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Thursday, Sep 26 2019

Full Issue

Health Care Products Planned By Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy All Closely Watched By Marketplace

Amazon's kickoff into telemedicine is already impacting potential competitors. And in moves that could shake up the health care industry in the future, Walmart says it is teaming up with companies to offer discounts to its customers while Best Buy touts a plan to provide health monitoring services for seniors. Other marketplace news covers the ambulatory surgery industry and developments in consumer genetic testing.

Teladoc Health Inc.鈥檚 shares caught a little chill after Amazon.com Inc. announced the start of a virtual healthcare service for its workers in the Seattle area. Shares fell for a second day after the e-commerce company鈥檚 launch of 鈥淎mazon Care,鈥 with Wednesday鈥檚 decline the most intraday in a month. The pilot program is an online primary care clinic that also offers in-home nurse visits and prescription delivery. (Sircar, 9/25)

Walmart鈥檚 Sam鈥檚 Club is teaming up with several health care companies to offer discounts on everyday care its customers might delay or skip because of the cost. Starting early October, Sam鈥檚 Club members in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, will be able to buy one of four bundles of health care services ranging in annual fees from $50 for individuals to $240 for a family of up to six members. The pilot program could potentially be rolled out to members in all the states, says Lori Flees, senior vice president of Sam鈥檚 Club Health and Wellness. (D'Innocenzio and Murphy, 9/26)

The nation鈥檚 largest consumer electronics chain, known for selling TV sets, cellphones and laptops, is looking to health care as a big source of its future growth. Best Buy Co. said Wednesday that in five years it hopes to provide 5 million seniors with health monitoring services, which can range from sensors placed throughout a home to a pendant worn around the neck. It currently provides the service to 1 million. It鈥檚 part of the chain鈥檚 deeper push into the $3.5 trillion U.S. health care market and essential to its goal of reaching $50 billion in annual revenue by 2025. (D'Innocenzio, 9/25)

Business is booming for the ambulatory surgery industry, but traditional device makers are having a hard time tapping into it, according to a new report from Bain & Company. In the desperate race to cut costs out of healthcare, ambulatory surgery centers have emerged as a promising solution. ASCs performed more than half of all outpatient surgeries in 2017, up from 32% in 2005, the report found. Orthopedic, spine and cardio procedure volumes are projected to see the most growth through the mid-2020s. (Bannow, 9/25)

Consumer genetics giant 23andMe announced Thursday that it would move deeper into the business of clinical trial recruitment, partnering with a fast-growing startup to help match its customers with nearby study sites based on their diseases, demographics, and DNA. The Silicon Valley company has for months been quietly making inroads into clinical trial recruitment by emailing customers who鈥檝e opted in with recommendations about studies that might be appropriate for them. It has recruited for studies, both interventional and observational, in disease areas including Alzheimer鈥檚, Parkinson鈥檚, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, eczema, and liver disease, a spokesperson for the company confirmed. (Robbins, 9/26)

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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