The retail chain's market value took a $3 billion hit after online competitor Amazon swooped in to close a deal of its own.
As retail giants Walmart and Amazon each devise and execute strategies to sink their teeth into the healthcare sector, an episode Thursday involving online pharmacy PillPack has some asking a simple but pointed question: did Walmart mess up?
Walmart had originally offered just above $700 millionfor the online pharmacy, but the massive retail chain dragged its feet over regulatory concerns, as CNBC reported, citing a person familiar with the deal-making process.
Once its online retail competitor Amazon announced Thursday that it had bought PillPack, Walmart's share prices fell $1.03, from $86.89 when markets closed Wednesday to $85.86 at Thursday's closing bell. With nearly 3 billion shares, that translates to about a $3 billion drop in market value—more than triple the offer it had reportedly been discussing with PillPack.
It's worth noting that Amazon's announcement hit drug stores and distributors hard as well. Walgreens Boot Alliance, CVS Health, Rite Aid, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, and McKessen lost a combined $14.5 billion in market value.
"I think this is a fundamental step for Amazon, to begin to attack the pharmacy industry," said drug supply chain expert Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting, as The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "This is the beginning of the pharmacy industry shakeout. … I think everyone right now is scrambling to figure out what this means for their business model."
PillPack currently has a partnership with pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, which is in the process of being acquired by insurer Cigna, as the Post-Dispatch reported. The contract between PillPack and Express Scripts expires at the end of next month, however, as CNBC reported.
Walmart did not immediately respond Friday morning to a request for comment.
Beyond organized labor, this week's developments could foretell renewed legal battles over controversial healthcare topics, such as the ACA and abortion.
With two documents released on the final day of its term, the Supreme Court shifted the nation's long-term political trajectory to the right this week, likely with significant implications for U.S. healthcare.
The court released its 5–4 decision finding that non-union public employees cannot be compelled to pay agency fees to a union they didn't join, dealing a blow to the left-leaning labor groups that have often been boosters for Democrat-backed causes.
Then Justice Anthony Kennedy—an 81-year-old Reagan appointee long-considered a swing vote on the bench—hand-delivered his retirement letter to President Donald Trump, giving the White House an opportunity to nominate a second conservative justice who could serve for decades to come.
Public-Sector Unions Still Kicking
NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD, said the municipal healthcare system he oversees will not allow the Supreme Court's decision to undermine the system's collaboration with unions.
"We expect labor organizations to continue to remain a force in working together with us to improve care to our patients, build a supportive workplace for our employees and shape our shared vision for a stronger, more resilient public health care system that will serve many more generations of New Yorkers," Katz said in a statement.
As the largest municipal healthcare system in the country, NYC Health + Hospitals filed an amicus brief in January jointly with Los Angeles County's Department of Health Services and the Service Employees International Union, arguing that the Supreme Court should affirm its 1977 precedent to allow public-sector unions to charge non-members agency fees.
"Many healthcare employers in particular have benefitted from partnerships with their employees' unions, and workplaces with collective bargaining have been shown in some circumstances to outperform their non-union counterparts," the brief argued, adding that agency fees are a logical source of stability to such unions.
"We expect labor organizations to continue to remain a force in working together with us to improve care to our patients."
—Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals
Although most states had already implemented so-called "right-to-work" policies prohibiting unions from collecting agency fees from non-member public employees, the nation's 23 collective bargaining states could see an increase in instability among public-sector unions as a result of this week's ruling. Research by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute estimates that the decision could reduce union membership among state and local government employees by 8.2 percentage points, or 726,000 workers—more than a quarter of them in California.
Given the history of these unions advocating for Medicare and Medicaid, a significant drop in membership could translate to a shift in the political consciousness surrounding these and other social programs.
Citing their advocacy track record, union nurses employed by the government called the ruling "an attack on our patients" and accused the plaintiff's backers of trying to steamroll anything in the way of "their profits and authoritarian power."
Conservative-Controlled Court
Disappointment among liberals sank deeper Wednesday when Kennedy's retirement opened the door for Trump to install a conservative majority—one which could reconsider the court's past decisions on controversial healthcare topics, such as abortion or the Affordable Care Act.
Although some Republicans insist the court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide, is a matter of "settled law," the possibility that it could be overturned seems much more feasible after this week's developments, especially since Trump vowed on the campaign trailto appoint Supreme Court justices willing to reverse the 1973 decision.
"We're a long way from Roe being overturned," Sam Baker wrote for Axios on Thursday. "The more immediate likelihood is that limits on the procedure will be upheld, and that red states will seize that opening to push the envelope on more restrictive policies."
All of this comes, of course, as a legal battle over the ACA is festering in a federal courtroom in Texas, where the Department of Justice has declined to defend the constitutionality of key provisions in the Obama-era law's constitutionality.
While that legal battle could make debate over preexisting conditions a major talking point in the run-up to this fall's midterm elections, the developments this week at the Supreme Court could shape public healthcare policy for decades to come.
The DOJ and HHS announced what officials described as a record-breaking enforcement action in a joint press conference.
More than 600 people—including 76 doctors, 23 pharmacists, 19 nurses, and other medical personnel—have been charged in what U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called "the largest healthcare fraud takedown" in history.
Sessions announced the charges Thursday alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and other federal officials in a joint press conference outlining more than $2 billion in alleged fraud, much of it related to the opioid crisis.
"One of the alleged criminals charged today used his position at a recovery center to prescribe controlled substances without a license while the center worked in tandem with other treatment centers to bilk those who were trying to enter recovery," Azar said.
"Beyond the opioid epidemic, a number of other cases involved alleged kickback schemes between providers to take advantage of Medicare beneficiaries. In one case, patient recruiters were allegedly paid an exchange for the referral of fraudulent prescriptions," Azar said.
"The perpetrators really are despicable and greedy people," he added.
Many of the major cases were investigated by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is a joint venture between the DOJ and HHS:
Southern District of Florida: 124 people were charged in connection with more than $337 million in alleged false billings for services, including home health and pharmacy fraud, according to the DOJ.
Central District of California: 33 people were charged in connection with $660 million in alleged fraud, including one case in which an attorney allegedly offered expensive meals and prostitutes to two podiatrists in exchange for prescriptions on pre-printed prescription pads.
Southern District of Texas: 48 people, including a pharmacy chain owner, managing partner, and lead pharmacist, were charged in connection with more than $291 million in alleged fraud.
Eastern District of Michigan: 35 people were charged in connection with $197 million in alleged false claims for medical services that were either unnecessary or never provided.
Northern District of Illinois: 21 people were charged in connection with more than $54 million in allegedly fraudulent billing, including one major case of alleged kickbacks and home health fraud.
Eastern District of New York: 13 people were charged in connection with more than $38 million in allegeldy fraudulent billing, including one case in which an ambulette company allegedly conspired in illegal patient referrals.
Middle District of Florida: 13 people were charged in connection with more than $21 million in allegedly fraudulen tbilling, including one case in which a physician and clinic owner allegedly defrauded Medicare of more than $2.8 million in home healthcare.
Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana and Southern District of Mississippi: 42 people were charged in connection with more than $16 million in allegedly fraudulent billings, including drug diversion and money laundering schemes.
Middle District of Tennessee: 5 people were charged with million-dollar kickback conspiracy at a durable medical equipment company allegedly involving more than $2.5 million in fraudulent Medicare bills.
The officials said Thursday's announcement surpasses the previous record, set last July, when more than 400 defendants were charged. Since then, the HHS Office of Inspector General has issued exclusion notices to 587 doctors, nurses, and other providers as a result of their behavior related to opioid abuse and diversion.
The court ruled 5-4 on Wednesday that non-union public employees cannot be compelled to pay union fees, a decision that could dramatically impact union power.
In a major decision Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its own longstanding precedent and ruled that public-sector unions cannot compel non-union workers to pay agency fees.
The court's 5-4 majority found that requiring such payments violates the First Amendment rights of public employees who may object to a union's political views or advocacy.
The decision is likely to have a significant and far-reaching impact on the political power unions wield, potentially cutting off a significant amount of funding for organizations that typically support Democratic candidates for public office, as The Wall Street Journal reported.
Bonnie Castillo, RN, executive director of the National Nurses United union, said in a statement Wednesday that those who pushed this lawsuit to the high court have an agenda to remove any and all regulations "that they see as an impediment to their profits and authoritarian power."
In the same statement, public-union nurses argued Wednesday's decision could undermine patient safety and access to healthcare:
Martese Chism, a nurse at John H. Stroger Hospital in Chicago: "Budget cuts frequently threaten to close services that the community desperately needs. … When the system threatened to close pediatric services at Stroger, we came together with other public sector unions at County and fought to keep pediatrics open."
Kimberly Amini, RN, a public health nurse in San Bernardino County, California: "With our communities facing a serious opioid crisis, and public health emergencies, patients count on us to act on their behalf when care conditions are eroded, when staffing is unsafe, when decisions are based on budget goals, not patient need. That's what this ruling threatens."
Maureen Dugan, RN, who works at the University of California San Francisco: "It's the union that brings many safety laws in legislation and public regulatory protections. … The attack on our union is an attack on our patients."
One of the reasons why this case is so significant is the fact that more than one-third of government workersare unionized, while less than 7% of the private workforce is in a union, as NPR reported.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—the union to which the plaintiff in this case, Mark Janus, would have been required to pay the fees—conducted a survey and found that 15% of employees would stop paying if the fees were no longer mandatory, as NPR reported.
With backing from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Janus successfully argued that his $45-monthly fee to AFSCME was unconstitutional. There's little difference, Janus reasoned, between requiring that payment and requiring employees to fund political lobbying groups, as CNBC reported.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito affirmed Janus' argument.
"Compelling individuals to mouth support for views they find objectionable violates that cardinal constitutional command, and in most contexts, any such effort would be universally condemned," Alito wrote.
The rationale behind the decision does not immediately pose a threat to unions in the private sector, where businesses have more latitude to impose conditions of employment that may compel or prohibit speech, as the Journal reported.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the decision applies to "agency fees" paid by non-members, not to "membership dues."
The federal agency listed eight 'new or enhanced' program integrity initiatives after a senator's report alleged billions in improper payments.
While touting the need for partnership between states and the federal government, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday that it will carry out a slate of strategies to keep state Medicaid programs from overspending.
The plan calls for eight "new or enhanced" initiatives—including audits targeting certain state programs and certain known vulnerabilities—on top of 10 initiatives already underway, according to the CMS announcement. The stated aim is to promote transparency and accountability.
"As we give states the flexibility they need to make Medicaid work best in their communities, integrity and oversight must be at the forefront of our role," CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement.
"Beneficiaries depend on Medicaid and CMS is accountable for the program's long-term viability," Verma added. "As today's initiatives show, we will use the tools we have to hold states accountable as we work with them to keep Medicaid sound and safeguarded for beneficiaries."
Medicaid spending has risen more than 26% in recent years, from $456 billion in 2013 to $576 billion in 2016, according to the CMS announcement. That uptick includes spending that resulted from states expanding their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act.
The federal government has covered most of that increase, with its share rising 38%, from $263 billion to $363 billion, over the same three-year period.
Preventing Waste?
Tuesday's announcement comes less than a week after U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, released a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report, saying Medicaid "doles out $37 billion a year of improper payments," an increase of 157% since 2013. But some see the report's conclusions as flawed.
Matt Salo, executive director for the National Association of Medicaid Directors, told HealthLeaders Media in an email that CMS seems to be "broadly repudiating the wild accusations found in that report." While constant vigilance is indispensable, there's no reason to believe Medicaid waste, fraud, or abuse has increased dramatically in recent years, he said.
Complying with federal regulations and submitting to federal financial audits should be and always has been part of "the package deal" that comes with a jointly run state-federal program such as Medicaid, he added.
Even so, the items CMS targets for auditing may not be as simple as they seem on the surface.
"A lot of the issues that they raise are legitimately complex issues," Salo said.
8 Initiatives
The eight new or updated items on the CMS to-do list for promoting transparency and accountability in the Medicaid program, according to a fact sheet released Tuesday, include the following:
Targeted audits of certain state MCOs: Officials with CMS will review financial reports from managed care organizations for some states to ensure they match actual claims experience. The CMS fact sheet included a nod to the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) as a risk-mitigation strategy. (It's important to remember, Salo said, that MLRs have proven especially "tricky" for health plans seeking to address social determinants of health. "If a plan pays for housing for the homeless or nutritious meals for diabetics, those things aren't admin or profit or overhead, but they're not medical either," he said.)
New audits of beneficiary eligibility: States that have previously had their Medicaid beneficiary eligibility reviewed by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General will have their determinations reviewed by CMS. "These audits will include assessment of the impact of changes to state eligibility policy as a result of Medicaid expansion; for example, we will review whether beneficiaries were found eligible for the correct Medicaid eligibility category," the CMS fact sheet states.
Claims and provider data optimization: In the coming months, CMS will validate the quality and completeness of state-provided data in the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (TMSIS). The goal is to use data analytics and other techniques to improve data quality as a means to ensure program integrity by flagging potential problems that require further investigation.
Data analytics pilots: In addition to running analytics on state-provided data, CMS will help states themselves use data analytics to identify areas that need additional investigation.
Provider screening on an opt-in basis: The federal agency will pilot a plan to screen Medicaid providers on behalf of states. "Centralizing this process will improve efficiency and coordination across Medicare and Medicaid, reduce state and provider burden, and address one of the biggest sources of error as measured by the Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) program today," the fact sheet states.
State-federal data sharing and collaboration: CMS is giving states access to the Social Security Administration's master file of death records to help with managing provider enrollment. The federal agency plans to pursue similar data-sharing collaborations with the states.
Publicly report state performance: The Medicaid scorecard was released to show how well states perform on certain measures pertaining to their Medicaid programs. In the future, CMS says, this scorecard will include the state's "integrity performance measures," such as PERM. (Salo said he has concerns about using PERM to create disallowances because it's "a flawed process metric and an even more poorly correlated indicator of actual waste, fraud, and abuse.")
Provider education to reduce improper payments: In an effort to reduce incorrect billing, CMS will bolster education efforts for Medicaid providers. This will include education targeting comparative billing reports and provider-facing tools currently in development.
Reactions to this week's news that the Boston-based surgeon, professor, and journalist was selected to lead the highly anticipated venture have been largely positive. Now the work begins.
After months of anticipation and speculation surrounding an ambitious, albeit vague, healthcare initiative backed by Amazon and its deep-pocketed partners, the news this week that Atul Gawande will serve as the venture's chief executive officer received a largely optimistic reaction.
As a practicing surgeon, Harvard professor, and journalist who has authored four bestselling books, Gawande is a recognized thought leader in identifying solutions to the U.S. healthcare system's problems. Expectations are high. The question now is whether Gawande will be able to turn thought into action and action into results.
"The proof is in the pudding," says Rod Hochman, MD, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health in Renton, Washington, encouraging his fellow healthcare leaders to proceed with a healthy dose of skepticism in the face of Amazon's partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase.
"I applaud the vision, but now you've got to produce results, demonstrate how you're going to do that," Hochman tells HealthLeaders Media.
Gawande will be one of many CEOs pursuing innovative strategies with the potential to transform the healthcare market, so this Amazon-backed undertaking is significant but not the only show worth watching, Hochman says. It should be considered alongside model-shifting moves by trailblazing health systems, the government, and private companies like Optum, CVS Health, and Aetna, he adds.
Gawande hasn't yet had the opportunity to demonstrably improve healthcare for Amazon employees. But his boosters contend that he has already demonstrated success, not only in compelling scholarship but in hands-on improvements as well.
"Atul is a person who's used to working at very large scale with major partners," says Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, president emeritus and senior fellow with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
As evidence, Berwick points to practical improvements in surgical safety Gawande has made through major projects in the U.S. and abroad touting lessons from his book The Checklist Manifesto. Gawande's work with the South Carolina Hospital Association, for example, has been credited with a 20% reduction in post-surgical deaths.
What's more, Gawande's founding of Ariadne Labs at Brigham & Women's Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—a project for which Berwick serves as an adviser—demonstrates that Gawande has the skills his new job will demand, Berwick says.
"Now it's a multimillion-dollar enterprise with projects in countries all over the world affecting literally millions of lives, so he's somebody who has built a large organization from scratch," Berwick says, "and I think that testifies to his managerial capabilities."
Healthcare stocks took a hit when Amazon and its partners announced their intentions in January, but the market response was more muted this week.
Even so, Gawande's selection sent a very clear message to the rest of the industry, says Rich Roth, chief strategic innovation officer at San Francisco–based Dignity Health.
"I think that it sent a strong signal that this effort is going to be broader than just those three organizations," Roth says.
"Here you have three business entities picking a CEO who has a distinguished career leading on the human side of healthcare, someone who focuses on public health, on publishing, on putting humanity first," he says.
Roth advises his fellow healthcare executives to respond to this signal by joining the push toward value-based care rather than waiting to be disrupted.
While remaining skeptical of how big Gawande's impact could in reality become, Hochman says it's clear the new CEO has a tremendous ability to synthesize information and communicate it in a way that people understand.
"I think it's an interesting choice," Hochman adds. "I think it just depends what he does next."
Gawande's first official day as CEO of the unnamed Boston-based entity is July 9.
The town-owned hospital's top executive resigned suddenly this week as the facility's leaders have been looking to privatize or partner with another facility.
An interim chief executive officer took over Massena Memorial Hospital in upstate New York on Thursday after the sudden resignation of her predecessor.
Ann Gilpin was hired to replace former CEO Robert G. Wolleben, who tendered his immediate resignation on Monday, as the Watertown Daily Times reported.
Officials who oversee the town-owned hospital say plans to transfer the municipal facility to private owners, or partner with another organization, will move forward without Wolleben.
"We will continue to stay on course to privatize the hospital, preserve jobs and continue to have this hospital serve the residents of Massena," Town Supervisor Steven D. O'Shaughnessy said in a statement earlier this week, as the Daily Times reported.
"We were incredibly fortunate to find Ann on short notice and are thrilled we have the opportunity to work with her as the interim superintendent," O'Shaughnessy added.
O’Shaughnessy reportedly said town officials met with Wolleben behind closed doors on Monday because Wolleben had "indicated a desire to resign." The Daily Times reported that the stated rationale for the closed-door meeting appeared to be insufficientunder New York's Open Meetings Law.
Gilpin—who served previously as president and CEO of Jones Memorial Hospital in Wellsville, New York, then Oswego Health System in Oswego, New York—is expected to work just two months in her interim capacity at Massena Memorial.
The town and hospital have been in discussions with a number of other healthcare organizations, including Canton-Potsdam Hospital in Potsdam, New York, about a possible affiliation agreement, as NorthCountry Now 1 reported.
The system contracted an outside staffing firm to begin running the emergency department in the Bismarck area next month.
After its emergency physicians rejected a contract offer this month, CHI St. Alexius Health found an outside staffing agency to run its emergency department in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The outside firm, HealthSource, agreed to the terms of a contract the system had offered to its own physicians on June 11, and it will begin staffing the department on July 1, according to a statement released Thursday by a CHI St. Alexius Health spokesperson.
"We reached this decision after weeks of efforts at compromise and to come to terms on a new contract with our current Emergency Department of approximately nine physicians," the system said in the statement. "Regrettably, we were not able to reach a new agreement with our ED physicians."
The system said HealthSource will contact the current team of emergency physicians over the next two days to discuss how the department's work will continue. The facility remains open and operational.
"While we were not able to achieve a new contract with our current Emergency Department physicians, we hope that each member will consider continuing to work at CHI St. Alexius Health through HealthSource," the statement added.
A local Fox affiliate station attributed the statement to CHI St. Alexius Health President Kurt R. Schley.
Long-Term Tension
This flare-up is far from the first between CHI. St. Alexius Health and its physicians. A long-running dispute over how the organization should be managed has made a number of headlines recently.
Charles Allen, DO, FACOEP, FACEP, an emergency physician who had been serving as president of the medical executive committee before its members resigned in protest, told HealthLeaders Media in an email before Thursday's announcement that the physicians in Bismarck have been frustrated and misled repeatedly since Catholic Health Initiatives acquired their facility nearly four years ago.
Allen took issue with the way CHI Interim Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Jones addressed physicians and their concerns earlier this month, alleging that Jones had accused the physicians of being "arrogant" in their interactions with leadership.
The system spokesperson declined Thursday to comment beyond the statement.
What Physicians Want
Allen listed five things that the providers want:
A clear vision: The providers want to know what CHI plans both in the short and long term. "What services do they plan to cut and what do they plan to build on[?]" Allen wrote.
Transparent decision-making: "There is no trust because of the multiple broken promises," Allen wrote.
Quality and safety: Patients, physicians, and nurses are dissatisfied and concerned about the risk for sentinel events, Allen wrote, citing recent surveys.
Better engagement: Allen described his fellow physicians as "loyal" and eager to solve problems. "There has been no willingness to truly involve physicians with the issues with authority or the checkbook," he said.
Commitment to ministry: "Providers believe in the ministry that established this organization[:] 'Let all be received as Christ,'" Allen wrote. "Fargo leadership does not treat people like people."
The bottom line, as Allen sees it, is that physicians sense they are being managed with a cold hand from afar rather than being invited into the operation as collaborative problem-solvers.
"I truly believe if administration comes to medical staff with a clear vision, asking for help and truly engaging them you will find physicians that will volunteer endless hours to provide an environment they feel proud of," Allen wrote. "To tell them they are arrogant, can be replace[d] with locums does not do it."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to note that the CHI St. Alexius Health spokesperson declined to answer follow-up questions.
The companies' pick says he's 'thrilled' to be taking the helm of this initiative and looking forward to his continued work on 'scalable solutions.'
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced Wednesday morning that Dr. Atul Gawande will lead the companies' highly anticipated joint healthcare initiative as its chief executive officer.
Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a Harvard professor. He is also a journalist who has written four books on the New York Times bestseller list and whose work has appeared in The New Yorker.
"I'm thrilled to be named CEO of this healthcare initiative," Gawande said in a statement. "I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better healthcare delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering, and eliminating wasteful spending both in the US and across the world. Now I have the backing of these remarkable organizations to pursue this mission with even greater impact for more than a million people, and in doing so incubate better models of care for all."
"This work will take time but must be done. The system is broken, and better is possible," Gawande added.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said Gawande has what it takes to tackle the particularly challenging task of solving healthcare's most vexing problems for employees.
"We said at the outset that the degree of difficulty is high and success is going to require an expert’s knowledge, a beginner’s mind, and a long-term orientation," Bezos said in the statement. "Atul embodies all three, and we’re starting strong as we move forward in this challenging and worthwhile endeavor."
Headquartered in Boston: Gawande won't have a long commute to his new position. The companies said their healthcare initiative, which will be free from profit-making motivations and limitations, will be headquartered in Boston.
Job begins next month: Gawande's official start date as CEO is less than three weeks away: July 9.
Switching roles at innovation lab: In 2012, Gawande and a team founded Ariadne Labs, an innovation center that works with U.S. health systems and international organizations to improve healthcare delivery. He will transition from its executive director to chairman when his successor is selected.
Still a surgeon and professor: In addition to practicing general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Gawande is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. A hospital spokesperson tells HealthLeaders Media that Gawande will retain his posts as both a practicing surgeon and professor.
Well-wishes from Brigham Health: "I am thrilled for Atul and the support of the visionary leaders of these organizations, as this role will allow him to accelerate what has been his life’s work—building scalable solutions to improve health around the globe—and will amplify his voice exponentially," said Brigham Health President Betsy Nabel, MD, in a statement.
A pool of qualified candidates: "Talent and dedication were manifest among the many professionals we interviewed. All felt that better care can be delivered and that rising costs can be checked," said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO, Warren Buffett. "Jamie, Jeff and I are confident that we have found in Atul the leader who will get this important job done."
Amid all the talk of Gawande's qualifications, JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon offered a reminder of the overarching objective.
"As employers and as leaders, addressing healthcare is one of the most important things we can do for our employees and their families, as well as for the communities where we all work and live," Dimon said in a statement. "Together, we have the talent and resources to make things better, and it is our responsibility to do so. We’re so grateful for the countless statements of support and offers to help and participate, and we’re so fortunate to have attracted such an extraordinary leader and innovator as Atul."
The insurer aims to serve more patients outside the hospital setting.
Indianapolis-based insurer Anthem Inc. announced Monday that it has completed its acquisition of community-based palliative care provider Aspire Health.
The deal, which was announced less than a month ago, had been expected to close by the end of the third quarter. But the Federal Trade Commission closed its case early, announcing this month that it would not challenge the proposal.
"With the addition of Aspire, we are able to expand our capabilities and serve a broader set of consumers in the home and other settings outside of the hospital, while further deepening our relationships within the healthcare community," Anthem President and CEO Gail K. Boudreaux said in a statement.
"The addition of Aspire to Anthem’s other clinical care services, such as CareMore and AIM, will provide tremendous benefit to our consumers, customers, health plan and provider partners as well as future growth opportunities for our company," Boudreaux added.
Financial terms not disclosed: Anthem didn't say what it paid for Aspire, but it did say the transaction is expected to be earnings-neutral this year and add to earnings in 2019.
Organizational structure: Aspire will operate as a wholly owned Anthem subsidiary, with its associates joining Anthem's Diversified Business Group, the insurer said.
Part of a trend: In striking this deal, Anthem is following some of its competitors. Humana, for instance, has joined with other investors to buy Kindred Healthcare and private hospice operator Curo Health Services, as the Louisville Courier-Journal reported in April.
The deal comes as Anthem invests $20 million into its new Indianapolis headquarters, as Inside Indiana Business reported.
