A light day for research and we were blessed with a second coronavirus briefing this week.
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More messaging from the state DOH and some immune response heavy research.
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I have been writing this blog for a long time and I thought I had seen some wild times for investments and valuations, but this is insane. Every day, multiple new investments at very high valuation. CareSyntax, which offers software to help collect data on surgeries and help with decision support, raised $100 million in new capital. If I can't understand how a company can possibly deliver that much value, something is seriously wrong.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/caresyntax-hauls-100m-to-expand-its-surgical-data-analysis-business?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF8uMKNd9gxQnguNTRSEfrOPAt47mKTRWmftgDg69_7Ca0E9R1oqbi6C0x9-iNRbq3EjYe-KF3Vc5DUPOQItgiypvN9pJJdL-_aR7i-lvpE9L9YYIs&mrkid=635530Capsule, which operates a "digital" pharmacy raised $300 million in additional capital. You can't have a health care business if it isn't digital, no matter how pedestrian its business. Craziness in the capital markets.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/digital-pharmacy-startup-capsule-clinches-300m-to-invest-one-stop-shop-for-digital-healthcare?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF8uMKNdzQWDEBmrXCSal1TsfHgOMlwjHZWHLimXR4M7FF9g1laXUb2VHdCpPQT8Q0l-Zf63tUUNsFyiTTE4ubx3pj4RYXOdvZcqafKiWlzL3rx_cY&mrkid=635530Digital health is a wasteland. Someone has developed an app or multiple apps for every possible disease or condition. These are all commodities and generally provide little real value, but investors are pouring money into them at very high valuations. Sorry to piss all over the idea, but here is an example, a company called Renovia raised $17 million for an app to help manage urinary continence. More specifically, the app will help with exercises for pelvic floor disorders. Well, I am floored by the investment and valuation.
https://medcitynews.com/2021/04/startup-making-digital-therapeutic-for-pelvic-floor-disorders-raises-17m/?utm_campaign=MCN%20Daily%20Top%20Stories&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=123952328&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--JPMQoRHMukC-Rc3EAq_WSZQSe9f5fYiRBUwrRHpv1oCunliqqDvm_uqzQJ9zJU1HXonPNkpuhFMPrm6NWsRDMBole_6OM_WNkw7JlfxlXv0Dtrwg&utm_content=123952328&utm_source=hs_email&rf=1Privia Health, which provides administrative and patient engagement software to physician practices, is planning to go public by raising over $300 million, which would value the company at almost $2 billion. Valuations are absurd.
https://medcitynews.com/2021/04/privia-health-launches-ipo-aims-to-raise-up-to-370m/?utm_campaign=MCN%20Daily%20Top%20Stories&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=123952328&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--MOXqv6wcLR1zlqFF9hXfc7yZpNUjiVO2Eqaf_7oAaiR1cVotSeO5674wGQIQ1C1uvcjgpgZiTFMHhcJI3-W3KTYwtPghJHg9hk6dtJ47axFnAHf4&utm_content=123952328&utm_source=hs_email&rf=1Sesame opens investors' wallets for a $24 million capital raise to support its seedy business of providing discounts to self-pay patients. Way too much capital floating around out there.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/sesame-raises-24m-to-expand-cash-pay-marketplace-for-healthcare-services?mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAF8t28aVS6AxFpSasQ0AjNGrLtZqNTWKhThG_Kyur-KWkw1ZfBZgsD3eZNOCCrziGNpHc_f6c2Ti4Hi1dMJ8xIa0gHaomHLb1q1-xCjmvN7FbzIHumana is buying the 60% of the Kindred Care at Home business for $5.7 billion. Humana currently owns 40% of the firm. Humana indicated that it may not keep the hospice portion of the Kindred business.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/humana-buying-out-partners-in-home-health-business-11619562869?mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAF8t28aVY_EU1ZHNQywINhOTMc3W-LSFVrJQX3VwdfGzhkexS55Sen1X0Mbiv0Rd2sgk8JVUHPXl-DDmKXmN85z_IjF-fRbwQNyiftvW0aqZIiIMolina, which offers health plans for Medicaid beneficiaries, is buying Cigna's Medicaid business in Texas for $60 million.
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/medicaid/molina-pay-60-million-cignas-texas-medicaid-plans?utm_source=modern-healthcare-daily-finance-friday&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210423&utm_content=article3-headlineTomorrow Health gets a nice investment of $25 million today, to help build its business of providing home health care supplies.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/andreessen-horowitz-leads-25m-investment-at-home-healthcare-startup-tomorrow-health?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF8otXax59tn_M43bbGeQtzs4-d_kir9GGUCni7Tf0s6Jxp0iKplx62RwhNtSZIW4pSXRUtJrbpOpLxNgwmRD-fg1F2ZzJg-xfg1Ld1WvbfOC_fVCg&mrkid=635530A catch up on a year's worth of health research, all of which I can't get to.
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Sun Life, the largest private stop-loss carrier to self-funded plans, is acquiring PinnacleCare, which offers health care navigation services to help employees find cost-effective health care.
https://www.sunlife.com/us/en/about/newsroom/news-releases/announcement/sun-life-to-acquire-pinnaclecare/123533/For those who have been here for CV-19 posts, this is the first in what will be a lot of posts back to health care business and policy. Many have this one sentence format on a capital raise or transaction. I will give a little more explanation than a normally would about the significance. You will also note my love of puns. Accolade, which offers assistance to employees in making health care decisions, is buying PlushCare, which provides telehealth visits for primary care and mental health. The price is an astounding $450 million dollars. Virtual care has expanded during the epidemic, but it is a commodity and a no-barrier business. Too much capital floating around in health means lots of bad deals in the long-run. No plaudits from me for the deal.
https://accolade.com/press/accolade-acquires-plushcare-primary-care/We have almost 3000 excess deaths in Minnesota that are not due to CV-19, but to the lockdowns and terror campaign. Good work Governor Walz.
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About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.