Uber Reveals System For Transporting Patients, Prescriptions, Supplies
Uber's new platform is about helping caregivers, letting them request and then monitor rides as well as deliveries of important materials and groceries. It's another indicator that health care at home is expanding, even as regulation trails behind the "hospital at home" movement.
Crain's New York Business:
Uber Expands Healthcare Reach With New Patient Transport Platform
Uber has announced a new platform to help caregivers facilitate transportation for those they care for. The move also further expands the company’s footprint in the healthcare space. The new offering, unveiled on Wednesday at the company’s annual product event, allows caregivers to request and monitor rides and deliveries of prescriptions, groceries and over-the-counter items for those they care for. (Glodowski, 5/17)
Modern Healthcare:
Hospital-At-Home Expands Even Without Congress, Regulation
Health systems and technology companies are betting big on home-based hospital care, despite regulatory uncertainty about the program’s future. Hospitals are bullish on at-home acute care because it can save money and make more beds available in their facilities for sicker patients. Medicare also pays health systems the same rate as it would for an inpatient admission. (Eastabrook, 5/17)
In corporate news —
Modern Healthcare:
Epic Widens EHR Market Share Lead Over Cerner, Rivals: Report
Epic Systems was the only electronic health record vendor to increase its market share in 2023, according to a new report. The Verona, Wisconsin-based company added beds and customers, increasing its total market share to 39% of acute care hospitals and 52% of acute care beds, according to a new report from market research firm KLAS. In 2022, Epic had 36% of acute care hospitals and 48% of acute care beds. (Turner, 5/17)
Stat:
As Health System Earnings Go Up, Health Insurance Stocks Go Down
Americans, especially Medicare beneficiaries, are getting more medical care these days. Demand from aging Baby Boomers is keeping people in doctor’s offices, and health care providers are continuing to build capacity post-Covid. (Bannow, 5/20)
Bloomberg:
Cano Health Wins Creditor Support To Cut Debt, Exit Bankruptcy
Cano Health Inc. won support from lower-ranking creditors for a plan to slash about $1 billion in debt and exit bankruptcy under new owners. At a court hearing Friday morning, the company and the official committee of unsecured creditors announced the deal, which calls for senior lenders owed about $974 million to take ownership of the Miami-based healthcare company in exchange for canceling most debt. (Church, 5/17)
Stat:
Welsh Carson Private Equity Firm Escapes From FTC Antitrust Case
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has wiggled out of the grasp of the Federal Trade Commission, but the private equity firm’s anesthesia company, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, still must face the agency’s antitrust case, a judge ruled last week. (Herman, 5/20)
On layoffs and labor strikes —
Modern Healthcare:
Optum Layoffs To Affect 129 Employees, Ohio Facility To Close
UnitedHealth Group’s Optum will lay off 129 employees and close a Toledo, Ohio, facility, according to a notice filed with the state's job and family services department. The separations are expected to take place in three waves, from July 15 to September 6, and will affect employees in Ohio and remote locations, Optum said in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed Thursday. (Berryman, 5/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF’s Public Hospital Nurses OK Strike After June Over Work Conditions
The roughly 2,220 registered nurses who work for the San Francisco Department of Public Health have voted to authorize a strike over what they say are staffing shortages and unsafe conditions for patients at the city’s public hospital and clinics, the union representing the nurses said late Friday. The union, SEIU Local 1021, completed a vote among its members Friday to authorize a strike that would begin after June 30 if the union cannot reach a new contract with the city before then. (Ho, 5/17)
