WORKWEEK

New Data: Patients Wait on Average 26 Days for an Appointment Physician wait times are the longest they’ve ever been, according to the latest data from Merritt Hawkins. Over 1,000 physicians in major metropolitan areas were surveyed with results showing wait times varied between cities and specialties. For example, patients wait on average 84 days…

Insurance coverage and maternal health outcomes in the U.S. trail behind peer nations. One study found one in five women lost insurance coverage throughout the preconception, prenatal, peripartum and postpartum periods. With insufficient insurance access throughout pregnancy, is it a surprise, then, that 24 mothers die for every 100,000 live births in the U.S.? Lawmakers…

1) Alphabet’s Verily raises $1 billion to expand precision health business Verily raised $1 billion to expand its precision healthcare initiatives. This will include real-world evidence generation, healthcare data platforms, research and care and its underlying technology. Overall, Verily aims to use their technological capabilities combined with data to advance precision health across clinical research and…

I have good news and bad news. The good news is the uninsured rate hit one of its lowest points in the past decade at 8.3%. The bad news is that between 5.3 million and 14 million Americans are estimated to lose insurance once the public health emergency ends—which may be soon. Despite the uninsured rate hitting…

CVS Health outbid Amazon and UnitedHealth Group to acquire home health company Signify Health for $8B. Are you convinced that health care at home will be the next big thing?  The Deets  CVS’s acquisition will give them access to Signify’s 10,000 clinicians in all 50 states, technology to coordinate care and nearly 2.5 million homes…

1) Federal Judge Rules Free Preventative Services are Unconstitutional A federal judge from Texas (the same judge who has ruled against the ACA) ruled that using the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations to decide which preventative services must be covered by health insurance is unconstitutional. The USPSTF is generally regarded as the gold…