Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Big Tech Moves Deeper Into Health Care
The Wall Street Journal: Microsoft Bulks Up With $16 Billion Deal For Nuance Communications
Microsoft Corp. MSFT 0.02% has agreed to buy artificial intelligence company Nuance Communications Inc. NUAN 15.95% for $16 billion, extending Chief Executive Satya Nadella’s run of big acquisitions to accelerate growth in everything from healthcare to videogaming. Microsoft said Monday it would pay $56 per Nuance share, a 23% premium over Friday’s closing price, in a bet on the growing demand for digital tools within healthcare. The all-cash deal is Microsoft’s second largest acquisition under Mr. Nadella. The company in 2016 spent about $26 billion for professional network LinkedIn Corp. (Tilley, 4/12)
Boston Globe: Microsoft To Buy Nuance Communications For $19.7 Billion
Microsoft announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire Burlington-based artificial intelligence and technology company Nuance Communications in an all-cash deal valued at $19.7 billion, including Nuance’s net debt. Microsoft said the deal represents its push into industry-specific cloud offerings, such as its software for health care providers, which it introduced last year. The deal is Microsoft’s second-largest acquisition, behind its purchase of LinkedIn, the professional networking platform it bought in 2016 in a deal worth more than $26 billion. (Gardizy, 4/12)
Stat: Amazon Doubles Down On Its Growing Presence In Diagnostics
Vin Gupta’s hiring in January 2020 could not have come at a better time for Amazon. The extent of the coronavirus crisis wasn’t yet clear, but the company’s cloud division had just nabbed a practicing pulmonologist and public health expert to guide its strategy during the worst respiratory pandemic in global history. The result is a growing enterprise within the company to help customers build diagnostic tools that may long outlast the pandemic, and help Amazon further expand its footprint in the $3.5 trillion health care industry. (Ross, 4/12)
In other health industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Insurers Are Partnering To Offload The Costs Of Kidney Failure Patients
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota inked a new value-based care plan with a DaVita Kidney Care affiliate on Monday, in a move to provide more cost-effective treatment to its new cohort of Medicare Advantage members. The partnership represents the latest example of an insurer rushing to offload—or at least, better manage—the risk of patients suffering from permanent kidney failure, who are now eligible to enroll in Advantage plans for the first time this year. (Tepper, 4/12)
Modern Healthcare: Steward Health, Aya Healthcare In Legal Dispute Over Traveling Healthcare Worker Wages
Steward Health Care System and Aya Healthcare are suing one another over unpaid contracts for traveling medical staff. Steward Health, which has nine hospitals in Massachusetts in March filed a claim in the Massachusetts Superior Court against the San Diego-based traveling nurse agency for "unilaterally stopping all crisis medical staffing services" being provided at Steward Health facilities and for price gouging the cost of traveling staff. The court issued an injunction requiring Aya Healthcare to provide clinical staff, including registered nurses, certified nurse assistants and clinical technicians, among others, to Steward Health's facilities through April 4, as long as the health system paid a $10-million bond. (Christ, 4/12)
