The annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference kicks off virtually this week. In years past, the event has heralded announcements of large partnerships, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. This year, the health care sector could not even wait until the second full week of January to kick off an acquisition announcement spree. The quick start is an early ... READ MORE >
Health Care
From hospital systems to home care providers, the health care sector is replete with middle market companies. The health needs of an aging population assure that this industry will continue to grow in coming years.
The case for assistance to state and local governments
More than 1.3 million state and local government jobs have been lost since December 2019. While this is the result of a broader economic shock across industrial sectors, we expect additional furloughs in state and local governments unless federal aid is quickly put in place to offset the collapse in tax revenues. Although a windfall from capital gains ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: As vaccination begins, health care remains underemployed
The pandemic brought about a rare reduction in health care jobs at a time when they are most needed, for both patient care and for the effort to vaccinate millions of Americans against COVID-19. Hospitals reduced headcount by 126,200 jobs last April, which was the largest reduction since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the figure in 1989. The ... READ MORE >
The changing landscape of pandemic relief for health care providers
In March, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which included $100 billion to help health care providers make it through a significant downturn. So acute was the downturn for hospitals that Congress later approved an additional $75 billion to the segment of the CARES Act earmarked for health care providers, ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Venture capital investment in health tech on track for record year
North American investment in venture capital-backed health technology and digital health companies hit a record through the first 10 months of the year, outpacing all of 2019 with two months to go. The total venture capital raised by health tech so far this year reached $12.2 billion, compared with $10.7 billion for all of 2019. Digital health ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: The race to find a coronavirus vaccine
Scientists have been working at a blistering pace to shorten the vaccine development cycle from years to months in order to take a coronavirus vaccine to market. With more than 190 such vaccines in development, there are several leading the pack. Two trials, by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, had been halted because participants had become sick. ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Technology investments in health care poised to surge
After years of pouring money into disruptive technologies in the financial services industry, venture capital firms are turning their attention to the health care ecosystem as the pandemic upends traditional ways of delivering health care. On Sept. 29, SCP Co. registered as a special purpose acquisition company aiming to raise $230 million focused on finding ... READ MORE >
Managed care organizations weather the coronavirus storm
It’s no mystery that major parts of the health care sector took a significant hit to the bottom line this year as hospitals and other providers postponed elective procedures to make way for the influx of coronavirus patients. But one area of the health care sector -- managed care organizations -- has weathered the storm quite well. Generally, many managed ... READ MORE >
While other health care subsectors see job gains, nursing and residential care continues to lag
While the health care ecosystem is broadly returning to work, nursing care facilities remain an exception. In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and state-wide prohibitions on non-emergent, or elective, procedures the health care ecosystem shed 2.27 million jobs in August, the first broad job loss in health care in decades. Since then, we have seen ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Health care costs rise while tax revenue stagnates
As health care continues to represent a larger portion of U.S. gross domestic product, the federal government's ability to finance that expenditure through tax revenues has relatively declined. Corporate taxes as a percent of GDP peaked at 2.6% in 2007. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis that proportion fell to 1% in 2009 and recovered to 1.9% ... READ MORE >