A direct-to-consumer telehealth company is looking to expand globally. I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and we’ll explore that and other big developments in this week’s Top Stories.
Telehealth outfit Hims and Hers is looking to go global by expanding into the United Kingdom, having acquired British personalized health company Honest Health for an undisclosed sum. As we see in MobiHealthNews (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/hims-hers-eyes-uk-expansion-honest-health-acquisition), Honest Health specializes in providing hair-loss-related products to customers and currently has an exclusive relationship with a U.K. compounding pharmacy and fulfillment center. While hair loss isn’t a new topic area for Hims and Hers, the acquisition suggests the company is looking to expand beyond the U.S. market into Western Europe. As of today, the company is available in all 50 states and Washington D.C.
The American Hospital Association has sent a letter to Express Scripts asking the pharmacy benefit manager to rescind a policy requiring contract pharmacies to apply a unique code for claims under the 340B drug discount program. According to Healthcare Finance News (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/aha-wants-express-scripts-rescind-340b-claims-reporting-policy), Express Scripts said this was not a new requirement, having requested 340B reporting from network pharmacies for several years, and said the change was made in the spirit of greater transparency and was not intended to change reimbursement rates. The AHA called this explanation "terse and inadequate" and claimed the action was an overreach for a pharmacy benefit manager that lacks a defined legislative or regulatory role in the 340B drug program.
Finally this week, several electronic health records have recently announced that their customers can enable greater patient control over record-sharing via the Apple Health app. HealthcareITNews reports (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cerner-meditech-support-record-sharing-apple) that Cerner, Meditech Expanse, Allscripts, athenahealth and DrChrono are all among the companies that are working with Apple to facilitate more seamless data exchange. Starting this fall, patients can share information from the Health app – including activity, heart rate and sleep cycle tracking – with providers, who can then view it via an EHR-housed dashboard. Patients, meanwhile, can access their allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vitals directly within the Health app.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.