Archive
Everything published by Hospitalogy.
June 2024
- JUN 27🏥 8 Takeaways from Health System Q1 2024 FinancialsToday concludes the Hospitalogy Beach Reads as I return from Florida soon.
- JUN 26🏥 State of EnablementHappy Wednesday, Hospitalogists! You guys know I love the enablement space, and the value-based care space at large.
- JUN 25🏥 Kaiser's Busy 2024I'm at the beach, but the content doesn't stop.
- JUN 20Healthcare AI’s Public DebutHospitalogists, Thanks to everyone for the outpouring of support for my ‘investigative’ piece on Done.
- JUN 18Done is Done: How Ruthia He turned ADHD Telehealth Platform Done into a pill mill, exploiting patients for profit.I’ve unexpectedly been in conversation with multiple sources close to Done, and I have the full inside story of what went wrong (spoiler: a lot) and the latest ongoing developments internally. So with that backdrop, today, we’re diving into how one founder – Ruthia He – exploited well-meaning people, created a culture of gaslighting and deceit, and created one of the worst-acting pill mill enterprises to date. Done is one of the worst examples of exploiting patients, providers, and even internal employees – for pure profit.
- JUN 13No Growing Pains: Sword Health’s $3 Billion Journey to becoming an AI Care Company, and the red-hot virtual MSK spacePain sucks. Right now, billions of people globally deal with pain on a daily basis.
- JUN 11Waystar’s IPO, Elevance and Enablement, and Walmart Health’s $230M LossHappy Tuesday Hospitalogists, You’re looking at (well…reading about) the two-time Big Jack Open Madden family golf scramble champion from…
- JUN 6Diving into the Pennsylvania Health System Merger Mania with a deeper look at the Jefferson Health – Lehigh Valley Health Network MergerHospitalogists, I’m back from the mother land (Austin) after convening with my teammates from the mothership (Workweek) feeling energized…
- JUN 3Return of the Healthcare IPO – is this time different?Happy Tuesday, Hospitalogists, I’m in Austin for the Workweek retreat (Hospitalogy is affiliated with Workweek) and having a grand old time…
- JUN 32024: The Year of Health System Margin Recovery – Analyzing Q1 2024 Hospital PerformanceHappy Thursday Hospitalogists, I …think…there’s some other major news happening right about now, but I’m sure you guys would rather be…
May 2024
- MAY 28The CVS Struggle: Why CVS can’t get out of its own way in 2024In 2024, CVS is struggling. Since 2010, an investment in CVS has underperformed the broader market significantly.
- MAY 28🏥 Revisiting Amazon's Healthcare StrategyChange of plans today - After a long weekend and with Dallas in a state of emergency ( and consequently being without power, childcare, and…
- MAY 22How Tampa General supercharged its delegated credentialing strategy with MedallionHappy Wednesday, Hospitalogists! I’m back in your inbox with the latest installment in my series with Medallion on everything credentialing.
- MAY 21Oscar Health’s Profitable Q1Happy Thursday Hospitalogists! If you’ve missed any of my recent content, they are ready for your perusal at the following links.
- MAY 21🏥 $199 GLP-1s?I'm back from Pennsylvania ready to break down the latest healthcare news for you guys.
- MAY 15Analyzing Privia’s start to 2024, and Steward Health Care’s next ChapterHappy Tuesday, Hospitalogists! I hope you’re having a great start to the week.
- MAY 15The Healthcare Industrial Machine Rolls on: Analyzing 13 Years of Health Insurer Revenue GrowthHappy Thursday, 2024 is quickly shaping up to be the year of cybersecurity incidents, as rumor has it Ascension has been taken offline…
- MAY 15Breaking down Payor Performance in Q1Diverging Payor Performance during Q1 2024 Earnings Season I broke down HCA and Tenet’s Q1 performance last week here, so I wanted to…
- MAY 2Hospital Breakout, Payor Breakdown: HCA, Tenet Hit the ground running in 2024Today is day 1 of the new Thursday format. Let me know what you guys think!
- MAY 2The End of Walmart Health, and Retail Health’s Demise?We’re a month into my new format, and I’ve finally had the chance to finish the revamped newsletter format and cadence.
April 2024
- APR 25How to Kill a Health System in 5 Easy Steps: Breaking Down the Commons Clinic StrategyToday is a fun one! I’ve been chatting with Commons Clinic co-founder Nick Aubin for a while now, and he’s given me the go-ahead to share some exclusive news with you guys so you hear it first through Hospitalogy. Along with that announcement, I’m also taking a dive into the Commons Clinic model and why their team is well positioned along a number of tailwinds in healthcare – a new partnership model for orthopedists, movement toward value-based specialty care, growth in orthopedic procedures, and vertical integration.
- APR 25Non-Competes Banned, and UnitedHealth Group’s Q1Big news – we’ve crossed 30,000 Hospitalogists! That’s about 30% of Texas’ DKR Memorial Stadium, so we’re getting there, fam.
- APR 18Diving into Physician Corporatization: The Latest Numbers on Physician EmploymentHappy Thursday Hospitalogists, Avalere published its latest study on physician employment trends this week, so you know I had to dive in.
- APR 17Paylocity: The One-Stop Healthcare HR ShopHappy Wednesday Hospitalogists, Today we’re diving into the world of healthcare HR alongside Paylocity – a one-stop shop for all things…
- APR 16An Epic Dispute, Carelon’s Vertical Integration Foray, and more healthcare news: 4/16/24 Hospitalogy UpdateThanks to everyone for the great comments and collaboration on the largest health systems by revenue piece I published Thursday!
- APR 11113 of the Largest Health Systems Ranked by Revenue as of 2023Happy Thursday, Hospitalogists, For those who partake, it’s the best weekend of the year for golfers – Masters weekend. Who ya got?
- APR 11The MultiPlan Fiasco, $9 Nurses, and other weekly healthcare storiesGood morning to everyone except the hackers who apparently keep extorting Change Healthcare. Yikes.
- APR 4🏥 Kaiser, Risant, and GeisingerI hope you're enjoying your Thursday! Today's a fun one.
- APR 2Major Announcement: On the future of Hospitalogy and a Community RevampHospitalogists, I’ve got some big news to share about the future of Hospitalogy that affects this newsletter and our community — consider it…
March 2024
- MAR 28Private Equity’s Role in Healthcare: Comments from HospitalogistsI received some great responses from my newsletter on private equity’ role in healthcare and finding an equilibrium, so I decided to turn it into a third send (all anonymous). Lots of great perspectives below and I enjoyed those of you who took the time to respond!
- MAR 263/26/24 Roundup: CMS Launches a new payment model, MA Final Rate notice watch, Modern Health Shutdown, and moreHappy Tuesday! NEXT Tuesday, I have a big announcement on the future of Hospitalogy. Stay tuned!
- MAR 25Private Equity in Healthcare: Where do we go from here? A balanced look at the good and bad of PE in HealthcareA balanced look at the good and bad of private equity in healthcare and why we need private investment in the industry
- MAR 19🏥VindicationHospitalogy, meet Bracketology. If you’re into March Madness and you’ve filled out a bracket, join the Hospitalogy Bracket Challenge here .
- MAR 153 Pain Points & Opportunities Finance & Strategy Leaders Are Facing in 2024Hospitalogists, I’m excited to co-publish this piece alongside Unlock Health’s Chief Revenue Strategy & Managed Care Officer, Kevin…
- MAR 15🏥 Let's chat about Private EquityGiven all of the hubbub around private equity in healthcare, M&A, and capital markets, there’s quite a bit to catch up on in the space.
- MAR 12Hospitalogy Roundup: State of the Union Highlights and other notable weekly healthcare news3.12.24 Intro I’m still not recovered from the absolute yearly ambush that is Daylight Savings Time’s spring forward.
- MAR 7Analyzing the $19.2B merger between Northwell Health and Nuvance HealthWith this newsletter being the third send this week, I didn’t want to overwhelm you guys so this post is visually heavy, and short and sweet…
- MAR 6Care Continuity: the air traffic control for your health systemI recently connected with the Care Continuity team and for health system folks, Care Continuity has a great value prop to get patients navigated within your network, transition them between care settings, and help you with your overall ambulatory strategy through better analytical information, ultimately preventing network leakage.
- MAR 5UnitedHealth Group’s Antitrust Review: This time is different?Welcome to Hospitalogy, a newsletter breaking down healthcare finance, M&A, and strategy twice weekly.
February 2024
- FEB 29🏥 February RecapI join you today from Nashville where I’m participating in a few fun healthcare panels at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
- FEB 27Change Healthcare clicked the wrong linkGood morning, I hope everyone is having a great time at ViVE! I couldn’t make it this year, but you guys better be Vive’ing in my stead.
- FEB 22Tenet’s Multi-Year Bet on ASCs: How going all-in on USPI is leading to outperformance for Tenet HealthcareHappy Thursday all! Today’s is a quick one on Tenet Healthcare’s Q4 and full year 2023 as a follow up to HCA’s I did back on 2/1.
- FEB 20Hospitalogy Roundup 2/20/2024 – Cancelled mergers: SCAN Group, CareOregon; Blue Cross of Louisiana, Elevance call it quitsHospitalogists, For those of you who partake in President’s Day, I hope you had a restful, 3-day weekend.
- FEB 15Analyzing Oak Street Health’s Growth Trajectory from Private, to Public, to Vertically Integrated with CVSHow has Oak Street Health’s growth trajectory and profitability changed throughout its life as a private, public, and now vertically integrated company?
- FEB 13Hospitalogy 2/13 Roundup: MA Advance Rate Notice, $5B Children’s Hospital Project, Primary Care Merger, and MoreGood morning Hospitalogists, If you’re tired of the unrelenting, unstoppable bombardment of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce since Sunday…
- FEB 8Oscar’s Pirate Ship: How the Insurtech is Reinventing itself in 2024Today’s post is all about Oscar Health and its ascent out of the abyss. Why am I posting an upbeat essay on an insurtech in 2024? I’ll tell you why, and then you can tell me what you think.
- FEB 6Healthcare Fire Sales – Cigna’s MA biz, Cano’s Bankruptcy, and the Steward Health Care FiascoHappy Tuesday, Hospitalogists. I hope your February’s are off to a swimmingly wonderful start.
- FEB 18 Key Takeaways From HCA Healthcare’s 2023Who better to kick off the Hospitalogy one-page executive summaries than HCA Healthcare, the 186-hospital operator generating $65B in annual revenue?
January 2024
- JAN 29The Hospitalogy January Recap: 18 of the biggest stories across the healthcare landscapeHospitalogists, We’re 1 month into 2024 already. Isn’t that insane?
- JAN 25The New, NEW Utilization Normal: Why the Pendulum is Swinging back to Providers in 2024Patient volumes are BACK in a big way in 2024. It’s an ongoing trend extending back to the second quarter of 2023. And everyone is watching, waiting, to see how volumes play out. So, what happened in 2023? In what areas is volume returning? Finally, what are the downstream implications of this ‘New’ New post-post-Covid Utilization Normal ™ on payors, providers, and risk-bearing organizations?
- JAN 22The Hospitalogy JP Morgan Roundup: Updates from Privia, ApolloMed, Centene, Talkspace, and moreHere’s the rest of my roundup from JP Morgan, highlighting some of the more interesting stuff from around the public company presentations and notable commentary.
- JAN 19Credentialing 2.0: How a behavioral health group transformed its growth strategy by streamlining legacy credentialing through Medallion’s superior platform and processToday we’re continuing the series on credentialing by diving into a real world example on how a good strategy and the right partner drives scalability, provider retention, and other positive effects on your organization.
- JAN 18Hospitalogy Year in Review, Part 3: The Rise of Retail Health and Non-Traditional PlayersOne of the more trends that struck me as fascinating this year was watching the utter chaos happening among retail and nontraditional players trying to enter healthcare and figure out cohesive strategies. Bottom line: large retailers want a piece of the healthcare pie, and you should expect stepwise and incremental movement into healthcare from here for most of these (Amazon, Best Buy, various grocers, Walgreens, etc). The below is what I perceive to be close to a comprehensive review of what each player did in 2023, and what their core focus in healthcare is.
- JAN 16What’s Top of Mind for Health Systems post-JP MorganWhat’s Top of Mind for Health Systems post-JP Morgan – Hospitalogy
- JAN 11Hospitalogy 2023 Year in Review, Part 2: Big-Picture Trends in Medicare Advantage, ACA Marketplace, and Medicaid will drive the healthcare landscape forwardmuch of what’s occurring across government health insurance programs ties into the vertical integration trends, and ties into where investment dollars are headed in 2024. Here’s what happened, and where we’re headed across Medicare Advantage, ACA marketplace, and Medicaid.
- JAN 9agilon’s no good, very bad start to 2024agilon kicked off the year in the worst possible way for the Medicare-focused enablement firm, announcing a huge cut to its expected financial results. Meanwhile, it also announced the retiring of its CFO on the same day. Goes without saying, but announcing a CFO transition the same day your company slashes your projected earnings is a recipe for disaster, as noted by the utter destruction of shareholder value, down 30% on the day:
- JAN 5Hospitalogy 2023 Year in Review, Part 1: Vertical Integration Dominates the Payor LandscapeThe history and strategy behind Optum – and UnitedHealth Group’s unreal outperformance – is important to know when you contextualize what happened in 2023. It’s why Optum continues to lay waste to the healthcare landscape by buying every company it wants. It’s why CVS started the year off with a bang by acquiring Oak Street Health for a hefty sum, then rebranding its services subsidiary to Healthspire. Payors everywhere are creating Optum-like subsidiaries to follow suit, and this activity accelerated in 2023
- JAN 2CVS Health: Changing the narrative in 2024Good morning Hospitalogists, I hope everyone is having a great first Tuesday of 2024 catching up on those emails you put off the last week…
December 2023
- DEC 28Hospitalogy Wrapped 2023: Musings from a Healthcare Content CreatorCapping off this week’s posts, I’m diving into some thoughts on the growing Hospitalogy ecosystem, including newsletter, community, and more. Consider it a Hospitalogy ‘State of the Union’ headed into 2024 covering big milestones, what worked well for me from a growth perspective, and everything in between.
- DEC 27🏥 Top Healthcare Reads From 2023Hospitalogists, I hope you’re all enjoying a wonderful holiday.
- DEC 21The Oprah Effect: The Shifting Conversation around Obesity and GLP-1sThe story perfectly personifies the broader conversation playing out with weight loss medication and the exorbitant demand coming online for obesity treatment.
- DEC 188 Predictions for Healthcare 2024: What the Market is Signaling for the Year AheadWelcome back to the annual Hospitalogy Soothsayer Special! Parth Desai and I have been brainstorming over the past several weeks on where healthcare is headed in the new year. Based on discussions with industry folks, market signals buried in earnings and disclosures, and our often misguided internal dialogues, here are some of our predictions for healthcare in 2024.
- DEC 17Medallion: Signed, Sealed, CredentialedBreaking down the credentialing process and why provider organizations should consider outsourcing the frustrating process to Medallion’s streamlined service
- DEC 13HCA’s Grand Plan: Breaking down their 2023 Investor DayToday we’re diving into HCA’s recent investor day. How HCA thinks about market density and growth, clinical innovation, nurse retention, physician alignment, financial projections, and challenges on the horizon for the hospital giant
- DEC 12The Demise of HumanCigHumanCig/Cigmana Merger talks end Humana-Cigna merger talks ended as quick as they began.
- DEC 8🏥 HCA's Grand PlanBefore I let you off for the weekend, we're diving into the $60B enterprise that tis HCA Healthcare.
- DEC 4The Healthcare Big 3? Breaking down the Cigna-Humana Merger Rumors & morehow the rumored Cigna-Humana $150B merger might reshape the healthcare payor landscape
November 2023
- NOV 30The 3 Looming Event Horizons in HealthcareAnyway, there are a few inflection points that will define healthcare over the foreseeable future, and I wanted to outline those trends below. If there are any others you consider equally as important, please feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts and opinions. I welcome any and all, as always.
- NOV 28🏥 Giving Tuesday SpecialI hope your bellies and hearts are full after Thanksgiving.
- NOV 21Forward Health’s CarePod: the ‘Bird Scooters’ of Healthcare?Happy Tuesday! What are you thankful for? Here’s what I’m thankful for: no Hospitalogy this Thursday.
- NOV 15A.I. in Healthcare: Will we Lead, or will we Lag?Happy Thursday, Hospitalogists! The Hospitalogy Guest Posting series continues today with a great write-up on the current state of AI in…
- NOV 14Breaking down Q3 2023 Healthcare M&A activityHappy Tuesday, Hospitalogists, I hope everyone is having a great start to their week.
- NOV 9The Physician Shortage: Are Digital Health Solutions Addressing the Issue?Hearing about “the physician shortage” is starting to feel reminiscent of constantly hearing about “clinician burnout”. Everyone knows it’s been going on for a long time and everyone knows it’s a big problem. Many of us assume it’s affecting us in some way, but very few can tell you if anything is being done to fix it, or whose responsibility it is to address it. In this article I’d like to review what has been driving the physician shortage, what has been done (if anything) to address it and explore what types of digital health solutions can truly help solve this problem.
- NOV 8🏥 How to keep it simpleWelcome to a special edition of Hospitalogy!
- NOV 6Blake’s October Healthcare RecapEvery major healthcare business story from the month of October, from yours truly Blake Madden from Hospitalogy
- NOV 2Synthetic Data in Healthcare: the Great Data UnlockHealthcare has always experienced a conflict between the benefits of data and the importance of patient privacy. Synthetic data has the potential to solve a lot of problems associated with data access in healthcare.
October 2023
- OCT 30Breaking Down Hospital Q3 earnings, Carbon’s bad 2023, and Direct Contracting ResultsQ3 2023 hospital earnings updates, Carbon Health’s bad 2023, CMS releases DCE results, a $10.5B health system merger, take privates, IPOs, and more.
- OCT 26The Future of Value-Based Oncology Care: an Interview with Thyme CareWhen it comes to value-based models, cancer care today is where chronic kidney care was five or more years ago. And, just as success with chronic kidney patients relies on a kidney-focused care model that is integrated with the nephrologist, cancer care can be greatly enhanced by deploying oncology-focused clinical navigation in partnership with oncologists.
- OCT 24🏥 Revisiting the Physician Owned Hospital DebateGiven some interesting new developments in the physician owned hospital debate that are resurfacing including:
- OCT 20🏥 The medallion touchWelcome to a special edition of Hospitality!
- OCT 19Where have all the caregivers gone?Worsening maternal health outcomes, nursing burnout, and an aging population don’t sound like a recipe for success. But even with these ingredients, health care executives can leverage specific tools to create a good outcome for their organizations—and the industry.
- OCT 17GLP-1s vs. Healthcare ServicesLots and lots of healthcare stuff happened this week, so here’s your weekly dose of everything you need to know. Luckily you subscribe to Hospitalogy – healthcare’s best kept secret. Shoot this newsletter to a colleague to support the cause.
- OCT 12What’s top of mind for healthcare executives now?The Hospitalogy guest posting series continues with a great piece from Notable Health’s CMO and longstanding healthcare exec Dr.
- OCT 9A VC-Backed Health System?Happy Tuesday, Hospitalogists, The Red River Rivalry never fails to disappoint, and unfortunately Texas was on the losing side this year.
- OCT 5Bending the Cost Curve of Healthcare Inequities: Investment in Primary Care, Communities, and TechnologyToday continues our recent string of guest posters as I’m out on paternity leave and I think you guys will enjoy this one from Equality Health’s CCO Dr. Michael Poku on where investment is needed to address inequalities.
- OCT 2The Hospitalogy September Healthcare RecapThis newsletter will be a comprehensive summary of all of the major healthcare activity from September, for your viewing pleasure
September 2023
- SEP 29State of Healthcare Services ValuationsKey Takeaways I took a look at forward revenue (topline growth) and forward EBITDA (profitability metric) to see how the various healthcare…
- SEP 25BrightSpring’s IPO Comeback?After filing an S-1 in October 2021, then pulling the plug on those IPO plans in late 2022, BrightSpring IPO rumors have re-emerged. The home health and hospice player generated $5.6B in revenue in 2020, and more details to come as it files an updated S-1 assuming IPO plans go through and the healthcare public markets thaw out. BrightSpring’s footprint is impressive with 900+ locations across the U.S. and provision of care for complex patient populations (IDD, polypharma) (Link)
- SEP 21A Data Driven Analysis of 3 Local Healthcare MarketsAs I’m out on leave, today kicks off our guest-posting series, a benefit extended to members of my community, Board Room. Over the next handful of months, you’ll hear from several of them, and first off the block is Michael Stratton, the Founder of HealthDataAtlas, a company focused on providing insights into healthcare markets and the entities that comprise those dynamics. I’ve chatted with Michael about physician dynamics before, and figured this post would be an interesting way to analyze some markets and understand how healthcare strategists think about the world. If you’re in these markets, or if you have any insights to share, please feel free to respond to the e-mail or reach out with your thoughts!
- SEP 19Pearl Health finds a Pearl: WalgreensPearl Health teams up with Walgreens “It’s thought that approximately one in 10,000 wild oysters yields a pearl; only a fraction of those…
- SEP 14Opilio: Healthcare Data LiberationDiving into the emerging healthcare data market and how Opilio wants to capture the long tail of provider organizations.
- SEP 12ChenMed: Breaking Down Walmart’s Scarcity PlayToday we’re jumping into the Walmart-ChenMed rumors and other interesting updates from the week. Heads up – I’m mixing up the format just a little today given the ChenMed news is a bit longer!
- SEP 12Hospitalogy weekly update: 9/5/23 editionhope you all had a restful Labor Day! No major analysis for this week as I get back into the swing of things, but of course I have plenty of…
- SEP 7🏥 Hospitalogy State of the UnionHappy Thursday, Hospitalogists! Every now and then I do more of an introspective post on how I think things are going with Hospitalogy…
August 2023
- AUG 31The 16 biggest healthcare headlines from August 2023No talking about healthcare spice or physician employment dynamics today! We’re simply recapping August and the 16 major healthcare stories in an ultra-skimmable format for your viewing pleasure.
- AUG 28The Kidney Care Race: Interwell Health, Strive Health Find Major PartnersWelcome back to another edition of Hospitalogy.
- AUG 24Who Controls the Healthcare Spice?The meteoric rise of CareBridge, why its success was a foregone conclusion, and how officials hopping between public agencies and private markets can exert outsized influence over unnoticed corners of healthcare.
- AUG 22CVS, Amazon Pharmacy, and Cost Plus Drugs: PBM Disruption or a Blip on the Radar?In likely the biggest news headline of the week, BCBS CA and its 4.8 million member footprint announced its intention to ditch CVS and is replacing that 3-letter void with a consortium of vendors – Amazon Pharmacy for at-home drug delivery, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs for benefit design and medication access, Prime Therapeutics, and Abarca to fill other existing drug benefit functions.
- AUG 17Physician Dynamics are Reaching a Boiling PointIn today’s send I wanted to aggregate and describe a number of factors facing physicians and physician employment in 2023. While I don’t necessarily have a conclusion here, it seems as if a number of these variables are slowly coming to a head across full practice authority, private equity, corporatization, and rethinking physician agency.
- AUG 15Cano Health’s Slow DemiseAfter a long and beleaguered journey to this point, including a lengthy board fight, going concern…concerns, a $150M loan at a 14% interest rate for a year-long lifeline, and a rescheduled Q2 earnings conference call, Cano Health posted dismal results on its Q2 earnings release. The Medicare Advantage-focused senior clinic care platform reported a 103.5% medical loss ratio, meaning that for every premium dollar earned, Cano paid out 103.5% in medical costs. Good on them for subsidizing needed patient care!
