In yet another massive attempt to remake the health system, or at least change your declining fortunes, Cigna is buying PBM Express Scripts for $67 billion. This makes Cigna more like UnitedHealth and Aetna, if the CVS merger goes thru, in having a substantial stake in the pharmaceutical game, and it will whack UnitedHealth's OptumRx unit, as it currently works for Cigna.
Innovation, which has struggled to find profitability, is acquiring Ability Network, which provides various communication and administrative functionality for providers and payers, for a whopping $1.2 billion.
Investors pour $40 million in fresh capital into Cota, which attempts to segment and group cancer patients more precisely and identify the best treatment for them.
A firm called XpertDox has raised a $1 million seed round to help commercialize a product that supposedly links patient to the best providers for their condition.
EnSo Data, which offers software and artificial intelligence for sleep studies, keeps investors from nodding off by raising $1.5 million in new funding. Yawn.
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.