Important Industry News
November 2017 Healthcare IT Update
CVS in talks to buy Aetna for $66 billion
Large health insurers have been some of the biggest consolidators in the HIT industry. For example, United Healthcare has purchased over 40 companies in the past 10 years. Now the tables have turned and CVS is coming after the third largest insurer, Aetna.
When Amazon announced that it is getting into the PBM business, we were not surprised to see Express Scripss buying the spend optimization company, eviCore. But the CVS/Aetna transaction is different both in magnitude and direction. Medication spend is only 15% of the total healthcare expenditure. The reach of this combination goes much, much further than just drugs. It could include expanding the mini clinics of CVS, bringing services to the home and scaling the combined companies’ provider network- all under the same roof.
Digital physical therapy platform, PhysiTrack, plans an IPO in early 2018
One of the first digital therapeutic IPOs, the company has only raised $3.5 million since its founding in 2012. The virtual platform replaces the traditional paper based exercise regimens and via its remote monitoring, enables compliance tracking and provides educational physical therapy content. The service is marketed to healthcare providers and is employed in 102 countries with 1.2 million patients. The big break for the company came when Apple decided to include the company in its Mobility Partner Program.
Best Buy offers $29 a month monitoring service for care givers
By 2020, 45 million Americans will be caring for 117 million seniors. Best Buy’s offering is a monthly $29 fee which uses internet-connected gear. The company has started to test the service in two cities.
Remote monitoring of seniors is expected to be a $50 billion market, with Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Amazon vying for a position via their smart home platforms. Only time will tell if Best Buy can carve a large enough market for its offering to make this an economically viable service.