The Strategist in Brief: February 12, 2026

This week's episode covers the end of the proposed 340B rebate pilot, healthcare earnings highlights from HCA, UnitedHealth, and Amazon, the MA rate announcement shaking up payer stocks, ChenMed's new stance on GLP-1s, and Sword Health's acquisition of Kaia Health. 

Transcript

Anika 0:02

This is the strategist in brief for February 12th, 2026. your quick audio rundown of the top headlines from Strategy Catalyst Newsletter. Here's what strategy leaders should know this week first, some breaking news. The Trump administration is scrapping. Its proposed three 40 B rebate pilot. Just weeks after a federal court issued a temporary block on procedural grounds, if the administration revives the pilot, it has agreed to go through a new rulemaking process with advanced notice and public comment. This edition's key Market Dive looks at the latest quarterly and full year earnings reports across the healthcare sector. HCA Healthcare's strong results showcase not only its ability to leverage scale to control costs, but also its disciplined approach to capital spending and systemness. payers with exposure to Medicare Advantage like UnitedHealth and Elance continue to face a mismatch between utilization and reimbursement trends while commercially focused payers with value-based capabilities like Cigna are thriving. And Amazon's plan to spend nearly 200 billion of its capital on AI related investments is spooking investors. But the company might be able to find further synergies with its healthcare segment In other payer news, payer stocks plummeted more than 20%. After CMS gave notice that next year's Medicare advantage rate increase will be essentially flat The agency is also moving to exclude chart reviews without follow-up care from their risk adjustment model. for profit plans that effectively gamed the system will face a larger hit to their revenues. Health systems might prefer to work with the regional nonprofits and Blue Cross Blue Shield plans that are now taking market share from the national for-profits. But the changes could also shutter provider sponsored plans that can't absorb a margin hit in the current environment. Staying on Medicare Advantage, Chen Med is no longer widely prescribing GLP one medications to its members for weight loss, citing unintended side effects like muscle loss and increased falls. Chen med's. Focus on a single patient type seniors on MA allows them to tailor their approach and make a more compelling value-based pitch to payers. Health system sponsored weight management programs might consider similar moves. But a shift away from GLP ones might disappoint younger consumers who specifically join these programs to obtain prescriptions in m and a News. Musculoskeletal disruptor Sort Health is acquiring rival Kaya Health in a$285 million deal that will consolidate their customer bases. In addition to greater scale, the acquisition might help sort healthcare for patients with a wider range of conditions, making their app enabled service more attractive to employers. And finally, this week's featured graphic takes a comprehensive look at contract disputes between payers and providers that spill out into public view. Unsustainable economics and eroding negotiating leverage are making private compromises harder to reach, leaving patients in limbo for weeks, months, or even years. Be sure to check out the full newsletter to see the graphic That concludes this week's edition. Be sure to check out the full version on the web@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.