breaking: another exit at Teladoc, with COO resigning effective 31 December (Something about ships?)
Industry news short takes: fundings for Qure.AI, Centivo, Rippl, Surescripts; M&A closings for GE Healthcare-Intelligent Ultrasound, LetsGetChecked-Truepill. And is Hinge Health going public soon?
Two ‘oops’ at VA: OIG finds VA, Oracle performance misalignments, makes 9 recommendations; VP candidates’ EHR records improperly accessed by VA employees (Enough already!)
Two follow ups: Steward Health CEO resigns–and sues the Senate HELP committee, Wojcicki will take 23andMe private (Time to take the yachts for a long trip?)
Now CVS Health may be reviewing ‘options’–including a possible breakup–report (PBM and health plan troubles)

Steward’s CEO will likely face prosecution on criminal contempt of Congress for not showing up at a hearing, Stefano Pessina’s net worth down by 97% as Walgreens tanks, and Joe Kiani, after founding Masimo 35 years ago, is booted from the board and ankles–now it’s up to Politan.  

What’s next for: Steward CEO now in criminal contempt of Congress; Walgreens’ Pessina’s fortune vanishes by 97%; Masimo’s Kiani now a man without a company

It’s the last week of summer and this Editor has been catching up all over. While away, there have been buys, M&A, and yet another PE ‘smush’ merger. In developing stories, the Masimo-Politan proxy war ends and Steward’s CEO no-show may result in charges–both on Thursday. Congress and the industry argue over continuing telehealth prescribing waivers. And it’s hard to see a future for a broke 23andMe controlled by its founder/CEO–and with a board that just exited today. 

News roundup: Owlet expands to EU, mPulse buys Zipari, New Mountain PE merges 3 payment integrity firms in $3B smush, Candid Health’s $29M raise, Oura buys Veri, Bloomer Tech’s cardio bra (M&A activity revives, as does Owlet. Oura doing just fine)
23andMe settles 6.9M data breach lawsuit for $30M. Breaking–all seven independent directors quit ($30M the best they could get–and the board throws the towel at Wojcicki)
Rounding up follow ups: Walgreens shareholder suit on pharmacy performance, Steward CEO no-shows Senate committee, Masimo-Politan proxy fight has court win for Politan–vote on for 19 September (Walgreens’ misery never ends. Masimo nears its end.)
US telehealth controlled substances prescribing waiver may expire at year’s end; DEA may further restrict (Controversy on continuing virtual prescribing of Schedule II)

One more jumbo deal announced before Labor Day–Evolent Health’s acquisition bids from payer Elevance Health as well as at least three large private equity firms, in a deal that could top $4 billion. (Sensibly, their CEO is cleaning up his stock option portfolio.)

Evolent Health talking major acquisition by payer Elevance, private equity (Could be over $4B)

Counting down before the Labor Day holiday, one large deal of note sneaks through–LetsGetChecked’s $525M deal for Truepill. SVB’s latest report confirms the ‘valuation trap’ for the overvalued companies of the 2020-22 period but that investment is crawling back. Generative AI is much talked about but no one is comfortable with it. And two surprising survivals–NeueHealth and Stewardship Health.

Truepill to be acquired by LetsGetChecked for $525 million (Throwing in together to survive?)
Signs of life: another view on healthcare investments and exits as of mid-year (SVB’s 14th POV)
Are patients and physicians ready for generative AI? How will it be most acceptable? (Resembles telehealth’s early days on the early curve)
“I will survive” updates: NeueHealth survives Q2 with small net loss, Steward sells off Stewardship Health practices to private equity firm for $245M (Dodging disaster)

An unusually busy mid-August, with early stage fundings for Amulet, Levels, and MD Ally–and a new healthtech VC fund starts up. M&A is also perking with Stryker-Care.ai and Health Catalyst-Lumeon. Announcements are rounding up with 510(k) clearances from SleepioRX and Masimo’s W1 watch, new features from Caregility and Otsuka releasing Rejoyn. What to watch: will 23andMe, once worth $4.8 billion, survive–and who buys Veradigm?

Short takes: Stryker to buy Care.ai, Masimo W1 medical watch clears FDA for oxygen, heart monitoring, Create Health Ventures forms $21M fund (Stryker on a spree and more ‘up’ signs)
Veradigm update report: initial bids collected to take company private (Should be more?)
News roundup: SleepioRx clears FDA 510(k), Caregility adds AI fall detection, Otsuka releases Rejoyn depression app, MD Ally’s $14M Series A, Alcove launches CallConnect247 (UK), Health Catalyst buys Lumeon for $40M
Food–allergy and metabolism–takes center stage with Series A fundings for Amulet and Levels (Health in what you eat)
23andMe drops drug discovery group, expands Lemonaid into GLP-1 weight loss medications, loses $69M in Q1–and board rejects CEO’s buyout offer (Drama watch as founder’s buy bid rejected)

August didn’t start well for Walgreens, conceding that it was best to sell VillageMD and in the meantime, raising needed cash through another sale of Cencora stock. It wasn’t good for Steward in its Ch. 11 asset sale nor Aetna and their president in their Q2 results. But there was good news for Clover and Oscar Health, R1 RCM’s going private, and (perhaps) HHS in reorganizing ONC into ASTP.

Short takes: both Clover and Oscar in the black; Aetna prez booted after 11 months; Ava-VSee bedside robot; updates on Change, OneBlood ransomware, Masimo proxy fight (Upstarts succeed, legacy stumbles)
HHS reorganizing ONC, ASTP in tech funding, talent bid; FDA’s Digital Health Advisory Committee named; GAO scores progress on VA Telehealth Access Program (What the US government is up to)
Breaking: Walgreens considering sale of entire stake in VillageMD (Now really tossing in the towel)                                                                                       
Midweek wrap: Walgreens sells off $1.1B Cencora shares, R1 RCM goes private for $8.9B, Steward’s unwinding with 2 hospital closures, 1,200+ laid off, $30M state funding, bids due for physician group, CEO Senate hearing  (Walgreens raising cash, Steward a tough sell)


Have a job to fill? Seeking a position? See jobs listed with our new job search partner Jooble in the right sidebar!


Read Telehealth and Telecare Aware: https://telecareaware.com/  @telecareaware

Follow our pages on LinkedIn and on Facebook

We thank our advertisers and supporters: Legrand, UK Telehealthcare, ATA, The King’s Fund, DHACA, HIMSS, MedStartr, and Parks Associates.

Reach international leaders in health tech by advertising your company or event/conference in TTA–contact Donna for more information on how we help and who we reach. 


Telehealth & Telecare Aware: covering the news on latest developments in telecare, telehealth, telemedicine, and health tech, worldwide–thoughtfully and from the view of fellow professionals

Thanks for asking for update emails. Please tell your colleagues about this news service and, if you have relevant information to share with the rest of the world, please let me know.

Donna Cusano, Editor In Chief
donna.cusano@telecareaware.com

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Breaking: another exit at Teladoc, with COO resigning effective 31 December

The corporate exits and reorganization at Teladoc continue. Mike Waters, chief operating officer (COO) of Teladoc since mid-2022, has handed in his resignation effective 31 December. The reason given by Teladoc in an SEC 8-K regulatory filing (see item 5.02) is “a change in the Company’s executive reporting structure” which under US law is a resignation ‘for good reason’ as explicitly specified in his employment agreement. He is off the executive leadership webpage.

The parting will not be a difficult one. Mr. Waters will have:

  • nine months of continued base salary
  • up to nine months of premiums for continued medical, dental or vision coverage pursuant to COBRA
  • any earned but unpaid annual bonus in respect of 2024
  • accelerated vesting of all time-based equity awards granted to Mr. Waters prior to the Separation Date, which are unvested as of the Separation Date and are scheduled to vest in the nine months following the Separation Date
  • continued eligibility to vest in awards subject to performance-based vesting conditions if and to the extent the performance conditions are satisfied during that nine-month period.

In return, Mr. Waters will remain an employee through the 31 December separation date. He also has to execute a separation and release agreement that releases any further claims against Teladoc. It also includes a post-termination nine-month non-compete and non-solicit agreement. General non-compete agreements are controversial with new laws limiting them but if baked into an older employment agreement are likely spelled out.

Mr. Waters’ business operational roots are in health systems and practices. He was previously with the Providence health system in Washington, first with Swedish’s practice groups, then in senior executive positions with the system, for a total of over 14 years. 

Teladoc’s top-level executive churn has been substantial this year. At the CEO level, Chuck Divita replaced ousted Jason Gorevic in June after a short under two-month vacancy. Richard Napolitano, the chief accounting officer, departed in May and joined Thomson Reuters where he is now chief accounting officer (LinkedIn). He was replaced by Joseph Catapano from Pitney Bowes in September.  Laizer Kornwasser, the president of enterprise growth and global markets, formerly president of CareCentrix prior to its acquisition by Walgreens, was terminated in July in another reorganization and apparently has not been replaced.  Healthcare Dive