I just heard the sad news that healthcare “futurist” Ian Morrison died. He approached healthcare with great wit and insight. Ian liked to say that he went from Scotland where death was imminent, to Canada where death was inevitable, to California where death was optional.
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In other news:
Healthcare lobbying 2025: Here are the top policy issues for hospitals, payers, docs and tech FYI
About health insurance/insurers
CVS Health posts $4.6B profit in 2024 “Net income was $4.6 billion in 2024, down from $8.4 billion in 2023. Fourth quarter net income was $1.6 billion, down from $2 billion during the same period last year. Total revenues in 2024 were $130.7 billion, up 23.7% year over year. Total revenues in the fourth quarter were $33 billion.”
About pharma
AbbVie inks another billion-dollar oncology deal “Under the terms, which include an option to license, AbbVie will pay $52 million up-front to Waltham, Mass.-based Xilio Therapeutics and as much as $2.1 billion in total payments for option-related fees and royalties, the North Chicago drugmaker said in a press release this morning.”
DNA sequencing shares slide amid 'headwinds' from Trump's NIH funding cuts “After the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced late Friday that it would be following a Trump administration directive to cut the cost of medical research grants, major makers of DNA sequencing and cell analysis hardware saw their stock prices take a hit.”
Walgreens ordered to pay $987M in COVID-19 testing dispute “A federal judge ruled that Walgreens must pay $987 million to the virtual care company PWNHealth, upholding an arbitration award following a breach-of-contract dispute.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Walgreens partnered with PWNHealth to facilitate physician-ordered COVID-19 tests for customers. However, when regulations shifted, Walgreens allegedly began to use its own pharmacists to order tests through the same system without consulting with PWNHealth, according to court documents obtained by Becker's.”
About the public’s health
Kaiser Permanente, Tufts University launch food as medicine network with half-dozen partners “The institute is housed at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. The network’s other founding members comprise Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, CVS Health, Devoted Health, Elevance Health, Geisinger and Highmark Health.
The Food is Medicine National Network of Excellence will focus on integrating nutritional interventions with existing treatment models and use research and training to enhance patient care and education. It will also aim to raise the rates of patient buy-in and participation. Members will develop frameworks to assess the impact of food as medicine interventions, and they will advocate for the movement with policymakers and the public.”
About healthcare IT
Apple broadens research ambitions, unveils large-scale study into physical, mental health “The tech company is now broadening its health research ambitions to use its devices, including iPhones, Apple Watch and AirPods along with third-party devices, for a longitudinal, virtual study to monitor changes in participants’ health, spanning a wide range of health and disease areas.
Apple wants to tap into the devices and apps that individuals use everyday to evaluate the connections between physical and mental health as well as social determinants, such as whether someone lives alone or with family, and how all these aspects of health factor into a person's overall well-being.”