NurOwn, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics’ experimental stem cell therapy for ALS, did not win the backing of an independent panel of FDA advisors. Many advisory committee members said they want to see more data from another clinical trial, the same guidance the FDA has given the biotech for nearly three years.

As a combined entity, Virgin Pulse and HealthComp will serve more than 1,000 self-insured employers and more than 20 million members. New Mountain Capital will be the majority owner.

Evvy’s $14 million funding round was led by Left Lane Capital and included participation from General Catalyst, LabCorp Venture Fund, RH Capital, Ingeborg Investments, G9 Ventures, Virtue and Amboy Street Ventures. In total, Evvy has raised $19 million. 

Transcarent announced a new provider network, which seeks to help its employer customers provide their staff with access to high-quality, affordable care. The network includes 10 health systems — including Mount Sinai, Mass General Brigham and Intermountain Health.

Cartwheel, a startup that partners with school districts to provide virtual mental health services, raised $20 million in Series A funds. The company is working with about 50 school districts and charter school networks across Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ olezarsen has Phase 3 results showing the therapy handily beat a placebo at reducing fat levels in the blood due to a rare, inherited metabolic disorder with no FDA-approved drugs. Ionis plans early 2024 submissions for what could become the first medicine it commercializes without a partner.

The average monthly plan premium for Medicare Advantage is expected to increase only slightly in 2024 from 2023, CMS said. About 73% of beneficiaries will see no increase at all.

Costco is partnering with Sesame to offer Costco Members discounted pricing on virtual health services, including primary care and mental health. But the move is a little different from other retailers like CVS Health and Walgreens.

Intercept Pharmaceuticals’ acquisition by Alfasigma comes three months after the FDA again rejected the biotech’s drug as a treatment for the fatty liver disease NASH. But Intercept still has rare liver disease assets, and Italy-based Alfasigma says acquiring the company will help it expand in gastroenterology and hepatology.

The advancement of value-based care cannot and should not exist solely in a payvider model, Intermountain Health CEO Rob Allen argued in an interview last week. Having its own health plan made things “a little easier” when Intermountain began getting serious about at-risk contracts, but achieving success in value-based care “is more about your commitment to the approach” and forging strong relationships with payers of all types.

Rich Horgan believes that there’s an alternative path to drug development that can lower costs and the time it takes to bring drugs to market. He is trying to apply it to the field of rare and ultra-rare diseases.

Digital therapeutics will be one of the topics discussed at INVEST Digital Health scheduled for October 26 at Health Wildcatters headquarters in Pegasus Park in Dallas. Register today!

A new study found that MA beneficiaries have more than 50% fewer inpatient stays and 22% fewer emergency department visits than traditional Medicare enrollees.

Novo Nordisk is paying Valo Health $60 million up front to gain three preclinical cardiovascular disease programs. Milestone payments for those programs and others covered under the artificial intelligence drug discovery pact could reach up to $2.7 billion.

The Supreme Court’s recent summer decision in Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, Indiana, et al. v. Talevski has raised the stakes for nursing homes by ruling that private litigants may bring civil claims against facilities to recover damages for violations of certain provisions of the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act (FNHRA). This decision provides powerful incentives for nursing homes and other facilities subject to the FNHRA to enhance their monitoring and compliance processes.

Issues around healthcare affordability, mental health challenges and worsening chronic conditions are all top of mind for Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health.

Scynexis said no adverse events or contamination problems have been reported for Brexafemme, an antifungal approved for treating vaginal yeast infections. The biotech said the risk of cross-contamination stems from the processes of the small molecule’s third-party manufacturer.

Although employee stress and burnout are critical issues in all industries, the healthcare industry offers numerous examples of the impact on staff as well as ways to provide short and long-term solutions. These topics will be part of the discussion at the HLTH event October 8-11 in Las Vegas. Register today to join the conversation!

As value-based care models take hold, the time is ripe for rehab therapists to position themselves as primary players in the movement toward delivering optimal quality and value in the broader healthcare ecosystem.

Syntax Bio’s technology platform uses CRISPR to direct stem cells to become a desired cell type in a process that’s more scalable and less expensive than current methods. The startup is raising a Series A round of financing to further demonstrate the potential of its technology.

Zocdoc launched a new suite of tools to compete with the solutions sold by Phreesia, NexHealth and Solutionreach. The product suite, which is free for any provider to use, includes tools to streamline the patient intake process, facilitate online scheduling and enable video visits.

There are concerns that Medicare Advantage TV ads are misleading patients. A new KFF analysis of Medicare Advantage TV ads found that the ads often rely on celebrity endorsements and suggest that seniors are missing out on benefits that they’re entitled to.

Providers, administrators, health insurers and other healthcare-access gatekeepers can learn, train, change policies and remove barriers facing vulnerable groups so they can receive the long-overdue opportunity to pursue their best health and well-being.

The next generation of senior living searchers are markedly different from their predecessors, and they will challenge us to work together to reshape their search experience.

San Diego-based Equip, which was founded in 2019, previously focused on those ages 6 to 24. The startup is now expanding to serve people of all ages, it announced Tuesday.

In order for health systems to “not be commoditized fully,” they need to collect data to know their patients’ behaviors better and build stronger relationships with them, argued Sara Vaezy, Providence’s chief strategy and digital officer. Consumer brands like Amazon have been doing this for years so they can deliver personalized experiences to their users, and it’s time hospitals take a page out of their playbook, she said.

Standard newborn screening can detect dozens of inherited diseases, but genomics technology enables testing for hundreds of them. A North Carolina program evaluating the feasibility of bringing genomics to newborn screening is expanding with an initial goal of testing 5,000 babies in the next year.

Thirty states have been conducting Medicaid and CHIP automatic renewals incorrectly, leading to many individuals being wrongly removed from coverage. Because of this, nearly 500,000 children and other individuals will have their coverage reinstated.

This article explores the benefits of implementing RFID in healthcare settings and how hospitals can gradually transition from barcode to RFID-enabled medication systems, leading to substantial cost savings and improved patient care.

Seven months after Travere Therapeutics’ flagship drug received accelerated FDA approval in a rare kidney disease, the molecule has fallen short of the key goal of its confirmatory test. It’s the small molecule’s second Phase 3 failure this year.