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Morning Briefing

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Friday, Aug 10 2018

Full Issue

As Baby Boomers Age, Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Needs Are Skyrocketing

New companies are trying to fill the demand where taking an Uber or Lyft just won't cut it. Many patients opt to skip appointments when they can't find a ride, and those no-shows are costing billions in lost revenue. In other health industry news: Rite Aid has an uncertain future after calling off unpopular merger; the Cigna-Express deal has passions high; and Amazon is considering opening health clinics for its employees.

As America鈥檚 baby boomers are hitting 65 at a rate of 10,000 a day, and healthier lifestyles are keeping them in their homes longer, demand is escalating for a little talked-about 鈥 yet critical 鈥 health care-related job: Transporting people to and from nonemergency medical appointments. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to become a massive phenomena,鈥 said Ken Dychtwald, founder and chief executive of Age Wave, a consulting firm specializing in age-related issues. 鈥淭his is an unmet need that鈥檚 going to be in the tens of millions of people.鈥 (Morrissey, 8/9)

Rite Aid shares plunged Thursday as the company headed into an uncertain future after calling off its merger with the grocer Albertsons. Analysts and retail insiders questioned the drugstore chain's prospects after it ended a planned takeover by Albertsons before Rite Aid shareholders could vote on it. That vote also faced shaky prospects due to opposition from shareholders and influential proxy advisory firms. (Murphy, 8/9)

Rite Aid investors might have to get used to the single life. The drugstore chain and grocer Albertsons announced Wednesday evening that they terminated their planned merger. That marks the second Rite Aid deal in about a year to fall through: Walgreens Boots Alliance had planned to buy Rite Aid last summer before regulatory concerns forced a much less ambitious asset sale. (Grant, 8/9)

Activist investor Carl Icahn鈥檚 push to derail Cigna Corp.鈥檚 proposed $54 billion takeover of pharmacy-benefits firm Express Scripts Holding Co. isn鈥檛 convincing one big shareholder. Glenview Capital Management LLC publicly backed the deal on Thursday in a letter to Cigna shareholders, urging other investors to do the same, saying the company is actually paying a cheap price for Express Scripts compared with similar takeovers in the past. That rebuts Icahn鈥檚 statements that the health insurer is 鈥渄ramatically overpaying鈥 for a company facing existential threats. (Darie and Deveau, 8/9)

Amazon is weighing opening primary care clinics to treat employees at its Seattle headquarters, CNBC reported聽 Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter. A preliminary plan, CNBC reported, calls for the retail and technology giant to open a pilot clinic later this year staffed by a small number of doctors, and to expand it to more employees in early 2019. (Day, 8/9)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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