#22 • A Healthy Dose of Healthcare News • March 19, 2021
Last week, I flagged Amazon’s quiet expansion to 21 states (AHDoHN #21.9.). This week, the news of Amazon’s announcement to that effect made headlines. This could disrupt the way healthcare is delivered, especially since Amazon plans on expanding to all 50 states starting this summer.
In this edition, you will read about #22.1. Amazon Care’s expansion, #22.2. HHS Secretary confirmed, #22.3. the US shipping vaccines to Mexico and Canada, #22. 4. a big telehealth merger, #22.5. non-MDs administering the vaccine, and #22. 6. health startup owners’ indictment on fraud charges.
#22.1. TECH: Amazon will expand its Amazon Care on-demand healthcare offering US-wide this summer (Tech Crunch)
Amazon Care includes both virtual, on-demand services (text and video via an app) and in-person services (i.e. medical provider is dispatched to a person’s home to conduct blood draws and deliver medicine if needed). Up to now, this service has been available to Amazon employees in Washington state. From now on, it will be offered to other Washington-based employers as a workplace benefit. Starting this summer, they’ll scale virtual operations to all 50 states, and they’ll offer in-person services in major cities soon as well. Amazon’s announcement doesn’t say anything about the price of the service, however.
#22.2. HHS: Senate confirms Xavier Becerra as Health and Human Services secretary (CBS News)
With a 50–49 vote (49 Democrats, Sen. Hirono absent, and Sen. Collins (R-ME) joining in favor), California AG Xavier Becerra was confirmed as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He came under fire during the confirmation hearings for his 100+ lawsuits against the Trump administration and his lack of expertise in healthcare. “The most significant health-related experience on the nominee’s record are his efforts to wield the legal system against religious sisters to make them violate their faith and conscience,” stated Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Secretary Becerra will lead an agency that, if it were a country, would have the 14th largest GDP in the world.
#22.3. VACCINE: US To Send 4M Surplus Doses Of AstraZeneca Vaccine To Canada, Mexico (Kaiser Health News)
The AstraZeneca vaccine is not approved for use in the US, but it is in Mexico (as of January) and Canada (as of February). Each country will receive 2.5 million and 1.5 million doses respectively. After that, the US will have 3 million doses left that they may send abroad as well. The news comes at a time of turmoil for the Biden Administration, which is under fire for provoking the wave of individuals crossing the southern border, soon breaking a two-decade record. It also comes on the heels of the FDA Commissioner affirming that there was no risk the doses would expire anytime soon.
#22.4. MERGER: Grand Rounds merges with Doctor On Demand to form multibillion-dollar digital health company (CNBC)
Both companies have tremendously benefitted from the surge in telehealth use since the outset of the pandemic. The companies began talks back then but didn’t get around to pursuing merger plans further until late in 2020. Grand Rounds (valued at $1.34B) helps patients find the right doctor for their medical needs and functions as a workplace benefit. Doctor on Demand (valued at $820–875M), one of the leading telehealth companies in the nation, connects patients to healthcare providers via their phone or laptop. Once merged, the company will retain the Grand Rounds name.
#22.5. VACCINE DISTRIBUTION: Dentists, veterinarians and med students authorized to administer Covid shots as Biden expands vaccine program (CNBC)
HHS is tapping into the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005 to allow dentists, physician assistants, veterinarians, EMTs, midwives, optometrists, paramedics, and medical and other healthcare students to administer the COVID vaccine. Now, states have to authorize such relaxations for the aforementioned professionals and students to be able to take action.
#22.6. FRAUD: SEC charges uBiome co-founders with $60M securities fraud (MedCityNews)
The San Francisco-based startup specialized in microbiome testing. They began with a direct-to-consumer model, much like 23 & Me, and went on to work with physician practices and conducted tests to detect illnesses like Crohn’s disease. It was that second phase of expansion that went awry: they billed patients multiple times for each test and ordered unnecessary tests, leading to inflated revenues. They would then give insurers redacted medical records. In addition to the $60 million The two cofounders, Jessica Richman, 36, and Zachary Apte, 46, were also indicted on over 40 criminal charges each and could be sentenced to several hundred years in prison. Once valued at $600 million, uBiome had filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
The self-promotion minute: The Real Cost of CON Laws: Quality of Care Under Pressure During the Pandemic (Discourse Magazine)
What if you had the education, experience, and motivation to care for home-bound patients in your community… and the government told you you weren’t allowed to do it?
That’s the story of Charles “Butch” Slaughter, a physical therapist in Mississippi. His dreams of opening a home health agency, but he faces two hurdles: a ban on new home health agencies, and a certificate-of-need (CON) requirement on such agencies. I spoke to him and wrote about it with my coauthor at Discourse Magazine.
Previous editions of A Healthy Dose of Healthcare News here.
