Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Walgreens Private Equity Deal May Mean Closures, Threaten Patient Access
Healthcare Brew: Walgreens Private Equity Takeover May Bring Layoffs, Pharmacy Closures, Experts Warn
Walgreens has completed a deal to be bought by private equity firm Sycamore Partners, and pharmacy experts are worried it’ll bring with it layoffs and pharmacy closures. Rumors of the takeover began swirling last December, and Walgreens executives confirmed in March they had signed a definitive agreement with Sycamore. As part of the deal, Walgreens and its subsidiaries are to be split into five separate, privately owned companies: retail pharmacy chain Walgreens, pharmaceutical wholesaler the Boots Group, specialty pharmacy company Shields Health Solutions, post-acute care company CareCentrix, and primary care clinic chain VillageMD. (Anderson, 9/5)
Yahoo Finance: Elizabeth Warren Warns About The Walgreens Takeover, Saying 'Private Equity Has A Record Of Running Companies Into The Ground'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is sounding the alarm over Walgreens Boots Alliance $10 billion sale to private-equity firm Sycamore Partners. The company has already been struggling, and Warren says the buyout could make things much worse for workers and customers alike. “Walgreens just got taken over by private equity. Private equity has a record of running companies into the ground,” Warren said last week in a post on X. She warned that Walgreens “could be the latest victim: closing more stores, service plummeting, workers losing their jobs, and eventually bankruptcy.” (Volenik, 9/5)
More health industry news —
Bloomberg: Medicare’s Plan To Hire 2,000 Auditors Appears To Stall
The US government appears to be behind on its goal of hiring staff to audit private Medicare Advantage insurance plans for potential overpayments, casting doubt on how quickly it can clear a yearslong backlog that the new administration promised to tackle. In May, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would hire about 2,000 medical coders by Sept. 1 to verify the data insurers submit for payment in the government’s health insurance program for the elderly. This would be an increase from the 40 people the agency already had in place. (Tozzi, 9/5)
Modern Healthcare: Banner Health Layoffs, Relocations To Affect 351 Employees
Banner Health plans to lay off or relocate 351 employees in Colorado as the nonprofit health system restructures its acute care and outpatient networks. Nurses account for about a quarter of the displaced workers, according to a Thursday Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing. Physicians, certified patient care assistants and ultrasound technologists are among dozens of other affected roles. (Kacik, 9/5)
Modern Healthcare: Aetna, OptumHealth Finalize ‘Dummy Code’ Settlement Fee
Aetna and Optum will pay $8.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging they used “dummy codes” that increased members’ out-of-pocket costs. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina approved the agreement Thursday. The companies and the lead plaintiff, a retiree with a self-funded Aetna employer plan named Sandra Peters who initiated the suit in 2015, agreed to settle in November. Coming to terms on the payout brings the case to a close. (Tong, 9/5)
Modern Healthcare: The Prior Authorization Companies Ready To Take On Insurers
Providers are doubling down on artificial intelligence, seeking to better arm themselves in the battle over prior authorizations against insurers that have invested heavily in the technology. Major insurers such as UnitedHealth Group, Cigna and Humana have invested heavily in AI. Providers, in turn, are looking to use the technology to ease prior authorization, a perpetual headache that has contributed to burnout for nearly 90% of physicians, according to a survey from the American Medical Association in February. (Perna, 9/5)
The Baltimore Sun: Concierge Care A Boon To Doctors But Problematic For Some Patients
When Annapolis resident Maria Pittarelli began pursuing concierge primary care for her mother, she quickly came down with an acute case of sticker shock. The idea behind concierge is that primary care doctors can charge a membership fee so that they can see fewer patients for relatively the same amount of money, thereby allowing them to dedicate more time to each patient. However, as more practices adopt the business model, those fees can become a barrier. (Rothstein, 9/8)
Bloomberg: The Doctor Fighting Medicine’s Addiction To Plastic Waste
Just steps from the operating theaters at Melbourne’s Footscray Hospital, a storeroom holds a quiet rebellion against medical waste. Stacked neatly on wire racks are bundles of surgical gowns and drapes — some wrapped in pale blue disposable plastic, others in washable fabric that’s made to last. The difference seems small, but to critical-care doctor and anesthesiologist Forbes McGain, the latter pile signals a hospital daring to push back against the tide of single-use items pervasive in healthcare. (Gale, 9/4)
MedPage Today: Most Docs Say It's Fine To Get Tiny Gifts From Pharma, Survey Finds
Most doctors said it's appropriate to accept gifts valued at under $50 from the pharmaceutical industry, according to one of the many findings from a longitudinal study that surveyed physicians at the start of their careers in 2011 and then again last year. Yet a majority of the participants agreed at both points that marketing interactions threaten trust in medicine, with the share who strongly agreed with that idea growing from 5.6% in 2011 to 14.5% in 2024 (P=0.004), reported Aaron Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues. (Robertson, 9/5)
In pharmaceutical news —
CNN: FDA Calls On Nicotine Pouch Manufacturers To Use Child-Resistant Packaging Amid A Rise In Accidental Exposures
The US Food and Drug Administration is urging nicotine pouch manufacturers to use child-resistant packaging on their products. This comes as a rise in nicotine pouch exposure cases has been reported among young children – with some causing nicotine poisoning. (Howard, 9/5)
Stat: Summit Therapeutics Hits Possible Snag On Lung Cancer Drug Seen As Blockbuster
Summit Therapeutics may have a geography problem with its lung cancer drug ivonescimab. In a study update reported Sunday, patients from North America and Europe treated with the drug saw their lung cancer return and progress faster than patients from China — a discordant result that could complicate Summit’s plans to secure approval of ivonescimab in the U.S. and Europe. (Feuerstein, 9/7)
MedPage Today: GLP-1 Agonists Show Possible Benefits For Rare Blood Cancer
Patients with polycythemia vera (PV) and a history of treatment with GLP-1 agonists had significantly lower rates of multiple adverse outcomes associated with the disease, a large propensity-matched study showed. Over 3 years of follow-up, patients who used GLP-1 agonists for diabetes or weight loss had a 50% lower all-cause mortality rate, and significantly fewer hospitalizations and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. (Bankhead, 9/4)
MedPage Today: Fracture Protection May Be Another Benefit Of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists
GLP-1 receptor agonist use was tied with a reduced risk for fracture among older women with type 2 diabetes, a retrospective cohort study found. Among over 350,000 GLP-1 users, there was a significantly lower risk for several different types of fractures compared with women with diabetes not using one of these agents, reported Jawaad Chaudhry, BS, MD candidate, of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (Monaco, 9/7)
