This is why I don't invest in "digital" health BS. Castlight Health went public at a huge valuation. The hype caught up with it and the valuation plunged. It now has agreed to be bought by Vera Whole Health for $2 a share or a whopping $370 million. I doubt it is worth that much, but Vera is another hype-driven company, although in theoretically a more solid segment--primary care, desperate to find some way to make it look like it actually is adding value to the system. I always find it hilarious to see the rational for these deals. Castlight's tools will supposedly help Vera's providers. Right, sure, of course, anything you say, load of crap.
Large database firm Oracle is buying electronic medical records and administrative software vendor Cerner for $28.3 billion, a move that likely is aimed at further penetration in a heavy software use industry and at competitor Salesforce.
Athenahealth has done very well in the market for electronic medical records and other provider information systems. It is being sold by one set of investors to two private equity firms for $17 billion dollars. The company may be good, but that is far too high a price in a very competitive market. We are seeing the result of the fed pumping trillions of dollars into the economy. This will be a very leveraged deal which will eventually stress the company.
Best Buy is another large corporation trying to make a bet on health care, in this case largely by providing remote patient monitoring services. The company made yet another significant acquisition in the space, buying Current Health.
We are seeing a wave of acquisitions among health care companies hoping to show that they actually have a business that justifies high valuations. Symplr provides software to help health care companies with certain administrative tasks and is acquiring Halo Health, which offers clinical communication and collaboration software. No price disclosed but you can bet it was extremely high.
Milliman is a large, respected health care actuarial firm. They are acquiring SkySail Rx, which will add greater pharmacy data and analytics capability.
The health care M & A madness continues with genetic testing company Ivitae buying Citizens Health, which organizes medical records, for an astounding $325 million. This supposedly will allow for better integration of genetic information.
More health care company valuation insanity. Ginger, a mental telehealth company, spices up its offerings by merging with Headspace, which offers a meditation app. Ginger's management should have meditated on this deal a bit more. The merged company is supposedly valued at $3 billion, for a company that claims to have $300 million in bookings, whatever that means. The only reason people invest in this kind of garbage is they don't know what else to do with their capital and they believe in the greater fool theory--they can sell to someone else before people figure out what a dud they have.
Carbon Health is going to burn investors to a crisp, acquiring two urgent care chains in recent days. The company raised a lot of funding and is splashing it out there. It wants to be the country's biggest primary care provider. Investors are likely to need mental health care in the next few years.
Amwell, a telehealth company which went public recently, is following the well-trod path to try to convince investors it has a business which justifies the valuation by buying two other companies with iffy futures. One is Conversa Health, which helps providers with health messaging and visits, and the other is SilverCloud health, which does virtual mental health visits. To show you how desperate these newly public companies are, Amwell is paying $320 million for businesses which have a combined $15 million in revenue this year. That's right, lets pay over 20 times revenue.
More indications of M & A froth. Health Catalyst, a database and analytics firm, is buying Twistle, which offers patient engagement software, for $104 million. Health Catalyst, which has generally floundered since going public, and still loses lots of money, clearly is trying to find some way to add sizzle to its business.
Primary care has been all the rage for several years, with a slight interruption by the epidemic. We are beginning to see more deals for primary care businesses, as Cano Health, which offers care to Medicare patients and recently went public, says it is buying University Health, a primary care network in South Florida, for $600 million.
Now this merger makes a little more sense. One Medical, which offers primary care services through clinics and contract arrangements, is buying Iora Health which operates primary clinics for commercial and Medicare patients. The transaction is all stock, $2.1 billion worth, so no cash to Iora owners, which is interesting. The primary care market is getting competitive.
Remember what I said about these times when too much capital is floating around and valuations get absurd, so you see a lot of companies who know they can't grow into their valuation starting to all merge together. Here is an example. Carbon Health, which offers in-person and virtual primary care, is buying Steady Health, a vendor of disease management services.
Gastro Health is a rollup of gastroenterology practices across the country by a private equity group. This is a common practice which contributes to consolidation, high prices, high utilization and no improvement in quality. These private equity groups then sell the entity to another PE group to provide a lucrative exit and on we go. In this case the Ontario Employees pension plan is the buyer. I am sure they care a lot about health care in the US.
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.
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.
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