June 16, 2017 - Curant Health COO, Marc O'Connor, in Managed Healthcare Executive - Payers are focusing on unregulated growth opportunities and everyone is wondering if, how and when Amazon can make it work in the pharmacy space, according to insights from the 2017 UBS Global Healthcare Conference, May 22 to 24, in New York, New York.
As U.S. healthcare spending races toward 20% of GDP (over $3.2 trillion in 2015), everyone in the business is chasing a bigger piece of the pie. While we put the patient at the center of every conversation we have, events such as JPMorgan and UBS are necessary when public companies need to brief analysts en masse, raise equity and the banks seek to court their next opportunities to ink lucrative financing deals.
Here are my top two takeaways:
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Regulations limit the available profit insurers can glean from policies themselves. This is one of the top reasons so many are leaving the exchanges. Where’s the growth opportunity? It’s all on the unregulated side of the business. What growth opportunities can payers offer their plan sponsors that’s not subject to profit limitation? The top options include provider connectivity, pharmacy programs, population health programs, adjudication of medical spending and wellness programs. On the pharmacy program side, one recent, high-profile example is UnitedHealthcare’s acquisition of Optum including its PBM platform.
In an era where consolidation in the industry shows no signs of slowing down, executives should anticipate the interest in, and competition for, private companies that excel in those unregulated areas to increase. This is precisely why private companies invited to present themselves treasure the opportunity, be it at the annual UBS, JPMorgan or Goldman Sachs healthcare events where it’s all about pipelines, earnings, competition, growth opportunities and the dollars.
To read Marc’s full article, visit Managed Healthcare Executive.
To learn more about Curant Health, contact Kristin Lindsey, Senior Marketing Director, at klindsey@curanthealth.com.