CD&R-backed Gentiva acquired ProMedica’s home care and hospice assets for $710M (HHCN)
LifePoint Health acquired four inpatient rehabilitation facilities from Everest Rehabilitation in Texas, Arkansas, and Ohio. (Press Release)
Bright Health noted severe liquidity concerns in its full year 2022 earnings release. “Bright’s Q4 financial report was full of bad news. I would go into specifics but it is indecipherable. We do know they lost $1.5 billion for the year, ended last week with only $150 million of parent cash, and are in breach of their credit facility, even after raising $175 million in October.” - Ari Gottlieb (Bright)
Digital Health and Startup Updates:
Mental health startup Headway is expected to raise $100M in a new funding round valuing the company at over $1B. (Bloomberg)
WeightWatchers acquired Sequence, a telehealth platform designed for clinical weight management. Excluding $26M in cash, it’s a $106M purchase price and a 4.24x multiple on Sequence ARR of $25 million, or 4,400 per member assuming 24,000 members. Sequence offers a $99/year subscription for its services and just started operating in 2021 which makes me question whether WW could’ve saved the hundred mil and spun up its own telehealth offering with how easy it seems to be these days and WW’s 3.5M members. That being said, it appears Sequence was cash-flow positive after 2 short years, so there must be some secret sauce here. Obesity as a complex chronic disease is quickly becoming the latest emerging market in DTC healthcare. And with these weight loss drugs coming online, it’s turning into the wild west of healthcare. Meanwhile the Chief Clinical Officer of Ro is penning an op-ed on weight loss medication because of course. Continue to keep an eye on DTC telehealth and obesity medication in the news cycle because it’s for sure not gonna end well. There is, of course, way more nuance going on in this issue than I have space for in a Tuesday newsletter. (WW)
Transcarent acquired assets from 98point6 including an ‘AI enabled’ virtual care platform, associated medical group, and the self-insured employer business. The deal is valued at or around $100M according to the report, and Transcarent will now employ around 150 physicians and was valued at $1.6B in early 2022. Transcarent now holds contracts with around 200 employers. (Forbes)
A long, eye popping read about Leda Health - Leda Hell — How A $9 Mill.+ Survivor Led Company Became More Traumatizing For Me Than Sexual Assault Itself (Medium) (Thread)
BetterHelp settled with the FTC for $7.8M over patient data sharing practices. BetterHelp is now banned from sharing consumer data with firms like Snapchat and Facebook. This news comes on the heels of a $1.5M fine for GoodRx and its data sharing practices with third parties and continues the trend of regulatory authorities cracking down on patient data usage in healthcare. Health tech operators need to tighten up those privacy policies fam. (HCD)
Policy and Payment Updates:
So here’s an interesting development in retail pharmacy. Governor Newsom said that the state of California ‘won’t do business’ with Walgreens after the company stated it would not sell abortion pills in 21 states due to restrictions on the drug. (CNBC)
Costs, Data, and Other Updates:
Same patient, same drug, same insurer — coverage denied (Stat)
Trust in the US healthcare system is decaying - “Of all health economy stakeholders, health insurance companies have long engendered the least amount of trust from consumers, with fewer than 20% of Americans trusting health plans. However, consumer trust in physicians and hospitals deteriorated more than any other part of the healthcare system during the pandemic, declining 23% and 21%, respectively, from April 2020 to December 2021.” (Trilliant)
Eli Lilly lowered the price of its insulin to match the Medicare part D cap of $35/month. (Axios)
Whitepapers and Resources
Rock Health posted its excellent overview of consumer adoption of digital health in 2022. “In our 2022 Survey, 80% of all respondents reported having accessed care via telemedicine at some point in their lives, up 8pp from 72% in 2021. While telemedicine use continues to vary across demographic segments, 2022 saw notable adoption increases among groups that have long been underserved within healthcare.” (Rockhealth)
Pitchbook released an update for subscribers on Healthcare IT trends including a snapshot of the changing funding environment and of the light at the end of the bear market tunnel. (Pitchbook)
Here’s an interesting read from JLL on the growth in demand for outpatient services and how this sets the stage for the stability of medical office assets. (JLL)
Value-Based Health Care at an Inflection Point: A Global Agenda for the Next Decade (NEJM)
