Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Activist Shareholders Granted More Power As Tenet Changes Its Bylaws
Modern Healthcare: In Bow To Investors, Tenet Lets Majority Shareholders Convene Meetings
Tenet Healthcare Corp., in a sign it may be willing to bend to activist shareholders, is letting its investors call formal meetings where they could potentially vote on significant changes, such as selling the company. The county's third-largest investor-owned hospital company changed its corporate bylaws this week to let majority shareholders request meetings. Before, only the CEO, board chairman or board of directors could do so. Since no single shareholder owns a majority stake in Tenet, the request would need to come from multiple shareholders. (Bannow, 1/23)
In other health industry news —
Boston Globe: Big Insurers Take A Big Hit In Shakeup Of Public Workers’ Plans
Two of Massachusetts’ largest nonprofit health insurers are bracing for a significant drop in revenues that could force at least one of them to cut jobs, after a state agency eliminated them from coverage options for tens of thousands of public workers. The state has offered plans from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan for more than three decades. But beginning in July, neither of the well-known insurers will be available to public workers who buy commercial health plans. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/24)
Bloomberg: Express Scripts Clashes With Investor Over Cyber-Risk Disclosure
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will review a dispute between Express Scripts Holding Co. and New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli over his effort to force the prescription-benefits manager to increase cyber-risk disclosures. Express Scripts told the SEC last month it would exclude the proposal from its annual proxy statement. DiNapoli, who’s pushing for the company’s board to report its efforts to prevent and mitigate cyber threats, objected last week in a letter to the regulator. (Melin and Langreth, 1/23)
