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