0:00

This is the strategist in brief for June 5th, 2025. HHS released the MAHA report laying out the administration's stance on the state of children's health and the purported drivers of pediatric chronic diseases. The report blames a long-term rise in childhood, chronic illness and neurodevelopmental disorders on poor diets and environmental exposures to chemicals. It also highlights a crisis in youth behavioral health. And raises concerns about Overmedicalization and Overdiagnosis. While the report doesn't recommend specific policy interventions, it clearly lays the groundwork for a sweeping multi-agency agenda on children's health that could shape federal priorities for the next four years. Health systems can shape the narrative on childhood health and prevention by taking the lead on addressing upstream drivers like nutrition and behavioral health. Declining trust in vaccines could have health consequences and an impact on health system and provider reputations. The MAHA agenda could shape future CMS payment models, especially for Medicare, Medicaid dual eligible patients, but this is largely speculative for now. And another piece of news Best Buy reported a$109 million charge linked to the restructuring of its health business. Just months after reporting a$475 million impairment charge for the same segment. The retailer struggles appeared to be linked to its home health and hospital at home efforts. The company has been highly dependent on health system partnerships to gain a foothold in the hospital at home market, but eventually saw diminishing growth amid uncertainty over the federal waiver. From the perspective of Health Systems Best Buys retreat highlights the limits of a tech enable and support model. When it isn't paired with deeper clinical or financial integration. In other news, the departments of Labor HHS and Treasury released new price transparency guidance for healthcare organizations. As part of that push, CMS will now require hospitals to list actual prices of items and services instead of estimates. We don't expect consumers themselves to dive into hospital price data spreadsheet. But the data could be invaluable for commercial insurance Navigator services like Garner and Schist. If the administration's efforts gain traction systems with higher negotiated rates or opaque pricing structures may find themselves exposed reputationally. And now our final piece of news. Talkspace has partnered with Amazon Pharmacy to streamline psychiatric medicine, fulfillment, and home delivery if the partnership is successful. Amazon could become the go-to mail order pharmacy partner for other virtual care disruptors, giving the company a growing number of footholds in the market to capture patients and scale up. That concludes this week's strategist and brief. Be sure to check out the full version on the web@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.