DAILY UPDATE: Elevance Health, Health Start-Ups and Rising Stock Markets

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

***

Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants

“Serving Almost One Million Doctors, Financial Advisors and Medical Management Consultants Daily“

A Partner of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors , Inc.

http://www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com

SPONSORED BY: Marcinko & Associates, Inc.

***

http://www.MarcinkoAssociates.com

Daily Update Provided By Staff Reporters Since 2007.
How May We Serve You?
© Copyright Institute of Medical Business Advisors, Inc. All rights reserved. 2025

REFER A COLLEAGUE: MarcinkoAdvisors@outlook.com

SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/sponsors/

ADVERTISE ON THE ME-P: https://tinyurl.com/ytb5955z

Your Referral Count -0-

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

Despite rising Medicare Advantage (MA) utilization, Elevance Health has come out of Q1 2025 unscathed. The company reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $11.97 and stuck to its prediction of $34.15 to $34.85 adjusted earnings per share for 2025. This contrasts with peer UnitedHealth Group, which lowered its earnings predictions for the year in its call last week following a disappointing quarter. (Elevance released a preview of its earnings in a Form 8-K on April 17, hours after UnitedHealth detailed its surprisingly bad quarter, to reassure investors.)

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

What’s up

  • Tesla gained 9.80% following a White House announcement yesterday that it will loosen US regulations around self-driving cars.
  • Boston Beer popped 2.26% thanks to strong light beer sales offsetting lower craft beer revenue.
  • Charter Communications climbed 11.43% after it lost fewer internet customers than last year and beat estimates on both the top and bottom line.
  • VeriSign rose 8% following strong results for the internet infrastructure company, as well as the announcement of a new dividend.
  • SoFi Technologies got a 4.63% boost from Citizens JMP analysts, who initiated coverage of the fintech stock with an “outperform” rating and called the company “a compelling long-term investment opportunity.”

What’s down

  • T-Mobile tumbled 11.22% after the cell carrier added 495,000 new wireless phone subscribers last quarter, below Wall Street’s forecasts.
  • Gilead Sciences sank 2.81% due to a revenue miss in the first quarter thanks to lower sales of its cancer and Covid treatments.
  • Avantor plummeted 16.58% after the lab chemicals manufacturer missed estimates, cut its forecast, and announced its CEO is departing.
  • Saia plunged 30.66% thanks to an enormous first-quarter miss from the shipping company due to customer pullback amid tariff uncertainty.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

Investments are soaring: A new SVB report found that women’s health startups saw a whopping 55% increase in VC investments in 2024. Learn about the factors driving this record-breaking funding and the sector’s long-term potential.*

Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.

COMMENTS APPRECIATED

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE: MarcinkoAdvisors@outlook.com

Thank You

***

***

***

***

EDUCATIONAL TEXTBOOKS: https://tinyurl.com/4zdxuuwf

***

Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Information Technology, Investing, Marcinko Associates, Recommended Books, Sponsors | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

AMA: Bye-Bye Medicare Billing Codes?

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

***

***

Robert F Kennedy Jr, who was selected by Donald Trump to run the U.S. health and human services department, is working on plans to rid the American Medical Association from its role in drawing up Medicare’s billing codes, which sets doctors’ fees for more than 10,000 procedures, Oliver Barnes of The Financial Times reports.

The plan would result in an upheaval of a system that has been in place for decades. Publicly traded companies in the healthcare space include CVS Health (CVS), Centene (CNC), Cigna (CI), Elevance Health (ELV), Humana (HUM), Molina Healthcare (MOH) and UnitedHealth (UNH).

COMMENTS APPRECIATED

Subscribe, Reply and Refer!

***

***

Filed under: "Doctors Only", Accounting, Experts Invited, Glossary Terms, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Insurance Matters, Risk Management, Taxation | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

DAILY UPDATE: Kroger Selling Pharma Business as Nvidia and Stock Markets Rise

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL, DC.

***

***

KROGER, the supermarket chain said it expects to close the sale of its specialty pharmacy business during the second half of 2024. Kroger said it is planning to sell its speciality pharmacy business to pharmacy benefit manager CarelonRx, a subsidiary of Elevance Health, the company just reported.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

***

Nvidia continues its bid for world domination with the announcement of its new B200 “Blackwell” chip. The Blackwell is 2.5 times more powerful than the “Hopper” chip which helped it become a $2 trillion company. (Bloomberg)

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index added 46.11 points (0.9%) to 5,224.62; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 401.37 points (1%) to 39,512.13; the NASDAQ Composite rose 202.62 points (1.3%) to 16,369.41. 
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield slid two basis points to 4.27%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index®(VIX) fell 0.77 to 13.06.
     

Health care was the biggest loser among the S&P 500 sectors. Energy was also lower after crude oil prices sank on the heels of weekly inventory data. Brent Crude Oil (/BZ) futures, the global benchmark, dropped 1.6% on the heels of five days of gains.

COMMENTS APPRECIATED

Thank You

***

***

Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Breaking News, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Experts Invited, Financial Planning, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Information Technology, Investing | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

“BREAKING NEWS” Cigna and Humana to Merge?

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

***

***

Cigna and Humana are in talks for a combination that would create a new powerhouse in the health-insurance industry. The companies are discussing a stock-and-cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year, assuming the talks don’t fall apart.

***

***

A combination of the managed-care providers would be huge, given Cigna’s market value Wednesday morning of about $83 billion and Humana’s of roughly $62 billion.

***

***

Cigna and Humana previously explored merging in 2015, but Humana instead struck a deal with another rival, Aetna, that was blocked by a judge on antitrust grounds, leaving Aetna to be scooped up by CVS in 2018. Another deal that would have combined Cigna with Anthem, now known as Elevance Health, also died after an adverse antitrust ruling.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

Editor’s Note: Medicare Advantage plans are pretty popular with both lawmakers and ordinary Americans — they now enroll about 31 million people, representing just over half of everyone in Medicare, by KFF’s count. Across the country, doctors are grumbling about claim denials and onerous pre-approval requirements by Medicare Advantage plans. Some hospitals and physician practices are so fed up they’re refusing to accept the plans — even big ones like those offered by United Healthcare, Cigna and Humana.

“The insurance companies running the Medicare Advantage plans are pushing physicians and hospitals to the edge,” said Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, which represents the for-profit hospital sector.

And, just last week, the industry’s largest lobbying group, the American Hospital Association, fired off a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services warning that some insurers seem intent on circumventing new rules put in place by the Biden administration aimed at reining in some prior authorization and claim denials.

COMMENTS APPRECIATED

Thank You

***

Filed under: "Doctors Only", Breaking News, Ethics, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Health Law & Policy, Healthcare Finance, Information Technology, Insurance Matters, Investing | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Anthem is Now Elevance Health

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Jakob Emerson, beckerspayer.com

***

***

The company formerly known as Anthem commemorated its official rebranding to Elevance Health on June 28th by ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and beginning to trade under the new ticker symbol “ELV”. The former Anthem website now reflects the name change, which is a combination of the words elevate and advance to represent the company’s commitment to “elevating the importance of whole health and advancing health beyond healthcare for consumers.”

When it first announced the rebrand in March, the payer said Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan names would not change, though it planned to narrow the number of brands under its umbrella. The company owns BCBS plans in 14 states. On June 15, the company launched two new subsidiaries under the Elevance name: Carelon and Wellpoint.

Carelon, a healthcare services brand, will consolidate the company’s existing portfolio of capabilities and services businesses under a single name. The Wellpoint health plan brand will unify the company’s Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health plans in select markets.

***

COMMENTS APPRECIATED

Thank You

***

***

Filed under: Breaking News, Experts Invited, Health Economics, Health Insurance | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »