Happy Thursday, Hospitalogists!

We're back with a news roundup of interesting & notable stuff from the past week-ish or so. Enjoy the rest of your week. Oh, and register for NeuroFlow's webinar today!

Hospitalogists are well versed with the AI scribe landscape. I did a deep dive for community members back in April, and even from then so many things have changed. Shiv Rao is the face of healthcare AI and innovation. In spring of 2023, Augmedix announced an ambient documentation partnership with HCA to deploy the solution in the ED. Then Commure merged with Athelas in October 2023 and acquired Augmedix for $139M a year later in October 2024.

It’s an exciting time to be building in AI for large enterprise players, because significant value is available in the space. Health system and payor leadership teams are paying attention to AI, mentioning it often in interviews, board rooms, and quarterly earnings calls.

Hell, even RadNet is beginning to trade at a software multiple after announcing a radiology AI suite of services, but I digress.

Bottom line - the ambient land grab is on in a big way, and that’s what makes this news so notable. Commure is now partnered with two of the most profitable health systems in the U.S. - HCA and now Tenet, announced this week - along with several nonprofits, and they’re now tasked with making HCA, Tenet, and other employed physicians happier and, of course…more productive.

What’s new about the announcement language is a move beyond a point solution or a scribing feature.

• This relationship solidifies Commure as the most comprehensive platform solution provider for AI within health systems. Its reach includes tens of thousands of physicians across sixty of the largest IDNs (Integrated Delivery Networks) in the country. Commure’s ambient AI platform spans the entire patient journey and clinician workflow, streamlining data collection, documentation, and care delivery….

Commure wants to be the single source of truth for health system innovation. Instead of point solutions, Commure is making a (smart) bet that health system CFOs and CIOs desire fewer vendor relationships and someone who can do it all pretty well.

Of course, I mentioned the land grab, and Commure isn’t the only one winning. Nuance and Abridge are forging their own paths with health system partners, and there’s a long tail of other successful players in the space. Others are wising up to AI’s future role in healthcare too as this connective tissue, comprehensive layer, with Suki announcing yesterday two new partnerships on its Suki Platform - a program that ‘AI enables’ EHRs.

There I am watching NFL RedZone in the peace and comfort of my home when I notice a headline. This Sunday, CareMax filed for bankruptcy, marking the next value-based care clinical player to succumb to financial woes. v28 changes and sloppy M&A have hurt some more than others, and we’re obviously seeing the cascading effect from that. Speaking of poor financial decisions and cascading effects, it turns out Steward’s bankruptcy hit CareMax extra hard.

Remember that CareMax struck a deal with Steward back in May/June 2022 to manage Steward’s MSO and population health book of business. When Steward initially declared bankruptcy, I wondered what would happen to it. As it turns out, CareMax (man, I REALLY want to say CarMax) sold its MSO business to Revere Medical (Rural Healthcare Group) which also previously bought Steward’s professional entity. Makes sense that these would be paired together but I’d guess Revere made out pretty well in all of this. This was a snapshot of Steward’s member breakdown through the population health asset back in 2022.

Back in 2022 I called this deal a ‘huge win’ for CareMax. You win some, ya lose some:

Also hilarious from CareMax’s presentation back in 2022 was its projection for $1.65B in revenue and $107M in adjusted EBITDA from Steward alone.

This, Hospitalogists...is what we call a lie.

Weekly Executive Summary

What's happening around healthcare

Forward Shutters Operations: Primary care disruptor Forward ceases operations after raising $400M and introducing CarePods.

Amazon's Telehealth competitor: Amazon One Medical rolls out telehealth treatment services, entering 'competition' with Ro, Hims & Hers yet again.

NOT the Wizard of Oz: Donald Trump announces plans to nominate Mehmet Oz as CMS administrator. Gonna go click my heels on the yellow brick road now and hope for some positive change in our industry.

CVS & Glenview Deal: CVS reaches a deal with Glenview Capital, adding four new board members.

DEA Extends Telehealth Prescriptions: The DEA finalizes a one-year extension for controlled substance telehealth prescribing, delaying final regulations.

Eli Lilly Sues Over 340B: Eli Lilly files a lawsuit against the Biden administration, following J&J’s legal challenge on 340B rebates. 340B contention is evergreen.

Copays only: Aetna launches a copay-only health plan.

Drug Overdoses drop: Drug overdoses are projected to drop to their lowest levels since 2020, according to the CDC.

3. COMMUNITY UPDATE

The latest from inside my community of healthcare thinkers

Fundraising & Venture

Notable updates in innovation and startups

1. Oura lands $75M in Series D funding and partners with Dexcom to integrate smart ring technology with continuous glucose monitoring. I had an interesting conversation with Oura around what they're doing with Essence Healthcare in MA, and they're looking to integrate the wearables experience and data deeper into member experience to track things like sleep apnea.

2. Zarminali Health launches backed by $40M in seed funding to create a nationwide multi-specialty pediatric care practice group. Whoa. A $40M seed to roll up pediatric specialty care? The company was founded by Danish Qureshi, former LifeStance co-founder.

3. Homethrive announces $20M funding to expand its tech-enabled caregiver platform.
4. Ruth Health ceases operations, marking the end of its virtual maternal health services.
5. Citizen Health raises $14.5M in seed funding to accelerate rare disease drug development.
6. Bluespine closes $7.2M funding to help self-insured employers combat medical overbilling.
7. CalmWave announces $5.25M to continue its vision of a 'quiet' AI enabled ICU. Pretty cool considering I had a chat with them at HLTH.

MISCELLANEOUS MADDENINGS

Everyone say happy birthday to my grandma (Ammaw, as we fondly call her) who is turning 90 on Saturday. She has plenty of lessons for us in longevity since I know that's the craze of today. I'll ask her for some tips on how to live a long life and report back here.

Thanks for the read! Let me know what you thought by replying back to this email.

— Blake