Teladoc Reports $13.7B Loss for 2022, Just Two Years after Livongo Acquisition

Loss could indicate an industrywide slowdown in digital health adoption and suggests medical laboratories will want to continue developing a virtual care strategy Only two years after Teladoc Health (NYSE:TDOC) completed acquisition of Livongo, a data-based health coaching company, the virtual healthcare provider reported a 2022 net loss of $13.7 billion, a company press release announced. The loss, which has been described as “historic,” is “mostly from a write-off related to the plummeting...

Clarapath Acquires Crosscope, Bridging Histology Automation with Digital Pathology

Clarapath is working to automate manual processes in histology while also capturing data to better inform clinical laboratories Looking to provide an end-to-end digital pathology solution, medical robotics maker Clarapath has acquired Crosscope, a medical artificial intelligence (AI) software company that develops AI-powered telepathology for medical image information extraction and precision medicine diagnostics. The deal will enable Crosscope’s digital pathology platform to layer around...

Congress Holds Off on Enabling FDA Regulation of Clinical Laboratory-Developed Tests

Supporters of the VALID Act say lobbying blitz by academic medical centers prevented its passage In 2022, a bill before Congress titled the Verifying Accurate Leading-Edge IVCT Development Act (VALID Act) sought to change the current regulatory scheme for clinical laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) and in vitro clinical tests (IVCTs). But even though the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and nine other organizations signed a December 12 stakeholder letter to leaders of key House and Senate...

Amazon Signs Agreement to Purchase One Medical for $3.9 Billion, Aims to “Reinvent” Healthcare

Company also launches Amazon Clinic virtual healthcare services and announces it will terminate Amazon Care by end of year Clinical laboratory leaders and pathologists may understandably struggle to keep abreast of Amazon’s moves in the healthcare space. For years, Amazon has tried to develop medical services that disrupt the US healthcare industry in the same way its digital book business upended traditional book publishing. It is clear that Amazon is heavily investing in healthcare ventures...

EKRA Now Used to Combat Fraudulent COVID-19 Testing, Too

The Department of Justice steps beyond the law’s original focus on opioid-related lab testing fraud An interesting aspect with enforcement of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (EKRA) is the government’s willingness to go after charges tied to fraudulent COVID-19 testing.  The case U.S. vs. Malena Badon Lepetich provides a good example of this approach. A grand jury indicted Lepetich on various healthcare fraud charges last year, including that she allegedly offered to pay...

Private Labs in South Africa Voluntarily Agree to Lower Prices for COVID-19 PCR Tests following Investigation by Country’s Competition Commission

In an out-of-court settlement, two commercial clinical laboratory companies also agreed to reduce their prices for rapid antigen tests as well How clinical laboratory companies were pricing their COVID-19 tests caught the attention of government authorities in South Africa. Government agencies in that country are establishing what they view as fair clinical laboratory pricing for private COVID-19 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and rapid antigen tests without turning to litigation or fines....
;