About health insurance/insurers
Cigna not pursuing Humana merger “Cigna directly confirmed that it is not pursuing a merger with Humana.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Half of US hospitals have enough IV fluids for 2 weeks “Three-fourths of respondents said Baxter is their facility's main supplier of large-volume fluids. The most common mitigation strategies included converting infused medications to injection or intramuscular administration (71% of respondents), rationing fluids for specific clinical indications (60%) and implementing oral hydration protocols (58%).”
Kaiser Permanente posts $608M operating loss in Q3 “The system said that it continues to experience ‘increased medical expenses due to higher-than-expected utilization of services, patient acuity and pharmacy costs.’ Kaiser also said that its third-quarter performance also included the ‘impact of Medicaid and other true-ups of annual contracts that normally occur earlier in the year.’”
About pharma
Drug at centre of AbbVie's $8.7B deal for Cerevel fails in key schizophrenia studies “The crown jewel in AbbVie's $8.7-billion acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics failed to live up to expectations in a pair of Phase II studies for schizophrenia, putting the future of the selective M4 muscarinic modulator, dubbed emraclidine, in doubt.”
About the public’s health
RFK Jr. wants to change vaccine practices. Trump may empower him to do it. A good review of the issues.
About healthcare finance
Astrana Health to acquire part of Prospect Health for $745M “Astrana will acquire Prospect Health Plan, Prospect Medical Groups, Prospect Medical Systems, RightRx and Tustin, Calif.-based Foothill Regional Medical Center under the agreement, according to a Nov. 8 news release.”
Cencora to buy Retina Consultants of America in $4.6B deal to expand specialty services “Drug distributor Cencora plans to buy Retina Consultants of America from Webster Equity Partners in a $4.6 billion deal.
RCA is a management services organization that operates a network of retina specialists, and the deal will bolster Cencora's specialty drug business.”