🏥 $7.4B Cencora and OneOncology Deal

Plus insights on facility credentialing costs and One Medical

PARTNERED WITH Hey Hospitalogists,   Today I'm breaking down a huge deal between Cencora and OneOncology and sharing some more insights from all of you on credentialing and One Medical.   As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And if you'd like to be featured in a future newsletter, asking or responding to Qs in the Hospitalogy Membership is the quickest way to do it. Have a question? Drop it here! Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe Here SPONSORED BY ABRIDGE Until recently, most health tech wasn't a fit for pediatrics because it didn't get the chaotic, nonlinear realities of pediatric care. But in this report from Becker's Health IT and Abridge, 8 pediatric systems reveal how they're leveraging ambient AI for clinical documentation that gets the stakes from day 1. The need for age-adjusted content, developmental context, and clarity between clinical notes and playful interaction. These children's hospitals have reduced documentation effort by up to 84%, improved billing accuracy, and achieved up to a 95% user retention rate. Download the full report to see how ambient AI designed for pediatrics delivers real impact. Get Your Copy BLAKE'S BREAKDOWN Cencora and OneOncology A MASSIVE $7.4B vertical integration physician deal just went down between Cencora (previously AmeriSourceBergen) and OneOncology. Cencora had a $2.1B minority stake in OneOncology back in April 2023 TPG owned the rest to finance the deal TPG had a put option starting in year 3 to sell to Cencora for 19x EBITDA LESS than 3 years later, now, in December 2025, Cencora is accelerating the deal timeline and buying OneOncology NOW for $7.4B. 250%+ value appreciation. OneOncology is a huge physician practice management platform in the oncology space and has recently been super acquisitive, buying GenesisCare radiation oncology and med onc assets, urology practices, and anything and everything related to the future of cancer care. Cencora benefits from the deal by locking in its drug distribution contracts with these practices, sharing in the upside of practice economics (ancillary growth, MSO fees, etc), and, of course, capitalizing on the coming (and current) wave of massive specialty drug spend growth. Drug distributor vertical integration has been red hot this year and will continue. McKesson still runs the largest oncology MSO through US Oncology. They have about 15 years head start and the scale advantages that come with being first. OneOncology is growing 4x faster but has a lot of ground to make up. Cardinal is buying assets but focusing on gastro and urology rather than directly competing in medical oncology. All three major distributors are making big bets on MSO platforms because the economics work from their perspective: lock up distribution business through physician affiliations, participate in MSO upside on the practice operations, double-dip in a way that genuinely helps physicians compete against hospital systems. Congrats to the OneOncology team on this growth and deal. Crazy things happening in this space!   If you want to read more about what's happening in the space, I wrote a piece on drug distributor vertical integration that's worth a peek. ASK HOSPITALOGY Facility Credentialing Costs Increasing "For context, I'm the President of an independent distribution company with 25 employees focused on ortho implants, biologics, and imaging. We are seeing a huge increase in facility credentialing cost year over year. Was curious if anyone has had discussions regarding the benefits to facilities and vendors and controlling these increases. It's a huge threat to our cost, which in turn comes back in cost to facilities over time." THE VENDOR MANAGEMENT TAKE Patrick Allen - VP of Business Development   "I'm not surprised to hear this; I'm seeing the same thing.   The reason it's happening is because providers are increasingly concentrating all of their procurement through a single platform or tool. Historically, this has been done ad hoc (or more ad hoc). But, given the well-documented supply cost increases, providers are turning to these platforms to ensure they're getting the best possible price.   To illustrate this, I'll share an anecdote from one of my previous clients. We were asked to analyze and make recommendations to reduce / monitor their IT spend as it was way over budget. While there were several opportunities, the biggest was that some departments were spending over $10m annually with a large tech company outside of their enterprise agreement. The reason was due to a long-standing misunderstanding between these departments and IT.   The value these credentialing platforms bring is to reduce the risk of something like this story happening. In fact, one of our recommendations was to implement a vendor-management platform. I believe you'll see more of these platforms, and the credentialing expense will become a cost of doing business."   Hospitalogy members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here. Amazon's One Medical Rumored to Cut Expansion Plans "Amazon's One Medical is rumored to cut expansion plans on One Medical clinics after slower-than-expected growth. Is this a sign that primary care isn't fixable by tech — or just another pivot before they double down?" THE COMPETITIVE TAKE Fran Feehan - COO   "I don't think primary care is fixable by tech. At the end of the day, it's still your providers, access to them, their quality and the patient experience that make the difference. MedOne Healthcare Partners is opening a primary care practice in Columbus, Ohio, just down the road from a handful of One Medical clinics. We can't wait to start competing." THE PRACTICAL TAKE Taylor Rogers - EVP/Partner   "I'm not sure membership based FFS practice makes sense to anyone - at least not for those of us working in the commercial plan space. Especially when DPC is available for a fraction of the cost, and incentivizes engagement with the physician." THE COMPARATIVE TAKE Jayesh Srivastava - Chief of Staff   "Sounds the same as CVS writing down their Oak Street acquisition... I think it's a sign people who don't understand healthcare delivery continue to not understand healthcare delivery, LOL."   Hospitalogy members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here. SPONSORED BY ABRIDGE Abridge invited partners from Reid Health, University of Vermont Health, CHRISTUS Health, and UNC Health to sit down for a formal interview. Only, it wasn't. It was a chance to tell these partners just how much the success team at Abridge appreciated working with them.  See what happens when healthcare is built on authentic partnerships: milestones matter more, thoughtfulness is second nature, and responsibility for a relationship becomes a privilege. Watch the Video ON YOUR RADAR Read: Becker's Hospital Review asks the Medicare Advantage question hospitals want answered: What happens if the healthcare providers best equipped to care for seniors can no longer afford to participate? Interesting takes shared in this article.  Resource: Upskill your teams with online training to maximize your AI investments. My report with Chegg Skills explores role-specific AI programs purpose-built for healthcare.* Resource: OpenAI's new state of enterprise AI report shows healthcare customer growth was 8x year-over-year, making healthcare its second fastest growing sector. Read the full report. Read: While not focused specifically on healthcare, hospital and health system board members should take note of McKinsey & Company's The AI reckoning: how boards can evolve. The article includes 6 action steps to help boards guide companies through the competitive dynamics of AI.  Roundtable: If you're a Hospitalogy Plus Member, join us for our virtual December Roundtable, Friday December 19 at 1PM EST. Not a member? Apply to join here.   *This read is brought to you by one of my brand partners who help make this newsletter possible! HEADLINES OF THE WEEK  Hospital outpatient denials grew by 14% and inpatient denials by 12% in 2025. Risk-based internal audits increased 25% and pre-bill audits rose 30%. This and other information in the 2025 MDaudit Benchmark Report helps hospitals and health systems understand how denials, audits, and coding performance are shifting, and where technology is making the biggest impact. Get the full report. New research from McKinsey Global Institute reveals how AI will change the "building blocks of work - the skills that underpin productivity and growth." The research suggests that "although people will be shifted out of some work activities, many of their skills will remain essential." Read the report here. The latest National Hospital Flash Report from Kaufman Hall shows hospital volumes remained strong in October, average length of stay declined (translating to a dip in net revenue per discharge), bad debt and charity care continue to rise, and staffing levels are tightening. Read the full report. That's all for today - I hope you enjoyed! Shoot me your thoughts. – Blake 🏥 Hospitalogy Membership I'm building a community of leaders in strategy, finance, and ops at hospitals and health systems to help us connect, learn, and grow together. Join the movement here. Get your brand in front of 50,000+ executives and healthcare decision-makers. 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