Make way for earnings
JULY 30:
Another week, another slew of earnings results.
First up is Athenahealth, whose former CEO, Jonathan Bush, stepped down in June after reports were made public of “numerous physical altercations” he had with his wife, as well as a sexual harassment settlement. Even before its #MeToo moment, Athenahealth’s future was cloudy: In May, Elliott Management offered to buy the company and has pressured the board of directors to accept the deal.
JULY 31:
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
will meet yet again to try to tackle ever-increasing healthcare costs in the U.S. This time, they’ll focus on administrative spending. Lawmakers will hear from, among others, Matt Eyles, CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, and David Cutler, professor of applied economics at Harvard University. The meeting is just one of a series the committee is holding on healthcare spending. What will come of these meetings is fuzzy, and even if something tangible emerges, committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted that what might seem good to lawmakers may not pan out for providers.
JULY 31:
Apple will report its third-quarter earnings.
Maybe this will be the quarter the bigwigs give us a sense of how the company’s forays into digital healthcare are going. The company has been tight-lipped about those healthcare efforts, which include the Health app’s ability to pull in data from various electronic health record systems, and the Apple Heart Study, which uses the Apple Watch. A month after the new Health app launched in March, Apple announced its best second quarter ever, with $61.1 billion in revenue.
AUG. 1:
Humana will announce results for the second quarter,
during which the insurer teamed up with TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to close their acquisition of Curo Health Services and part of Kindred Healthcare. Humana’s first-quarter revenue totaled $14.3 billion, up 3.8% from the prior-year period.
AUG. 2:
The week winds down with—you guessed it—more earnings results.
This could be the last earnings report from Aetna pre-CVS Health. The $69 billion merger with the pharmacy chain is expected to close in the second half of the year—if it can pass antitrust muster. Aetna isn’t the only insurer with pharmacy dreams to report this week; Cigna, which proposed to buy Express Scripts for $67 billion, will also report results. And Cerner Corp. will round out the day with its results.