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Top Stories and Headlines

Bain Capital proposes Surgery Partners buyout: Bain Capital offered to acquire the remaining ownership stake (already owning around 39%) of Surgery Partners, at a proposed price of $25.75 per share or a 21% premium to its share price today. Surgery Partners has been on the market for a while as both TPG and UnitedHealth were rumored to be interested in the company, but thinks there is more value to be unlocked by allowing itself for some breathing room to re-orient its physician hospital portfolio, rumored to be weighing down its performance.

  • Speaking of buyouts, Walgreens’ take private seems to be dead, confirming banker skepticism around the ability for Sycamore Partners to take WBA private in the first place. Noted below, Walgreens is working toward offloading VillageMD.

Hospital M&A trends stabilize: Kaufman Hall’s M&A review for hospitals shows a steady rebound in hospital and health system M&A, with 72 transactions in 2024. The deals reflect a focus on scale, financial resilience, and addressing operational challenges, as organizations stabilize from pandemic disruptions but contend with cost pressures and reimbursement complexities including a ‘trifurcation’ of health system outlook and performance (the characterization is getting out of hand).

Transcarent to acquire Accolade: Transcarent announced plans to acquire Accolade, a health navigation and advocacy company, in a move to enhance its end-to-end capabilities, creating a more comprehensive platform solution for employers. Similarly to what Commure is building on the health system side (acquiring Athelas, Memora, and Augmedix in recent years), we’re seeing some interesting roll-up plays enter the scene – a strategy developed around point solution fatigue.

CVS’s Aetna sues Radiology Partners: Aetna has sued Radiology Partners, alleging hundreds of millions in fraudulent claims through manipulated billing practices such as improper use of modifiers.

Sanford Health and Marshfield Clinic merge: Sanford Health and Marshfield Clinic finalized their merger, creating a healthcare system with 58 hospitals and 3,500 employed providers across the Midwest.

NeueHealth goes private: NeueHealth will be taken private by NEA and a consortium of investors, marking a strategic shift to accelerate its growth in value-based primary care. It’s been a long and beleaguered journey for the once high flying Bright Health, which flew too close to the (venture capital backed inappropriate valuation) sun. RIP.

Policy

  1. The Trump Admin mandated an immediate pause on many federal health agency communications with the public through the end of January. Scope of this communication includes “regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts until such communications had been approved by a political appointee.” The announcement is creating disruption and uncertainty in key functions within healthcare, including NIH funding.
  2. Idaho lawmakers propose repealing Medicaid expansion.
  3. Congress proposes Medicare drug reforms to lower costs, which would include giving AI the ability to prescribe.
  4. CMS details Medicare drug prices to control costs
  5. Trump unveils Project Stargate to expand U.S. artificial intelligence.
  6. Physician unionization grows in 2025.
  7. ACA enrollment reaches record 24M.
  8. FTC settles with PE firm over roll-up scheme.
  9. DEA proposes telehealth rules for controlled substances.
  10. FTC report criticizes PBM practices.
  11. U.S. WHO withdrawal raises funding questions.
  12. DOJ sues Walgreens for opioid prescription violations.

M&A and Partnerships

  1. Machinify merges into $5B platform in a huge rollup play in RCM championed by New Mountain Capital.
  2. Arkansas Blue Cross announces merger with Cambia Health Solutions (where have we heard that name before?) to streamline operations.
  3. Walgreens shares divestiture plans for VillageMD in strategy shift.
  4. Concentra to acquire Nova Medical a 67-site, multi stage occupational medicine operator.
  5. RadNet plans acquisitions to expand imaging services.
  6. Prospect Medical files for bankruptcy.
  7. Commure acquires Memora Health.
  8. Regional Health merges with SunLink.
  9. AWS and General Catalyst collaborate on health tech.

Quick Notables

  1. NeuroFlow and Intermountain advance behavioral models. (by the way, I’m diving into their behavioral health operations on 2/12 – register here!)
  2. RamaOnHealthcare, a newsletter and healthcare news site I really enjoy, launched a new product, The Platform for Healthcare Transformation and SmartSearch, a network and searchable database of thousands of articles.
  3. Mass General Brigham expands hospital-at-home for 2025.
  4. University of Iowa acquires Mission Cancer.
  5. Elevance Health acquires IU Health Plans. Elevance Health also reports $418M profit, driven by Medicare growth.
  6. UnitedHealth posts Q4 gains driven by Medicare Advantage. UnitedHealth also faces shareholder pressure on treatment delays.
  7. Rising cancer rates concern young women globally.
  8. Johnson & Johnson expands neuroscience portfolio
  9. Clover and Alignment highlight Medicare Advantage growth.
  10. Atlas Healthcare and MedAxiom expand cardiovascular JV.
  11. Centivo launches virtual primary care for employers.
  12. DeepScribe and Flatiron Health advance oncology AI.
  13. Hartford Healthcare and Aidoc deploy enterprise AI.
  14. Revelation Pharma acquires Cascade Pharmacy.
  15. Transcarent and Personify Health shape employer market.
  16. Innovaccer acquires Humbi AI.
  17. BrightSpring Health divests to Sevita.
  18. 23andMe plans to sell Lemonaid telehealth business.
  19. Sesame and Photon Health cut support costs.
  20. Bamboo Health shares impact report on care coordination.
  21. Guardian Life and Uber Health address transportation challenges.
  22. Pair Team becomes public benefit corporation.
  23. Philadelphia physicians vote to unionize.
  24. Astiva Health reports 188% growth.
  25. Huma and Wheel launch healthcare platform.
  26. Mayo Clinic expands Abridge AI use.
  27. MultiCare backs Layer Health for healthcare insights.
  28. Teladoc emphasizes virtual chronic care.
  29. Avel eCare acquires Amwell Psychiatry.
  30. Santa Clara County acquires Regional Medical Center.
  31. Providence workers launch Oregon strike.
  32. ConcertAI presents AI roadmap at JPM Conference.
  33. Medical Home Network transitions to public benefit alongside an investment from Oak HC/FT.
  34. CVS Pharmacy hits CostVantage milestone.

Fundraising

Non-exhaustive list of fundraising announcements

  1. Virtue VC announced the launch of its second fund. Huge congrats to Sean Doolan, Emre Karatas & team! “In V2 we intend to continue partnering with exceptional pre-seed and seed healthcare founders as an additive lead or co-lead partner. Our check sizes will range from $1 million to 2 million across 25 companies over the next three years.”
  2. Innovaccer secures $275M in Series F (Series F!!) to scale its analytics and healthcare intelligence cloud, making acquisitions along the way.
  3. Neko Health raises $260M in Series B to continue scaling its full-body scans for consumers.
  4. Hippocratic AI banks $141M Series B at a $1.6B+ valuation, hitting unicorn status with a rumored ARR in the single digits of millions.
  5. Qventus announces a substantial $105M Series D investment during JPM.
  6. Eleos Health completes its $60M Series C to advance its AI behavioral health model.
  7. Capstan Medical garners $110M for robotic-enabled heart valve repair technology.
  8. Deciphex secures $32.3M Series C to address the global pathology shortage.
  9. Cala Health raises $50M to expand wearable tremor therapy.
  10. SpinSci secures $53M for AI-enhanced patient engagement.
  11. Sage secures $35 million in Series B funding to transform senior living operations.
  12. Lindus Health raises $55M in Series B funding to transform the clinical trial landscape.
  13. One Bio secures $27 million in Series A funding to revolutionize nutrition with its breakthrough technology.
  14. Allara lands $26M to expand women’s hormone telehealth.
  15. WaveGate receives $26M for neuromodulation technology for chronic pain.
  16. Nema Health raises $14.5 million Series A to expand virtual PTSD treatment model.
  17. Qualified Health launches with $30M seed funding to develop the infrastructure for generative AI in healthcare.
  18. Frontier Direct Care closes its $20M Series B financing to scale its all-in-one platform for employers.
  19. Sollis Health completes $33 million Series B funding round led by Foresite Capital.
  20. Ro Health receives strategic growth investment from LightBay Capital (specific amount not disclosed).
  21. Red Rover Health raises $4 million in funding to grow its healthcare app store platform.
  22. Confido Health secures $3M to put AI-powered digital workers on healthcare’s front lines.
  23. Cedars-Sinai invests $6M in Amae Health startup, solidifying a center of excellence for severe mental health.
  24. BizCare Benefits launches to revolutionize how businesses offer personalized health benefits.

Top Reads and Resources

  1. Kaufman Hall’s thoughtful piece on the Brian Thompson tragedy explored its deep, lasting implications on healthcare leadership—powerful and sobering.
  2. Elion Health’s take on AI copilots showed how tech can genuinely boost clinician efficiency along with some key differentiators
  3. Xpostfactoid’s ACA reflections offered a nuanced look at ACA marketplace renewals
  4. Lessons from Cesar Herrera in Pear’s newsletter gave a masterclass in balancing innovation and impact in healthcare startups.
  5. Town Hall Ventures’ 2025 outlook captured emerging trends in healthcare investment with a clear, optimistic lens.
  6. Rock Health’s year-end overview outlined how small players are innovating alongside giants—sharp analysis with great takeaways.
  7. The Bain Global Healthcare PE report unpacked key trends shaping private equity in healthcare. Must read for anyone around the space.
  8. Time’s obituary for Jimmy Carter beautifully reflected on his healthcare legacy, showing how his compassion shaped policy and lives.
  9. Mark Cuban criticizes healthcare transparency.

MISCELLANEOUS MADDENINGS

Random personal anecdotes and musings from me

If you got this far in the newsletter you deserve to be rewarded. So although there’s nothing major to report from me this week (other than having withdrawals from golf due to the cold weather), please enjoy this picture of my son feeding me a sweet potato waffle fry:

Blake Madden
Blake Madden
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