Providence CEO Dr. Rod Hochman on the shift to partnership-led integrations.

Telehealth

Teladoc Adds In-Network Therapy With Uplift Acquisition

Teladoc wrapped up a bumpy Q1 with the acquisition of virtual therapy provider Uplift, a move that it hopes will help turnaround its persistently problematic BetterHelp segment.

UpLift provides virtual therapy, psychiatry, and medication management services – all crucially covered by most major commercial payors, as well as Medicare and Medicaid.

• The deal adds over 100M covered lives and a network of 1,500 mental health clinicians, which Teladoc plans to integrate with BetterHelp to give its customers access to in-network treatment options.

The $30M acquisition shores up one of the most glaring weaknesses of BetterHelp’s cash-pay-only DTC mental health offerings, with Teladoc citing out-of-pocket costs as one of the primary barriers preventing potential customers from signing up.

• UpLift generated $15M of revenue last year – a drop in the bucket compared to the $1B that BetterHelp brought in – but it’s anyone’s guess as to how much of a lift Teladoc will see from the “significantly higher conversion rates” it expects for new members.

In the wake of the pandemic, BetterHelp has eroded from one of Teladoc’s most promising assets to a constant pain point on investor calls, including a $790M impairment in Q2 2024.

• Setting aside the scathing short report that accused BetterHelp therapists of using ChatGPT to respond to patients during sessions, the segment’s also been facing pressure from rising ad costs that have made it difficult to keep user growth steady.

• Teladoc now expects BetterHelp revenue to fall between 7.5% to 11.25% next quarter, before returning to form later in the year thanks to stickier relationships courtesy of Uplift.

It’s also interesting to see Teladoc pick up another company at a 2X revenue multiple after paying the same rate for Catapult Health back in February.

• Not exactly a lofty valuation for an established company with real revenue, especially considering the fairytale multiples we’re seeing startups command in AI Land.

The Takeaway

Acquiring Uplift’s existing payor partnerships should definitely accelerate BetterHelp’s ability to start accepting insurance, a much needed move given its recent difficulty wrangling new customers. Although an immaculate M&A track record isn’t something that Teladoc has going for it, this particular acquisition seems to make a lot of sense on paper.

Nabla’s Looking for an Events Manager!

Nabla is scaling up, and it’s looking for an Events Manager to help engage its audience through exceptional experiences. This role will manage events that create meaningful connections and amplify the brand of a company dedicated to bringing joy back to the practice of medicine. Learn more and apply here.

Transforming Remote Blood Pressure Monitoring

BPM Pro 2 integrates effortlessly into health programs, streamlines care delivery, and boosts patient adherence and engagement. Discover a better experience for your patients and care teams.

The Wire

• US Acute Care EHR Market Share: KLAS put out its annual US Acute Care EHR Market Share report, and Epic came out on top yet again despite overall EHR implementation energy cooling slightly in 2024. Market leaders included Epic (48%), Oracle Health (27%), and Meditech (15%), with Epic posting its biggest gain of all time after adding 176 hospitals and 29k beds over the course of the year. KLAS called out that vendor partnership strength has become a key differentiator, with Oracle losing 74 hospitals and 17k beds as customers cite “broken promises and weak relationships.” 

• Zocdoc Launches Zo: Zocdoc debuted its Zo AI phone assistant to remove scheduling bottlenecks for patients and providers. Zo uses conversational language to help healthcare organizations handle unlimited inbound calls while giving patients a way to instantly schedule appointments around the clock. It’s funny to see one of the early pioneers of online scheduling lean in on phone support, but Zocdoc still views online as the “long term future” of appointment booking.

• UnitedHealth and Amedisys Near Merger: UnitedHealth and Amedisys have reportedly locked in enough divestitures to get their $3.3B merger across the finish line. SEC filings show that the two companies reached an agreement to offload a handful of Amedisys’ home health and hospice centers, as well as some of UnitedHealth’s care centers, to BrightSpring and the Pennant Group. Although the merger was first announced in mid-2023, it was challenged on antitrust grounds, arguing that it would give UnitedHealth an outsized role in the home healthcare market unless it shed some assets.

• AI Cleared Without Data: A study in JAMA Network Open showed that only half of the AI-enabled medical devices authorized by the FDA provided data on clinical performance. Researchers analyzed all 901 AI devices approved by the agency as of August 2024, finding that just 505 reported clinical studies, while 218 explicitly stated that no performance studies had been conducted. The authors point out that insufficient data makes it impossible to assess the generalizability of a device’s performance, and that an FDA greenlight doesn’t mean a device is appropriate for broader clinical use.

• Hackensack + Equum + AvaSure: Hackensack Meridian Health is rolling out a new Virtual Nursing Program across its network through a new collaboration with Equum Medical and AvaSure. By integrating Equum’s virtual nurses with AvaSure’s AI-enabled decision support and predictive analytics, HMH plans to build a scalable model to assist with everything from admissions and discharges to clinical support at the bedside.

• Brellium Series A: Brellium landed $16.7M in Series A funding to help providers maintain clinical and payor compliance with its AI chart auditing platform. The Brellium platform proactively audits every patient visit, identifying compliance risks (e.g. copy-pasted notes from previous sessions, contraindicated medications) and notifying providers with instructions on how to fix issues before they become a problem.

• Healthcare Turnover Slows: Press Ganey’s Healthcare Employee Experience report found that medical worker turnover dropped from 20% to 18% in 2024, but falling engagement among front-line roles runs the risk of reversing that trend this year. Advanced practice providers and physicians are under the greatest strain, with APP engagement falling 0.08 points, and only 52% feeling heard by their employer. The report also reiterated that retention isn’t driven by compensation, and that the strongest predictors of intent to stay are trust, respect, and belonging.

• Color Teams Up With MSK: Color is teaming up with Memorial Sloan Kettering to make the cancer center’s expertise accessible to employees and members regardless of their location. The partnership combines Color’s nationwide network of oncologist-led care teams with the MSK Direct benefits service to deliver integrated care across the entire cancer journey, including proactive risk assessments, support through diagnosis, virtual second opinions, and facilitated access to treatment when needed.

• Lyra Empower Debut: Mental health benefits provider Lyra Health is going all-in on artificial intelligence with the unveiling of its Lyra Empower platform, which brings all of its AI under one roof while introducing new capabilities for HR, members, and providers. Over the next 12 months, Lyra plans to introduce an employee well-being dashboard for HR dubbed Lyra Connect, AI-driven care needs predictions for members of its Lyra Care therapy solution, and a suite of new features for Lyra Engage that’ll help providers streamline scheduling, documentation, and outcomes tracking.

• DeepSeek, Too Much Too Fast? As some in the U.S. healthcare community debate how to promote faster clinical adoption of AI, China’s rapid uptake of the DeepSeek AI algorithm serves as a cautionary tale. In an article in JAMA Network Open, Chinese clinicians debate the tension between rapid clinical dissemination of innovative technology like DeepSeek and the dangers that speedy adoption can entail. They suggest a more balanced approach that includes clinical safety with regulatory oversight.

Create Efficient Primary Care Access With K Health’s Clinical AI

Keeping up with patient access feels like a losing battle? Hartford HealthCare, Cedars-Sinai, and Hackensack Meridian Health found a new approach. K Health partners with health systems to scale high-quality 24/7 primary care access without sacrificing quality. Learn how K Health’s peer-reviewed clinical AI and Virtualist model are transforming how leading systems deliver care.

Introducing the Next Generation of Healthcare AI

The new Abridge Contextual Reasoning Engine powers end-to-end workflows, prior-note context, revenue cycle, orders, and more, transforming the healthcare experience for clinicians and patients. Watch this video that spells out the vision of how Abridge is using this new technology to revolutionize care delivery. 

The Resource Wire

• How Navina Empowers Privia Health Physicians to Excel in VBC: The shift to value-based care comes with many challenges, but AI can make a powerful difference. At Privia Health, Navina helped improve HCC coding accuracy while reducing the manual burden on physicians and empowering them to focus on patient care – without being distracted by administrative responsibilities. Read on to learn the practical lessons from Privia Health’s experience leveraging Navina’s AI to excel in value-based care.

• The First 30 Days: What to Expect With AI: Implementing AI documentation tools promises significant benefits, but how do you ensure a smooth transition? Playback Health has you covered with this comprehensive 30-day roadmap outlining what to expect, industry best practices, and its own proven implementation approach.

• The State of Payer Enrollment & Credentialing: Rising costs, slow automation, and evolving regulations are creating new challenges for credentialing and enrollment. Medallion’s latest report uncovers the biggest trends shaping the future – and how AI and automation are driving change. Don’t fall behind – get the full report now.

The Industry Wire

1. Are healthcare jobs really recession-proof?
2. DOJ accuses payors of Medicare Advantage kickbacks.
3. Medical data privacy rules may not cover wearables.
4. How hospital CFOs are tackling tight profit margins.
5. Hospitals cut costs after delayed Medicaid reimbursement.
6. Optum taps UnitedHealth insider as new CEO. 
7. RFK Jr. to require placebo-controlled studies for vaccines.
8. Why Epic does immersion trips at health systems.
9. Measles cases spread south of the border. 
10. Animal sedative medetomidine showing up in illegal drugs.