Practice Management
It hasn’t been 2 weeks since the first of two healthcare megadeals was announced (CVS buying Aetna, followed closely by UnitedHealth Group announcing it was going to buy DaVita’s medical group), but they’re already being cited as the reason for consolidation in the hospital marketplace. Dignity Health in California and Colorado’s Catholic Health Initiative are expected to team up in a move that would have the combined system controlling some 700 care cites and 139 …
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The line between payers and providers bent even further this week, as UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced plans to buy HealthCare Partners from DaVita Inc. It’s the second major acquisition of its kind for UHC this year; the company paid $2.3 billion for Surgical Care Affiliates just last March. The latest proposed deal came to light just days after CVS Health said it’s buying Aetna. It’s all part of a strategy for health insurers to lower …
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Neither company has confirmed it, but The Wall Street Journal reports that CVS Health has offered to buy Aetna in a deal that could have vast implications in the retail health and insurance marketplaces. The combined company would have much stronger bargaining power when negotiating deals with health systems, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, than either company does alone. For starters, as the WSJ article points out, CVS’s pharmacy benefit management arm would see “a huge …
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Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. have opted not to fight the decision a judge laid down to block their proposed merger based on the presumption that the $34 billion deal would violate antitrust laws. The two companies will continue to operate as separate entities, though the door is still open for either or both to seek other partners. Had the deal gone through, Aetna would have become a kingpin in Medicare Advantage. The implications for …
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division has vowed to look “very, very carefully” at the implications of the proposed merger between Aetna and Humana. At the heart of their consideration will be how less competition among insurers will affect the price and availability of care for consumers. If the deal is ultimately approved by the government, there will be only three large, national insurance providers. A growing number of states are raising concerns about …
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