Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Amazon Has Hired An A-List Team In Its Attempts To Disrupt Health Industry. Here's Who Is On The List.
Stat: The Key Players Behind Amazon's Health Care Push
Amazon’s health executives mostly work in secret, but in recent months the fruits of their labor have begun filtering through the marketplace. Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing business, launched a product called Comprehend Medical that uses machine-learning to extract key data from electronic health records; the company’s cloud-based analytics are gaining wider adoption by hospitals and drug makers; and the Alexa voice assistant can now be used to build HIPAA-compliant voice tools. (Ross, 4/17)
The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson Posts Strong Revenue In 1Q
Lower sales overseas and higher costs for research and litigation pushed Johnson & Johnson's first-quarter profit down 14%, but the health care giant beat profit and revenue expectations, pushing up its shares. The maker of Tylenol and psoriasis drug Stelara on Tuesday said unfavorable currency exchange rates reduced revenue by nearly 4%, leaving total sales flat at $20.03 billion, though that edged out analysts' muted projections. (4/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Higher Prescription-Drug Sales Aid Johnson & Johnson Results
Analysts said the quarterly results and updated full-year forecast show J&J is navigating through its challenges, which also include competition from lower-cost generic drugs. “To us, the good far outweighs any possible questions or concerns investors could have on the quarterly performance,” SVB Leerink analyst Danielle Antalffy said in a research note. (Loftus and Chin, 4/16)
The Associated Press: UnitedHealth Beats Expectations All Around, Stock Still Lags
UnitedHealth Group beat first-quarter expectations and hiked its 2019 forecast, but shares of the nation's largest health insurer continued their slump as investors worry about growing Congressional scrutiny of how the company and its competitors do business. Shares of health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, have bounced up and down this year, as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders launched a renewed push for a "Medicare for All" plan that could replace private coverage and as Congressional committees grilled PBM executives over their role in soaring drug costs. (4/16)
The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Boosts Profit Targets After Upbeat First Quarter
Officials at the company, the parent of the nation’s biggest health insurer, weighed in during a call with analysts on issues such as Democrats’ proposals for universal government coverage and moves by the Trump administration to change the handling of drug rebates in the Medicare program. The recent focus in Washington has helped push down the shares of the entire managed-care sector. Shares in UnitedHealth, which are off 11% this year, closed down 4% on Tuesday. Competitor Anthem Inc. was down nearly 7% on Tuesday, while Cigna Corp. was off nearly 8%. Analysts suggested the drops were due to the continued policy overhang. (Chin and Wilde Mathews, 4/16)
Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Revenue Grows With Medicare Members, OptumHealth
UnitedHealth Group reported higher revenue and profit in the first quarter of 2019 as it grew Medicare Advantage insurance membership while serving more patients in its care-delivery business, OptumHealth. Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth's insurance arm—UnitedHealthcare—covered 880,000 more people in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago, bringing total membership to 49.7 million, up 1.8% year over year. (Livingston, 4/16)
And in more news —
Modern Healthcare: Hospital M&A Pace Slows In Q1
The number of hospital transactions hit its lowest mark in nearly a decade in the first quarter of 2019, indicating that providers may be taking a more deliberate approach to dealmaking, according to a new white paper. Fourteen deals were announced in the first quarter, the fewest in any quarter since the fourth quarter of 2009, Ponder & Co. said in a new report. It was the fourth consecutive quarter in which hospital M&A lagged the rolling annual quarterly average. The median target hospital was more than 40% smaller than that of 2018, Ponder's data shows. (Kacik, 4/16)
Modern Healthcare: Humana Launches Oncology Payment Model
Humana launched a new payment model for Medicare Advantage and commercial members receiving treatment for cancer, the Louisville, Ky.-based insurer announced Tuesday. The program, called the Oncology Model of Care, will offer additional payment to participating cancer practices for improved performance on certain metrics over a one-year period. There are currently 16 practices participating in the model, which started in January. (Castellucci, 4/16)
