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Archive for February, 2009
Headlines for Feb 17-22
- Posted February 22nd 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
Walgreens expands its onsite clinics with new “Complete Care and Well-Being” program, which includes pharmacy, health and wellness solutions. Article covers trends in Rx clinics.
MedAssurant, a leading healthcare data analytics company, releases research results that reveal high patient and provider satisfication with their disease management solution.
Cleveland Clinic joins providers that are coordinating patient records with CVS’ MinuteClinic and offering access to Cleveland Clinic physicians to MinuteClinic’s nurse practitioners.
Stimilus bill includes an additional $10B in funding for NIH, increasing its budget from $30B to $40B.
Times’ article provides some background on the section of the stimulus package that addresses increased usage of gov’t funded evidence-based medicine studies that compare effectiveness across varying treatment plans. We’ll address in more detail in this week’s HCA e-newsletter.
More info on Zagat’s move into rating doctors. At this point, Zagat is working with Wellpoint, one of the nation’s largest insurers, to encourage patient reviews of doctors within system. Article is critical of Zagat’s strategy of licensing its name to Wellpoint. Zagat’s strategy differs from that of Angie’s List, which continues to build its independent healthcare ratings business.
Anvita Health, formerly SafeMed, releases a mobile viewer for Google Health. Anvita’s primary product focus is health analytics for providers and payers.
Analysis of eHealth’s Q4 2008 results. EHealth sells health insurance online and partners with companies and associations (e.g., JP Morgan, AARP) to promote their services. The analysis is very bullish on eHealth and recommends the stock.
HHS unable to find funding for its acquisition of Emageon, a healthcare IT firm that provides the RadSuite and HeartSuite solutions to hospitals, healthcare networks and imaging facilities. Stanford International Bank, backers of HSS, was unable to provide needed funding.
David Robinson, formerly EVP of SunGard Data Systems,named COO of AthenaHealth, a Watertown, MA based provider of Internet-based services for physician practices.
UMass Memorial Health Care in western Mass will use technology from dbMotion to create longitudinal patient records that include inpatient & ambulatory health records and integrate rx info from SureScripts-Rx Hub.
Long post by Kibbe describing software that integrates data from clinical and patient data.
iTMP Technology, a small company out of Santa Barbara, California, is releasing a simple device that links data coming from compatible wireless health and fitness sensors to iPhones, computers, and mobile devices.
Health Sciences Group, Inc. (Pink Sheets:HESG), the owner of igohealthy.org and iGoHealthy Magazine, announced today that it has entered into negotiations to acquire a 30% stake in MODUS Healthcare International. MODUS offers its clients state-of-the-art hospitals,
British pharma major GlaxoSmithKline Plc is in discussions to acquire Indian generic drug maker Piramal Healthcare for “roughly $1.5 billion”, says a report in The Wall Street Journal, quoting people familiar with the matter.
Senator Herb Koll introduced legislation last week which would prohibit brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug makers for delaying the entry of generic drugs into the market.
Elsevier Posts Strong 2008 Results, But Pharma Segment a Drag
- Posted February 19th 2009
- Comment (1)
- by Janice
Reed Elsevier released their preliminary 2008 earnings report today that showed good revenue growth and even better earnings growth, the latter largely due to their restructuring and cost containment efforts. The Elsevier division, which includes the Scientific & Technical business and the Health Sciences business saw revenue growth of 4% in constant currencies. Operating margin improved 2.2% over 2007 to reach 33.4%.
In Health Sciences, the Clinical Solutions business was highlighted for its good performance driven by strong demand for workflow solutions that combine content with decision tools. Another promising area is healthcare data analytics. Elsevier acquired MEDai in January 2008 and combined it with its existing payer solutions business. I expect to see Elsevier continue to invest in this area.
The sour patch for Elsevier in 2008 was the pharma market segment, where “advertising and other promotional revenues declined 5%, reflecting fewer drug launches and a contraction of marketing budgets“. This result isn’t unique to Elsevier; there is a general decline in pharma marketing spending as the big companies cut back. Some cuts, such as sales practices (detailing) that include free meals and quantities of company-embossed tchotchkes left behind for physicians and their staffs, are being affected by new regulations. Other cuts, including online advertising, are primarily due to lack of effectiveness. [Note, I spoke with Josh Wildstein on this topic yesterday. See his June 1, 2008 article on Seeking Alpha for his outstanding analysis on shortcomings in current online advertising options for pharma and some suggested solutions.]
Elsevier offers a range of journals, database products, and marketing services targeted to pharma. As long as Elsevier remains alert to market shifts and changing demands of this segment, Elsevier will be in a good position to benefit from the eventual uptick in pharma marketing spending. The outlook for 2009 given in their earnings report is not as bright as the results reported for 2008, but Reed Elsevier expects “satisfactory revenue development and further underlying margin improvement” for Elsevier.
Boston event: Transforming Healthcare Summit Feb 26
- Posted February 18th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
H.I.L. Forum is producing an event called the Transforming Healthcare Summit on Thursday, Feb. 26 from 5:45-9:30 pm at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. Janice McCallum from Health Content Advisors (HCA) will attend and hopes to see many Boston-area health content companies at the event. We can offer a discount to our readers to receive a special rate of $69, a 13% discount off the regular rate. Just enter “friends1” in the discount code when registering.
The program features great speakers (see below) on the timely topic of the Obama health plan and the event is certain to provide outstanding networking for the Boston-area health content community. See you there!
Program details:
Hear Jonathan Bush, CEO of athenahealth, Charlie Baker, CEO Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, John Glaser, PhD, VP and CIO Partners Healthcare, and Valerie Fleishman, Executive Director, New England Healthcare Institute discuss the implications of the Obama healthcare plan and the opportunities for providers, payers, healthcare IT firms and the US healthcare system as a whole on a panel moderated by Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe, plus a keynote by James Roosevelt, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Tufts Health Plan. [Note, I’ll be sure to represent the perspective of healthcare publishers, too!-JM.]
Thursday, February 26, 2009 5:45 PM - 9:30 PM (ET)Hotel Venue:
Seaport Hotel - Boston
Headlines for Feb 5-16
- Posted February 15th 2009
- Comment (1)
- by Janice
IMS reports 3% growth in rev in constant currency for 2008. See press release for more details & links to full financials.
U. Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health published study that offers conservative view of the short-term benefits of genetic screening tests.
HealthGrades introduces Five-Star Doctors, rated on a mix of objective criteria (affiliated with hospitals with 5-star rating in specialty; board certified; and free from malpractice judgements & sanctions).
Thank you to David Rothman for writing the post that I started to write a couple of days ago to point out some Web 2.0 tools being used by HHS/CDC, including widgets to help spread info on the peanut recall. CDC even has a Twitter feed for health professionals.
Research from Change Sciences Group shows that individuals have greater trust in sharing info with their health insurer than with banks, gov’t agencies, or Google or MSFT. Other results indicate that existing health portals aren’t effective, but that insurers are in the best position to provide info that will be used.
Not health related, but a topic I monitor: business models for online news. I’m afraid NY Times is taking the wrong approach again. The archive is so suitable for monetizing by contextual advertising: a broad collection of content with a broad audience. But, API access should incur a fee or rev share.
Google & IBM announce a partnership to facilitate transfering data from mobile monitoring devices to Google Health record. Article includes some estimates of how many users have created records on GHealth or Microsoft’s HealthVault–one est. is “a few hundred thousand”.
Article tosses around the possibility that DTC ads will be prohibited by Obama admin. More likely scenario is that there will be restrictions and that more info will need to be made available along with ads.
Story about betting pools at offices to encourage weight loss, along with some websites that facilitate the process. Points to success of cash rewards for weight loss and importance of peer pressure/cooperation–especially among men.
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, which focuses on the discovery & development of antibiotics for antibiotic-resistant infections, receives $25M in additional funding after strong phase 2 results.
P&G has retained Goldman Sachs to look for buyers of its >$2b pharmaceutical businesses.
Presentations, transcripts and podcast of recent ARHQ webinar on evaluating Clinical Decision Support methods.
David Rothman points to Behind the Medical Headlines, a site produced by Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh & Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons in Glasgow. Site provides pointers to help readers discern the validity or trustworthiness of health-related articles in the press.
PharmaNet, a large provider of outsourced drug development services, is acquired by JLL Partners for $250M.
Montreal-based IT company, CGI Group Inc., receives a contract worth up to $24M to conitnue to develop computerized system for Medicare appeals.
A patient education program developed at BU Medical Center in Boston called RED (for Re-Engineered Hospital Discharge Program) uses specially trained nurses to educate patients about post-hospital care plans. RED led to 30% fewer readmissions and subsequent emergency visits.
FT interviews Peter Rigby, CEO Informa, with focus on debt and need to divest some assets. Informa has divisions in financial & commercial publishing, as well as academic & scientific, which includes substantial pharma business intelligence databases, publications and events.
More info on ENURGI acquisition by Univita. Techcrunch provides concise descriptions of Univita and ENURGI (a service that helps patients and their advocates find caregivers). Also reports that Univita is backed by Genstar Capital, a SF-based PE company.
ENURGI, which presented at Health Content08’s Innovators Showcase, has been acquired by Univita. Matt Holt provides more details in this post.
Research firm, User Centric, posts results of recent study of consumers’ ease of use and utility of GoogleHealth and Microsoft’s HealthVault personal health records platforms.
ENURGI, a Heath Content Innovator, Is Acquired by Univita
- Posted February 4th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
ENURGI, a presenter at Health Content08 Innovator’s Showcase, has been acquired by Univita. Univita, backed by Genstar Capital, is a new company set up to acquire care management companies with a focus on eldercare and independent living. Univita recently merged with Long-Term Care Group, a Minnesota-based administrator of long-term health insurance, providing application processing, premium billing, and claims processing to over 30 long term care insurers.
Whereas Long-Term Care Group has been in business for over 12 years, ENURGI was founded only 2 years ago and had yet to raise outside funding. ENURGI describes itself as a “revolutionary web-based healthcare services company that connects families and patients in need with local, clinical caregivers across the country”. Its service is based on a caregiver database that contains over 1.5 million records of licensed and certified caregivers in the US supplemented with referral ratings and tools to facilitate scheduling and payment transactions between patients and caregivers.
We are not surprised that ENURGI was snapped up at this early stage. We chose to highlight it in our Innovator’s Showcase because of its market potential and robust business model in which it earns subscription and transaction fees, paid by patients and/or employers. In addition, ENURGI has a smart partnering strategy that includes working with content sites in the care management space, including caring.com and disaboom. Further, they plan to partner with state healthcare services as well as employers to offer ENURGI in EAP programs.
All-in-all, ENURGI and its founder Chiara Bell have done an outstanding job of creating a database driven information service that greatly simplifies the process of finding licensed and certified caregivers. We wish them continued success.
Headlines for Feb 1 - 4
- Posted February 4th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
ENURGI, which presented at Health Content08’s Innovators Showcase, has been acquired by Univita. Matt Holt provides more details in this post.
Research firm, User Centric, posts results of recent study of consumers’ ease of use and utility of GoogleHealth and Microsoft’s HealthVault personal health records platforms.
Federal court has denied the request of Consumers’ Checkbook to gain access to Medicare claims data to compile data to help consumers evaluate doctors in an appeal filed by AMA and HHS. Earlier it was reported that Consumers’ Checkbook wanted to help consumers identify physicians based on the frequency with which they preformed procedures. Judges said FOIA were intended to shed light on gov’t operations, not private sector.
A Boston event on Feb. 26 with focus on e-health and health policy, moderated by Scott Kirsner of Boston Globe and with great roster of Boston-area healthcare industry notables, including Charlie Baker, Jonathan Bush, e-patient Dave and others.
Article describes push by Medco to increase usage of mailorder pharmacies for efficiency gains.
Quotes Clayton Christensen, Matt Holt, Uwe Reinhardt and others emphasizing the need to re-focus incentives of hospitals and care providers toward patient-centered care–and away from fee for services–when considering Health IT investments and implementations. Uses Kaiser as a model.
The Greenspun Corp acquires majority stake. To-date Mochila has raised over $30M from Charles River Ventures, Belo, Mission Ventures and others. Mochila provides an online syndication and ecommerce platform for content. Participating publishers include Belo, BabyCenter, The Knot, Topix, Hearst, Rodale, MSNBC, Hachette, Tribune, Reuters, AP and others.
Not health specific, but Glam Media doesn focus on women’s publications which attract health and wellness advertisers. Glam owns a range of publishing sites and serves as ad network for many others.
Vital Juice, publisher of free daily health and wellness newsletters, receives funding from The Pilot Group, a NY PE firm that backed DailyCandy and other ad-supported online companies.
David Kibbe and Brian Klepper, in an open letter to Obama, argue against putting healthcare investment $$ into current electronic medical records systems without careful consideration.
Navigenics, a personal genomics company, offers 2 new services. First for physicians to receive patient genetic results online (with patient approval) for no cost. Second is a $499 annual service to test an individual’s predisposition to 10 common diseases. Navigenics’ original gene testing service was $2500.
Round-up of funding news for Boston-area companies, most of which are pharma/bio or med device companies.
Seattle-based Ekos, which makes an ultrasound blood clot dissolver, raises an additional $12.5 mill to help reach breakeven by 2010. Has already raised more than $100M.
Study finds that only 25% of surveyed patients could name their doctor–and 60% of those who could were incorrect! Implications not obvious.
Some details on terms of Pfizer’s $68B deal to buy Wyeth
MedAvant, a RCM services provider, hires new CTO. MedAvant has been active in hiring and bolt-on acquisitions since it was acquired by Marlin Equity Partners last year.
Avatar International, a provider of patient satisfaction and other quality improvement measurement services to hospitals, is name preferred vendor by University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), an alliance of 103 academic medical centers.
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