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Major shareholder wants more frequent oversight of Tenet’s board: 5 things to know

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/major-shareholder-wants-more-frequent-oversight-of-tenet-s-board-4-things-to-know.html

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Glenview Capital Management, which currently owns 17.8 percent of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, has submitted a proposal to Tenet that would amend the for-profit hospital operator’s bylaws to allow all shareholders to take action by written consent without a meeting.

Here are five things to know about Glenview’s proposal, which will be voted on at Tenet’s annual meeting.

1. In a letter to Tenet shareholders, Glenview said Tenet has been a “chronically underperforming company for decades,” and shareholders need the ability to take action by written consent.

“Just as a person in worsening health may need more frequent medical attention than a check-up once every 12-18 months, a chronically unhealthy company is likely to return to health quicker and with more certainty if its owners are allowed more frequent board oversight, and this is effectively accomplished through the ability to take action by written consent,” Glenview wrote in the letter to shareholders.

2. In addition to Tenet’s financial underperformance, Glenview said there are several other factors supporting the proposed change, including the board’s slow response to Tenet’s financial and operational challenges.

3. Although Tenet’s board approved amendments to the company’s bylaws in January that allow majority shareholders to request special meetings, Glenview argued shareholders still need action by written consent.

Glenview said the amendment to allow majority shareholders to call special meetings is “wholly impractical, clearly off-market, and sends a dangerous signal that the board may need additional feedback from shareholders to fully appreciate the cultural renaissance for which we mutually strive.”

4. Tenet said it is reviewing Glenview’s proposal. “We will make a recommendation to shareholders in due course,” Tenet said in a statement.

5. Tenet launched a $250 million cost reduction initiative last year, which involves divesting hospitals in non-core markets and cutting 2,000 jobs, or about 2 percent of the company’s workforce. The for-profit hospital operator ended the third quarter of 2017 with a net loss of $367 million on revenues of $4.59 billion. That’s compared to the same period of 2016, when the company recorded a net loss of $8 million on revenues of $4.85 billion.

5 Key Healthcare Points From Trump’s State of the Union

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/leadership/5-key-healthcare-points-trump%E2%80%99s-state-union?utm_source=edit&utm_medium=ENL&utm_campaign=HLM-Daily-SilverPop_02022018&spMailingID=12862476&spUserID=MTY3ODg4NTg1MzQ4S0&spJobID=1340163930&spReportId=MTM0MDE2MzkzMAS2#

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The president outlined healthcare accomplishments from his first year in office, addressing a closely watched issue for many Americans.

President Donald Trump delivered his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, highlighting policy goals while welcoming a “new American moment.”

Over the course of 90 minutes, Trump discussed several healthcare-related legislative achievements, including adjustments to the Affordable Care Act as well as new care accountability measures for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Below are five key takeaways from the president’s speech to Congress:

1. ‘The individual mandate is now gone.’

Trump touted the repeal of the individual mandate penalty, calling the eliminated provision “an especially cruel tax.”

The measure, which required Americans without health insurance to pay a fine, was removed as part of the tax reform bill passed late last year.

The penalty is $695 or 2.5% of an individual’s income, whichever amount is greater, and remains in effect for 2018. The elimination will take place next year.

Though Trump did not call for a renewed effort to repeal the ACA in its entirety, he said the Republican-controlled Congress successfully repealed “the core of disastrous Obamacare.”

2. No mention of upcoming funding deadline or community health centers.

Trump did not acknowledge the recent six-year extension granted to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which was part of the continuing resolution that reopened the government last week after a three-day shutdown.

There was also no mention of the February 8 deadline to pass another continuing resolution or pass an omnibus budget package. Such action would likely have to address the fate of over 10,000 community health center (CHC) sites across the country. Federal funding for CHCs lapsed on October 1, so they have been funded by temporary spending packages since then.

Despite the next deadline coming in little more than a week, Trump did not speak on the issue last night.

3. Will call for unity result in bipartisan solutions?

The president’s speech centered on a call for unity among Americans and members of Congress alike. Such bipartisanship will be important in order to avoid a second government shutdown in as many months and to address lingering healthcare policy concerns.

There are two bills in the Senate with bipartisan cosponsors seeking to stabilize the federal insurance exchange markets: Alexander-Murray and Collins-Nelson. Trump’s call for bipartisanship in the final crafting and debate over these measures will play a role in determining their road to passage.

Newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar applauded the speech in a statement released late Tuesday night.

“I commend President Trump for delivering a speech that celebrated the economic boom we have seen under his leadership, which has brought new opportunity and prosperity to the American people,” Azar said. “A healthier economy means a healthier America, and we look forward to more such success in the coming year, including through reforms to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for all Americans.”

4. Reduce price of prescription drugs, endorse “right to try.”

Continuing with a campaign promise to lower prescription drug costs, Trump said the FDA is following his administration’s lead to approve more generic drugs and medical devices.

“One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs,” Trump said. “In many other countries, these drugs cost far less than what we pay in the United States. That is why I have directed my Administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities. Prices will come down.”

Trump also urged Congress to take up the issue of the “right to try,” a policy allowing terminally ill patients to access experimental treatments without having to leave the U.S.

“President Trump says reducing price of prescription drugs is one of his highest priorities,” tweeted Bob Doherty, senior vice president for government affairs and public policy at the American College of Physicians. “Doctors and patients certainly hope so and will be glad to do their part.”

5. Signed VA healthcare accountability bill into law.

Trump promised to ensure veterans have a choice in their healthcare decisions, after reports of substandard care at VA medical facilities surfaced in recent years.

In June, Trump signed the VA Accountability Act, which eased restrictions on removing employees who were accused of wrongdoing while also protecting whistleblowers.

The president said the VA has already fired more than 1,500 employees who “failed to give our veterans the care they deserve.”

VoteVets, a progressive veterans advocacy group, criticized Trump’s remarks Tuesday night. The organization highlighted the push by Republican lawmakers to cut $1.7 trillion from federal healthcare programs, which 1.75 million veterans rely on for coverage.

 

Can Amazon do to health care what it did to books?

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http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/01/news/economy/amazon-health-care/index.html

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First books. Then groceries. Now health care?

Amazon shook up the health care world on Tuesday, announcing it was partnering with fellow heavy hitters Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to address soaring costs.

Amazon (AMZN), which has advanced light years from its origins as an online bookseller, has had a dramatic impact on many of the industries it’s touched. When it moved into cloud services and streaming shows, it left rivals scrambling to catch up. Last year, it bought Whole Foods, shaking up the grocery space.

The company is now one of the most valuable in the U.S. and its founder, Jeff Bezos, one of the richest people in the world.

But Bezos and his peers, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon, are taking on one of the nation’s thorniest challenges. Making health care more affordable has bested savvy business leaders in many industries. The announcement was met with cautious optimism and lots of skepticism.

Related: Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon want to fix health care

Not much is known about the threesome’s venture — a yet-to-be-named company that will give the firms’ U.S. employees and their families a better option on health insurance and will not be motivated by profit. Experts, are betting that the firm will eventually expand its services to other companies if the effort proves successful.

Health care costs have soared for both employers and their workers over the past decade. Premiums have jumped nearly 50% for family coverage since 2008 and more than tripled since 1999. Meanwhile, employees are shouldering more of the cost when they actually get medical care because their deductibles and co-pays are going up.

Amazon, however, is a master at wringing out inefficiencies in the supply chain. This could prove particularly useful in the health care arena, which is known for its bloat.

“One thing we know for sure is there’s a lot of overhead costs in health care,” said Frederick Isasi, executive director of FamiliesUSA, a health care advocacy group.

While many employers have tried to tackle health insurance costs in the past, they often didn’t have the bandwidth or resources to devote to the issue, Isasi said. The new venture, however, will be focused on its mission and will have the financial backing of three strong firms.

Some of the ways Amazon could use its know-how to make a dent in prices: Negotiate rates directly with health care providers and drug manufacturers, use technology to ease consumers’ ability to make appointments or consult with doctors outside of the office and improve access to price and quality information about physicians, procedures and prescriptions to allow consumers to shop around, Isasi said.

Amazon could also improve Americans’ interaction with their insurance companies and providers, which all-too-often involves ancient technologies such as faxing, said Bob Kocher, a partner who specializes in health care information technology at Venrock, a venture capital firm. After all, Amazon invented one-click ordering on its retail site. It could develop a similar process for paying medical bills, even grouping invoices for doctors, facilities and labs for care that takes place in a hospital, for instance.

And Amazon could make it easier for patients and providers to access their medical records, which would also reduce costs. The new venture could store all that information in the cloud, said Michael Pachter, managing director for equity research at Wedbush Securities.

That way “everything is all together in one place,” he said.

 

Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ The State Of The (Health) Union

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https://khn.org/news/podcast-what-the-health-the-state-of-the-health-union/

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In his first State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump told the American public that “one of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs.” But that message could barely begin to sink in before other health news developed: The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was forced to resign Wednesday after conflict-of-interest reports.

Meanwhile, outside the federal government, Idaho is proposing to allow the sale of individual insurance policies that specifically violate portions of the Affordable Care Act. And three mega-companies — Amazon, Berkshire-Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase — say they will partner to try to control costs and improve quality for their employees’ health care.

This week’s “What The Health?” panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Julie Appleby and Sarah Jane Tribble of Kaiser Health News.

Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:

  • Despite Trump’s strong rhetoric in the State of the Union Address, the president has taken few actions during his first year in office to reduce drug prices.
  • The president touted that Republicans had repealed the health law’s requirement that individuals get health insurance or pay a penalty. But that change in the law doesn’t go into effect until 2019, so his comments could be confusing to some taxpayers.
  • Idaho officials have announced that they are going to allow insurers to issue policies that don’t meet all the criteria of the federal health law. But it’s not clear that insurers are interested in participating in the experiment.
  • “Alexa, send me my Lipitor!” Can Amazon’s announcement that it and two other corporate behemoths are taking on employees’ health care create a new formula for keeping costs down and improving quality?