1. What you might have missed in July:
- An executive order that could transform the kidney and dialysis industry.
- CVS is trying to break into the dialysis industry with an at-home machine.
- Trump lost big to Big Pharma as the courts strike down forced drug price TV ads disclosure.
- The ACA is probably headed back to the Supreme Court – for a 3rd time. Here’s what happened previously.
- Drug Rebates are living on – for the time being.
- And the Primary Care shortage probably isn’t going anywhere.
Now, onto this week's big healthcare stories:
2. Digital Health IPOs Rock Wall Street
Big ROI.
How are all of the recent digital health IPOs faring? Let’s take a peek:
–Livongo surged 48% from its $28.00 offering price.
–Health Catalyst boomed 59% from its $26.00 offering price.
–Phreesia is up 46% over its $18.00 offering price.
–Change Healthcare is up just a meager 11% over its $13.00 offering price.
Needless to say, the digital health IPO wave that just hit was…pretty successful for the companies taking place. Considering that digital health was previously in a 3-year drought without an IPO, I’d call that a pretty good run. And you could argue that the market in general is in an IPO frenzy as companies rush to raise money before any recession hits.
Digital health IPOs – an emerging trend?
The IPO success could pave the way for future digital health IPOs, too – like 23andme or SmileDirectClub – as private investors get more friendly with exit strategies through the public markets.
3. Tenet Spins Off Conifer and the Desert Healthcare Network play
Spun off to the masses.
After trying to sell its revenue cycle management arm, Conifer Health Solutions, Tenet is now looking to spin off its subsidiary to the public markets, creating a separately traded public company.
Tenet’s stock shot up on the news since Conifer is pretty profitable (23% margins on adjusted EBITDA) and investors want a piece of the Conifer pie. That demand could signify the hot market for healthcare data and payment management software.
Interestingly, CommonSpirit Health owns a small stake in Conifer, which is something I didn’t know before this story broke.
The transaction is supposed to take place by the second quarter of 2021, so still a decent ways away. Tenet wants to make sure that the spin-off transitions well and is tax-free for all parties involved.
In other Tenet news…
The hospital operator is looking to make a large investment in their Desert Health Network by offering to purchase Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs for $320 – $380 million.
4. Policy Corner
I'm adding this section as a standalone for everything going on with healthcare policy - because there's a lot, and I got tired of covering it in the 'stories' section above :)
Let’s get to the policy, already.
Sheesh. Fine.
This fall will be quite the busy affair for Congress and healthcare policies. Votes are expected on drug pricing bills, surprise billing, and the beefy bipartisan health costs bill since none of them were finalized before recess.
On to the White House.
The Trump admin has been busy with an executive order on drug pricing that would cap Medicare beneficiary payments for drugs.
Meanwhile…
Not to be outdone, the Dems are expecting to release a ‘bombshell’ drug pricing bill in September. The bill might include some component where Medicare directly negotiates with drug-makers on price. Here’s some background on how that might look.
The Cadillac Tax, which taxes high-cost employer-sponsored health insurance plans, is not too popular in Congress. The House recently voted to overwhelmingly repeal the ACA provision.
Quick Hits
Biz Hits
- Centene is eyeing Medicare Advantage as its next business boon.
- Hospital operator UHS just paid $127 million to settle its criminal probe. Its stock shot up on the news between the settlement and its strong second-quarter earnings results.
- Anthem just launched an app that lets patients text with doctors.
- Robotic surgeries might not be what they’re stacked up to be….yet.
- Some drugmaker in India called Strides shredded all of their quality documents right ahead of an FDA inspection.
- How drug middlemen (AKA, PBMs) take back money from pharmacists
State Hits
- Minnesota’s law to improve cost transparency takes effect next month
- [Soft Paywall] Another major Cincinnati doctor group is looking to expand through a private equity deal
Other Hits
- Interestingly, ground ambulances were left out of the current federal surprise-billing proposals
- What’s Joe Biden’s healthcare policy?
- Is the new PDGM post-acute payment system going to get exploited?
My favorite (non-healthcare) reads this week:
Okay listen…this is a 30 minute read minimum…but it is incredible.
- The Battle of Grace Church. What happened when Brooklyn’s oldest nursery school decided to become less old-fashioned? A riot among the one percent.
- This college dropout was bedridden for 11 years. Then he invented a surgery and cured himself
I’m linking this here just for the headline. Wild:
- THEY SAID YOU COULD LEAVE ELECTRIC SCOOTERS ANYWHERE — THEN THE REPO MEN STRUCK BACK
Thanks for reading!! As always, you can read past editions here.
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