On August 24, 2022, Amazon announced its plans to shut down Amazon Care at the end of 2022. The e-commerce giant determined that Amazon Care, a medical care service it uses internally and sells to employer health plans, was not the “right long-term solution for [Amazon’s] enterprise customers” because it is not a “complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers [Amazon has] been targeting.” This Health Capital Topics article will discuss the history of Amazon Care and what this move may mean for Amazon’s larger healthcare efforts. (Read more...)

On August 16, 2022, one week after Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), President Joseph Biden signed the bill into law. The broad bill, which covers healthcare, taxes, and climate change, had been passed around Congress in assorted versions with varying support for months, but under the specter of a record 40-year-high inflation rate, congressional Democrats ultimately came together to pass the IRA; no Republicans voted for the bill. The IRA aims, among other things, to fight against ever-increasing healthcare costs, by lowering prescription drug prices and extending federal health insurance subsidies. (Read more...)

On August 15, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a policy paper and fact sheet regarding the use of Certificates of Public Advantage laws (COPAs) by states in regulating healthcare mergers. Specifically, the FTC asserts that COPAs can negatively impact healthcare costs, quality of care, and hospital staff wages. This Health Capital Topics article will discuss the policy paper and how this publication appears to fit in with the FTC’s recent moves to increase competition in healthcare. (Read more...) 

The U.S. government is the largest payor of medical costs, through Medicare and Medicaid, and has a strong influence on physician reimbursement. In 2020, Medicare and Medicaid accounted for an estimated $829.5 billion and $671.2 billion in healthcare spending, respectively. The prevalence of these public payors in the healthcare marketplace often results in their acting as a price setter, and being used as a benchmark for private reimbursement rates. (Read more...) 
NEW ARTICLE
"Study: Vertical Integration Not Financially Beneficial for Physicians" authored by HCC President, Todd A. Zigrang, MBA, MHA, FACHE, CVA, ASA, and, HCC Vice President and General Counsel, Jessica Bailey-Wheaton, Esq., was published by the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society in the April/May 2022 issue of St. Louis Metropolitan Medicine.

For more recently published material written by HCC, please visit www.healthcapital.com



IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
On March 29, 2022, HCC President, Todd A. Zigrang, MBA, MHA, FACHE, CVA, ASA, co-presented along side Khaled John Klele, Esq. of Riker Danzig, during the BRI Network 2022 Urgent Care Centers Conference. The presentation covered "Due Diligence Issues for Buyers and Sellers of Urgent Care Centers". Be sure to download the entire slide deck of the presentation below.

For more information on the valuation of urgent care centers, including HCC's experience and services related to these enterprises, please email us at [email protected] or call us at (800) FYI-VALU