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UnitedHealth Group is leaving AHIP, researchers developed a test that can help diagnose signs of esophageal and gastric cancer (Morning Read)

UnitedHealth Group is leaving AHIP because it feels AHIP doesn't represent the company's and customers' best interests; a new breath test can help diagnose esophageal and gastric cancer in a matter of minutes.

 

TOP STORIES

The largest health insurance company in the U.S., UnitedHealth Group, is leaving America’s Health Insurance Plans at the end of June because it doesn’t feel AHIP represents the best interests of the company and customers.

UHG spokesman Matt Stearns said, “UnitedHealth Group believes the interest of our company and the customers we serve are no longer best represented by AHIP and accordingly are ending our membership effective June 30.”

For the first time, researchers developed a breath test that can differentiate between malignant and benign esophageal cancer in patients. This can help doctors diagnose early signs of esophageal and gastric cancer in a matter of minutes.

LIFE SCIENCES

Chris Viehbacher, former chief executive of Sanofi, will begin a new job heading a $2 billion healthcare investment fund for Switzerland’s Bertarelli family.

TissueTech, a Florida company that produces amniotic membrane and umbilical cord-based products, raised $15 million led by River Cities Capital Funds and Ballast Point Ventures.

Biotech company Clementia Pharmaceuticals raised $60 million in mezzanine cash to help it bring a previously failed drug into a new treatment for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

Two Penn Medicine teams received five-year federal grants worth about $9 million collectively to train and expand the local healthcare workforce in Botswana and investigating lasting lung complications caused by HIV and tuberculosis in South Africa.

TECH

Google Genomics, a cloud-based DNA analytics service has begun providing a cloud service version of the DNA analysis software from the Broad Institute.

IBM and cloud computing storage business Box have inked a collaboration deal in which they will integrate their current product offer and work on new products together. Box will make IBM’s Watson analytics and security offerings part of its content collaboration platform and will allow users to store their data on IBM’s cloud, according to Forbes. Box has a significant network of healthcare customers, such as Stanford Health Care, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Mount Sinai Health System.

EBSCO Health and Truven Health Analytics have agreed to a deal that gives EBSCO’s DynaMed Plus clinical decision support tool users access Micromedex evidence-based content — including drug dosing, interactions, off-label uses and lab recommendations — at the point of care.

New research shows that social media cyberbullying is linked to teenage depression.

POLITICS

The Obama administration is pitching climate change as a public health issue. It coincided with a report from British medical journal The Lancet calling climate change a “medical emergency.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burrell is getting high marks for her performance from Democrats and Republicans which is noteworthy considering how her predecessor became a lightning rod for criticism of Obamacare.

A LITTLE EXTRA

This new helicopter keeps tabs on children and sends information back to parents what really happens, instead of having them have to rely on biased stories from their children.

The Morning Read provides a 24-hour wrap up of everything else healthcare’s innovators need to know about the business of medicine (and beyond). The author of The Read published it but all full-time MedCity News journalists contribute to its content.

Photo: UnitedHealth Group

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