Last week in healthcare

April 10, 2017
George McLaughlin Director of Solutions Marketing

Starting today, Monday, April 10th, 2017, I am going to be publishing a weekly Monday blog titled: “Last Week in Healthcare.” The goal of this series is to share the most interesting stories of the prior week and add a little editorial flavor from yours truly. This is very much version 1.0, so bear with me as I get a feel for the cadence and evolve a structure that brings the most value to you.

Kansas falls 3 votes shy of overturning Governor Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill that would’ve expanded the state’s Medicaid program

While most of the country’s attention was rightly drawn to Syria and North Korea last week, the healthcare battle rages on here in the states. This story was particularly interesting because it featured a deeply red state looking to take advantage of provisions of the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid coverage. To date, 31 states have expanded Medicaid coverage through this legislation, including numerous Republican success stories like Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Kansas was trying to get in on the expansion while it was still an option. The House initially voted in favor of expanding the Kansas State Medicaid program 81-to-44, and the Senate followed with a 25-to-14 vote in favor before Governor Brownback’s veto. They fell just three votes short of achieving the necessary two-thirds majority to overturn the veto.

23andMe receives FDA approval to sell direct-to-consumer Genetic Health Risk Reports

Direct-to-consumer health assessment just got a whole lot more interesting. While still marketed as a “risk-assessment” (and not as a functional diagnosis), FDA approval is a big step for 23andMe and the larger direct-to-consumer healthcare market, because patients can now receive risk reports for ten hereditary diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s (view the full list here). While it’s fun to learn you have ancestors from Zanzibar, this is the kind of medical assessment that has the potential to impact behaviors and lead to both proactive testing and participation in preventive medicine. While it’ll be interesting to see just how far at-home-diagnoses will go, one thing is for certain: we’ve come a long way from 2013 when the FDA issued 23andMe a cease and desist letter.

 Cardinal Health nearing $6bn purchase of Medtronic’s medical supplies business

In my very best Chris Rock impression, good Lord that’s a lot of money! In all seriousness, though, the sale makes a lot of sense for both parties (as shown by Medtronic’s shares rising after the news got out). The supplies unit sells low-margin, commodity items like syringes and surgical instruments, so Medtronic gets to offload a division it sees as distracting from its core business of “premiere medtech devices”, and Cardinal boosts its catalog of offerings to its customers. Win-win.

Drchrono closes $12mn Series A

I couldn’t help but laugh at TechCrunch’s headline announcing drchrono’s recent funding: “Drchrono raises $12 million in Series A to take on older EHR platforms like athenahealth.” Wasn’t it just yesterday that athenahealth was the new kid on the block out to dethrone “older EHR platforms” like Cerner and Epic? This is no jab against athenahealth, just a reflection on how disruption is the only certainty in our evolving field. We’ve enjoyed working with the folks at drchrono and look forward to what they do with these new resources.

Intermountain Healthcare’s Innovation Fund Invests in Redox

Sorry, couldn’t help but close with a little self-promotion. This is really big news for us and an exciting opportunity for every member of the Redox network. Intermountain is one of the most innovative healthcare organizations on the planet, and the opportunity to work closely with them to commercialize in-house solutions and strategically adopt best-in-breed third-party applications is a big deal. Read more about the deal and what it means moving forward here.

That’s it for now! Check back next Monday for another rundown.

Stay in the know! Subscribe to our newsletter.