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13Jun, 2018
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President Trump and Prescription Drugs (Part 3)

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Whether you like, dislike, or are apathetic about President Trump, it remains a fact that he has handled nearly every issue he has faced in a non-traditional way.  It seems he will do the same with prescription drug prices in the U.S. Though drug prices account for $320 billion (USD) annually, or about 10% of total healthcare cost of over $3.3 trillion, it is disproportionally more than 10% of an actual patient’s cost.  It also has a material effect on health; a drug costing $0.50 per pill can help save […]
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5Jun, 2018
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President Trump and Prescription Drugs (Part 2)

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In our second installment of President Trump and Prescription Drugs, President Donald J. Trump recently announced a “Blueprint” to reduce U.S. drug prices.  We start with a report from IQVIA (formerly IMS Health and Quintiles) on oncology drug cost (note U.S. share of total): “The global market for oncology therapeutic medicines will reach as much as $200 billion by 2022, averaging 10-13% growth over the next five years, with the U.S. market reaching as much as $100 billion by 2022, averaging 12-15% growth.” Many times, we have discussed the opaqueness […]
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23May, 2018
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President Trump and Prescription Drugs (Part 1)

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Over the years, this blog has concentrated primarily on how healthcare is being changed by technology.  There are two tectonic forces that we believe are changing healthcare today and they are: digitization of healthcare and consumerism.  This combination, driven by the force of three technology savvy generations, is in fact the only thing that will change healthcare.  This change has begun and we will continue to see it transform over the next five to seven years, something that has not happened in over 70 years of conversation about healthcare reform. […]
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9May, 2018
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Healthcare Transformation: Walmart & Humana (Final)

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In our last couple of blogs, we have expressed our excitement about a potential deal between Walmart (WMT) and Humana (HUM).  The latter, a company I have known very well for 20 years, as they are a dominant player in my home market in South Florida.  I have had contracts with Humana for most of my 25 years in healthcare, and a company I founded and grew to modest size is part of Humana today. I think a combination of Walmart and Humana is like none other I have seen […]
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12Apr, 2018
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Healthcare Transformation (Part 2): Walmart & Humana

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In our last blog, we left off with the recent announcement that Walmart (WMT) was looking to acquire Humana (HUM) teasing that this combination could be different. Over the last year, we have frequently discussed what combination of merging companies we thought were not going to work, for example, our series on “Silicon Valley and Healthcare.”  The series broke down what Silicon Valley companies could or could not do in healthcare. I also wrote about the announcement that Amazon, Berkshire and J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) were going to partner to […]
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5Apr, 2018
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Healthcare Transformation: What could it look like?

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When we first began this blog, we wanted to discuss the things that we see that could, and most likely will, transform healthcare.  We are a healthcare technology company, and while technology is part of our DNA, it’s not all of it.  The other part of our DNA deals with facilities, systems, processes, and consumerization issues in healthcare. Those consumerization issues relate to patient/consumer control of their own health data; at the very least, to see and share that collective information with other caregivers.  We carry that philosophy literally in […]
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6Mar, 2018
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“U.S. health-care spending to climb 5.3% in 2018” and Beyond (Part 2)

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We ended the first part of this blog “U.S. health-care spending to climb 5.4% in 2018” and Beyond on healthcare cost projections though 2026, with doubts about what many would say are bleak projections.  Unfortunately, we believe it is nearly impossible for healthcare cost not to exceed the projections of CMS, as there is no way they won’t exceed the 20% of GDP before 2026.  In this blog, we will detail some of the reasons why the financial and demographical wave we are in is bigger than what most think. […]
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21Feb, 2018
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“U.S. health-care spending to climb 5.3% in 2018” and Beyond (Part 1)

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The U.S. Government Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their annual National Health Expenditures Projections for the period of 2017-26. I must admit, since I have been in healthcare, I have looked forward to two annual reports from CMS.  One of the reports is the actual cost expenditures for the previous two years usually looking back 10 years retrospectively.  The 2016 report is the latest year reviewed and was just reported in December of […]
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15Feb, 2018
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Disney’s Smart Tactical Healthcare Play

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A few weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege to give a presentation on healthcare and how we believed EHR, IoT and Telemedicine is about to change healthcare forever.  In recent blogs, I noted that my presentation was at Walt Disney World Florida (WDW) however, nothing more.  The IoT conference was held at the Contemporary Resort next to the Magic Kingdom; I smile thinking of it.  It was in the opening year of 1971, that as child, I was riding the now famous monorail for the first time, and […]
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13Feb, 2018
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Amazon, Berkshire and J.P. Morgan Chase…and Healthcare Consortiums

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In our last blog, we discussed the news of Amazon, Berkshire, J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and their collaboration in healthcare that was announced last week. Once the news broke, it created a great deal of follow-up discussions.  At one point, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), reported that the news seemed to have caused some stress at JPM. The WSJ headline read: “J.P. Morgan to Banking Clients: Joint Health-Care Venture Is No Threat J.P. Morgan reassured banking clients by likening its venture with Amazon.com and Berkshire Hathaway to a group purchasing […]
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