Medical device manufacturer GreatBatch is buying Lake Regional Medical, which all does outsourcing work for medical device companies, for $1.7 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reports that regulators are granting most of the very large premium increases health plans requested for exchange policies; in another big win for health reform's promise to reduce premiums.
WebPT, a vendor of administrative software for the rehab providers, is acquiring Therabill, which offers practice management solutions in the same market.
A new study from the Commonwealth Fund finds that there is little real competition in many locales for Medicare Advantage plans, lending further support to criticism of further consolidation. The analysis suggests that almost all counties are highly concentrated by antitrust standards.
According to a study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise wearable exercise trackers may not be very accurate and show high levels of variability.
Health care analytics firm Innovalon is acquiring Avalere, which offers consulting and analytics for life sciences companies, for $140 million. Expect more acquisitions from these shouldn't be public HIT companies as they try to maintain growth.
Private equity firm HIG has recapitalized (i.e., bought) United States Medical Supply, a large direct-to-consumer vendor of medical supplies and equipment used in the home.
Zephyr Health blows up a windy $17.5 million funding round for its "insight as a service" (or is that "insides as a service?", "asides as a service?", well leaving all that aside,) product that helps medical product companies accelerate time to market.
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.