The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch
The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch brings healthcare strategy professionals into the room with leading health system executives to explore how innovation, clinical leadership, and enterprise strategy intersect. Designed for strategy executives, physician leaders, and healthcare innovators, the podcast offers actionable takeaways to help organizations drive both clinical and financial impact.
The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch
The Strategist in Brief: October 10, 2024
This episode covers CVS's board conducting a strategic review and considering breaking up the company by separating its profitable insurance business from struggling retail pharmacy operations, potentially spinning off Oak Street with Aetna. The episode also discusses Mount Sinai's partnership with Noom's weight loss app for patient referrals, Dana-Farber's new pediatric cancer consortium focused on health equity interventions, FDA ending the shortage designation for Eli Lilly's GLP-1 drug which restricts compounding pharmacies, and a CMS study showing hospital-at-home programs were safe with lower mortality but higher readmissions.
This is the audio version of the strategist and brief. For October 10th, 20, 24. We're testing this new format to give our readers. More options for consuming our research. If you have feedback, feel free. Free to reach out to us over email@strategycatalystathmacademy.com. CVS is board of directors is conducting. A strategic review of the company and considering a potential breakup. One possibly. Possibility is that the company will separate it's more profitable insurance business. From its struggling retail pharmacy segment. Oak street could be spun off with Aetna. Ana and CVS could seek to sell part of its stake in the primary care business to a PE. PE partner as it seeks capital for scale. If CVS dismiss. Mantles its full flywheel. Before it pays off, it could be a sign that the retail primary. Care model is fundamentally and workable. It could also just be assigned. That investors aren't willing to wait for growth. That will take several years. Especially given. And headwinds and other business lines. Oak Street's model requires clinics to operate. Operate at least three years before reaching financial sustainability. A timeline. Timeline, which has been lengthened by version 28. Coding changes. United. United health groups, financial success suggest that retail pharmacies aren't. A necessary component of the payvider model. However investors may. I just think CVS isn't capable of executing on the flywheel model. It's not promising that the company is now worth less than the market than. Moving on to our next market scan. Through a new partner. Partnership physicians at Mount Sinai health system will recommend Numis weight loss app. To patients and new, more refer users with complex needs to Mount Sinai expert. Experts. The collaboration could be an effective patient acquisition strategy from. Mount Sinai, given that nuMe spends millions to attract patients in digital channels. And with affiliate links that most health systems don't touch. Similarly. nuMe could benefit by having doctors give the service, their stamp of approval. However. However nuMe service has faced controversy in the past, and it has faced. Thousands of better business bureau complaints. Other health systems considering their. Own partnerships with weight loss, disruptors. Need to carefully consider how an endorsement could affect the record. And now our final market scan. The Dana Farber cancer Institute is launching a new pediatric cancer consortium with. With 12 other health systems and academic medical centers aimed at developing. Evidence-based health equity interventions. The consortium's work focuses. On how to best support economically vulnerable patients with complex care needs, which. Which aligns well with the broader philanthropic goals of many nonprofit health systems. The collaborative science model offers systems. The opportunity to participate. In industry leading research or reducing the overhead involved. It brings an interesting. Here's some other news, you should know the FDA announced. That Eli Lilly's GLP one drug tears, appetite, sodas. As Manjaro and zip bound is no longer facing a shortage. Compounding pharmacies, including disruptors, like hymns will face restrictions. Actions on their ability to produce and dispense the drug. Now that it is commercially available. More broadly, the change could undercut the business model of disruptors. Enters the advertise more convenient or cheaper access to the drugs. Wider access could reduce prices in the long run. It could also allow Dr. Doctors to prescribe patients GLP one drugs that best meet their needs instead of whatever's available. In other news, CMS published. Massive study on the acute hospital care at home initiative, finding that the program. Graham was run safely and that patients and their families liked it. Hospital. Hospital at home patients generally had lower mortality. Although readmissions were higher. For patients with complex conditions. They also had a slightly longer. Average length of stay, but costs were slightly lower overall. Uh, lack of payer enthusiasm, considering the small cost savings. And low participation among economically vulnerable populations could limit. Volumes many health systems have scaled back their efforts due to low demand. That concludes our summary of this week. Strategist edition. Edition. Be sure to check out the full version on the web@hmacademy.com. Thanks.