Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CVS Health To Rejoin Obamacare Exchanges In 2022 But Doesn't Say Which Markets
Modern Healthcare: CVS Health Announces Plan To Re-Enter ACA Markets, Reports 44% Drop In Q4 Profits
CVS Health will re-enter the Affordable Care Act exchanges come January 2022, with CEO Karen Lynch calling the market sound and estimating it could comprise up to 15 million lives. "It's obviously stabilized over time thanks to some of the remedies put in place," Lynch said. Aetna announced it was leaving the exchange in 2018, along with other insurers unable to manage the rising costs of sick patients signing up for such coverage. Lynch said the company will reverse course, although it has not finalized what exchange markets it would reenter or the rates it planned to offer. Lynch said the ACA exchanges will represent the first time a branded CVS Health-Aetna plan will enter the market. (Tepper, 2/16)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Home Depot Founders Reunite: $40M For Vets, 1st Responders Health
Home Depot co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank are teaming up on a new nationwide mental health network, their first partnership on a major project since leaving the Atlanta-based retail giant nearly two decades ago. They each are donating $20 million through their foundations to establish 20 treatment sites around the U.S. to serve military veterans, first responders and their families who are experiencing post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries and substance abuse issues. The billionaires are teaming up with actor and veterans advocate Gary Sinise, whose foundation announced Tuesday plans for the cognitive health and mental wellness initiative: the Gary Sinise Foundation Avalon Network. (Kempner, 2/16)
Stat: Backed By Hospitals, Truveta Wades Into The Business Of Selling Health Data
He was once dubbed “the most important man at Microsoft,” a prodigiously talented software engineer who shepherded the company’s Windows franchise through the tumultuous start of the smartphone era and led the development of products such as Xbox and Surface. Now Terry Myerson is leading an equally bold — and treacherous — second act: He is the newly minted chief executive of Truveta, a company formed by 14 U.S. health systems to aggregate and sell de-identified data on millions of American patients to help answer some of medicine’s most pressing questions. (Ross, 2/17)
North Carolina Health News: As The Long-Term Care Industry Shifts, COVID-19 Shortchanges NC’S Frontline Workers
The long-term care landscape in North Carolina was already in flux when the COVID-19 pandemic landed in 2020 — direct care workers faced 10 years of stagnant wages, nursing homes had waning numbers of residents, and the call for in-home aides had dramatically increased. (Thomas Goldsmith, 2/17)
Modern Healthcare: Providers Manage Crisis Communications During COVID-19 Pandemic
Healthcare providers across the country have faced the challenge of handling human errors during a global pandemic this past year. They also had to react to quickly changing circumstances, from mask guidance to personal protective equipment standards for employees to safety regulations. During a pandemic, everything is crisis communications, said Ronn Torossian, founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations, which specializes in crisis communications. "When it comes to COVID issues, it's the only thing that matters right now. You're in a constant state of crisis," Torossian said. (Christ, 2/16)
In obituaries —
AP: Cardiologist, Anti-War Activist Bernard Lown Dies At 99
Dr. Bernard Lown, a Massachusetts cardiologist who invented the first reliable heart defibrillator and later co-founded an anti-nuclear war group that was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, died Tuesday. He was 99. The Boston Globe reported the Lithuania-born doctor’s health had been declining from congestive heart failure. He died in his Boston-area home. (2/16)
