Kamada slips after Q4 report

Kamada (KMDA) Q4 results:

Revenues: $32.1M (-33.4%); Revenues from proprietary products: $25.2M (-41.5%); Revenues from distribution: $6.9M (+35.3%).

Net Income: $5.4M (-69.5%); EPS: $0.13 (-70.5%).

CF Ops: $27.6M (+162.9%).

2020 Guidance: Total Revenues: $132M – 137M.

Previously: Kamada EPS in-line, beats on revenue (Feb. 12)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3541040-kamada-slips-4-premarket-after-q4-report

Medtronic recalls MiniMed pumps over safety issue

Medtronic (MDT -2%) is recalling certain lots of its MiniMed 600 Series Insulin Pumps due to a missing or broken retainer ring that helps lock the insulin cartridge in place in the reservoir compartment.

The company says it has received 26,421 complaints about the issue. It is aware of 2,175 injuries and one death.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3541078-medtronic-recalls-minimed-pumps-over-safety-issue-shares-down-2

CVS Q4 beat buoys health insurers

CVS Health’s better-than-expected Q4 results, including a healthy jump in cash flow from operations (+45%), has stoked buying in other health insurers.

Selected tickers: Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ +1.8%), WellCare Health Plans (WCG), UnitedHealth Group (UNH +4.2%), Molina Healthcare (MOH +1.3%), Humana (HUM +4.2%), Cigna (CI +3.8%), Centene (CNC +3.9%), Anthem (ANTM +4.5%)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3541128-cvs-q4-beat-buoys-health-insurers

7 updates on Community Health Systems

Here are seven updates on Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems’ recent hospital divestitures, lawsuits and financial performance reported by Becker’s Hospital Review since Jan. 1.
1. CHS fights securities fraud case: ‘There is not a whiff of evidence’
Community Health Systems and Quorum Health say there is no evidence to support a lawsuit brought by shareholders alleging Quorum’s stock was trading at an inflated price after its spinoff from CHS due to the companies concealing financial information.
2. CHS buys more time for turnaround with $1B debt tender offer, Fitch says
Community Health Systems announced Jan. 23 that it will offer more than $1 billion of senior secured notes due in 2025.CHS said it intends to use the proceeds from the $1.46 billion offering of notes to purchase outstanding senior secured notes due in 2021, redeem all 2021 notes not tendered and pay related fees and expenses.
3. CHS nears end of divestiture spree after shedding more than 90 hospitals
Community Health Systems has been busy selling, spinning-off and closing hospitals over the past four years. CHS is near the end of its hospital sell-off spree, according to the company’s presentation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Jan. 15. CHS officials said they expect the remainder of the divestitures to close by mid-2020.
4. CHS shares surge after releasing preliminary financial results
Shares of Community Health Systems surged Jan. 15 after the company offered a preliminary look at its 2019 financial results and provided guidance for 2020.
5. CHS reaches $53M deal in class-action stock drop lawsuit
Community Health Systems agreed to pay $53 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit filed by pension funds and shareholders.
6. CHS pilots VR program to improve clinical leadership
A pilot program launching at Community Health Systems will use virtual reality technology to strengthen clinical leadership in emergency resuscitation situations.
7. CHS divests 3 Virginia hospitals, appoints new CFO
Community Health Systems no longer operates hospitals in Virginia after selling three hospitals to Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/7-updates-on-community-health-systems.html

6 hospital, health system construction projects costing $300M or more

Six hospitals and health systems have advanced, completed or started facility expansions and renovations with price tags of $300 million or more in the last two weeks:
1. Dell Children’s to invest $300M in upgrades, expansions
Austin, Texas-based Dell Children’s Medical Center plans to invest more than $300 million over the next three years to expand.
2. Mount Sinai Health System gets state OK on $1B campus upgrade
A state planning council has approved Mount Sinai Health System’s plan to invest $1 billion in facility upgrades and expansions in downtown New York City.
3. Oregon health system plans $1B in expansions
Medford, Ore.-based Asante Health System plans to invest $1 billion in renovation and construction projects across its network.
4. Rutgers to invest $750M in cancer pavilion, renovations
Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Brunswick, N.J., plans to invest $750 million to renovate portions of it and build a pavilion that will consolidate cancer services into one building.
5. Main Line Health plans $327M hospital modernization
Philadelphia-based Main Line Health plans to invest $327 million to upgrade Riddle Hospital in Media, Pa.
6. Seattle hospital proposing $1.7B in upgrades
A planning group for Seattle-based Harborview Medical Center has recommended $1.74 billion in upgrades for the hospital.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/facilities-management/6-hospital-health-system-construction-projects-costing-300m-or-more-2.html

Google Health now has more than 500 employees

Once scattered across the company, Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) healthcare projects are starting to come together under one team working out of the Palo Alto offices formerly occupied by Nest, according to several employees.

The hope is that Google Health – which represents the first major new product area at Google since hardware – will drive revenues for the “new business” categories as growth slows at its core digital advertising division.

Sundar Pichai has even said healthcare offers the biggest potential for Alphabet to use artificial intelligence to improve outcomes over the next decade.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3540892-google-health-now-500-employees

U.S. judge drops some charges against Theranos’s Holmes, leaves wire fraud

A federal judge late on Tuesday dismissed some charges against Theranos Inc founder Elizabeth Holmes, but let stand wire fraud charges accusing her and an associate of misleading patients about the abilities of her company’s blood tests.

The court ruled that since the tests were paid by their medical insurance companies the patients were not deprived of any money or property in taking Theranos blood testing services.
It also said there was no evidence to show that Holmes and the company’s former president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani directed doctors to make misrepresentations to their patients.
However, the federal court refused to dismiss the charge of wire fraud.
According to the indictment, Holmes and Balwani encouraged doctors and patients to use the company’s blood testing services even though they knew Theranos was not capable of consistently producing accurate and reliable results for certain blood tests.
Holmes and Balwani were indicted in June 2018 on 11 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. They have pleaded not guilty.
Holmes, a Stanford University dropout, started Theranos at age 19. Questions were first raised about the accuracy and reliability of the company’s signature blood-testing device in a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal in 2015.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/U-S-judge-drops-some-charges-against-Theranos-s-Holmes-leaves-wire-fraud–29983421/?countview=0