Hospitals & Services:
Walgreens continues to try and transform operations into a profitable, sustainable healthcare player. The struggling retail pharmacy chain plans to cut up to $1B in costs, drop CAPEX by $600M, close struggling stores, and, interestingly, close 60 VillageMD locations to focus on VMD's density in existing markets. Walgreens also announced the hiring of Tim Wentworth as CEO, who holds substantial experience in healthcare at both Evernorth and Express Scripts. Finally, Walgreens launched a DTC telehealth offering. (Link)
A consortium of investment partners is funding SurgNet Health Partners, a new ASC management company that launched on October 10 and is looking to use fresh funding to partner with existing ASCs and physician practices. (Link)
St. Luke's and Aspirus Health based in Minnesota and Wisconsin respectively, formalized their previous merger LOI announcement by signing a definitive merger agreement this week. It'll create a 19-hospital system in the region. (Link)
Transcarent launched a new network for its direct to employer model in partnership with a number of leading regional health systems nationwide including Advocate Health, Baylor Scott & White, Intermountain Healthcare, and others. (Link)
Envision is splitting into 2 entities post-bankruptcy and cutting $7B in debt:
The low margin physician staffing business - Envision Physician Services, and
AMSURG, the more desirable outpatient surgery center biz
Ironically, Envision bought AMSURG in 2016, so we've really come full circle here. (Link)
AdventHealth's Primary Care Network in Florida partnered with Wellvana to help the health system transition its primary care services into value-based care arrangements. (Link)
Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina acquired 55 FastMed urgent care clinics. (Link)
Carbon Health made a deal with UHC for at-risk primary care in the commercial PPO market in California starting in 2024. (Link)
Cano Health sold the majority of its Primary Care Centers in Texas and Nevada to Humana's CenterWell. Makes a lot of sense considering that Humana had the right of first refusal over the sale of any assets, so I have to imagine that Humana cherrypicked the good ones for itself and growth of its CenterWell platform for seniors, along with ensuring continuity of care for seniors at the clinic. (Link)
Duly Health and Care, one of the remaining large, independent multispecialty physician practices, faces layoffs and cutbacks following executive shakeup amidst heavy debts. (Link - paywall)
Ascend Capital Partners acquires a majority stake in Seoul Medical Group. Founded in 1993, SMG is the largest Korean-American-focused IPA serving over 70,000 patients and 4,800 providers, including nearly 400 primary care physicians and more than 4,400 specialists in seven markets across the United States: California, Georgia, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington. (Link)
Hinge Health IPO: Physical therapy startup, Hinge Health, is targeting profitability in 2024 as it gears up for an IPO. (Link)
Galileo and Wellcare have established a new partnership in Maine that will extend to 23k+ potential Medicare Advantage members. (Link)
Baptist Memorial and Anderson entered into a shared mission agreement - AKA, a merger - to form a 24 hospital system throughout Mississippi and Tennessee. (Link)
Retail Health:
Walmart is rolling out Included Health's telehealth services to its employees nationwide. (Link)
Walmart also expanded its doula services benefit across the nation after a pilot in four states. (Link)
Dollar General & Rural Health Access: A nice write-up from KFF on Dollar General's mobile clinic pilot was a great update on its healthcare strategy and emerging models - both good and bad - of healthcare in rural America. (Link)
Best Buy will sell continuous glucose monitors to worried well customers in partnership with Wheel and pharmacy HealthDyne - everything handled online. It's the first expansion into a consumer device that requires physician approval. (Link)
Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The struggling retail pharmacy player managed to secure $3.45B from existing lenders while it figures out how to right-size a sinking ship to the tune of $680M in losses and $8.6B in total debts. (Link)
Alignment Healthcare and Walgreens introduced co-branded Medicare Advantage plans. (Link)
Amazon's One Medical has decided to rebrand Iora senior centers to One Medical Seniors. (Link). ONEM also partnered with Mount Sinai Health System to expand primary care in New York. (Link)
Policy:
The Minnesota AG is reviewing 2 health system megamergers - Essentia Health and Marshfield Clinic Health System and St. Luke's Duluth and Aspirus Health. (Link)
LCMC Health's $150 million hospital purchase from HCA Healthcare received regulatory approval after some community backlash and antitrust concerns. (Link)
Kaiser Permanente and UPMC were among the 13 major health systems that signed an interoperability pact with the VA. (Link)
DEA's Telehealth Extension: The DEA extended telehealth prescribing flexibilities through 2024 while considering new policies. (Link)
CVS Lawsuit: An independent pharmacy filed a lawsuit against CVS Caremark over exorbitant fees, adding to the pile of regulation piling up against PBM market-dominating practices along with pharmacist walkouts nationwide. (Link)
Charity Care Law Dispute: Hospitals in Washington have filed a lawsuit against the state over an expanded interpretation of a charity care law. (Link)
Physician-Owned Hospitals: The AHA is challenging the rising trend of physician-owned facilities, a growing rhetoric on Capitol Hill. (Link)
Nursing Home Staffing: Bipartisan lawmakers have voiced their opposition to the White House's nursing home staffing proposal. (Link)
Billing Dispute Overhaul: The Biden administration has proposed changes to the heavily criticized out-of-network billing dispute resolution process. (Link)
ACA Risk Adjustment: Insurers have been underpaid by $1.1B in ACA risk adjustment payments, with Bright and Friday failing to meet obligations. (Link)
On September 28, the CBO released a report disclosing that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation's (CMMI's) activities increased federal spending between 2011 and 2020 and will also increase it from 2021 to 2030. In 2010, CBO projected that CMMI would produce savings. Critics of CMMI's policies will probably use this report as a damning datapoint for alternative payment models, but you really have to consider that the agency is up against the healthcare industrial complex. (Link)
North Carolina's Medicaid expansion will take effect December 1, making health insurance available to up to 600k individuals. (Link)
Everything Else:
Epic Systems generated $3.8B in 2022 revenue according to Forbes…which begs the question - if one of the most successful software firms ever to date, with overwhelming market share in the large health system market, ~35% market share in the acute care hospital market, and 48% of beds - makes $3.8B a year, what does that say for the entire healthcare vertical SaaS VC-backed market? (Link)
Instacart's Supplemental MA Benefit Push: Instacart will add Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and other health benefits for grocery deliveries next year. This follows the company's recent acceptance of food stamps as payment.
- Kaiser Permanente joined hands with Instacart to study expanded nutritious food access. (Link)
- Alignment Health and Instacart launched co-branded Medicare Advantage plans. (Link)
- Instacart partnered with Mount Sinai Solutions to launch a post-hospital care offering. (Link)
Healthpeak Properties and Physicians Realty Trust are merging to create a $21B enterprise serving the healthcare REIT market with a portfolio across outpatient care and health systems alike. (Link)
Business Insider is reporting that weight loss startup Calibrate is selling to a private equity firm. (Link)
Sharecare confirmed receiving an unsolicited proposal from Claritas Capital. (Link)
Partnership & Product Announcements:
Microsoft and Mercy announced a deal to explore over four dozen healthcare AI applications. (Link)
DaVita is collaborating with Google Cloud to create a tailored clinical operating system aimed at transforming kidney care. (Link)
ProHealth Care tapped into a strategic technology partnership with Optum, offloading 800+ administrative employees to Optum in areas including revenue cycle management, IT, analytics, and more. (Link)
Insurance Options Expansion: UCHealth's third party administrator (TPA) combined with Select Health's TPA. This announcement comes on the heels of the UCHealth and Intermountain's 700-physician CIN formation (Link)
Amazon Clinic is working on a physical, in-person referral network for downstream, higher acuity care. (Link)
Enablement platform Alo added Davidson Family Medicine to its Avance Care Platform. (Link)
Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey joined forces with Oshi Health to initiate hybrid virtual and in-person care for enhanced digestive health outcomes. (Link)
Solis Mammography partnered with Jefferson Health to operate around a dozen imaging centers. (Link)
Alto Pharmacy and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company collaborated to deliver hundreds of low-cost medications to patients across the U.S. (Link
Greater Good Health partnered with Humana to open up senior primary care clinics at 3 sites in Montana - fresh off Greater Good's fundraising announcement. (Link)
HCA Healthcare is collaborating with Grail to advance comprehensive cancer care with multi-cancer early detection screening. (Link)
Amwell and Leidos secured a defense contract potentially worth up to $180 million. (Link)
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